It has been around two months since I first arrived in Onigashima, and it has been a rather productive time thanks to the fact I now had all the resources I can want for as Kaidou would get me just about anything I want from either his islands, the underground forces, or just the good old plundering what I needed.
Pirate, after all. I also did plenty for the crew as I decided to put in as much effort as possible to establish myself right at the start as to show enough prestige as well as make my importance in the group grow fast.
First and foremost, I managed to advance my research on the devil radars. Now they can detect fruits much further as well as identify what type of fruit they are, if they are normal zoans, ancient zoans, normal paramecias, special paramecias, mythical zoans, or even logias.
Kaido was extremely excited by this and already sent out King to the Calm Belt even without the ships to travel there properly all to get his hands on what fruit they could there with one of the advanced radars. He then bemoaned that there were not enough flying-type zoans around in the crew that he could send out to the Calm Belt, but I said nothing since I have yet to make any flying ships (a project for the future). Meanwhile the other All-Stars and Tobiroppo were sent to scout our sea territory to the best of their capacity, make sure that no fruit is left around without our knowing.
Thanks to this hard effort, during this time alone we got a total of 109 new devil fruits including a logia, the San San no Mi that can turn the user into acid itself as well as two mythical zoans that were identified as the Heavenly Horned Ant, which is famous for having the greatest physical strength boost of all fruits ever seen in the sea, and the Vermilion Bird whose flames were above even those of Akainu's magma.
I can still remember the celebration Kaidou threw when he got those two fruits, the man all but dancing in joy at obtaining such amazing fruits for the crew and candidates were being considered all over.
For now all the fruits are being separated and will be later distributed, Kaido offered for me to have my pick of any fruit I want and that I can take any I so wish, but I refused for the moment. I already have my tech and have no real need to get an easy power boost just yet, but I did ask to leave the Mythical Zoans apart since they are likely to be useful for when I set my own crew (all Tobiroppo have their own ship and crew under the Beast Pirates).
Kaidou accepted it, but said that whoever I intended to give the Mythical Zoans would need to be seen by him first. If he did not agree to give them those fruits they can pick another, but those fruits should be specially selected as they can make even someone ordinary become a rising star in this world.
For me though, I have no special interest in eating any fruit. Maybe if a truly strong fruit shows up I will pick it for myself or maybe just engineer one for me, but for now, I am glad about my weapons. And, oh boy, did Kaido's resources help me with making them. These two months were extremely productive all around for me, even if my physical and personal training is close to zero. Even regarding 'Ki' that I unlocked, I barely can lift of the ground right now and it only lasts a few moment before I drop down to the ground.
I really am better of just focusing on my tech, it just feels better overall and I am quite sure that there should be at least some perks I can obtain later on that can let me become stronger and I still have at least 3 years before the Summit War when Kaidou will want to make a move. Three years is a long time, by then I should have build at least a gundham or five.
OOHHHH, imagine if I build, like, megazords like those from power ranger shows and make a 'justice robot' or something to kick Marineford to the ground. That would be so fun!
I calm down a bit after I let my imagination run wild for a bit, giant robots are a man's romance but I lack the knowledge on how to build them properly yet.
"Here you go, master." The calm voice of my butler/bodyguard said beside me as he gave me a cup of perfectly prepared tea.
"Thank you." I said as I sip the liquid, enjoying the taste as I speak. "It is delicious as always, Susanoo."
The man bowed his head before he walked away again to do whatever it is he does at this time of day. As the door closed behind him, I thought about how that came about.
After my demonstration of Pumpkin, Kaido was very impressed and put me to work in making more weapons that I happily went along with, producing a few Teigus for Kaido and the other high-ranking members as well as making Susanoo. I decided on that since I could see that Ulti and Page One were far more interested in going in search of more devil fruits instead of standing guard here in Onigashima that no one is dumb enough to invade anyway. Besides, it is not like I don't have someone else assigned to watch over me, even if the replacement guard was... troublesome.
"Fight me!" Came a muffled but excited voice from the other side of the closed door and I could almost hear Susanoo sigh in audible exasperation even though the door, before the sound of fighting could be heard and, in the end, the door to my lab was destroyed as a white missile broke right through it, hitting the wall on the far side.
Susanoo quickly got back inside, some worry on his face.
"Master, are you safe?"
"Yeah," I said before waving away the dust from the impact. "When I heard what was going on outside I moved out of the way in case this happened."
Susanoo looks a bit ashamed at that, but could not say anything more before the 'white missile' came out of the dust caused by its impact and darted towards him.
The two swung their maces at each other and Yamato was once again sent flying by the impact.
"Susanoo." I said, making him turn to me.
"Yes, master."
"If you must fight, do it outside." I said in a deadpan as the two had scattered a bunch of my research papers and it will take me hours to get them right.
Susanoo actually looks sheepish at that.
"Sorry, master." He said before bowing and leaving the place. He was based considerably on the Teigu from Akame Ga Kill, but highly improved by the use of Kairoseki in several parts of his body as well as the knowledge from Gero regarding cybernetics.
This guy took me three whole weeks of concentrated effort and nearly unlimited resources for me to produce. He is highly adaptable and should be as strong as the other Tobiroppo in combat even without the use of his trump card, all while having a much more powerful regenerative capability than the one in 'CANON' Akame Ga Kill since his core was extremely small and could move around his body and, as long as a piece of the core remained, he could regenerate fully.
Kaido was highly impressed by him when he decided to challenge my creation, especially after Susanoo was quickly able to understand the basics of Haki just by facing him and was even able to use both Observation and Armament Haki to devastating effects very fast. Thankfully, however, Kaidou understood that mass production of Susanoo wouldn't be that great an idea since the cost of production for any unity is rather high and it takes two whole weeks of concentrated effort from me to make one.
I am still thinking if I should feed him that Heavenly Horned Ant fruit or not. It would increase his defense and attack to around the level of King or Queen, but I am not sure yet how it would change his energy consumption and as he uses my power for it I would rather not risk creating a weapon that would suck me dry so quickly.
"Yoh, brotha, what you doing?" A voice came from my newly opened window (thanks to Yamato). Turning towards if I can see one of my two 'bros' I got since I arrived in Onigashima.
"Nothing much, Queen." I answered easily. "I was just drinking some tea after I finished the production of a Teigu for Jack."
"Bah, I have no idea why you bother with making him a weapon. That piece of shit Jack won't understand the wonders of science. I don't know why you bother with making him a Teigu at all." Queen said before he floats inside my lab, his huge body breaking the opening further.
Note to self, just make the walls to the outside of my lab be of reinforced glass, at least it would be easier to replace and open.
"I did it because I don't want him thinking I am discriminating against him after what I helped you and King obtain." I answered back easily enough.
Queen smirked at that.
"Did you make him something comparable with the body modifications you helped on my body or Glorious Hands of God: Perfector?" Queen asked in curiosity while flexing the gloves he had at hand.
Perfector was a rather unique Teigu. It did not directly increase one's attack power in any way, it couldn't even be counted as a weapon, but what it did was increase the speed and precision of movement from the hands by hundreds of times.
I had made three such Teigus by now, one for myself to increase my speed of production, one for Queen to help with his research on bioweapons that he so enjoys, and one for King as the increase in hand speed and precision made his swordsmanship improve drastically.
I sure was glad that I could have multiple Teigus without issue, I just couldn't use two or more of them at once and the only time Susanoo counted as me 'using' him in that sense was when I actively used his trump card to fight as, beyond that, he cost me a ridiculously low amount of energy to maintain and he could just eat normal food to replenish most of his energy needs. ... Note to self, I should really see about making me a Koro like that of Seryu, a pet dog would be great and it would be extra protection, especially since its energy upkeep is even cheaper than Susanoo and just a body or two of a regular human can keep him going for weeks, sea kings most likely letting him go even further.
Anyway, both of my superiors adored the help granted by Perfector, King would spend all his extremely limited free time further mastering the sword now that his speed of attack and precision increased one hundredfold, free time that should have expanded with his hands being able to move faster and deal with the paperwork easier as he could go through it faster, but was cut down short again thanks to needing to travel through the Calm Belt. Meanwhile, Queen's research in bio weaponry also was advancing by leagues and bounds, especially due to not needing to fear the effects of his own weapons after I helped him with his body modifications.
Now the title of 'steel ballon' of Big Mom may have to be shared with the Beast Pirate's Queen. His body was now half as durable as Kairoseki while also being almost entirely controllable with his thoughts so he can change shapes to a degree rather easily while he also has the different abilities from the Germa raid suits, but better. He was immune to poison, could produce electricity throughout his body, release lasers from his eyes, fingers, and belly, had stealth able to go invisible as well as undetectable by Observation Haki, and even had a near limitless amount of Haki for his own usage that he could use to travel in the air through small jets installed in his feet.
Honestly, if this Queen faced the same fights as he did originally he could likely defeat the entirety of Germa (yes, that includes Sanji) without a problem in under three minutes. Hells, I am pretty sure he could face an Admiral and be able to get into a standstill for a long time without issues.
"I still don't understand why you did not just accept me changing your body to a more physically fit one." I say in slight frustration. His desire to keep his rotund form is quite absurd for me. It serves no purpose and only serves to make him a bigger target.
"What are you saying, bro? This-" Queen said, pointing to his rotund form. "This all is pure muscle. Besides, if I become slim I would be too popular, Gahahaha. And don't change the topic, what weapon are you gonna give to Jack?"
I laugh at that joke, Queen being thin wouldn't change his popularity at all. The guy is already the second most popular person in the entire crew, only losing to Kaido.
Looking down at the weapon I had produced, I shrugged as I decided to answer.
"Honestly, I dunno if it is as good as yours, but I am quite sure he will enjoy it nonetheless." I said as I held it up. "This here is The King Of Beasts Transformation: Lionelle. I made it using a zoan Lion fruit and several other things. When activated it would be equivalent to him obtaining the half-beast transformation of the lion fruit."
Queen looks at this with a bit of a bored expression.
"Well, that sounds good for others, but it still sounds rather useless for someone like Jack who already has a much stronger fruit."
"True enough." I admitted before a crafty smile spreads on my face. "But, this here can be used even when he has his actual fruit active, so it would be the same as superimposing two Zoan transformations in one body. This also gives an extremely powerful regenerative ability, it is to the point that even if he loses a limb it would grow back perfectly well within a day or so. As long as the user is left even barely alive, it can recover back to its peak state even without any medical care and in a short amount of time as long as he feeds properly."
Queen's eyes widened before he shook his head.
"Vegapunk really can't compare. How can a kid like you have so many ideas and be able to implement them?"
"Because I cheat by being me." I said honestly, making Queen laugh at my 'joke'.
The joke is on him, I was being entirely honest.
"Whatever kid, I worked for Vegapunk in the past and know how some people are just born different." Queen said before he asks. "Also, Kaido-san asked me to tell you that he wants to have some words with you."
I raise a brow at that. Kaido hardly ever disturbs me from my work. Sure, he might have if I were to have started some useless research or done something that would be seen as useless, but my weapons have already improved the fighting ability of the All-Stars as well as the current Tobiroppo, to say nothing of the influx of devil fruits that would let our crew improve in power considerably.
Honestly, I already made the crew's power increase by at least 70%, if not more. Give it some time and the title of 'strongest pirate crew' of the Whitebeard Pirates would have to be passed to our Beasts Pirates without question. And that is even ignoring that I will likely get even more tech moving forward.
"Well, if the boss wants to see me, I guess I should get going." I say with a shrug before standing up. "You can check out my notes on the weapons I made if you want. Maybe it can give you some extra inspiration for your work as well." I told Queen who smirked at that.
"Oh, trust me I will." Queen said with a chuckle.
Getting to Kaido's quarters I see Bai Huang at the door. She was an android made by Queen to allow for communication and surveillance across Onigashima, I should really get to check her out more properly and improve her abilities. In CANON she was not able to detect when thousands of enemies got inside Onigashima just because they were dressed like the rest of the goons, who knows how many spies from the World Government, Big Mom, Shanks, and who knows who else could have infiltrated us because of her lacking performance.
... I already have some ideas, if it works then this just might be the way to completely root out any and all spies who try to infiltrate us. Maintaining the Beast Pirates's integrity is important, such a wonderful playground that let me do whatever the fuck I please with such a chill boss who doesn't care all that much for morality while also being quite pragmatic, it is a dream come true really.
"Preeeseenting, the neeeew Rising Star of the Beast Piraaaatessss." Bai Huang started in her usual fashion. "Marcus D. Hokusai!" As she said this, Bai Huang opened the doors.
Looking inside I can see Kaido sitting there, even while sitting down the guy is taller than anyone else around by a huge margin. He was truly an intimidating sight, especially as he glared down at the disgusting shit in front of him.
I don't blame him, at a glance I can identify who this particular filth is and I agree that this one is better off dead.
Trebol is a toweringly tall hunchback asshole who, despite his impairment, can loom over most others due to his height, he looks at me as if I was insignificant since my body is not powerful and I lack devil fruit, so his weak observation haki must not see me as anything much.
His appearance is disheveled and unkempt. His attire consists of a long, ragged blue coat made of his Devil Fruit mucus with a navy blue ring pattern. Mucus and sticky slime constantly trail from the coat's hem, which only makes him even more disgusting, if that is even possible. The front of the coat is cleverly designed to resemble the front of a barrel chest, making Trebol appear to be a thickset man wearing a loose cloak over his shoulders. But I know the truth, he is extremely skinny to the point of being emaciated, and everything under the hollow of his stooped chest is a decoy made of mucus. IN truth, his posture and attire make him look like a giant snail, which contributes to making him disgusting.
Why do I keep calling him disgusting? Because the guy is a sadistic manipulative sociopath son of a bitch who is ugly to an impossible degree and, now that I look for it, he left several traces of his slime all over the floor where he passed by. Those are on my shoes and at a glance, I can tell they are stained.
"Good afternoon, boss. Did something happen?"
"Oh, Marcus. I see that Queen managed to get you away from your research." Kaido said, his voice loud as usual and brimming with power.
"Yeah, I had to stop my research again because Yamato decided to try and fight Susanoo at my door again and ended up breaking part of my lab." I said in a deadpan causing him to laugh at the situation.
"So it seems. She is as wild as ever."
"Yeah, that she is." I admit it easily. "And speaking of 'wild', when is Ulti coming back?"
"What, is Ulti better to speak about than Yamato?" Kaido said in a teasing tone to which I chuckled, this old man has tried to set up a marriage between me and his daughter already but it has yet to work since Yamato tried to murder me when that happened.
"Not really, but Ulti at least is easier to get along with after Page One forced her into agreeing to an engagement." I said, making the big man irritated.
Page One could hardly control Ulti, but she listened to him way more than Yamato listens to Kaido... which isn't saying much, truth be told. The said 'engagement' was just a way of Page One to try and ditch Ulti in someone else, but I got along well enough with the two and I think Ulti is warming up to me, especially since Page One said he would not talk with her ever again if she were to try and kill me or break the engagement.
Blood ties and marriages may be the specialty of Big Mom, but it works just as well for the Beast Pirates when it comes to me, I am just that valuable I guess and the siblings are close to being family to Kaido so it worked out well enough.
I certainly won't complain over having a busty and feisty wife who is very protective, that is for sure. That she has massive tits and doesn't care even if I get other girls or about regular morals is certainly a plus. She is a 'evil' pirate through and through, morals are just an extra in her eyes.
"So? What is it that happened that you called me over? And why is that slimy thingy in the room too?"
"R-Rude, who even are you to call me 'slimy thingy'?" Trebol questions in irritation. Well, his face soon paled as he must have realized where he is and he soon spoke up. "I apologize for my outburst, I do not do well with people calling me how you did."
I was about to answer him, explain how little I care for his words and all that jazz, when Kaido opens his mouth first.
"This is Marcus, he is a new addition to my crew and he is also an extremely important member of my family. Marcus, this is Trebol, one of the main executives of our business partner, Doflamingo. They are the ones that help us in selling our weapons out at sea, so try and play nice."
"Very well." I said before turning to Trebol, "But seriously, did you call me just so I meet this guy?"
"Yes and no." Kaido admitted. "He came over for a new business proposal. Apparently, Joker managed to get his hands on the method to produce artificial devil fruits."
Kaido shows me a fruit, and it was a smile fruit. I guess Ceasar is working for Doflamingo now and they have started production.
"They have several issues and are not as good as true devil fruits, but I am thinking of investing in this as well. But, I need someone to go check to see if everything is in proper order before I accept the deal and see if the fruit can be improved. I wouldn't want to invest too much money on far too inferior fruits. I would have sent Queen, but he has a bad history with the researcher who made the Smile fruit and would likely end up causing more trouble than it is worth it, so I want you to go there."
Kaido then looked at Trebol and explained.
"Trebol will stay here as a hostage when you go, an insurance against Doflamingo trying anything funny."
"Nothing of the sort will happen, I guarantee it Behehehehe."
I was about to answer when I feel a connection in the celestial forge. It was called Green Energy and it was at the same time very useful, and very much useless. It was basically the complete guide to green, reusable, and cheap energy. It would be useless in increasing my combat power, but it would certainly lower our costs in the production of weapons while also lowering the pollution issues in Wano.
Kaido may not care about the pollution in Wano, but the workforce weakens as the water and food gets worse and worse, this would certainly help make the workforce better while also lowering the costs for the upkeep and production of weapons.
A win-win situation that I can use.
"Very well, Kaido-sama. But I would like to wait a week before I go." I say, making him raise a brow.
"The ship of the Doflamingo family is stationed outside of Wano and wanted to leave as soon as possible. Why would you want to make them wait for one more week?"
"Because I have a new technology marvel I want to implement in our factories, but I would need to talk with our builders beforehand and do some calcs."
"A new technology?"
"Yes. Namely, I found a way to use Solar and Wind energy to power our factories instead of coal. If we can implement it we wouldn't need to worry about getting coal, which is a highly ineffective power source anyway. It would lower our costs of production by a lot, letting us make more weapons in a cheaper way."
Kaido looks a bit interested, but waves his hand.
"The Smile fruits are more important."
"It really isn't." I counter, making him squint his eyes and Trebol to glare in my direction. "From what I understand the Doflamingo family is not a very well-established force in the waters of New World, the position of Warlord means little to nothing here, more a target for Supernovas than any benefit really, and the other Yonko wouldn't have much interest in weaker fruits like these. The less desperate we seem to want to work with them, the more they will have to try their best to get us, maybe a discount on prices or something of the sort." I said and Trebol looks like he is just about to attack me.
"You little-" Trebol started, but I put my hands behind my back and had my Teigu Cross Tail activate, the gloves teigu have its threads going to Trebol and touching him when he was not prepared.
As these threads were made mixed with Kairoseki, the moment they locked on his neck was when his fruit stopped working and his slimy form was dismissed, leaving a mess on the floor and Trebol's true body to be exposed.
"Do not missunderstand." I said, looking down at him as the threads keep him in place, his eyes wide as the said threads look much like the ones his boss uses. "This is the world of pirates. If you are weak, it is your own fault, and if you are cheated, it is your own fault. We will return you to Doflamingo regardless, but if you or Doflamingo try ANYTHING funny during this time, then Doflamingo better be ready to pay up something worthwhile or forget Kaido, I might just make a name for myself using that sissy pinky's corpse."
Trebol looks like he was just about to shit himself when Kaido speaks up.
"Enough."
With that one order I remove the threads around Trebol and deactivate my Teigu.
"We will do as you said, Marcus." Kaido started. "But you won't go overboard like that next time we have a meeting or I just won't call you for meetings anymore." I showed a hopeful expression, not wanting to deal with slimy bastards like Trebol or our other business partners. "Or I will call you to more meetings while having a minder beside you." I scowl at that, making Kaido smirk. "Also, I will be sending Ulti, Page One, and Jack with you when you go to Doflamingo, they should all be back here in a week's time anyway. Use this time to set up what you mentioned."
"Very well. Oh, and before I leave." I say, making Kaido turn to me. "Would you mind 'lending' me Yamato?"
"Huh?"
I scratch my head as I explain.
"Look, the girl is stir-crazy and always going on and on about that dumbass Oden, that is mostly because she quite literally doesn't know anything else. From what little I gather she never left the island and is always stuck here with no chance to see the outside world and understand why you do what you do. Maybe her was to see the world will change if she sees more and is no longer so sheltered and only able to break rocks for fun. Let her come with us when we go see Doflamingo and his operation. Heck, if you are worried she will try something, just put her bracelets as targeting Jack if needed, it is not like she can beat him or run away with those in hand, and with this, she would at least be able to do something and see the world a bit."
"... I will think about it." That was all Kaido said before dismissing me.
Perfect, this should at least make Yamato calm down a bit, and maybe if she sees somewhere like Dressrosa, especially if things go badly, she would no longer be such a big pain in the ass.
Jumpchain Perk obtained:
Green Energy (Zootopia) (600): Zootopia is a wealth of non-polluting energy sources. Primarily geothermal and hydroelectric, but examples of solar and wind power are used as well. Not only do you gain a wealth of knowledge on how to build these types of power sources, you gain the knowledge of all the infrastructure necessary to bring that power to an entire city. This includes an entire bookcase of designs and schematics on everything from solar panels to power poles. It even includes Do-It-Yourself videos starring Bob the Beaver in whatever format you prefer. As an added bonus, you know how to make such power sources 30% more effective at half the cost. All you need is the materials and a few handy helpers to kick everything off.