Sabaody Archipelago, Island 50. In the basement of an ordinary residential house, Sephiroth emerged from a spatial gate, dragging Golden Lion Shiki, whose limbs had been severed. A trail of crimson blood marked their path across the floor.
He placed Golden Lion Shiki on the operating table. Shiki glanced at the laboratory, filled with various instruments. His voice was extremely weak when he spoke.
"If you're going to kill me or dismember me, just get it over with..."
"I'm sorry, but you might have to wait a little longer..."
Sephiroth took out a pair of sea stone shackles and placed them around Golden Lion Shiki's neck. He had already inserted a Sea Stone nail into him, but he added the collar for extra safety.
Watching Sephiroth pick up a scalpel, syringe, and other items, Golden Lion Shiki gave a tragic laugh as he saw him begin cutting flesh and drawing blood.
"What exactly do you want to do? Are you some kind of psycho who enjoys torturing people?"
"No... I'm just extracting your lineage factor!"
"What is that?"
"A special substance that can replicate Devil Fruit abilities through technological means."
"That truly is an amazing technology..." Golden Lion Shiki closed his eyes and murmured softly. He had lost all ability to resist, and was merely numbly waiting for his death.
After preserving Golden Lion Shiki's lineage factor, Sephiroth took a red pill from his pocket, swallowed it, and activated his Vampire Awakening state.
"Your Float-Float Fruit is very well developed. How exactly did you develop it...?" Sephiroth said with a smile.
Golden Lion Shiki still had his eyes closed and said with slight impatience, "Do you think I'll answer you? Just give me a quick death..."
"I didn't expect you to answer..." As he spoke, Sephiroth placed his left hand directly on the Golden Lion's head and began to control the blood within him, creating illusions to induce him to recall his experiences in developing the Float-Float Fruit ability.
After a moment, seeing that the Golden Lion's life force was like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment, Sephiroth used the ability of the Absorb Absorb Fruit to quickly draw the blood out of him. He held it aloft in his right hand, transforming the abstract power of the Float-Float Fruit into reality, imprisoning it within this mass of blood. Next, Sephiroth pushed open the side door of the laboratory and entered a room filled with various fruits.
Holding the blood mass in his right hand, he carefully sensed the power of the Float-Float Fruit, looking for a fruit to parasitize.
He found the corresponding fruit in the pile and controlled the blood mass to make contact.
Soon, the fruit in Sephiroth's hand transformed into a green-skinned Devil Fruit with spiral patterns.
Finally, he brought the blood mass in his right hand to his mouth and took a bite, using Blood Recall to read Golden Lion Shiki's insights and experiences in using the Float-Float Fruit.
The reason he did this was simple: he intended to keep this Devil Fruit for himself, and didn't plan to give it to anyone else!
This wasn't because he was interested in the Float-Float Fruit's large-scale attack ability, which was comparable to a Logia type...
In fact, for the Float-Float Fruit to be effective, it needed to assimilate by touching the object beforehand to gain control over it. Its large-scale attack was far less casual than a Logia type.
The reason the Float-Float Fruit seemed so powerful was mainly because Golden Lion Shiki had assimilated over ten islands and developed his Devil Fruit ability to the level of subtle awakening!
The most basic ability of the Float-Float Fruit was simply to make objects unaffected by gravity and to control them to move!
But... this was also its most commendable aspect! Just based on this point, the Float-Float Fruit possessed extraordinary strategic value. After all, it could even move islands out of thin air!
As long as Sephiroth mastered the power of this fruit, he could give the islands under his rule high mobility, moving them freely in the air and changing their positions, preventing the World Government from leveraging its military advantage for pursuit and encirclement.
After all, the Float-Float Fruit's ability, aside from consuming stamina when assimilating objects and moving assimilated objects, did not consume stamina to keep objects floating in the air for extended periods.
Therefore, Sephiroth didn't need to worry about keeping islands floating in the air for a long time, consuming a large amount of stamina and life reserves, which could affect his combat power.
In this way, Sephiroth's Umbrella Corporation would be invincible!
Even if Imu went crazy in the future and frantically dug holes all over the planet, shattering the entire world, Sephiroth could choose to take his territory to the moon, thus avoiding being affected... Hmm!?
The idea of establishing a branch base for the Umbrella Corporation on the moon is worth considering, but I need to find a way to restore the moon's ecological resources and environment. ......... Sardo Kingdom, Royal Palace.
In a reception room, Tesoro, sitting on a long sofa, looked at Sephiroth, who was wearing a black suit and sitting on a single sofa, drinking black tea. He carefully said:
"Boss, after we terminated our cooperation with the Whitebeard Pirates, many unsavory characters in the underground world have started coveting our businesses..."
"Do you need me to use some methods to punish them?" Sephiroth placed the exquisite teacup containing top-grade black tea on the table in front of him and mused.
"No need... This is exactly what I want to see. Right now, our Umbrella Corporation is a bit too conspicuous; even the Gorosei are watching us... How about this? Starting today, gradually withdraw our Umbrella Corporation's surface businesses from the New World. Except for the businesses in Dressrosa and the intelligence network, all other businesses will no longer be retained..."
"Boss, but won't the Company suffer huge losses this way...?"
"Don't worry! This is just a feint! On the surface, our Company can no longer suppress the situation in the New World, leading to a decline in business, but secretly, I have found a few people to help us take over these operations..."
Upon hearing this, Tesoro couldn't help but look worried.
"Boss, can I ask who those people are? The situation in the New World is complex, and ordinary people cannot handle it."
"Du Feld, Dorag Piekro, Kiberson, Umit. These four guys are also my subordinates. However, for certain considerations, I have never incorporated their businesses into the Company... Now, they can serve as the Company's representatives in the New World."
Tesoro fell silent. When the Umbrella Corporation was still an emerging company, Tesoro had been puzzled why the emperors of the underground world hadn't come to cause trouble or try to swallow up the Company... At first, he'd thought it was the deterrent power of Whitebeard's reputation, but now he understood that those people were actually his boss's subordinates...?
Immediately after, Sephiroth began to instruct Tesoro on the future development direction of the Umbrella Corporation.
"From now on, the Company needs to act as low-key as possible and not attract the attention of the Gorosei anymore. If we need to expand our business, we should try to adopt the form of secret shareholding and establish subsidiaries... In addition, some businesses also need to appear to be withdrawing capital and then establish new subsidiaries to take the lead on the surface. Although this method can only hide the Company's assets for a few years at most. However, in a few years, the world situation will become increasingly turbulent. At that time, we will add fuel to the fire during the chaos... With the entire world in turmoil, the World Government probably won't have the spare energy to investigate us..."
Knock knock knock!
The door was lightly knocked from the outside. After Tesoro said, "Come in!", Gilm, who is over five meters tall and obese, pushed open the door and walked in. Gilm turned to Sephiroth and asked:
"Boss, you were looking for me...?" "Yes, it's still Devil Fruit synthesis..."
As he spoke, Sephiroth placed a silver metal bracelet and the Float-Float Fruit on the table.
"Okay, no problem!"
Synthesizing Devil Fruits with objects was something Gilm was already very skilled at. He transformed his body into factory mode. Then, he picked up the bracelet and the Float-Float Fruit and swallowed them whole.
A moment later, after a series of "Clang! Clang!" sounds, he opened two metal doors on his torso. He took out the bracelet, which had been imbued with the Float-Float Fruit's ability, from the factory space, handing it to Sephiroth.
As he spoke, Sephiroth placed a silver metal bracelet and th...