Boom—!
Savage winds and laser blasts became the main melody of that entire area.
A battlefield on an Admiral's level was not somewhere ordinary people could approach recklessly. Even the Supernovas would not dare get close.
And in the distance,
Kuma waited patiently, guarding the Thousand Sunny.
"They need a good beating—that's what Ren said."
Kuma slowly removed his gloves, deeply agreeing as he prepared for his delivery work.
After all, this was Dragon's son. When the time came, he would go a little easy on him.
The teaching course over on the White Soil Island had already been prepared as well.
The others also had their own arrangements.
Franky had the Pluton blueprints on him, and Kuma needed to obtain them too.
He did not really understand why Ren had made arrangements for Luffy, nor did he care to understand what "a contingency prepared in case of failure" meant.
As long as Ren believed something had to be done, Kuma would carry it out and complete it.
Besides that, the Revolutionary Army had also made arrangements on the Sabaody Archipelago, because this place would once again become an important location afterward.
All for the major incident that would come after the Marineford War!
Returning to Kuja Island was only a matter of a single thought. However, restraining the energy within his body was much more troublesome.
Ren spent some time slowly winding Haki around the enormous energy that had made Hancock's face change, then gradually reined it in and compressed it.
In the end, he compressed it into the form of patterns within his flesh, forming pale cyan light markings that spread across his entire body.
Using ordinary methods to compress energy would never have achieved this degree.
The method he used came from the techniques within the Blood Demon Art.
In Assassin Wu Liuqi, after Redtooth undid the White Lotus seal, he had once entered a state where blood-colored markings covered his entire body.
Ren's current state differed from Redtooth's back then in color, and the nature of the energy was also different.
However, compared to when he was in Dressrosa, Ren's control over this vast energy had clearly risen by a great deal.
At the very beginning, the form Ren displayed was like a blazing "sun."
After becoming more practiced, he became an especially dazzling being of light.
When he fought Kaido, it was precisely because he could not control such an enormous amount of energy that he chose to draw on the energy of another version of himself.
Relying on the Blood Demon, he formed Phase Two: Fallen Angel.
But during the Kuja Island incident, he displayed a light-man form that was much smoother and more controlled than before.
This time, by relying on his progress in the method of wrapping energy with Haki, he compressed that energy into far more stable and convenient markings.
Without a doubt, this was the benefit brought by improved aptitude.
Precisely because he was a genius, he could absorb experience from battle in a short period of time, improving himself step by step.
"You lost the bet, so you pay up, Hancock."
Ren tossed the two Den Den Mushi to Hancock, then snatched her snake and fiddled with it until it became a lounge chair.
Although the giant snake cast a pleading look at her for help, Hancock was currently busy checking the contents stored inside the Den Den Mushi.
Because it was too close to the energy markings, the giant snake was already trembling in fear. It could only obediently fulfill its duty as a lounge chair.
"The Sabaody Archipelago should still be in chaos."
Ren lay on the chair, propping up his chin with one hand as he prepared to watch Hancock's reaction.
Hancock's expression shifted from confusion to wide-eyed shock, then to complete astonishment. After that came disbelief, and finally, sudden realization.
But after that moment of realization, she touched the back of her own head, seeming to deny her own conclusion.
Thus, her expression switched back to its original disbelief.
Ren could vaguely guess the psychological journey she had just gone through. All he could say was that the Hulk smash had very efficiently improved Hancock's narcissism.
At the very least, she no longer dared to attribute things she could not understand to the fact that she was simply too beautiful.
"You actually attacked Celestial Dragons? Are you insane? Were there any witnesses? You didn't make some kind of declaration, did you? What exactly did you say?"
Hancock spoke extremely quickly, throwing out a huge pile of questions.
In the end, what she cared about was whether this would affect Kuja Island, whether it would invite retaliation from the World Government, and so on.
"The Revolutionary Army will announce that they were responsible. Also, I'm not obligated to answer some of your questions.
"As the loser, what you need to think about right now is the wager."
Ren said with great interest.
Hancock fell silent. After struggling for a while, she finally took a deep breath and said, "This Empress does not know how! How could one who is an emperor do such a crude thing?"
"If you don't know, you can learn. I'll teach you."
Ren maintained his smile, but the pale cyan markings on his body became dazzling. "Hancock, you need to understand something.
"No one can lose to me and then refuse to honor a wager. At least, I haven't met such a person so far."
Hancock: "…"
"This Empress… had not expected this. But… it can be forgiven…"
"No, it cannot!"
Ren bluntly interrupted Hancock's spellcasting, not even looking at her pitiful appearance.
Hancock clenched her delicate fists, desperately wanting to punch this bastard's head apart.
But she did not quite dare make a move.
"Fine, then this Empress will learn!"
Hancock let out an angry roar-like snort, then walked closer with her fists clenched.
The giant snake was shocked by a jolt of electricity, and its tail rose up to become a leg rest.
Hancock looked at the stool stretching toward her, the corner of her eye twitching. In the past, she was the one who sat on it.
But now… she had no way to keep thinking about it.
Because Ren placed his legs on Hancock's knees. She could only accept her fate, sit down, and begin her long-term work.
"Clench your hand into a fist, but not to hit people! …Yes, that's it."
Ren guided her with great interest while watching Hancock, who was both aggrieved and forcing herself to endure, massage his legs.
That embarrassed and furious expression of hers truly satisfied a small, dark sadistic desire in him.
As for her technique, that was secondary. Although her strength sometimes varied between light and heavy, at the very least, under his guidance, she was improving.
"Change your hand posture. Right… knead."
"This Empress knows! There is no need for you to teach anything!"
Of course, Ren knew very well that the bigger reason was the contents inside those two Den Den Mushi.
Regardless of under what circumstances the wager had been made, or what exactly had happened to those three Celestial Dragons,
One fact could not be changed—Ren was definitely involved!
Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence? He had just made the wager, and immediately afterward returned with photos and recordings?
For Hancock, being restrained by others was an unchangeable reality.
Before she had a way to resist, it was impossible for her to act.
Either submit, or watch her nation be destroyed.
But on top of that foundation, Hancock still had her own likes and dislikes. She did not like Ren, but she hated the Celestial Dragons even more.
Although she did not know why Ren had attacked the Celestial Dragons, nor what he intended to do next, as long as she herself was not affected,
Hancock's perception of Ren had changed ever so slightly.
This was a turning point.
At the same time, as Hancock gradually got the hang of the leg-massaging work,
Ren stopped speaking. While adjusting the condition inside his body and storing energy as capital for the frequent teleportations to come,
He also reviewed and confirmed the situation on the Sabaody Archipelago.
The current development of the Sabaody Archipelago had not deviated from his expectations.
Dragon and Kizaru were fighting, delaying an Admiral-level combatant.
Furthermore, the other two Admirals would most likely not reinforce the Sabaody Archipelago.
With a clear focal point, this operation would most likely be defined by the World Government as another, even bolder provocation against the Celestial Dragons by the Revolutionary Army.
After Kuma, acting as the deliveryman, gave them a sound beating, he would be confirmed as a cadre of the Revolutionary Army.
But that was not important. What mattered was the Pluton blueprints inside Franky's stomach.
In fact, in the original storyline, the Pluton blueprints had already been burned by Franky before the Sabaody Archipelago arc.
However, because of Ren's butterfly effect, Franky had not met Robin, nor did he understand what kind of person Robin was.
The reason the original Pluton blueprints had been passed down was to prevent Pluton from falling into the hands of villains.
Once such a situation happened, it would be necessary to build another Pluton to counter it.
And according to Tom, Robin, who had still been young at the time, had been marked as a key concern.
It was only after the Enies Lobby arc in the original story,
When Robin shouted that she wanted to live, and Franky confirmed that she was not a bad person, that he chose to burn the blueprints.
But in the current timeline, Robin served as the logistics officer of Ren's group.
Her responsibilities included handling various communications, intelligence summaries, arrangements for the angels, and so on.
Under such circumstances, the Pluton blueprints were still inside Franky's stomach.
Kuma would obtain this information and give it to the Revolutionary Army as compensation for the Sabaody Archipelago incident.
Mm.
In and out, which meant Ren had not paid any capital at all.
Next were those two Celestial Dragons. The biggest reason he had not captured that whole family was so he could leave the father behind to put some pressure on the World Government.
Whether it was Charlos or Shalria, both had major uses.
Ren needed to spend some time using the Space-Time: The Creator card to bury hidden moves.
He did not need to change much. He only needed to make them complete certain actions at specific times.
Afterward, they would be used as bargaining chips in a trade.
As for Law, because of the miraculous nature of the Ope-Ope Fruit, Ren believed he should have something to talk about with Caesar and the others.
If possible, it would be best if they could figure out the innate abilities of the Lunarian race and create effective tools from them.
Kid and Killer had been sent to the Reincarnation Pool.
The former's magnetic ability could supplement the angels' shortcomings in the railgun direction.
The latter was purely conversion material. Ren had already seen, through the network, a Glory Angel holding a scythe climb out of the Reincarnation Pool.
To be honest, the fate of those two matched their vile deeds perfectly.
In the original story, the biggest reason Kid's bounty was higher than Luffy's was because he caused trouble while also slaughtering civilians.
That was the greatest reason they became materials.
While Hancock obediently massaged Ren's legs, the Judgment had also finished making preparations.
Ren was busy with all kinds of actions, and the other members of the team naturally could not remain idle either.
Nojiko, who could fly, carried out the original gold transaction.
She brought several Chesters with her to Tesoro's location. While conducting the transaction, she also prepared to receive the next wave of financial support.
Tesoro, having obtained specific information from Ren and further verified the prophet's ability, increased the scale of his investment.
It was worth mentioning that Tesoro seemed to have learned from the Revolutionary Army that this side needed Devil Fruits.
Somehow, he had acquired a Zoan-type Devil Fruit of rather average strength and sent it over as a gift along with the rest.
So the total gains they could obtain, counting both the transaction and the sponsorship, came to 70 billion Beli plus one Devil Fruit.
(End of Chapter)