The New World.
As time passed, news began to spread of the massive destruction of New World pirate crews and the devastating losses suffered by the Marines' Buster Call.
The incident once again sent shockwaves through every major faction.
However, because the World Government had prepared in advance this time, the World Economy News Paper released only limited coverage.
Instead, the World Government heavily publicized the destruction of the New World pirate forces, allowing the Marines' reputation to recover noticeably.
But to the top powers of the world, the true objective behind this Buster Call was perfectly clear.
No one had expected that, even under the combined assault of numerous New World pirate crews and a Marine fleet, the Magic Eye Pirates would actually manage to hold on to the Gran Tesoro.
The combat power displayed by the Magic Eye Pirates left many once again deeply alarmed.
In such a short span of time, this small pirate crew had already shown the potential to become a ruling force in its own right.
Though this clash in the shadows had not caused much visible upheaval on the surface, for the world's top factions, the Magic Eye Pirates' complete occupation of the Gran Tesoro meant one thing:
They now possessed the foundation to establish themselves in the New World.
Given enough time, the Magic Eye Pirates would inevitably become yet another major power in the New World.
Only—
Would those four monsters of the New World truly allow the Magic Eye Pirates to rise right under their noses?
The Gran Tesoro.
Top floor of the Golden Hotel.
After spending a full week, Yuuki had finally finished enchanting every piece of gold aboard the ship and evenly spreading the magical formula throughout the entire vessel.
Under the sunlight, the massive ship now reflected dazzling golden radiance from every inch of its surface.
It looked even more extravagant than it had under the rule of the "Golden Emperor" Gild Tesoro.
Hummm—
As Yuuki completed the final magical script, an invisible wave of mana rippled outward from the Golden Hotel, rapidly spreading through the entirety of the Gran Tesoro.
In an instant—
The mana flowing across the gold covering the entire ship began to activate.
Silver light flickered within Yuuki's eyes.
In his vision, every person aboard the Gran Tesoro was having an extremely faint energy drawn from them through the gold serving as the medium of the spell.
That energy was—
Luck.
The amount drawn from each individual was minuscule—so little it could only be described as negligible.
And once extracted, the spell would not draw from the same person a second time within a short period.
With such a tiny amount being siphoned away, even masters of Observation Haki would never notice it.
Inside the golden hall on the top floor.
Holding the silver grimoire in hand, a faint smile appeared on Yuuki's face as he walked toward a golden pillar standing in the center of the hall.
Originally, this pillar had not existed.
It had only been created recently.
Anyone capable of sensing mana who entered this hall would immediately notice that all the luck energy gathered from the entire Gran Tesoro was being funneled through the towering Golden Hotel and concentrated into this central pillar.
Tap.
Yuuki lightly touched the pillar with one finger.
A visible wave of magical power spread across its surface.
Then the golden pillar slowly dissolved.
Revealing—
A figure sealed inside.
It was none other than Baccarat's corpse, now under Yuuki's control through Corpse Spirit Magic.
She stood motionless inside the pillar, arms crossed before her chest, palms facing upward as if offering something to the heavens.
All the luck energy being absorbed across the ship was, in truth, being funneled directly into Baccarat's body.
This was the true core of the grand magical script covering the entire Gran Tesoro.
Yuuki had studied magical script language for some time now, but if one were to say he could create a script capable of directly stealing luck from others—
That was simply unrealistic.
Setting aside whether such a Runic Array even existed, even if it did, an Array of that level was far beyond what he could develop in a short period of time.
Perhaps even beyond his current mastery entirely.
Baccarat's ability had always worked by making physical contact with the target in order to steal their luck.
So—
The magical script covering the Gran Tesoro simply used the gold as a medium, artificially recreating that condition of contact.
A relatively simple formula like this was still within Yuuki's capabilities.
The truly troublesome part had only been spreading the gold across the entire ship.
That was precisely why he had been able to complete everything in only about a week.
Looking at Baccarat, who had already become a corpse yet was still continuing to serve him, Yuuki's expression did not change in the slightest.
With such an enormous quantity of luck constantly flowing into her, a dead body was far more reassuring than a living person.
Yuuki raised the silver grimoire and placed it onto Baccarat's uplifted palms.
The moment he did—
The massive accumulation of luck energy inside her body immediately began pouring into the grimoire.
"That should complete it, more or less. All that's left is to harvest it periodically."
Yuuki quietly muttered to himself as he looked at Baccarat's pale, corpse-white skin.
There was no sign of decay.
No smell of rot.
Ordinary Corpse Spirit Magic only controlled a corpse; it did not prevent decomposition.
Baccarat's current state was the result of other magic at work.
For example, Key Magic had not only sealed the power of the Luck-Luck Fruit inside her body, but had also effectively frozen her physical state.
After waiting a short while—
Once Baccarat had finished transferring the immense amount of luck absorbed through the magical script into the grimoire, Yuuki finally picked it up again.
He then used mana to examine himself.
Throughout the entire process, he detected no changes in his own magic or mana.
However—
When he looked at the grimoire in his hands, his eyes sharpened slightly.
The three-leaf clover emblem on the cover had clearly changed.
Although the fourth leaf had yet to appear, the shape of the emblem was unmistakably beginning to shift toward a four-leaf clover.
The transformation was now becoming obvious.
And not only that—
What surprised Yuuki the most was that, on the lower-left corner of the grimoire's originally pure silver cover, a clear streak of gold had appeared.
"So, when the entire cover turns gold… that will be the moment the three-leaf grimoire becomes a four-leaf grimoire?"
The thought surfaced in Yuuki's mind almost immediately.
Hummm—
As soon as the grimoire was removed from Baccarat's hands, the golden pillar reappeared and once again concealed her figure.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A light knock sounded from beyond the golden doors.
Yuuki remained focused on the grimoire in his hands, seemingly lost in thought.
Without him moving at all, the heavy golden doors slowly opened.
Two figures respectfully entered.
One was Buggy the Clown.
The other—
Was Usopp, who had recently been brought here.
The moment they stepped inside, both saw Yuuki standing with his back to them beside the central pillar.
The two exchanged a glance and cautiously approached, careful not to disturb him.
Usopp, in particular, looked extremely tense.
He hardly dared breathe.
After all, he knew the man standing before him was the true master of this enormous Gran Tesoro.
Ever since being captured on Skypiea and brought aboard this ship, this was far from the first time Usopp had entered the golden hall.
Yet every single time he stepped in here, an inexplicable sense of fear rose within him—
As if his body wanted to turn around and run.
But he also knew perfectly well that escape was impossible.
Who could have imagined that after opening his eyes, he would go from Skypiea in the first half of the Grand Line all the way to the New World?
Yuuki finally lifted his gaze from the grimoire and turned to face the two of them.
A trace of amusement flickered in his eyes.
Buggy and Usopp were both dressed in golden suits, clearly expensive custom-tailored pieces.
Buggy, in particular, had both hands covered in gold jewelry and even carried a solid gold cane, as if afraid anyone might fail to notice how rich he was.
Even the old worn goggles Usopp used to wear had now been replaced with golden goggles.
At a glance, the two looked exactly like a pair of shameless nouveau riche.
To have gotten along this quickly—
Truly birds of a feather.
Usopp immediately lowered his head the moment Yuuki turned around.
His heart pounded wildly.
Compared to the dazzling, luxurious, extravagantly decadent atmosphere of the Gran Tesoro—
The true master of the ship was dressed almost absurdly plainly.
A loose white long-sleeved shirt.
Matching white trousers.
And at his waist, a unique wooden belt patterned like tree grain.
Yet somehow—
Every time Usopp stood before him, he felt overwhelmingly small.
And what shocked him even more was that the infamous captain of the Magic Eye Pirates—
Was actually so young.
He looked almost the same age as Luffy.
But the difference between them…
"Looks like you've adapted well."
Yuuki's calm gaze swept over Usopp as he spoke lightly.
Usopp shrank his neck and gave an awkward laugh, unsure how to respond.
Smack!
Buggy grinned and slapped Usopp heavily on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, Captain! I'll keep an eye on this guy."
Yuuki gave a small nod and casually waved his hand.
"After this, there'll be no need to come here anymore."
The reason he had brought Usopp here had always been simple—
The extraordinary luck surrounding him.
Now that the magical script was complete, there was no longer any need for the two of them to continue coming here for Baccarat to absorb their luck.
Buggy and Usopp both stepped forward after receiving the signal and each placed a hand against the golden pillar.
Judging by how practiced their movements were, this was clearly far from their first time.
After a short while—
They withdrew their hands and respectfully backed out of the golden hall.
Watching them leave, Yuuki let out a soft sigh.
"It's not just the quantity of luck… even the quality far surpasses ordinary people."
No wonder.
Aside from the protagonist Luffy himself—
These two were arguably the most absurdly lucky people among pirates.
Just the quality of the luck provided by Buggy and Usopp alone was enough to add another streak of gold to the silver grimoire's cover.
With the two of them here, the transformation from the three-leaf grimoire into a four-leaf grimoire would be accelerated dramatically.
"Now that the runic array is complete… it's time to reopen the Gran Tesoro."
The thought flashed through Yuuki's mind.
The next moment—
Across the roaring sea, the four enormous whirlpools surrounding the Gran Tesoro began to dissipate.
This sudden change immediately drew the attention of all the major powers in the New World, as well as the Marines.
Yuuki paid them no mind.
If the Gran Tesoro was to continue operating as the world's greatest entertainment city, then traffic from all major powers was inevitable.
As long as he could keep everyone in line, there would be no problem.
And the failed Marine Buster Call was the best proof of that.
For the foreseeable future—
Yuuki intended to use the Gran Tesoro to attract an enormous flow of people.
That would allow him to continue harvesting luck.
And conveniently gather more wealth along the way.
Meanwhile—
After leaving the golden hall, Buggy and Usopp stepped into the elevator and began descending toward the first floor of the Golden Hotel.
Ding—
The moment the elevator doors closed, the tension in Usopp's body finally broke.
He let out a deep breath and patted his chest.
"At least we don't have to come up here anymore…"
"Oi, oi, your nerves are way too weak."
Buggy grinned broadly, hands on his hips.
"Our captain actually has a pretty good temper. Relax. From now on, just stick with the great Captain Buggy and you'll be fine."
"Who says I'm scared?!"
Usopp immediately protested.
"That's a perfectly normal reaction! Back in the East Blue, I had over a hundred men under me. What haven't I seen?"
Buggy clicked his tongue.
After several days together, he had already completely figured Usopp out.
Cowardly.
A shameless liar.
And prone to outrageous boasting.
What Buggy still couldn't understand was why the captain had specifically sent Marianne to bring this guy back.
Even more baffling was the treatment he was receiving.
In Buggy's eyes, just being allowed regular access to the top floor and the captain himself was already an unimaginable privilege.
There weren't many people on the Gran Tesoro who could see the captain this often.
Usopp glanced around cautiously before lowering his voice.
"Hey… Boss Buggy."
"Why do we have to touch that golden pillar every time we go up there?"
Ever since being brought here, Usopp had thought he was about to live a miserable prison life.
Instead, after Marianne dropped him off, she had practically ignored him.
Other than being brought to the top floor once a day to touch the golden pillar—
No one restricted him at all.
He was basically free to move about.
Of course, he had tried to escape.
But the Gran Tesoro was simply too massive.
Not only had he gotten completely lost—
He had nearly starved in the process.
(End of Chapter)
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