Damn it... I am reaching my absolute limit... Kane's eyelids grew heavier and heavier with every passing second, and the entire world felt like it was spinning wildly out of control.
The Conqueror's Haki shocks radiating from those three monsters washed over his pitiful mental strength in wave after wave of pure pressure. If this continued for much longer, he could forget about farming points—he would turn into a drooling idiot right there on the deck before the battle even finished.
[System, open the interface!]
Kane roared the command in his mind, using the very last of his fading strength. To hell with his savings! He had originally planned to save up for a truly legendary prize, but it seemed that if he did not spend the money now, he would be shaken to death by the Haki of these three legends.
A blue light screen expanded across his retina. Kane's originally dazed eyes suddenly bulged wide the moment they swept over the number in his balance.
[Current discipline points Balance: 185,200 points.]
"?!"
For a fleeting moment, Kane actually thought he was hallucinating from the mental shocks. If he remembered correctly, his balance should have only been 85,000 points earlier. Where did this extra 100,000 come from? Did a gold mine just fall from the sky?
[System, do you have a bug? Where did this money come from?]
The system's cold, mechanical voice rang clearly in his head:
[Prompt: Because the host altered the combat plan without authorization, causing Garp to arrive at the battlefield early, the historical process of the 'Battle of Edd War' has been directly interrupted! The world line has undergone a violent shift!]
"So that is it..."
Kane realized the truth, followed immediately by a surge of wild joy in his heart. Delivering Garp to the fight early had actually earned him a full 100,000 points! It made perfect sense. In the original history of the Battle of Edd War, it was Roger versus the Golden Lion, and Roger only escaped by relying on pure luck. Now, with Garp added as a chaotic wild card, no one knew what this battle would turn into.
Is this the sheer value of changing history?! I love it!
Now that he had actual resources in hand, Kane's confidence instantly surged. He was holding a huge sum of nearly 200,000 points.
[System! Stop the nonsense! Is there anything in the shop that can resist Conqueror's Haki shocks? Give me a recommendation, fast!]
The light screen flickered for a second, and a specific skill popped up.
[Skill Learning: Mental Barrier (Intermediate).] [Description: Can construct a barrier on the mental level, effectively resisting mental shocks and illusion-type attacks.] [Required discipline points: 50,000 points.]
50,000 points. If it were before today, an expense like this would have made Kane's heart ache so much he would not have been able to sleep. But now? I am rich!
"Exchange!"
Kane's intent did not hesitate for even a single second.
[Ding! Spent 50,000 discipline points.] [Mental Barrier (Intermediate) has been loaded.]
Buzz!
Almost instantly, Kane felt an invisible wall rise within his sea of consciousness, which had felt like it was about to be torn apart by the pressure. The violent, almost physical Conqueror's Haki outside was still raging and slamming against his mental defense line with dull, thundering sounds, but it could no longer shake his consciousness in the slightest.
The world finally became quiet.
"Phew... phew..."
Kane held onto the railing of the tower, casually wiping the cold sweat and the nosebleed from his face as he shakily stood upright again. He looked up, casting his gaze once more toward that chaotic battlefield.
The three monsters of the era were still slaughtering each other. Every collision made the sea wail in agony. The Golden Lion was fighting one against two, relying on the unique powers of the Float-Float Fruit to maneuver nimbly in the air, holding his own against the two legends for the time being.
But the fleets behind him were in a miserable state. The shockwaves from the battle between those three were an indiscriminate natural disaster. Giant waves, flying slashes, and shockwaves from fists swept frantically across the sea. Some of those unlucky pirate ships were smashed by massive waves, some were sliced in half by stray slashes, and others were directly shaken to pieces by the force of the wind. The entire Edd War Sea Area had already turned into a burning purgatory.
"Jiehahahas! You think you can beat me like this?"
The Golden Lion flipped in the air, narrowly dodging a heavy punch from Garp, his face showing unmasked arrogance. "My fleet is endless; I can wear you two to death just by attrition!"
He was telling the simple truth. Roger had only one ship, and Garp had only one ship. While Shiki had dozens! Once these two guys fought to the point of total exhaustion, the final victor could only be him, the Golden Lion!
In the shadow of the mast, Kane looked at that overbearing figure in the sky and smiled. A large fleet? Good. Then I will make your fleet your greatest burden.
However, with his current level of fruit development, it was still a bit taxing to completely control the weather right under the noses of powerhouses of this caliber.
In that case—it was time to pay to win!
"System, I want to exchange for—Fruit Ability: Deep Development!"
[Ding! Deep Mastery of Fruit Ability: Skips the long process of accumulation and exploration, directly raising the host's understanding of the 'Storm-Storm Fruit' to a deep level.] [Ability range, control precision, and natural synchronization rate will be significantly improved.] [Requires consumption of 100,000 discipline points! Confirm?]
Another 100,000 points. The windfall he just received was going to be spent before it even got warm in his pocket. But looking at the arrogant Golden Lion in the distance, and those dozens of moving merit medals and discipline points, Kane's eyes were incredibly firm.
"Confirm! Max it out for me!!"
[Ding! 100,000 discipline points deducted! Strengthening begins...]
You have to spend money to make money! By spending these 100,000, as long as he played his cards right, the amount he would earn back would definitely be more than this. Besides, this feeling of having everything under control... it was just too damn intoxicating!
Boom!
A massive stream of information instantly flooded into his brain. The language of the wind, the structure of the clouds, the flow of air pressure, the jumping of electric charges... He felt as if his physical body had disappeared, turning into the wind, the clouds, and the air currents between heaven and earth.
The massive air pressure masses that he could only barely shake in his perception before now became as obedient as puppets in his hands. Every trace of air current within a 100 mile radius became a string at his fingertips. Everything, absolutely everything, was under his control!
He was going to forcibly compress and prematurely detonate the storm that was supposed to peak hours later. And, he would magnify its power 10 times! No, 100 times!
The sky turned black. The lightning that was just weaving through the clouds moments ago now danced wildly like billions of silver snakes across the pitch-black canopy, reflecting everyone's faces in a deathly pale light.
Then, the wind stopped. It fell into an eerie, terrifying silence.
The three people in the middle of their fierce battle also subconsciously stopped their movements and looked up at the sky.
"Hmm?" Garp frowned; he felt something was deeply off.
"This weather... is a bit strange." Rayleigh's expression was grave on the Oro Jackson.
Only the Golden Lion was still laughing wildly. "Jiehahahas! See that! Even the heavens are helping me! This storm will become the prelude to your burial!"
"Is that so?"
In the shadows of the lookout, Kane let out a cold, heartless sneer.
"In that case... let the wind rise."
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