Once Rowan confirmed that the Big Mom Pirates had been thoroughly intimidated, he withdrew his Spiritual Pressure in satisfaction, and the phantom of the Shinigami disappeared.
Only then did the members of the Big Mom Pirates feel as if they had come back to life. When they looked at Rowan now, their eyes were filled with awe and fear.
Charlotte Linlin, especially, had suffered a greater impact than anyone when the Shinigami appeared.
As someone who had eaten the Soul-Soul Fruit, in that instant she felt as though she had lost control over her own fruit's power.
Every soul was afraid—no, terrified. They instinctively wanted to submit.
There was no doubt about it. This man was absolutely her natural counter.
Where the hell had this monster come from?
Charlotte Linlin roared inwardly. Her expression shifted unpredictably, but in the end she still had no choice but to nod and accept Rowan's decision.
She was afraid he would really rip out her soul and torture it.
As the user of the Soul-Soul Fruit, she knew better than anyone how cruel pain inflicted directly on the soul could be.
The others nodded one after another as well, signaling their acceptance.
Then Rowan raised a second finger and said, "Second order: everyone, including Charlotte Linlin, must provide one vial of blood."
Blood?
Everyone froze at the same time. What was this about?
Tsunade smiled slightly, took out test tubes, and began drawing blood from them one by one.
Katakuri couldn't help asking, "Lord Rowan, what do you need our blood for?"
Rowan glanced at the man who never let his back touch the ground and said, "We encountered a person with a special constitution. He can eat two Devil Fruits."
"Through researching him, we invented an injectable drug that lets anyone eat two Devil Fruits."
"But that isn't our limit."
"We want to study all kinds of special constitutions to refine this drug further, so that anyone injected with it can eat three, four, or even more Devil Fruits."
"Totto Land has gathered most of the world's races, and Charlotte Linlin herself has a special constitution like an iron balloon. You're all very suitable research subjects."
When Charlotte Linlin heard that, her eyes lit up.
A drug that allowed people to eat multiple Devil Fruits.
She wanted it.
She wanted it badly.
If she had that kind of drug, she could completely crush the other Emperors.
"Lord Rowan, if this drug is successfully developed, can we use it too?"
"Yes." Rowan nodded.
Charlotte Linlin's eyes rolled slightly, then she suddenly said, "Smoothie."
"I'm here, Mama," Smoothie quickly replied.
Charlotte Linlin said, "From now on, you will stay by Lord Rowan's side and obey his orders. Understood?"
Charlotte Smoothie's heart jolted, but she didn't object.
Charlotte Linlin smiled at Rowan and said, "Lord Rowan, Smoothie is my daughter. Please allow her to stay by your side and handle miscellaneous matters for you."
"If you have any orders in the future, you can also relay them to us through Smoothie."
Seeing this, Kaido's eyelid twitched.
As expected of you, Linlin. You're even using a honey trap now.
Of course, he didn't dare say that out loud. He only muttered it in his heart.
Then again, it wasn't as if he, Kaido, didn't have a daughter.
Once he got back, he would send that brain-damaged daughter of his to Rowan's side too and have her serve him properly.
As for whether Rowan would accept his daughter or not, Kaido didn't think that far ahead.
Rowan looked up at Charlotte Smoothie.
She was not only Charlotte Linlin's fourteenth daughter, but also one of Totto Land's Sweet Commanders.
Wait, at this point, it should still be the Four Sweet Commanders.
Rowan remembered that after the Summit War, one of the Supernovas, Mad Monk Urouge, entered the New World and defeated one of them, which led to that person being removed from the title, turning the Four Sweet Commanders into the Three Sweet Commanders.
That hadn't happened yet, so Totto Land still had four commanders.
Smoothie was the only woman among them, and also one of the prettiest among Charlotte Linlin's daughters. Especially those long legs—they were taller than Rowan himself.
No helping it. Rowan was only 1.83 meters tall, while Charlotte Smoothie was a full 4.6 meters.
Standing in front of her, he was destined to look like a dwarf.
"Fine."
After thinking it over, Rowan agreed. Having a gorgeous long-legged beauty walking around in front of him every day, serving him at his beck and call—what a wonderful thing.
Why refuse?
When Charlotte Linlin saw him accept, she burst into laughter.
Smoothie was not only her goodwill gesture, but also the hostage she was placing by Rowan's side. Since Rowan accepted her, that meant he truly accepted the Big Mom Pirates' surrender.
Both sides could be considered satisfied.
Before leaving, Rowan told Charlotte Linlin that today's events had to be kept absolutely secret. They couldn't tell anyone, especially not World Government spies.
Charlotte Linlin thumped her chest and promised that she absolutely would not.
Only then did Rowan leave at ease.
After returning to Egghead, Rowan handed the blood samples from everyone in the Big Mom Pirates over to Vegapunk and the others for research.
Vegapunk said, "I'd also like lineage factors from the giants."
"Fine."
Rowan took people to Little Garden, the prehistoric island, defeated Dorry the Blue Ogre and Brogy the Red Ogre, and collected some blood from them to bring back to Vegapunk.
After that, Rowan asked, "Do you need blood from merfolk or fish-men?"
Vegapunk shook his head. "Not for now. These are already enough. But—"
"But what? Go ahead."
Vegapunk hesitated awkwardly and said, "If possible, could you give me some elf blood?"
Good grief. He had his eye on Serie's blood.
Whether it was the giants, the Oni, or even the Lunarians, they were all races from the One Piece world.
But Serie was a genuine elf from another world.
A race that absolutely did not exist in the One Piece world. In Vegapunk's eyes, her blood possessed research value that surpassed this entire world. He wanted Serie's blood badly.
"Don't even think about it." Rowan refused immediately. "Do you really not fear angering that great mage from the Age of Myth and getting turned into mincemeat?"
Vegapunk said, "I'm only thinking of the research. Maybe I could discover the secret of elven longevity. Lord Rowan, you wouldn't want to die young, would you?"
Rowan: "...Where did you even learn to talk like that? The vibe is way too strong."
Although Vegapunk made it sound tempting, Rowan still shook his head.
He wasn't willing to create a rift with Serie over something like this.
There was no need. Across countless worlds, there were plenty of things that could grant immortality. Rowan truly didn't lack opportunities.
So he decisively refused.
But to Rowan's surprise, when Serie heard about it, she actually drew a vial of her own blood and gave it to Vegapunk.
Vegapunk was overjoyed. He took the blood and plunged headfirst into the lab. Tobirama, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Kabuto, and the others followed him in one after another.
"What's going on?"
Rowan looked at Serie in surprise, not understanding why she had given Vegapunk her blood.
"Aren't you worried he might really make a clone of you?"
Vegapunk probably wouldn't do that, but nothing was absolute.
"If he does, I'll kill him," Serie said expressionlessly.
Then she sighed and said faintly, "Do you know, Flamme has been dead for a thousand years?"
Rowan gave a soft hum. Of course he knew that.
Serie said, "If someone back then had researched magic that could let humans live forever, maybe Flamme wouldn't have died."
Rowan: "..."
Serie continued, "After Flamme died, over the next thousand years, I sent away many students. Some of them left very calmly. Some of them held my hand before they died and told me they didn't want to die."
"Unfortunately, I don't know any magic that grants immortality."
"I also can't imagine what it would be like for humans to live forever."
"So all I could do was watch my students leave me one by one."
Rowan understood. He really understood.
The eight sufferings of life were birth, aging, sickness, death, meeting those one hates, parting from those one loves, not obtaining what one desires, and the raging of the five aggregates.
Over the past thousand years, Serie had accepted many students, most of them human.
Those humans often had only a century or so before they left her.
So all these years, Serie had been living through the pain of parting from those she loved. She remembered every student's preferences, every student's face.
In a sense, that was also a kind of torment.
If Vegapunk really could use her blood to unravel the secret of elven longevity, perhaps her students could remain by her side for a very long time.
"But have you thought about one thing?"
Rowan looked at Serie and said, "If you really can make humans live forever, how will human empires view that opportunity? Won't they come to seize your method of immortality?"
"If you refuse, emperors and nobles nearing the ends of their lives might stop at nothing to deal with you."
"Human greed is far more terrifying than you imagine."
Serie smiled softly.
"I understand human greed better than you do. If they truly dare to attack me, I don't mind letting them experience pain."
Did people really think she, a great mage who had lived since the Age of Myth, was just some decoration?
If she truly became angry, even the demons couldn't endure it—much less humans.
"And even if, in the worst case, I really am killed, there's still you, isn't there? You'll revive me, right?"
Serie said this calmly.
Rowan nodded solemnly. "If that day ever comes, I'll bring you back."
Serie smiled, then added, "In truth, it's still far too early for us to talk about all this. The secret of immortality isn't something so easily unraveled."
~~~
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