One Piece: Ascending the Divine Path

Kaido looked down at the glittering golden figure before him, a cruel smile creeping across his already狰狞 (zhengning - ferocious/hideous) face. "Arrived as promised? That Waldo fellow didn't dare come to his death, so he sent you instead?"

So it's not my fault, Kaido, it's just that your eyes are bad.

Okay, I'll remind you again.

Knight said seriously, "It was exactly the kind of person I should be doing."

"Hehehehe! So you mean I'm not worthy of Waldo's personal attention? I'm really being looked down upon!"

Kaido laughed loudly and casually pulled out a huge spiked club from somewhere behind him.

when.

The heavy spiked club slammed into the ground as Kaido looked down at Knight. "You bastard, you dare to be arrogant in front of me! Are you ready to be smashed into mincemeat?"

It has to be said that this guy's body is ridiculously huge, and his current superior posture is extremely oppressive.

But for Knight, it didn't matter at all.

So what if this body is smashed to pieces?

And Kaido, you really have a vivid imagination. It should be "I" in the literal sense.

"Don't get excited, Kaido,"

Knight tilted his head. "I'm here to talk business with you."

"Business?"

Kaido paused for a moment, then burst into laughter, "Hehehehe! What kind of business are you lowlifes trying to conduct?"

Knight said, "It's about the business of artificial Devil Fruits."

"What did you say?"

Kaido's expression changed instantly; his previously playful look turned serious. "An artificial Devil Fruit?"

Knight's lips curled into a smile, and his golden armor vanished. "I think we need a banquet."

Kaido looked down at Knight, then burst into laughter again after a few seconds. "Hehehehe! You bastard, you've successfully piqued my interest! A banquet, huh? I'll give you yours!"

  

"But if you don't satisfy me next time, I'll snap your neck!"

Knight simply raised the corners of his mouth in a smile.

Kaido-sensei, are you still a domineering CEO?

So, when Hanafzai crawled out of the ruins, spitting out a mouthful of bloody, rotten teeth and roaring that he wanted to fight again, he saw Kaido and Knight standing side by side.

What are you doing?!

Later, in the banquet hall on the top floor of the main building.

Kaido sat in the main seat, and Knight sat in the first seat to his left.

Also attending the banquet were several officers of the Beasts Pirates, King, Queen, a young Jack, and the large-sized beauty Black Maria, who was kneeling next to Kaido and pouring him drinks.

Of course, there was also Hanafza, who had been beaten black and blue by Knight and was trying to quickly restore his lost teeth by drinking milk, and the boy and girl sitting next to him—Runti and Pagevan, Hanafza's children, the future Flying Six, who were just little kids in their early teens. At this moment, both of them were glaring angrily at Knight.

Jin also sized up this pirate whose bounty was only a little over 200 million, yet he possessed both Conqueror's Haki and a Devil Fruit ability. He really knew how to hide it!

In addition to these participants, there were also some geisha playing music and dancing, making it quite lively.

Knight simply poured himself a glass of sake and took a sip. Besides the sake bottle, the small table in front of him was filled with a dazzling array of food.

The quantity wasn't large, but it looked very exquisite.

Knight picked up a piece of tempura and took a small bite.

Okay.

"Alright, shouldn't we get down to business now?"

Kaido stared intently at Knight. "What's this about artificial Devil Fruits?"

"Didn't we already know that?"

Knight said slowly, "After Vegapunk's research into lineage factors deepened, he developed a technology that can artificially create Devil Fruits."

"Based on your bloodline factors, the replica of the Azure Dragon Fruit is the pinnacle of this technology."

"Is it really that bastard Vegapunk?"

Quinn immediately became restless, reacting just as intensely as Caesar had done before, "What a joke! How could that guy's skills possibly reach that level?!"

"Shut up, Quinn!"

Kaido rebuked him angrily, then looked at Knight with a gloomy expression, "So that's the ability possessed by that Lunarien tribe over there?"

Knight shrugged.

"Damn it! The World Government! Vegapunk!!"

Kaido was furious.

But then he remembered his business.

His gaze towards Knight was now burning with fervor. "The business you want to discuss with me is about these artificial Devil Fruits?"

"We did obtain some information about artificial Devil Fruits from Punk Hazard."

When Knight said this, Kaido's eyes almost lit up. "But data is data, and practice is practice. Even Vegapunk himself would probably have a hard time replicating a Blue Dragon Fruit, let alone us."

Kaido's eyes dimmed slightly, but his expression remained excited. "If Mythical Zoan types don't work, how about Ancient Zoan? Paramecia? Logia types?"

"Vegapunk hasn't even cracked the Paramecia type yet, let alone the Logia type, which is even harder to replicate than Mythical Zoan types."

Knight also seemed a little disappointed. "I'm not sure about Ancient Zoan types, but Vegapunk shouldn't have any problems with ordinary Zoan types."

"A typical Zoan-type?"

Kaido frowned slightly.

Compared to Mythical Zoan types, ordinary Zoan types are simply no match for them.

but.

"That works too!"

Kaido asked, "How many of you do you have now?"

Ordinary Zoan-type monsters are certainly not powerful enough, but if you can build a Beast Legion, it will be powerful enough!

"I told you, there shouldn't be any problem with Vegapunk."

Knight picked up a piece of pufferfish meat with his chopsticks, and to his surprise, it was quite delicious. "My scientists aren't Vegapunk; they can't do this."

"..."

Kaido paused for a moment.

Before he could say anything, the reckless Jack had already stood up, sword in hand, and angrily pointed at Knight, shouting, "Boss Kaido, he's playing you! Kill him!"

Almost the next instant.

hum! !

Its ferocious aura instantly shook heaven and earth!

Dark lightning burst forth from Kaido's body!

The entire building was shaking violently, and the hard floors and walls were cracking.

Wow, that's scary. Is it possible for Conqueror's Haki to cause physical destruction simply by releasing its power?

Knight calmly raised his glass, but the geishas were pitiful, one after another fainting instantly.

Hanafza's two children also fainted. The future Flying Six are just two little brats now. How could they withstand Kaido's power?

"Brother Kaido!"

Even Hanafzai couldn't help but speak up to dissuade him, saying, "The children can't handle your temper!"

Kaido, however, simply stared intently at Knight. "So, you're just messing with me?"

Knight put down his glass. "A true Zoan-type can't be made, but a slightly inferior one is fine."

One sentence instantly cleared Kaido's eyes considerably, and his surging Conqueror's Haki subsided. "A little lower quality? What do you mean?"

"It means..."

Knight said, "Since replicating Zoan-type Devil Fruits won't work, let's use animal bloodline factors as a basis and create a fruit that allows humans to directly fuse with animal bloodline factors."

This refers to the SMILE fruit created by Caesar in the original work.

Caesar had mastered this technology long ago, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. After all, it had too many drawbacks and its strength was just so-so. With the time he had to mass-produce this thing, Caesar felt he would rather develop a few more poison gas viruses or something.

"The quality certainly can't compare to a real Zoan-type Devil Fruit, and it also has quite a few drawbacks, but it has one advantage."

Knight held up one finger. "It can be mass-produced."

Moreover, mass production should be simpler than in the original work.

In the original story, Caesar was the only one involved, but now, with both Caesar and Bagingom, Caesar can secretly seek advice from Vegapunk.

Kaido fell into a brief silence.

Then, the man slowly asked, "To what extent can you do it?"

"It has at least half the enhancement effect of a regular Zoan-type Devil Fruit."

Knight said, "The success rate might be a little lower when you're trying to eat the fruit."

Well, one-tenth is still a bit low.

"half?"

Kaido picked up the wine glass and took a swig.

Then, he slammed his glass down on the low table in front of him. "Fine, how much can you provide now?"

"How much?"

Knight shrugged. "We haven't even started yet."

The entire room fell silent.

"Boss Kaido! That bastard was just messing with you all along!"

Quinn slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Let me kill him! I have nine ways to kill him! Nine ways!"

Even the ash hand was already resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Kaido stared intently at Knight, black arcs of electricity crackling around his body once more.

"The purpose of my visit this time is actually to ask if you can make payment in advance."

Nai Te pretended not to see it, saying, "After all, we don't have money, equipment, or raw materials right now, so it's difficult to even manufacture artificial Devil Fruits."

Upon hearing this, Hanafza gritted his teeth—gritting his gums, Quinn's fat jiggled, and Jack wanted to chop someone up, even pulling out half of his Ember Blade.

This guy's trying to get something for nothing!

You have one more sentence to say.

Kaido spoke calmly.

But the murderous intent contained within it was almost overflowing.

So Knight said, "In exchange, I can give you a piece of information about the Celestial Dragons' ultimate secret."

"...A Celestial Dragon?"

Jin was slightly taken aback.

"Go on."

Kaido said.

"You've all seen the Valley of the Gods twenty-nine years ago, haven't you?"

Knight spoke with great interest, "That twisted monster, that shadow that can't be killed no matter how you attack it."

Everyone immediately turned to look at Kaido.

Here, he is the only eyewitness to that earth-shattering event.

Kaido stared intently at Knight. "Do you know who that guy is?"

"Eight hundred years ago, among the twenty kings who founded the World Government, there was a guy named Nerona Im."

Knight said slowly, "That guy has been alive since eight hundred years ago."

"What?"

Quinn exclaimed in disbelief, "How is this possible! What are you talking about! Even giants don't live for eight hundred years!"

"Don't you know that there's a power in this world called a Devil Fruit?"

Knight smiled.

"So, that guy was the original king?"

Jin hesitated before speaking.

In any case, this news is quite alarming.

"Not the first king, but the king of the world."

Knight said, "For eight hundred years, he has been hiding behind the scenes and ruling the world. The Five Elders are his puppets, the God Knights are his henchmen, and the Navy is just a watchdog."

Of course, in reality, Im-chan is a homebody who spends his days hiding among the flowers playing with butterflies. The Five Elders, Satan, deceives him, and even the Knights of God dare to shift the blame onto him.

"The Five Elders and the Knight of God have all signed some kind of contract with him, thus gaining immortality, but they can only be controlled by him."

"Besides that, he also possesses a certain ability to forcibly control others, Kaido, you've already seen that, haven't you?"

"Domination?"

Kaido nodded slowly.

So, was the way Rocks acted back then because he was being dominated?

That idiot didn't say anything, and he ended up like that. He deserved it!

"How is it, Kaido?"

Knight chuckled, "Are you satisfied with this news?"

How do we know you're not just making things up?

Quinn immediately questioned this.

"Shut up, Quinn."

Kaido snorted.

He gave Knight a deep look. "If you want money, you have plenty of resources. Why come to me?"

Of course, it's because contacting you was just a bonus. The real purpose has already been achieved. I just want to get something for nothing again. Why not take advantage of this opportunity?

But what Knight said was, "Sooner or later, we will overthrow the throne of the King of the World. There aren't many people in this world who have the guts to do the same thing, and you are one of them."

Kaido paused for a moment, then...

"Ooh lol lol lol!!"

The monster, like a prehistoric beast, laughed wildly.

Black Maria, who was sitting gently beside him pouring wine, covered her mouth and chuckled, "It's been a long time since I've seen Mr. Kaido so happy."

Where did this domineering CEO and secretary come from?

"interesting!"

Kaido laughed as he looked at Knight and said, "So, how much money do you want?"

"Let's start with five billion peles."

Knight simply threw out a number.

"Do you think I run a welfare institution?"

Kaido refused without even thinking.

"Then let's make three billion."

Knight shrugged. "If you're asking for an exorbitant price, you should negotiate down to the bottom. It's barely enough to buy equipment and raw materials."

This time, Kaido thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, when can I expect to see results?"

Thirty billion isn't a lot; the Beasts Pirates are in the business of Seastone and weapons, so they're genuinely wealthy and powerful.

Moreover, even if this investment is lost forever, the news we just heard has already made it worthwhile.

"About a year."

Knight answered.

"Fine, if you don't satisfy me by the deadline, I'll search the entire ocean and smash you into mincemeat!"

Knight simply raised his glass to Kaido and said, "It's a pleasure doing business with you."

I got Kaido to spend 3 billion on me with just three sentences.

Understand the applause.