Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 313 The Empire is Over? Devil Fruit User Experiments Begin!

Flornik, a city in the western part of the Empire.

Walking down the desolate street, Bane held a thick stack of newspapers in his hand, containing news from the past month or so.

He wore black sunglasses, had half a cigarette between his teeth, and carried a sword called Xin Du and the long-absent Chatar Legion officer's standard hand cannon—the Angry Bull Type VI—at his waist.

The reason for this "fully armed" appearance is that the current security situation here is extremely bad.

Even though Bane carried a knife and a gun at his waist, he could still occasionally see some thugs lurking in the shadows eyeing him as he passed by intersections, assessing whether he was qualified to hunt this "prey".

But it was clear that Bane had no intention of paying attention to the group of henchmen, and many of the covetous glances disappeared as soon as they saw the giant hand cannon hanging from his waist.

"I never imagined that the situation in the Empire would deteriorate to this extent. Luckily, I ran away quickly back then," Bane thought to himself, before walking to the door of a hotel whose sign was covered in cobwebs.

The hotel was never open; to be precise, the owner and his family had disappeared, leaving it an abandoned building.

Two days ago, after Bane and his companions traveled through the world and returned to this empire, they chose this place as a base of operations.

Standing guard in front of the hotel, with his arms crossed and a large machete sticking out, Weber looked at Bane and asked, "How's it going?"

"Well, it took some effort, but we finally found these newspapers," Bane said, dusting off the heavy newspapers in his hand.

Due to the collapse of law and order in Flornick, a large number of people have left, businesses are in a slump, and even newspapers are hard to find. It took Bane some effort to find one.

"Mr. Karp also arrested two petty thugs with murder charges against them, and they're being interrogated inside right now." Webber stepped aside from the dilapidated hotel room and said, "I'll keep an eye on things here. You two can discuss it carefully."

After Bane walked through the overgrown yard and entered the hotel, he saw Karp and the others gathered around two thugs, chattering away about something.

It's rather strange that they can understand the language and writing of this world, just like Bane. I wonder if it's because too many interdimensional portals have been opened recently, causing some change in the rules of this world? Or perhaps it's evolved?

However, Bane had no intention of investigating these reasons. After all, it was beneficial to them, these "visitors from another world," wasn't it?

"How's it going? Any success?" Bane walked into the house, closed the door, and asked casually.

Ain was standing in front of a signboard, which was probably used by the hotel to post notices or something, but now it was being used as a blackboard.

There's a lot written on it with gestures.

As soon as Bane opened his mouth, Karp punched the two thugs unconscious with two loud bangs and then threw them out the window into the yard, where they rolled onto the street.

Then Garp closed the window and said, "The level is too low, and these small fry don't know much, but it can't be said that we gained nothing."

Ain also spoke up, saying, "Based on the information we have so far, it has been almost four years since you last left here. Basically, the flow of time is consistent with your understanding."

"Besides that, the empire's order has basically collapsed, and the world is in utter chaos." Zephyr lit a cigar, sat on a wooden chair, and remarked with a sigh.

"Young Master, about half a year after you left the Empire, the Imperial Guards of the capital went to the western part of the Empire to quell a rebellion. An unexpected incident occurred; we haven't investigated the specific reasons, but they were defeated. At the same time, powerful nobles in the Empire took advantage of the Imperial Guards' absence to launch a rebellion. Although this rebellion disrupted the order of the capital, the Dragon Emperor was able to suppress it. However, while the Dragon Emperor was dealing with these rebellions, a portal opened above the capital." Aien pointed to a section of the information currently compiled on the blackboard, paused, and then continued, "We haven't obtained detailed intelligence on the specifics. After all, this place is too far from the capital. After the Imperial Guards were defeated, the order in the west basically collapsed completely, and information flow was low. But as it stands..."

"The portal that appeared in the capital city was filled with monsters that could not be observed by ordinary people. They had no ability to communicate and wantonly destroyed everything they saw. They were presumed to be spirits and were extremely dangerous. They had no leader and even killed and devoured each other. The capital city suffered a devastating blow as a result. The Dragon Emperor was confirmed dead, and the Crown Prince should have inherited the throne. However, the Crown Prince was also killed in the chaos, and the murderer has not been found to this day. Some speculate that the Crown Prince was killed by the monsters that escaped from the portal. In short, the empire has been in chaos ever since then," Fubuki continued, continuing Ain's story.

The Dragon Emperor is dead? Wasn't he supposed to be ruthless? He even slaughtered an entire world?

Regardless of the level of the world he slaughtered, it at least achieved the feat of 'world destruction,' right? That's it? Interdimensional portals are truly terrifying.

Bane, hearing this information, also felt a headache coming on, and then asked, "What happened to the interdimensional portal in the end?"

"After lasting for nearly three months, it disappeared on its own," Ain said. "However, in the years that followed, there seemed to be occasional reports of similar interdimensional portals appearing in various places, but we couldn't tell whether they were true or not."

Just then, Zephyr tapped the ash off his cigarette and said, "Actually, from another perspective, the collapse of the ruling class in this world is very beneficial to us. After all, we are outsiders. A powerful empire and an empire with a collapsed and chaotic order are definitely more in our interest and more convenient for us to do things right now."

"That makes a lot of sense," Garp nodded in agreement.

Instead of discussing this, Bane handed the newspaper in his hand to everyone to read.

The information above is actually quite difficult to understand; it's just a bunch of strange and chaotic things, mostly caused by interdimensional portals.

If they were to sort through this chaotic information, the general conclusion they could draw was that the empire was basically finished. It was unlikely that the current chaotic order could be restored in a short period of time, and it was even very likely that a truly unified empire would not emerge again for a very long time, such as a hundred years or even longer.

The nobles in various regions were basically doing their own thing. Even minor barons dared to raise the flag of rebellion. The strongest forces were some legion commanders who controlled the former imperial legions, and they were also engaging in marriage alliances with some of the great nobles.

Some ambitious individuals were also vying with each other, and the previously vigorous westward expansion also fizzled out as the imperial order collapsed.

In short, it's a scene reminiscent of the end of a dynasty.

This is just the beginning. As the turmoil deepens, productivity will inevitably collapse as well. Once the foundation that the empire has accumulated over the years is exhausted by the chaos, a world of cannibalism may be born.

These trends don't mean much to Bane and his team for the time being; in fact, they could be considered "good news."

Just as Professor Zephyr said, compared to a unified and powerful empire, an empire with a collapsed order is definitely more suitable for their survival, because theoretically, they are the invaders of this world.

"No matter how badly the Empire has fallen, it won't affect us for the time being. We have two key things to consider now. First, where can we obtain the knowledge of building interdimensional portals? Second, where should we choose as the foothold for our 'world'?" Bane said in a deep voice.

"The question of where to settle down still requires a lot of further investigation and consideration of various factors before a conclusion can be reached. Moreover, it will be an immature conclusion. For now, we can conduct intelligence gathering first and not rush into it. As for the matter of the interdimensional gate, we need to start with the forces that currently possess interdimensional gates, and they cannot be too powerful, otherwise the difficulty will change and we may alert them." Zefa stroked his chin and analyzed.

Bane was completely clueless about whether the interdimensional portal could be built here, because he didn't know anything about it. Before this, he was just a street thug in the Empire, so how could he be qualified to know these secrets?

His understanding of interdimensional gates was that they were uncontrollable at first glance, appearing randomly, but whether they could be controlled afterward, or whether they could be built or modified according to relevant principles, was unknown.

To find the answer, we first need to find a way to access a portal between realms, and then Dr. Genos will conduct research and analysis to see if any results can be obtained.

"If we go to their door to ask to study their interdimensional portal, they certainly won't agree to it easily. So, in the end, we still need to use force to seize it. Therefore, before we take action, let's improve our strength first," said Boss Zefa with a serious expression.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

Yi Xiao, who had been sitting silently, paused for a moment, then said, "Oh dear, Mr. Garp, you just threw away two experimental subjects."

"Damn it, I forgot about that!" Garp slapped his thigh and quickly opened the window to look outside.

"Luckily, I knocked them out first, and they're still on the street." Seeing the two unlucky guys still lying on the ground, Garp breathed a sigh of relief and ran out in a flash.

A short while later, he and Webber each carried a small thug in from outside.

When they entered, they saw that Bane had already laid out many different kinds of Devil Fruits on the table.

"As an experiment, although there are ways to recover them, it's better not to use overly rare and powerful Devil Fruits," Bane said, pointing to several Devil Fruits on the table. "These are all relatively common Devil Fruits. I brought them specifically for experiments, so I won't feel bad if they're ruined."

Garp looked at the Devil Fruits on the table; Nami had already carefully labeled them.

The Paramecia-type Jacket Fruit originally appeared in Dressrosa in the story. Later, perhaps due to the butterfly effect caused by Bane, the fruit was inexplicably found by the Navy. The original owner was probably dead and was taken in by Bane for experimental purposes.

After all, this thing is really useless. Its ability is to turn itself into a jacket that can be worn by others. It's ridiculous, isn't it?

There's also the Zoan-type Inu Inu no Mi (Dog-Dog Fruit) in Teddy form, which turns you into a swaggering teddy bear after eating it.

To make the experiments more precise and safe, Bane prepared experimental subjects from all three departments.

Besides Zoan and Paramecia types, there are also Logia types.

For example, the Logia-type White Mist Fruit is currently sitting on the table. It's not bad, after all, it's a Logia-type, but its strength isn't that great. It's the kind of fruit you can use for experiments without feeling too bad about it.

Besides these Devil Fruits, there was also a man whose hands and feet were bound with Seastone, whose mouth was stuffed with a rag, and who was leaning against a corner, being guarded by Yixiao.

He was a Devil Fruit user brought from the world of One Piece. He was a small-time pirate who was captured by Bane and his crew on their way to the East Blue, intending to use him for experiments.

After all, Issho ate a Devil Fruit over there, which has different variables, so safety should always come first, and everything must be taken into account.

Don't go through all the ups and downs over there, overthrowing the world government, killing the Five Elders, and taking down Im, only to turn around here, eat a Devil Fruit, and kill yourself. That would be too ridiculous.

"So, let's start with this guy," Bane said with a wicked grin as he looked at the Devil Fruit user who was tied up in the corner.

(End of this chapter)