The ninth day after Pain's great battle with CP0.
In the New World, the latter half of the Grand Line, in what was once Whitebeard's Domain, Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was looking at a newspaper.
Teach was missing a few teeth, had a rough appearance, thick body hair, and was a burly middle-aged man. Blackbeard had dark skin, black, fluffy hair, and wore a headscarf. He had two necklaces around his neck, bracelets on both wrists, and various styles of jeweled rings on all ten fingers. Three flintlock pistols were tucked into his left waist, and a bottle of strong rum was in his right. He wore a white shirt with a black outer coat, habitually unbuttoned, exposing his chest.
His beard, which had grown long after the Marineford War, was braided into four plaits, and he wore a Captain's hat emblazoned with the Blackbeard Pirates' symbol. Blackbeard had a gambler's personality, willing to endure for decades within the Whitebeard Pirates solely to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit. If he couldn't get it, he would have remained a member of the Whitebeard Pirates for the rest of his life. He gambled his future on an uncertain outcome.
Teach had no sympathy for the weak; he valued only power. His words during the great incident also showed that Blackbeard's respect for his old man, who had looked after him for decades, was limited to power, not gratitude. This revealed him to be an extremely utilitarian person who worshipped power.
Teach's true nature was tenacious yet insidious, cruel yet greedy. More than twenty years of lurking, and he could even betray friends, clearly demonstrating his tenacity, cruelty, and greed. Repeatedly hiding his ambition highlighted his insidiousness. Teach was arrogant and reckless; this was the assessment given by Whitebeard, his old man who had looked after him for decades. Immediately after acquiring Whitebeard's power, Blackbeard declared that his era had begun, and he himself was indifferent to this weakness.
Blackbeard couldn't help but burst into laughter after reading the information in the newspaper.
"Information about the Ancient Weapon 'Pluton'? ... I'm searching everywhere for it..."
"Zehahahahaha..."
The details of Pain's battle with CP0 had already been spread worldwide by newspapers. Organizations and forces, regardless of their size, all knew of the Akatsuki Organization's existence. And the masterminds behind all this were none other than Fleet Admiral Sakazuki and the Gorosei of the World Government.
The day after Pain's battle with CP0, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, "Akainu," at Marineford, had already received battle reports from two sources. One came from Lucci's hand, and the other from Aokiji's. Lucci reported the battle truthfully without any concealment, while Aokiji took responsibility, claiming his tardiness caused it.
Akainu was furious after reading the two battle reports, smashing everything he could in his office to vent his anger. Akainu was quite helpless; he had paid enough attention to Kozuki Oden, even dispatching Aokiji, who was on a secret mission, only to suffer heavy losses and return empty-handed. This made Akainu feel utterly humiliated and made him wonder if Aokiji had acted intentionally.
Now, Kozuki Oden and others had escaped into the sky due to Golden Lion's ability and were nowhere to be found, leaving Akainu with power but no target. In his helplessness, Akainu could only report the situation truthfully to the Gorosei, who also looked helpless upon receiving the battle report. Finally, after deliberation, the Gorosei made a unified decision: to conceal the information that Kozuki Oden was alive and to issue a warrant for the arrest of Pain, the leader of the newly formed Akatsuki Organization.
The Gorosei's purpose in doing this was to draw the attention of various forces to the Akatsuki Organization, making them the World Government's eyes. Once Akatsuki Organization members appeared, they could be immediately identified and pursued. Originally, the Gorosei intended to conceal the complete defeat of CP0, but considering that doing so would fail to draw the attention of various world forces to the organization, thus not achieving their desired goal, they deliberated and then released Pain's bounty, leading to the current situation where various forces are paying attention. The Gorosei made no mention of the handling of CP0, the reason being Aokiji's intervention.
Time returns to the present. Floating Island.
Pain still didn't know that the organization had gained some fame in this world and was on the World Government's wanted list. Although only Pain's image was depicted, the names of other members known to the World Government were also listed.
Since defeating the CP0 members last time, after clearing the battlefield, Golden Lion piloted the Floating Island away from Alabasta and was now above the White Sea in the first half of the Grand Line. After a month of Cultivating, Pain and the others had all made progress, with their Chakra reserves now reaching two-thirds of what they were in their previous life. This progress was due to a Chakra refinement speed three times faster than before. Pain had also stopped Cultivating a day ago and was now busy with Konan and Golden Lion.
Pain hadn't had time to properly manage Sky Island since acquiring it. Now, with rare leisure time, Pain planned to thoroughly arrange the Sky Island's defenses and divide the areas for the subsequent arrangement of Akatsuki Organization personnel.
What Pain and the others were currently busy with was setting up the "Five Seal Barrier" and the "Mirror Attacker Technique," Ninjutsu that Pain had used in his previous life when gathering Akatsuki members. Within the barrier, all physical attacks were ineffective; only by simultaneously tearing off the "Forbidden" talismans could the barrier be broken. The "Mirror Attacker Technique" was a trap set within the "Five Seal Barrier." When someone tore off the "Forbidden" talisman, a copy with the same appearance and abilities as the original talisman-tearer would be replicated and attack them.
The Floating Island was too large for Pain to cover entirely, so he ultimately chose to set up the central area and make plans. The central area Pain chose covered about five thousand square meters, which he planned as a meeting area, a Cultivating area, and an important material storage area. Each area was covered by the "Five Seal Barrier" and constructed by Golden Lion using his ability to float materials. As early as before Pain entered his Cultivating state, he had instructed Golden Lion to collect materials along the way for construction, and now everything was complete.
It took Pain and the others a full day to finish their work. As soon as the barrier was set up, Pain called everyone for a meeting to discuss the next plan. Not long after, Oden and Reno arrived at the meeting room. After everyone had taken their seats around a large round table, Konan was the first to speak, introducing the function of the barrier and the "Mirror Attacker Technique" to everyone.
After Konan's clear introduction, Pain spoke, "Shiki... before I entered Cultivation, I asked you to closely monitor the World Government's subsequent actions. Please tell everyone the situation..."
Golden Lion smiled, silently producing several newspapers and distributing one to each person. The content was precisely what the World Government had released seven days after the great battle. Seeing that everyone had finished reading, Golden Lion shared his thoughts.
"Pain... the World Government wants our organization to be known worldwide so that people from other forces become the World Government's eyes..."
Golden Lion was a man of great ambition, clearly distinguishing between occasions where he could be unrestrained and those requiring solemnity. Oden, having heard Golden Lion's words, also agreed and shared his thoughts.
"The World Government deliberately concealed the information that I am alive, yet emphasized that our organization has mysterious powerhouses... They are preparing to let other forces weaken us and then profit from it... Truly insidious..."
Reno did not speak. Reno understood that in terms of insight and strategy, he differed from his master and Golden Lion. Since they both saw it this way, it was clear that this was indeed the case. Pain listened to Oden and Golden Lion's words and then spoke.
"Since the World Government only has these ghostly tricks, let's put them aside for now..."
Pain took out two Devil Fruits obtained from Blueno and Kalifa and continued, "I currently have two Devil Fruits from the CP0 members I killed... My original intention was to use them on the corpses I animate... but I felt these two Devil Fruits weren't powerful enough, so I didn't use them... You are more familiar with Devil Fruits... Tell me which Devil Fruits are powerful... and let's discuss how to deal with these two Devil Fruits..."
Pain told everyone his thoughts, mainly because he didn't know which fruits could meet his needs. Reno's eyes lit up when he heard what Pain brought up. For him, who had read the "Devil Fruit Encyclopedia," he was the most suitable to answer Pain's questions, so he unhesitatingly began to explain.
To be continued...