Chapter 146: Harvest and Summoning!
"Uchiha Madara. Bounty: 2,500,000,000 Berries."
The sunlight filtered through the rigging of the Vermillion Wing, casting striped shadows across the deck. Uchiha Madara stood near the railing, the sea breeze ruffling his wild, spiky black hair. He held the newspaper with one hand, his crimson armor glinting in the light.
Even he, the legendary Ghost of the Uchiha, upon seeing this astronomical number, felt a ripple of pride. His eyes scanned the bold text beneath the photograph: "Directly confronted a Yonko, BIG MOM, and emerged undefeated. A threat level comparable to the Emperors themselves."
The corners of his lips curved upwards into a subtle, arrogant arc of satisfaction. It wasn't the money he cared about—currency was meaningless to a dead man walking—but the acknowledgment of his power.
"Hmph," Madara scoffed lightly, though the tone lacked his usual bite. "A mere Yonko is nothing special. The so-called 'strong ones' of this pirate era are only at this level? It seems I overestimated this world."
However, in the very next second, the smile on his face instantly froze.
It didn't fade; it solidified into a mask of disbelief.
His gaze, which had been lingering on his own glory, slowly shifted upwards on the page. It landed on the photo right next to his—a photo that was arguably larger, more dynamic, and infinitely more infuriating.
It captured the exact moment a colossal wooden fist smashed into the face of an azure dragon.
"Hashirama Senju. Bounty: 2,900,000,000 Berries."
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence descended upon the immediate vicinity of the Uchiha legend.
The temperature on the deck seemed to drop by more than ten degrees instantly. The seagulls overhead seemed to stop crying, sensing the ominous aura radiating from the man in red armor.
Uchiha Madara's face visibly darkened. It happened at a speed visible to the naked eye, transitioning from smug satisfaction to a shade as black as the bottom of a burnt pot. The veins on his forehead began to throb rhythmically.
He slowly raised his head. His Sharingan eyes showed no emotion, yet they carried a chilling, empty coldness that made the nearby crew members' hearts palpitate. He turned his gaze, heavy with judgment, and stared deeply at Hashirama Senju, who was currently eating a rice ball nearby.
Bang!
Madara didn't say a word. He simply slammed the newspaper onto the wooden deck with enough force to crack a plank.
He turned on his heel, his cape swirling dramatically, and walked toward the storage room.
"Boring," he threw out the sentence coldly, his voice dripping with disdain. "I'm going fishing!"
His desolate back was filled with the domineering aura of "you mortals simply don't understand my loneliness," but anyone could see the raging fire of jealousy burning beneath the surface.
"Huh? Madara?"
Hashirama Senju was still completely clueless. He swallowed his rice ball, blinking his large, confused eyes. He scratched his head, his long hair swaying, not understanding why his old friend—his "bosom friend"—was suddenly throwing a tantrum again.
"What's wrong with you? Did the fish offend you?"
Hashirama walked over and picked up the abused newspaper from the deck. He smoothed out the wrinkles confusedly.
"Let me see..."
When his eyes landed on his own wanted poster, and specifically the bounty amount, he first paused. His eyes widened. Then, slowly, a bright, almost foolish smile spread across his face, stretching from ear to ear.
"Oh!"
He rubbed the back of his head and let out a hearty, booming laugh that shook the sails.
"Hahahahahahaha! Look at this! It seems I'm quite talented at being a pirate!"
He jumped up, waving the paper in the air like a flag.
"I'm actually so much higher than you, Madara! Four hundred million more! As expected of me! The First Hokage is the First Pirate too!"
With that, he held the newspaper and, acting exactly like a primary school student who got a perfect score on a test and ran to show off to the perennial second-place student, he excitedly chased after Madara's retreating figure.
"Hey! Madara! Don't go! Look, look!"
Hashirama's voice was full of genuine, grating joy.
"Two billion nine hundred million! I, Hashirama Senju, now have the highest bounty on the ship! Hahahaha! Higher than yours! You're only the second highest! Second place is still good, Madara!"
"Scram!"
A low growl, suppressing endless rage and the urge to summon a meteor, came from the side of the ship where Madara was aggressively preparing his fishing rod.
"Don't talk to me, you idiot!"
Watching this all too familiar scene, Suzaku and the other crew members on the ship couldn't help but laugh.
Rem covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking. Albedo rolled her eyes but smirked. Even the stoic Ulquiorra seemed to be observing the interaction with mild curiosity.
"The Marine still wants to use a divisive scheme?" Suzaku thought, shaking his head with amusement. "Tsuru, oh Tsuru. You miscalculated one thing."
How ridiculous. Do these two still need others to sow discord between them?
They were Madara and Hashirama. They didn't need a bounty difference to fight. They could start a world-ending battle over trivial matters like "you skipped a stone further than me" or "you ate an extra piece of meat today." Their rivalry was etched into their very souls; a few numbers on a piece of paper wouldn't break their bond, only fuel their eternal, childish competition.
What's more...
The smile on Suzaku's face grew wider, his eyes losing focus on the physical world as his consciousness immersed itself in the system panel that only he could see.
The text was scrolling rapidly, a waterfall of blue notifications.
[Ding! Detected a significant increase in the legend points of subordinate 'Uchiha Madara'!]
[Current Legend Points: (+3588... +3599... +3610...)]
[Ding! Detected a significant increase in the legend points of subordinate 'Hashirama Senju'!]
[Current Legend Points: (+5899... +5921... +5955...)]
The numbers were climbing at a terrifying rate. It wasn't just a trickle; it was a flood. Every time a pirate read that newspaper, every time a Marine shivered at the thought of the Wood Release, every time a civilian whispered the name "Hashirama," Suzaku grew stronger.
Looking at the rapidly fluctuating numbers on the panel, Suzaku was so happy he could barely close his mouth. He felt like a stock trader watching his portfolio skyrocket to the moon.
"Sow discord? Bring it on!"
He wished the Marine would set his crew's bounties higher than the sky! He wished they would value Madara at ten billion!
The higher the bounty, the deeper the fear.
The deeper the impression on pirates, Marines, and civilians worldwide, the more Legend Points he could gain!
This was the foundation of his strength. The Marines were essentially funding his army expansion program for free.
Suzaku leaned against the railing in a cheerful mood, enjoying the sea breeze. He watched Uchiha Madara, with a "don't bother me or I'll kill you" scowl, sulking at the entire ocean with a fishing rod. Beside him, Hashirama Senju kept chattering, "sharing" his joy and occasionally patting Madara's shoulder, only to be swatted away.
This continued until lunch.
After a hearty meal, Suzaku glanced at the system panel again. The explosive growth rate of legend points had basically stabilized. The initial shockwave of the news had passed, and now it was just a steady stream.
The harvest season was over.
Suzaku's smile transformed from amusement to anticipation. His eyes gleamed with a gambler's hunger.
It was time... to use this "huge sum" for an exciting lottery!
He stood up, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"I'll be in my cabin," he announced to the crew. "Don't disturb me unless the Marines send an Admiral."
He turned, pushed open the Captain's cabin door, and walked in.
With a heavy click, the Captain's cabin door was locked from the inside by Suzaku. He even engaged the deadbolt.
The outside noise of Hashirama's laughter and the waves crashing against the hull were instantly cut off. The room was silent, save for the creaking of the wood and the sound of his own breath.
Haa... Haa...
His breathing was slightly heavy. In the quiet room, the drumming thump-thump of his wildly beating heart sounded like a war drum.
"I'm rich!"
"This time, I'm truly, genuinely rich!"
Suzaku leaned against the door, sliding down slightly. A look of wild, unadulterated joy distorted his face. If his crew saw him now, they might think their Captain had finally snapped.
He rubbed his hands together vigorously, looking very much like a fly spotting a feast, or a goblin spotting gold.
Suppressing his excitement, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
"System," he whispered. "Open the panel."
He eagerly opened the interface. The translucent blue screen that hovered in the air was more dazzling than ever before!
[Subordinate: Hashirama Senju]
[Legend Points Contributed: 81,540 points]
[Subordinate: Uchiha Madara]
[Legend Points Contributed: 64,280 points]
"Incredible," Suzaku murmured.
These two combined amounted to a total of 145,820 legend points!
And that wasn't all. Adding himself to the equation—although his bounty didn't increase this time, his status as the Captain who "controlled" these two peerless fiends had skyrocketed. His mystique and importance in the eyes of the world had surged.
His personal Legend Points had risen accordingly.
[Total Available Legend Points: 152,000]
Now, he had a total of over one hundred and fifty-two thousand legend points to use!
Looking at the string of numbers flashing with blue light, Suzaku felt that this digital currency was even more dazzling than the most beautiful gold or the rarest Devil Fruit in the world!
"One 'Rare Grade Summon' requires 50,000 legend points..."
Suzaku did the math quickly.
"150,000... doesn't that mean..."
Suzaku licked his somewhat dry lips. A fanatic light burst forth from his eyes—the look of a man about to bet the house.
"I can draw prizes three times!"
Three Rare Summons.
Take a gamble, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle!
With three 'Rare Grade Summon' chances, the probability was on his side. Even the unluckiest person in the world wouldn't fare too badly with three shots at the high-tier pool.
"Go, go, go!"
He paced around the room.
"What if... what if I'm incredibly lucky and get a few monsters directly? Another Madara level? Or maybe someone with utility powers?"
That scene was too beautiful. Suzaku dared not even imagine it fully, lest he jinx it.
He stopped in the center of the room. He took a deep breath, centering himself.
"No hesitation. Hesitation is defeat."
Without any further delay, Suzaku's mind moved, and he directly clicked open the summon interface!
"System! First, one 'Rare Grade Summon'! Let's test the waters! Let me see the quality!"
[Confirm consumption of 50,000 legend points for 'Rare Grade Summon'...]
[...Confirmed.]
[Summoning initiated!]
Buzz...!
Accompanied by the system's mechanical prompt, the reality within the Captain's cabin began to warp.
The space suddenly rippled like water disturbed by a stone.
A magical light, as warm as a pearl yet sacred and vast, emerged out of thin air. It swirled on the floor, quickly outlining a complex and mysterious summoning array. Runes from unknown worlds flashed in sequence—gold, azure, and crimson.
The light intensified, growing brighter and brighter until it illuminated the entire room as if it were a divine realm, banishing every shadow!
Suzaku narrowed his eyes against the glare, staring intently at the center of the magic array. His heart was in his throat.
"Who is it?"
Within the blinding pillar of light, a silhouette began to form.
It was tall. Graceful. Distinctly female.
The figure was slowly materializing from illusion to reality, knitting together bone, flesh, and spirit.
Crack... crack...
As she appeared, a strange sound echoed in the room. It was the sound of freezing.
The temperature in the entire Captain's cabin began to plummet at an astonishing speed! It dropped from a tropical warmth to a biting arctic chill in a split second.
Snap.
The moisture in the air instantly froze into tiny crystals that danced in the light. Beautiful, intricate ice flowers condensed on the window glass, blocking out the sun. The wooden floorboards groaned as they contracted from the cold.
Suzaku exhaled, and the breath turned into a thick, clearly visible white mist that hung in the air.
The light swirled around the figure, obscuring the details but revealing the shape.
Standing silently in the center of the magic array was a woman's silhouette of breathtaking stature. Even before the light faded fully, an aura of absolute dominance and bone-chilling cold swept outward, demanding submission.
Suzaku's eyes widened as he recognized that specific, terrifying pressure.
[Akarin Note:
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