Blake's cheat had appeared in this world together with him.
But Blake wasn't Kozuki Oden. He couldn't stand up the moment he was born and start throwing hands.
In those first few years, even when he drew nothing but a random nobody, Blake still wasn't a match. All he could do was grow up slowly while quietly hammering his body into shape.
Fortunately, Celestial Dragons usually had decent physical foundations.
Adult Celestial Dragons were commonly around three meters tall—Admiral height, basically. It was just that most of them, due to a complete lack of training, ended up bloated and soft. Very few Celestial Dragons could truly calm down and cultivate strength.
Blake's natural physique was exceptional. Before he turned ten, he could already deal with a portion of the "random nobody" draws.
Those opponents had no Devil Fruit, no special physique, and no Haki at all. The Ability Cards he earned from them could only raise Blake's raw physical toughness.
But if he kept progressing like that, and wanted to rely on pure physique to withstand a powerhouse with Armament Haki… he might have to stack his body all the way up to Charlotte Linlin's level.
The turning point came when he was twelve.
At twelve, Blake awakened Observation Haki on his own.
With Observation, he became effortless against no-Haki nobodies, and his physique climbed rapidly. With an advantage that was practically precognition, even when he faced an opponent stronger than himself, he could still maneuver and survive.
At thirteen, thanks to his improved body—and deliberate training—he finally awakened Armament Haki as well.
That way, even if a "random nobody" turned out to be a New World veteran with two types of Haki, Blake could still fight.
Another three years passed. Most of the cards Blake drew were still monsters he couldn't beat—but thanks to the "hard work" of countless random opponents, Blake still built up strength enough to contend with Tina.
…
After breakfast, Blake began another aimless day.
"My strength has already reached the level of a Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral," he thought. "The commotion from training is getting bigger and bigger. It's not exactly convenient in the Holy Land anymore. From now on, I'll have to rely mainly on real combat inside the system space."
Blake's identity was, in truth, a little awkward.
Among the nineteen families of Celestial Dragons—including the families that produced the Five Elders—there wasn't really any power struggle. Aside from a handful of "ambitious" types who wanted to join the God's Knights, most Celestial Dragons were deadweight who lived to eat and wait for death. At worst, they'd have a petty conflict over who "owned" some slave… and forget about it the next day.
People from the "elite circle" and the "trash circle" rarely had anything to do with each other. Unless they were born into the same family, they might spend their entire lives as nothing more than polite acquaintances who nodded in passing.
Blake, of course, kept to the trash circle as an invisible nobody.
Only by lying low could he grow safely.
He could wait until the day he could easily beat Imu inside the card space—then step out into the light. Not before.
The problem was: Blake didn't have any true, direct subordinates.
The maids and guards in his estate were fine for chores, but if he wanted to train them into genuinely useful experts, he'd have to spend Ability Cards on them.
And according to Blake's plan, he wouldn't start handing out physique-boosting or Haki-boosting Ability Cards to subordinates until he himself reached Admiral level.
For ordinary errands, Blake could simply have Cipher Pol handle it.
But for a mission like going to Birka to find the Rumble-Rumble Fruit… Blake honestly didn't have a single subordinate he truly trusted with something like that.
If he let CP do it, they would indeed bring the fruit back—then immediately report every detail of the operation to the Five Elders.
That would put Blake on the Five Elders' radar.
The Five Elders probably wouldn't care much. They definitely wouldn't steal his Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
But once you're exposed, doing anything afterward only becomes more troublesome.
With a sigh, Blake shifted his focus to the seas.
Crocodile and Moria would each challenge Whitebeard and Kaido within the next few years. After losing, one would run back to Paradise and rot, while the other would start digging up graves everywhere.
Many transmigrators before him had supposedly recruited those two by promising revenge and the like.
But Blake knew himself. He wasn't a master of "talk-no-jutsu." He couldn't just raise his arms and have the world's strong flock to him. And those two weren't the kind of personalities who would willingly live under someone else's thumb.
Bartholomew Kuma, Jinbe, and Hanafuda could potentially be subordinates… but the first two had fundamental stance conflicts with Blake, and the last had deep ties to Kaido—deep enough to entrust children to him.
As for the Marines, there was no need to even talk about it.
Sure, under Fleet Admiral Kong, the Marines weren't as "independent" as they would become after Sengoku took over—but ever since Zephyr became a Marine instructor, certain signs had already started to appear.
Unless Blake fully revealed his talent and obtained the Five Elders' backing, trying to "borrow" people from the Marines was pure delusion.
"Forget it," Blake muttered. "I should just focus on leveling up first. Once I get Charlotte Linlin's Iron Balloon, I won't have to worry about safety at sea."
He sighed, returned to his room, and spoke:
"System, activate!"
After obtaining Tina's Armament Haki, Blake's strength had skyrocketed. He decided to challenge Charlotte Linlin's card once again.
If he could obtain Charlotte Linlin's "Iron Balloon," then even if his overall strength still fell short of an elite Vice Admiral, he would be able to endure long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
At that point, he could finally leave Mary Geoise and go out to sea to find suitable subordinates.
Blake reappeared inside the card space.
This time, the scene was a town.
…
Another punch. Blake could only keep dodging—he had no room to counterattack at all.
Charlotte Linlin's strength and defense were inhuman. Even with Blake's Armament Haki improved, what he needed to do was not trade blows head-on with her.
Blake had never understood this world's fighting style.
All those people who liked to fight with "fist against fist" and "power against power"—sure, it looked hot-blooded, but… can't you just dodge?
The efficiency was painfully low.
Over years of fighting inside the card space, Blake had gradually explored a fighting style of his own.
It wasn't anything fancy.
He dodged, used his forearms to block what had to be blocked, then struck the opponent's head and liver for efficient, effective damage.
It sounded simple.
Yet it already surpassed everyone on the seas.
Why did so many people in this world look like their HP bars were absurdly thick?
Because combat on the seas was all brute force.
You fire your big move, I fire my big move—beam clash!
Dodge?
Doesn't exist.
Whoever dodges first is a low-tier pirate!
Most of the damage gets worn down by the other side's attacks anyway, and the strikes usually don't land on truly fatal spots.
In a world where everyone is basically a walking blood tank, that kind of injury doesn't kill anyone.
Charlotte Linlin slammed another fist into the ground. Blake's eyes flashed.
His feet hammered the earth—one step, two—his body flickered onto Linlin's hand, then flickered again, appearing right in front of her.
Both hands formed into a hammer.
Armament Haki pushed to its limit.
Ruthless. Ruthless—
ONE. PUNCH.
Charlotte Linlin was smashed backward, her whole body flipping as she crashed down. Dust exploded into the air.
And Blake?
He didn't pose. He didn't stand there watching.
He didn't do that "no damage in the smoke" routine the so-called strong in this world loved so much.
He surged forward, charging straight at her!
Finishing blows matter!
While you're sick, I'll end you!
You want to play "smoke with zero damage"? The "lie down—then sit up again" game?
"THEN BURST THAT IRON BALLOON FOR ME!!!"