Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 352 A Strange Path
Kaido is in a good mood today.

On one hand, the long-awaited "Big Signboard" position is finally about to be filled. With Ra's guarantee, the Beasts will have another high-end combatant.

On the other hand, he also learned that Obe seemed to be working on something interesting... although he didn't know exactly what it was, it seemed to be something that could rapidly expand the combat power of the middle and lower levels.

Over the years, Beasts has been intentionally collecting Devil Fruits, especially Zoan-type Devil Fruits... After all, these so-called 'treasures of the sea' are indeed shortcuts to making people stronger quickly.

Kaido has always had a dream: to create an army composed entirely of Zoan-type Devil Fruit users. This is why he named his pirate crew Beasts.

But reality gave him a harsh slap in the face.
Devil Fruits are extremely rare, and there's simply no reliable way to obtain them.

Don't assume that Devil Fruits are commonplace just because most of the powerful figures on the high seas are Devil Fruit users.

This is actually a clear case of survivorship bias.

Compared to the world's total population, Devil Fruits are incredibly rare...

In some countries, people who have never seen a person with superpowers in their entire lives even categorize those who gain abilities by eating Devil Fruits as monsters possessed by demons, and bully and expel them.
On the other hand, the Beasts aren't the only forces considering using Devil Fruits to enhance their power... Leaving aside the World Government, which has the widest reach and consumes the most, even the smaller pirate crews with a little ambition add up to a huge number.
Over the years, the Beasts have only managed to find a few scattered Devil Fruits, and they are all fruits that are comparable to the legendary "Human-Human Fruit - Commoner Form".

The cadres don't want to eat this stuff, and it's too wasteful to give it to the lower-ranking soldiers, especially since it cost hundreds of millions to acquire... It's truly tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away~
In short, the plan to mass-produce Zoan-type soldiers by using Devil Fruits to increase the combat power of low- and mid-level units was doomed from the start.
Now that this idea, which had been shelved for many years, has finally taken another turn for the better, Kaido couldn't help but let out a soft hum.
Okay, that's great!
I heard that things are going smoothly in Wano Country too~
These days, all the animals are thriving!
……

With light steps, Kaido arrived at the training ground and, as expected, saw that blue figure.

He'd heard in the cafeteria earlier that Oberyn had arranged to meet Queen, which must be the thing Ra mentioned in the test... Kaido began to look forward to it with great anticipation.
"Wooo-ha-ha-ha!"

“Obe, I heard from your sister—”

boom--! ! !
Kaido's voice was drowned out by a burst of light.

……

"Um?!"

At the Syracuse restaurant on the other side of the island, Miss Lapu, who was squeezing sauce onto freshly cooked spaghetti, suddenly swayed and squeezed a large blob of dark brown chocolate sauce off the plate.

"what happened?"

"Is it an earthquake?"

"It shouldn't be. Fenrir Island is not on an earthquake zone, and there haven't been any earthquakes there in recent years."

"This noise sounds more like an explosion."

Across from Miss Lapp, Miss Nina, dressed as a waitress, calmly pulled another Pocky stick from the box and put it in her mouth.

She has resigned from the convenience store across the street and started working as a waitress at [Syracusan]... This is good news for old Mr. Saluzzo, who can finally retire at his age.

"explode?"

"I remember that direction should be the Beasts' arsenal, right? Could something have happened at the gunpowder depot?"

"Perhaps~ Didn't the Beasts blow up a gunpowder depot a few years ago, and there was that one not long ago... but the commotion wasn't as big as this one."

"By the way, is the pasta ready yet? The customers are getting impatient."

"Yes yes yes~"

After setting down the jar of chocolate sauce, Chef Lapp added a cherry on top.

"【Colorful Dark Chocolate Pasta】—Done!"

"Here you are, beautiful lady."

With a blank expression, Miss Nina took the plate and glanced at the so-called 'traditional delicacies of the West Sea'... She sighed.

"Ah~"

“If this were in Sicily, you and your family would be in hell, Lapp.”

"But aren't those the ones going to hell now?"

Miss Lapp smiled, revealing her sharp teeth.

……

The training ground for all the beasts has disappeared.

Not only the training ground, but also the surrounding forest spanning several square kilometers, along with all sorts of wild animals, were blasted into the air... Among them, a round figure could still be seen. Obey's attempt failed.

As she inserted the card, infused with a portion of her power, into her belt and prepared to combine... the unexpected happened as expected.

The rudimentary driver was unable to access the powerful energy of the phantom god, and naturally, an overload occurred, which directly led to a chain reaction of explosions in the entire energy circuit.

The power belonging to the God of Destruction poured out, like a raging wind that destroyed everything, tearing everything in its path to shreds!
This time, the power was far greater than the two times Osei accidentally set fire to the armory and went berserk, blowing up the laboratory; it practically created a huge hole in the island.

Fortunately, the training ground was in a remote location, and the Beastmen were busy at the port transferring supplies to Wano Country, so there were no casualties... Of course, the animals could only accept their bad luck.

"As expected, the first-generation driver was not able to handle the power of high-level Duel Spirits... at least not at the level of Phantom Gods."

As the aftershocks of the explosion subsided, amidst the smoke and dust, Ou Bei bent down and picked up a piece of metal that had been blown beyond recognition from the ground.

She looked extremely disheveled.

The belt that used to hang around her waist was nowhere to be seen, and her clothes were also torn to shreds, hanging on her body like strips of cloth... If her figure had even a little bit of curves, it would have been quite a sight to behold.

Despite looking disheveled, Ou Bei was actually not seriously injured.

The power stored in the cards originates from her own being, giving her almost complete resistance to destructive energies...

Therefore, she was more concerned about the collection of data from this experiment.

"Oh no... this is troublesome. The black box that records data has also been blown up. Now even the data for [X - Boss's Head] is gone."

Looking at the recording box in his hand, which turned to dust with the slightest pressure, Obe scratched his head helplessly.

"As expected, we shouldn't have gone straight for the God Card. We should have started with Axe King and gradually increased the star level."

"The material of the driver also needs to be improved. It just so happens that Osei has the superpower to create solid-state objects by hand."

"And then there are the cards that serve as the medium..."

"The success of creating a four-star spirit has been confirmed, so the next step is the five-star spirit."

bang~
Just as Ober was resting his chin on his hand, starting to habitually engage in a brainstorming session, he suddenly bumped into something in front of him.

She looked up and...

"Ok?"

"Kaido? What are you doing here?"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"Obe, you little rascal, the bomb you made is really something else."

Kaido, surrounded by smoke and dust, coughed a few times.

Because he was relatively far away, he wasn't blown away like someone else, but his body was still torn in several places by the powerful gusts of wind from the explosion, and his favorite fur cloak was also ripped.

"That's not a bomb... Never mind, I can't explain it to you."

"Excuse me, I need to go see my older sister about something."

Ignoring why the other party was nearby, Obe just wanted to get there as quickly as possible...

This initial success made her eager to continue experimenting. She hoped to use this method to help awaken her powers.

After all, it would be too much to ask her to have a mind-blowing awakening like Ossie, a typical hot-blooded protagonist.

She's just an ordinary little phantom god; she shouldn't be treated so harshly.

After much thought, Obe decided that instead of hoping to suddenly have an epiphany like Osi, it would be better to stick to his area of ​​expertise in technology and create his own "Deep Blue" to boost his skills.

She now has a vague idea... to rely on those card spirits and make them part of the divine power.

What's wrong with me, a dignified sacrificial weapon, offering up some lowly fish spirits as sacrifices?
With maximum soul power, your attack power skyrockets to infinity—do you understand the significance of that?
"Ah, right."

After walking a short distance towards his residence, Oberon suddenly turned back and reminded Kaido:
"Quinn seems to have flown towards the sea. That guy's a Devil Fruit user, right? Remember to find someone to try and rescue him!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)