From the Wandenreich's escape to One Piece

Chapter 104 The Lunaria Tribe, specifically targeting Kaido.

"This is?"

Inside Vegapunk's laboratory, he had just finished a research session and was about to get a drink of water when he saw Beltz walk in with the frozen Aronilo.

As per his agreement with Beltz, he would certainly listen to Beltz and research what he wanted, but he would also research some tools that would benefit the people according to his own ideas.

He simply wanted to use technology to change the world.

"A person who possesses strange powers."

Beltz said, "He possesses limitless devouring power; once he devours someone's body, he can even plunder their abilities."

"So, I'd like to ask you to take a look at it."

"What?! There's such an ability?!" Vegapunk exclaimed in surprise. "I've never even heard of it!"

"Actually, it's not just him. There are other people in this world who can obtain two Devil Fruits at the same time, or even more special abilities," Beltz said. "I'm preparing to set sail to find him, so I'll probably be at sea for a while longer."

"Oh, then leave it to me. I'll draw his blood."

"Be careful, he's very aggressive. If you need to draw blood or conduct any other research, make sure Rukia is watching over you while I'm not around."

Beltz thought for a moment, then added, "You must be careful of him. After he devours others, he can even gain their memories and transform into your appearance. I even considered killing him and then letting you study him."

"That won't do!" Vegapunk exclaimed hastily, "If it dies, its research value will be greatly reduced!"

"That's what I thought too, which is why I spared his life," Beltz said, walking toward Aaronello.

Just to be on the safe side, it's better for him to use his abilities to guarantee it.

With Aronilo frozen in ice, Beltz activated his psychiatrist abilities and entered Aronilo's sea of ​​consciousness.

From the surface ocean of the subconscious to the deeper sea of ​​the soul, Beltz planted a seed of loyalty within his heart.

With Beltz's power, he could turn Aaroniero into a loyal follower, but this would require slow guidance and a period of hypnosis to subtly influence his will.

Since this is just the beginning, let's start by instilling some mindset of loyalty to ourselves.

After that, Beltz also felt a bit dizzy. The Hollows' souls were too corrupting. He was a Quincy, and the power of the Hollows was like poison to him, even when they entered his ocean of consciousness.

Fortunately, the difference in strength between him and Arroniello was still quite large, so the impact on him was not too great, and he only needed to rest for a while.

He thawed part of Aaroniero, had Vegapunk draw a vial of blood from him, and then, sensing the fluctuations of the ice, slowly caused the thawed part to freeze back into ice.

The power of the Azure Dragon does not have the ability to control ice, but as Beltz and Rukia spent more time together, Beltz gradually extended his control over the elements to ice.

Although I can't control ice as freely as I can control fire and wind, it's not a problem to replenish the ice blocks like I am now.

After that, he left Oni Island and went to Beehive Island.

Shiki had long since returned from the expedition, and he was drinking and eating meat on Beehive Island, hosting a grand feast with his men.

"You're here too! Good news! Come on, let's drink and eat!"

Seeing Beltz approaching, Shiki, who was enjoying his drink, said happily.

"Boss Beltz! You haven't shown up in ages!"

The surrounding pirates also started making a fuss.

Seeing this, Beltz didn't refuse. He had some time to spare, so he sat down in a seat below Shiki. Soon, someone brought him a jar of wine and a large plate of meat.

Where have you been all this time?

After he sat down, Shiki tore off a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. While chewing, he asked, "I also went to sea." Beltz poured some wine into his bowl, took a sip, and said, "Guess who I met on this voyage?"

"Hmm—who?" Seeing Beltz's mysterious demeanor, Shiki's curiosity was piqued.

This guy always manages to surprise me with his words.

He took a sip of his drink.

"The son of Lox."

puff!

Shiki almost spat out the wine in his mouth. He looked at Beltz in shock: "Are you kidding me?"

That guy has a son? I've never heard of that before!

"You're too slow, aren't you? Lingling, Stussy, and those other women can all see that Rocks already has a wife and son." Beltz said without changing his expression. "That guy, he didn't leak a single word out. Hahaha, I admire him." Shiki laughed loudly: "How do you know all this? Forget it, it's pointless to ask you, you charlatan."

Although he was the old captain's son, Shiki wasn't particularly interested in it.

He didn't even care about the death of Rocks, so why would he care about one of his sons?

Besides, the Rocks Pirates have already disbanded, so there's no point in discussing these things anymore.

His eyes lit up, and he asked Beltz using the same tactic, "Guess who I met on this voyage?"

Beltz glanced at Skeeter, chuckled, and said, "Who else could it be? Roger, of course."

"!"

"You weren't following me, were you? You even found out!"

"I guessed."

"Don't try to fool me! Forget it, there's no point in talking to you about this."

"I was just guessing." Beltz shrugged.

But he wasn't just guessing; there were only a handful of pirates on the seas during that period who Shiki could acknowledge.

Roger is one, Whitebeard is one, and Shiki doesn't even consider the other pirates a threat.

Although Linlin and Kaido will become great pirates in the future, they are not as good as these people at this time.

Shiki neither confirmed nor denied it, and changed the subject, saying, "These days, the World Government seems to have become more active."

"Oh?" Beltz paused, then asked, "What do you mean?"

"Hahaha, so there are things you don't know, huh?" Shiki couldn't help but burst into laughter. "You're not a god, are you!"

"Where would I be a god?" Beltz retorted. "I already told you that what I said was just a guess."

"The king of the giants that Rocks had been pursuing has joined the World Government and is working for them," Shiki said, his voice lowering slightly. "They've been quite active lately."

Harald?

When Beltz traveled through time, he had only seen up to the God Valley arc in the manga. He hadn't even seen how Rocks died, let alone what happened to Harald later.

However, he knew Harald's fate, so he could guess that Harald did indeed later serve the World Government.

This guy is a real powerhouse.

Harald's strength is equal to that of Rocks, making him absolutely top-tier in this era.

Could the World Government's increased activity be related to being provoked by the Invisible Empire?

It seems that restoring Litoto's memories needs to be put on the agenda.

We need to send Litoto to the World Government to gather some information, and by the way—

He also wanted Litoto to do something for him.

That means finding Jin—no, not Jin yet, he should be called Abel.

This Alberu was Kaido's later right-hand man and a descendant of the Lunaria tribe.

Since he wants Vegapunk to create clones, he must provide them with the best possible configuration.

The genes of the Lunarians are also essential.

This thing has the ability to make Seraphs even more resilient than Kaido; he can't let it go.

So he thought of taking advantage of Jin's young age to snatch him away before Kaido could.

He only has about a year left, because if he remembers correctly, it will probably be next year. After Kaido is captured by the Navy, he will meet King and then take King away.

I don't know if it's in Punk Hazard.

No, we have to tell Shiki now that he and Shiki are going to split up.

So he ignored Shiki's question about Harald and instead asked, "Shiki, have you ever thought about recruiting a 'god'?"

"God?" Shiki asked with disdain. "You're not talking about the Celestial Dragons, are you?"

"Of course not, but a god from even more ancient times," Beltz said softly. "Long ago, there was a kingdom of gods on the Red Line, the Lunaria race."

"The Lunaria?" Shiki frowned upon hearing this. "I've heard of this race; they're wanted by the World Government. Do you know their whereabouts?"

"All I know is that the World Government is currently holding a Lunaria member captive. If you can rescue him, you might gain his loyalty. Having a Lunaria subordinate can definitely strengthen your power."

Beltz felt terrible after saying that.

He really went out of his way to fleece Kaido.

Kaido ate his own Devil Fruit.

Kaido's territory was taken by Shiki.

Now he's even trying to get Shiki to steal Kaido's future underlings.

So what's next?

Kaido's daughter?

Alas----

It's uncertain whether Kaido will be able to remain one of the Four Emperors in the future.

Although he has lost the Azure Dragon Fruit, his territory, and his second-in-command position, with his abilities, if he were to eat another powerful Devil Fruit, he could still potentially remain one of the Four Emperors.

"That's interesting."

Meanwhile, Shiki was seriously considering Beltz's proposal.

He is indeed severely understaffed right now.

Roger had Rayleigh and Jabba under his command, and Newgate had Boro Gram on his ship, while he himself didn't really have any capable men.

Beltz was called the first mate, but this guy wasn't really his subordinate; the two could only be described as business partners.

That's why Shiki has always wanted to recruit Kozuki Oden, hoping that Kozuki Oden could become his true second-in-command.

But this guy was completely unyielding, which annoyed Shiki.

As for the other samurai of Wano Country, while they are quite strong, none of them are qualified to be their second-in-command.

Therefore, Beltz's proposal at this moment was quite appealing to him.

The fact that the Lunaria race is wanted by the World Government means they must have something extraordinary about them.

If he could be recruited, it would indeed increase his power.

Do you know where he is?

"If I had known, I would have taken you there already," Beltz sighed. "That's why I told you. How about we have a competition? Whoever finds him first, he'll go with them?"

"Hahaha! You're definitely going to lose!"

Beltz was obviously unaware that Shiki was laughing heartily, which was great.

Although Beltz possessed a great deal of information from unknown sources, he was, after all, just one person.

He, Shiki, has a vast intelligence network at sea. If all else fails, he can always go to Lingling, who is known as the Queen of Intelligence.

He'll definitely find the Lunaria race sooner than Beltz!

Beltz didn't care. Whether he found it himself or Shiki found it, all he needed to do was borrow a vial of blood.

"Let's give it a year and see who can find him."

Beltz provoked Shiki with another remark.

"If you find him, all I need to do is lend him a vial of blood."

Upon hearing this, Shiki raised an eyebrow and said, "Then grant me one request as well."

"What?"

"Next time you go on a campaign with me, I'm going to take down that Roger guy!"

"—Let's forget about it." Beltz sighed, "Even with me here, Roger still had Rayleigh and Jabba."

"Cowardly!" Shiki said in a deep voice. "This is not cowardice, but wisdom." Beltz said calmly. Although the Roger Pirates often fought to a draw with so-and-so, were forced into dangerous situations by so-and-so, and were driven to the brink of despair by so-and-so, it does not mean that the Roger Pirates were weak.

Roger simply enjoyed fighting, so he mostly engaged in one-on-one duels.

Anyway, don't worry about how they get into danger or desperate situations. In the end, they'll all be fine, right?

Garp repeatedly put Roger in perilous situations, chasing him all over the world, and eventually a Pirate King emerged from that pursuit.

It's safe to say that Garp and Shiki were most likely part of Roger's crew's plot.

Rayleigh and Jabba, both of them are afflicted with Conqueror's Haki. If they were to actually fight, it would probably look like this.

Shiki single-handedly cornered the Roger Pirates!

Shiki and Beltz drove the Roger Pirates into a corner!

Then the Roger Pirates just packed up and ran away, and nothing happened to them.

Isn't this a complete waste of time?

Although battles can make one stronger, he's been very busy lately.

So he ignored Shiki and went back to the Kingdom of Sorbet in the South Sea.

It's been two and a half years since we last parted ways. I wonder how Big Bear and the others are doing.

The red-haired brothers must have grown up quite a bit. These two kids are very important; their talents are key to Beltz's future domination of the pirate world.

After having a drink with Shiki, Beltz left Wano Country and transformed into a blue dragon, flying towards the Sorbet Kingdom.

First, he wants to get his money back; second, he wants to retrieve Litoto's memories; and then he needs to go to Skypiea to take away the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the gold there!