Konoha's Mission Master

But two hours later, he opened his eyes.

The shadow clone that had slain the sinner encountered Whitebeard's fleet, which was heading to a deserted island under the shadow clone's guidance.

Are we finally going to meet...?

Yakumo thought to himself.

…………

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Chapter 342 Proof of Hegemony: The Illusory-Colored Mystic Bird Form

Although the shadow clone has already made contact with Whitebeard, given the distance between the ship and the deserted island, it will take them at least two days to arrive.

During this period, Yakumo plans to spend time analyzing and researching Mori Masako's Devil Fruit to see if it can be activated through Life Control.

Suddenly, he saw Maggie exercising.

"Machi, the Whitebeard Pirates will be arriving on this island in two days. Given your status, should you temporarily avoid them?"

Yakumo asked Machi, who was practicing her physical skills, "The Revolutionary Army is, after all, a secretive combat force. As the leader of the East Blue branch, Machi's identity is naturally highly confidential."

"I need to consult the leader about this."

Machi hesitated for a moment before giving her answer: the Whitebeard Pirates were, after all, a renowned and powerful force in the New World, and rashly making contact could very likely have adverse effects on the Revolutionary Army.

“Alright, but we need to hurry. I suspect they might use jet boats… to increase our speed,” Yakumo instructed.

Whitebeard's condition is not optimistic, and it is perfectly normal for Marco and Ace to hope that he can receive treatment as soon as possible and speed up their journey.

Upon hearing this, Machi slowly withdrew her strength on the platform and stood still, exhaling a long breath of stale air. She then went to find a place to contact the leader, Dragon.

Yakumo closed his eyes again, sensing the flow of life energy within his body, searching for an opportunity to transform life energy into Armament Haki. He had a feeling that he would definitely master it within half an hour.

The sun climbed directly overhead, blazing and the temperature suddenly rose.

Half an hour later, Yakumo opened his eyes. For some reason, he couldn't calm down. Mori Masako's face kept flashing before his eyes, making it hard for him to maintain his inner peace, as if something bad was about to happen.

This also resulted in him failing to master Armament Haki.

Seeing that Machi had returned to the platform, Yakumo went straight to his room and took out the Den Den Mushi he used to contact the dragon. He felt that he could only truly put his mind at ease after confirming some things.

Regarding the three-headed phoenix form, he always felt that things were not so simple.

"Pop pop pop".

Throughout the phone call, the background noise of gunfire continued; he was either on the battlefield or on his way there.

"Good brother, it's been so long since we last contacted each other, I miss you very much."

Monkey D. Dragon spoke first, his voice remaining as steady as ever, showing no change in tone despite being on the battlefield.

"There are two main things to discuss this time. First, Maggie's enhancement is proceeding in an orderly manner, but her willpower is nearing its limit. It is expected that this experiment will come to an end after the next enhancement."

Yakumo didn't immediately ask about the characteristics of the Three-Headed Phoenix Fruit, but instead explained Machi's current condition.

“I already know that. Well… I’ll get straight to the point. Since this experiment is safe, I plan to send a few of my subordinates who are Zoan-type Devil Fruit users to help enhance them.”

After several conversations, Ryu figured out Yakumo's personality: he liked things to be simple and straightforward, and disliked pretentious probing.

"No problem, approximately how many people?"

Yakumo immediately agreed. For him, this was invaluable experience, and he would only proceed with the Devil Fruit enhancement for Mori Masako once he was absolutely certain that everything was foolproof.

"Then it's settled, they will arrive one after another over the next three days."

"About five people."

Long immediately replied, his voice filled with undisguised joy.

"The Whitebeard Pirates will also be arriving in the next few days."

Yakumo kindly reminded him.

“I have considered this point. The Whitebeard Pirates were originally intended to be allies, and they wouldn’t meddle in other people’s business.”

"That makes some sense. Do you know about the Three-Headed Phoenix Fruit?"

Yakumo changed the subject and asked somewhat casually.

Upon hearing this question, the dragon fell silent once again.

"I've never heard of this fruit before."

"When I was young, I borrowed books about Devil Fruits from the Celestial Dragons' library. In other words... this fruit has never appeared in at least eight hundred years."

A dozen seconds later, Long gave a simple explanation.

Upon hearing this, Yakumo was filled with doubt. Was the dragon deceiving him?

Impossible, that doesn't make sense.

That means Masako Mori was lying to him.

The fruit was obtained from a warship transporting Celestial Gold. Even if it wasn't salvaged out of fear of the Deep Sea King, the Celestial Dragons' records would certainly include the Three-Headed Phoenix Fruit.

"The fruit's ability manifests as the ability to manipulate golden, high-temperature flames, as well as pure white, low-temperature flames." Yakumo paused for a moment, then rephrased his question.

After listening to Yakumo's explanation, Ryu searched his memory to match the fruit's ability that Yakumo had described.

"In that case, this fruit should be the Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Zoan type, Mythical Colored Black Bird form."

"However, this fruit has a major drawback. The more you use and develop the Devil Fruit's abilities, the easier it is to trigger a backlash of flames, ultimately being burned to ashes by the two-colored flames."

"Burned to ashes?"

Yakumo had a vague intuition that the Phantom Bird Fruit that the dragon mentioned was the same fruit that Mori Masako had consumed. However, she had changed the name of the fruit to conceal the heavy price it had to pay.

"That's right. According to legend, the Illusionary Bird hatches in magma and takes a hundred years to fully develop in the extreme cold."

"This also means that it is born with the ability to control two extremely domineering flames, one that is icy cold and the other that is like the sun descending to earth. The price is that every hundred years, the two flames in its body will lose their balance and merge into an even more domineering dual-color flame to temper its body. The first two times, it can still withstand it with its strong body."

"And the third time?" Yakumo pressed, his voice barely concealing his urgency.

"He has been dead since records began."

"If this fruit is applied to a user, how long will it take for its side effects to trigger?"

"Three to four years, at the latest no more than five years."

The dragon's voice sounded like a death sentence; though its tone remained unchanged, it sent chills down Yakumo's spine.

"I have something to do here, I'll contact you later."

Yakumo hung up the Den Den Mushi, his expression somewhat grim.

Could it be that... Masako Mori is destined for a life full of misfortune?

Not long after she recovered from her bloodline disease, she encountered another disastrous fruit.

However, his despair quickly dissipated, and several ways to deal with the current situation came to mind.

When one's strength reaches a certain level, death is merely a state, and this state is not constant; it can even be freely rewritten.

Yakumo gained many good ideas from Orochimaru.

For example... soul transfer is quite feasible.

Alternatively, before the third Nirvana, directly eliminate Mori Masako, use the Dark-Dark Fruit to separate the Illusionary Bird from its corpse, and then use the Samsara Rebirth Technique to revive Mori Masako.

Both methods should work, but it requires dying once. This death is not a terrible thing, but it is best to avoid it.

Such methods are not perfect. In Yakumo's mind, there must be a most perfect optimal solution, the optimal solution that is right in front of him.

The best solution would be to resolve the three Nirvanas events, allowing the Illusionary Bird Fruit to become a true asset to Mori Masako.

A hint of disdain flashed in Yakumo's eyes.

Devil Fruits are no match for this.

He already had a plan in mind.

A flash of golden light appeared around Masako Mori.

Throughout the entire island, there are wooden creations, with blood-red tree roots extending from the soil to form a huge net.

Yakumo can appear anywhere instantly.

Dozens of meters away, Masako Mori was using two completely different flames to heat a huge rock. The surface of the rock gradually cracked, and the cracks gradually widened until the huge rock split open from the center.

Mori Masako placed her right hand on the stone, increasing the output and temperature of the golden flames. Within a few breaths, the temperature became extremely terrifying.

Under the influence of the flames, large stones decompose and are eventually burned into ashes at high temperatures. These ashes are then scorched by the high temperatures and coalesce into a lava-like fluid, which, under the influence of gravity, ignites the lawn beneath their feet.

The power of this fruit is indeed immense; it unleashed such terrifying power so soon after being eaten.

Unfortunately, the price was equally high.

"Cough cough."

Yakumo coughed lightly and appeared not far from Mori Masako.

"Yakumo, you've arrived. This fruit is truly powerful."

Masako Mori withdrew the golden flames from her palm, greeted everyone excitedly, her face full of excitement and joy.

If Yakumo didn't know the truth about this fruit, he would have been completely fooled by Mori Masako.

"It takes the form of a phantom-colored black bird and will spontaneously combust within three to five years."

Yakumo calmly revealed the truth.

"You found out?" Masako Mori's smile faded, and she lowered her head guiltily. She hadn't expected that she couldn't even keep it a secret for a day.

"I know," Yakumo snorted, feigning anger.

"Actually... I didn't mean to hide it from you, I just didn't want you to be under too much pressure because of this, after all, there are still three years until Nirvana."

"We should face this together."

Yakumo held Masako Mori in his arms. He couldn't quite understand Masako Mori's decision to bear the burden alone. Sometimes girls' thoughts are just so unreasonable and illogical.

However, what could he do but offer his support and understanding?

"Come on, take a drop of blood, I'll analyze it."