One Piece: The Celestial Dragons' Self-Cultivation

Page 6

"You're quite good at providing me with emotional value."

This is the part of Stella's personality that Blake likes the most.

Whether she accepts adversity or goes with the flow, Stella always seems to adapt to her environment and always faces life with an optimistic attitude.

But now is not the time to tease Stella, because there is someone in the cabin who interests Blake more.

Entering the cabin, Blake seemed extremely familiar with the layout. He walked through the corridor and came to the door of a storage room.

With keen insight, Huang Mu stepped forward, opened the door, and stood in front of Blake, keeping a watchful eye on him.

Blake patted him on the shoulder:

"Don't be so nervous."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Wildwood stepped aside, and Blake entered the room.

Although it's called a storage room, most of the ship's commonly used tools are kept in easily accessible locations; there aren't many things here.

Blake walked to a floorboard, lifted it up, and shouted:

"Wow!!!"

A startled sound came from under the floor.

Back on the ship, Blake smiled wryly and handed the little girl he was holding to Stella:

"This child is too timid. You take care of her for a while, and we can talk about the rest after she wakes up."

Stella burst out laughing, and Blake glared at her.

Stella shrank back slightly, but wasn't too scared. She bowed to Blake, then carried the little girl away.

Turning around, she muttered to herself:

"His Highness is actually a very gentle person..."

After spending a year together, Stella had gained some initial understanding of Blake's personality.

In his daily life, Black was no different from the other Celestial Dragons.

However, Stella astutely observed that Blake didn't really like those formal displays; they were more of a perfunctory gesture out of a sense of status.

Furthermore, Blake was very lenient with his maids, and they would not be punished even if someone made a small mistake.

Throughout the entire year, Stella never saw Blake punish any of the maids.

Judging from his behavior of scaring the little girl, Blake is still a very childlike person.

Blake, on the other hand, was somewhat frustrated.

The reason he boarded that merchant ship was because someone on board had piqued his interest.

Through his Observation Haki, Blake discovered a hidden compartment in the merchant ship's storeroom, where a little girl of two or three years old was being hidden.

The little girl has long pink hair and a pair of big, bright eyes that sparkle and make her look exceptionally lively.

Based on the terrifying three-dimensional sailboat that appeared here, Blake easily guessed the girl's identity.

Princess Mononoke - Perona

Remembering Perona's nasty personality in the original story, Black decided to scare her.

Unexpectedly, Perona was so timid that she was so frightened that her eyes turned round and she fainted on the spot.

In any case, the chance encounter with Perona put Blake in a good mood, and he didn't care that Aramaki had been slacking off and not training since boarding the ship.

Lying back in his deckchair, and instructing the guards to continue sailing, Blake began to ponder a question.

"Given Perona's current age, she shouldn't have obtained the Ghost-Ghost Fruit yet. So where could the Ghost-Ghost Fruit be?"

"In the original work, Perona was raised as Moria's daughter. Could it be that the Ghost-Ghost Fruit is in Moria's hands?"

Thinking of this, Blake called out:

Wildgrass instantly appeared in front of Blake and knelt on one knee:

Blake was somewhat helpless:

"You are a retainer, not a guard, much less a slave."

Slaves are one thing, but we should be more lenient with important combatants.

The situation for retainers is actually similar to that of the Navy; they do not need to kneel when facing the Celestial Dragons.

The fact that the subordinates didn't rebel because of the other Celestial Dragons' attitudes is purely due to their high level of brainwashing.

"Yes! Your Highness!"

Seeing Huang Mu's expression, Blake knew he hadn't listened.

This guy always acts like he'll do it next time.

But now is not the time to worry about these things, and Blake's expression turned serious.

"Go back to that merchant ship and look for any Devil Fruits. If you don't find any, check the island ship."

After a pause, Blake still reminded him:

"Be careful, the great pirate Moria lives on the island ship. With your current strength, you are more than capable of dealing with him. Don't disappoint me."

Huang Mu immediately said solemnly:

"Your Highness, rest assured, I will do my utmost."

After saying that, he bowed to Blake, turned and left, using Moonwalk to fly towards the merchant ship.

Moria is about ten years older than Aramu and should have been at the peak of his strength.

However, Aramaki's talent ceiling is clearly much higher than Moria's. In addition, Moria's Dao heart was just broken by Kaido, and he might not even be able to use Haki. Letting Aramaki deal with him is more than enough.

Chapter 9 The First Battle of the Wild Shepherd

As the strongest subordinate that could be found in a short time, Black planned to entrust the task of finding Devil Fruits to Aramaki.

The Flame-Flame Fruit that even dogs wouldn't eat, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit on Skypiea, the Mythical Zoan type Vampire Mode in Sleepy Town, the Mythical Zoan type Pink Dragon Mode in Punk Hazard, the Op-Op Fruit in the North Blue...

Black had no intention of letting go of these Devil Fruits, whether their locations were confirmed or there were specific clues.

This search for the Paramecia-type Ghost-Ghost Fruit is a small test for Aramaki.

Just as Black was pondering which other Devil Fruits would be convenient for intercepting, Stella's voice came:

"Your Highness, the girl has woken up."

Blake stood up and led Stella into the cabin.

Perona was sitting on the bed, her eyes still somewhat dazed. When she saw Blake, she visibly shrank back.

Blake looked Perona up and down, nodded in satisfaction, and said with a wicked smile:

"Congratulations, from today onwards you are my little slave!"

"Wow!!! I don't want to be a slave!"

Blake never considered himself a bad person, but he couldn't help wanting to bully Perona whenever he saw her.

Perhaps the current image of Perona is that of a little girl who can cry for a long time after being punched, or perhaps the image of Perona in the original work is too deeply ingrained in people's minds.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Seeing Perona startled and crying again, Blake burst into laughter:

"Not bad, not bad. You didn't faint from fright this time. Now tell me, why were you on that ship?"

Perona's crying gradually subsided. She glanced cautiously at Blake, then looked at Stella behind Blake, and began to recount her experiences in a soft voice.

Actually, there wasn't anything particularly special about her experiences. It was just that her hometown was invaded by pirates, and Perona eventually managed to hide on a merchant ship after several twists and turns.

Because she had sneaked onto the ship, she had to hide in the storeroom to avoid being discovered by the people on the merchant ship. By chance, she discovered a secret compartment in the storeroom and hid inside.

After hearing her story, Blake smiled and pinched her cheek:

"So you have nowhere to go now, right? Then stay on my ship."

"This guy doesn't seem so bad."

Seeing Blake's smile, Perona felt relieved and asked:

"Am I still a little slave?"

"of course!"

Seeing that Perona looked like she was about to cry again, Blake laughed and left.

Stella shook her head helplessly and stepped forward to comfort Perona.

Although Stella had never raised children before, her optimistic and warm smile was always infectious, and Perona quickly stopped crying.

She clenched her fist in a frustrated gesture in the direction Blake had gone, thinking to herself:

"I must escape from this big bad guy!"

Meanwhile, having searched the merchant ship to no avail, Huang Mu had boarded the terrifying three-dimensional sailing ship.

Upon seeing the scene on the ship, Huang Mu couldn't help but frown.

Dark green slime seeped from the cracks in the floor, and a shriveled corpse hung from the mast, swaying in the sea breeze like a marionette.

The light was deliberately blocked by the ship's hull, and with the help of the ship's internal lights, you could see your own shadow distorted into unfamiliar shapes on the wall—sometimes with an extra arm, sometimes with a missing eye.

The only sound in the silent cabin was the slow, rhythmic dragging of chains across the floor.

"Fancy!"

Huang Mu snorted coldly, and giant logs extended from his body, instantly tearing open the ship's cabin.

Two wooden spikes, each requiring two people to encircle, shot straight toward Moria like javelins.

Moria, who was busy handling the young pirate he had just captured, finally realized what was happening and hurriedly tried to dodge.

Moria is not yet the NEET he will become, so this probing attack is of course ineffective against him.

He had just raised his head in shock and anger when he saw Huang Mu's figure already standing in front of him.

The three-meter-tall Aragaki looked like a child standing in front of the nearly seven-meter-tall Moria.

But their auras were completely opposite to their height difference. Huang Mu chuckled:

"You're Moria? It seems those trash on the high seas are really useless. How can someone like you be called a great pirate?"

"You! You who appeared out of nowhere! I'm not someone a nobody like you can judge!!!"

Moria's emotions had been unstable lately, and hearing Aramaki's words enraged him even more. After uttering a harsh threat, he immediately attacked Aramaki.

"Shadow Horn Gun!"

Moria's attack struck the spot where Aramaki had been standing, but Aramaki had already vanished.

"Where are you looking?"

Two voices sounded at the same time.

Moria turned around in horror, only to see Aramu already above him, one hand pressed against his onion-like head.

When Garp used this move, even Aokiji couldn't react in time, let alone Moria.

Moria's head was slammed into the ground by Aramaki, creating a deep crater.

"Trash like you should find a deserted corner and obediently wait to die."

Aramaki stepped on Moria and kicked his still somewhat dizzy onion-shaped head:

Where did you hide the Devil Fruits you collected?

"Who exactly are you? How could someone as powerful as you be completely unknown on the high seas?"

Moria felt incredibly frustrated by his defeat; he hadn't even used half of his full strength before being instantly killed.

Hearing Moria's question, Aramaki's thick eyebrows furrowed, and he kicked him hard in the head:

"Now I'm asking you a question: Where are the Devil Fruits you've collected?"

This kick left Moria stunned for a long time before he finally came to his senses and immediately began to shout angrily, leaving Aramu quite helpless.