https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-413-Cyber-Larveya-Wasteland-City/12933889/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-415-In-Summary-I-m-Here-to-Conquer/12933901/
Chapter 414: A Greeting
Chapter 414: A Greeting
The dark clouds gathered above made contact with the towering Sky Pillar, dissipating like a dissolving substance, clearing the dark sky once again.
As the rain curtain dispersed, the true form of the Black Ship emerged, gradually approaching a colossal Sky Pillar.
Compared to the Navy's large warships, the Doom Star, which was more than three times larger, still appeared minuscule as it drew closer to the enlarging pillar.
It felt like a slightly larger black insect, one that could be squashed underfoot at any moment upon touching a human's leg.
At the front of the deck, Lily held her sword with one hand, gazing at the massive Sky Pillar with a slight tremor, and said, "Can't you sense that this is actually a living being?"
With her Kenbunshoku, she couldn't detect any aura from this object, making it no different from ordinary inanimate islands.
"Lily, focus your Kenbunshoku a little more."
Sage walked past her, his gaze fixed on the side of the pillar, where a slightly smaller pillar seemed to be visible.
"It's not that I can't sense it, but it's too large, encompassing your perception range, so you perceive it as inanimate. Look, that should be its nose."
He smiled, "But this thing is no different from being dead, so don't bother with it. Let's go up."
"Are we going up from here?"
Renitiah looked up curiously, staring at the pillar that seemed to reach the clouds, its texture and patterns resembling stone, and said, "Shouldn't we go on the ship instead?"
"Haha! This mere sky is no challenge for me now. I'll take everyone up!"
Sage took a leap forward, and as he landed in mid-air, black clouds formed beneath his feet, allowing him to float in front of the ship's bow. With his hands pressing down, his arms bulged with veins, and as he exhaled a white breath, his entire body expanded.
"80%! Let's go!"
Rumble...
The ship rose inch by inch from the sea's surface, lifted from the front by Sage's menacing muscle form.
Whitebeard could press a ship with one hand, and so could Sage, but that was for ordinary ships. The Doom Star was already enormous, surpassing Sage's usual strength limit.
Sage had no intention of testing his limits just yet; becoming like Owen would be embarrassing. The 80% Dragon transformation was just right.
As the ship left the sea's surface, Sage's cape detached from his back, merging with the black clouds beneath his feet and transforming into a solid entity.
"Momo, Hundredfold!"
The cape grew larger than the ship, lifting the Doom Star higher.
Sage then released his transformation, returning to his normal state, and jumped back onto the deck.
"This is fine; there's no need to leave anyone behind."
He opened his mouth, "This height is a piece of cake."
This cape could easily lift a ship with two thousand people.
Homzie was Homzie, but the cape was his physical form, so enlarging it was no issue.
"Sage, if you can carry a ship, can we go to Sky Island?" Renitiah's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Sage waved his hand, "I'm not particularly interested in such barren places. If you're keen, ask Ulki later; he should know how to get home."
Sky Islands were formed when the Knock Up Stream pushed landmasses upwards, creating the White Sea. The unique gravity kept the islands in place, but that didn't make them any less barren.
The only wealthy place should be the Paradise location, where half of Gaia Island had been pushed up, and Sage recalled there being plenty of gold, but he wasn't sure how to get there.
If Renitiah wanted to go, he could assign her the task of retrieving the gold.
Although Sage had outgrown his simple love for money, who wouldn't want more? And it wasn't just about the Beli; it was solid gold.
The massive black cape lifted the Doom Star higher and higher, climbing the elephant leg pillar until they broke through the upper cloud layer, revealing a land-like edge and a vast forest ahead.
From his elevated position, Sage could see more clearly; at the forest's center stood a giant tree resembling a whale.
"What do you think, Faust?" Sage turned to the black cat, Faust, dressed like an ancient noble.
"No thoughts. I have no memories of this place, meow," Faust replied, licking his black paw, appearing uninterested.
Hawkins wasn't present, but Sage had brought Faust, who had been sleeping at the treasure vault's entrance. He wanted to show him his homeland.
"Captain, what do you want me to do here?" Faust asked. "If it's about becoming the leader of the Fur Tribe, I'm not interested, meow."
Sage burst into laughter, "Hahaha! It's purely a visit. You're not quite there yet, leader of the Fur Tribe."
The Fur Tribe is no pushover.
In his memory, there were two leaders, one resembling a cat and the other a dog, both possessing considerable strength.
The Fur Tribe is a unique race; under a cloudless full moon, they can transform into 'Moon Lions', a fact that Faust had already demonstrated to him.
Earlier, Sage had been curious to witness this, so he asked Faust to transform. The increase in his strength was nothing short of astonishing.
Faust's power, within the current Catastrophe Pirate Crew, could secure him a 'New Star' position. After transforming into a Moon Lion, his strength skyrocketed, almost reaching the level of a 'Seven Star'.
He should be on par with Bellamy and the others, a significant boost in power.
However, Faust lacks control in this state. Once transformed, he can only fight ferociously until death. In the end, it was Sage who personally intervened to stop him.
But here, these Fur Tribe members undoubtedly have precise control over their Moon Lion forms, especially that cat and dog duo.
He recalls one of them, either the cat or the dog, engaging in a five-day and five-night battle with Jack, one of Kaido's subordinates, in their normal states.
Even though, in his memory, Jack was referred to as the 'Ivory King', judging people solely by their external appearance can lead to miscalculations.
A bounty of one billion is no small matter, whether considering the level of danger or strength.
Being able to fight on equal terms in their normal states indicates that the cat and dog duo are of this caliber, which is why Sage decided to come personally.
If the timing or weather were off when he arrived, and they inadvertently triggered the Moon Lion transformation, Lily might not be able to handle it.
Most of his strength isn't meant to be wasted here; it's better for Sage to come himself.
"Hey, aren't we stopping?" Renitiah asked, seeing the ship still floating.
"Why stop? I'm not interested in jungle adventures. Head towards that tree that looks like a whale, and we won't go wrong," Sage said.
Sage's eyes flashed with red dots, and a sinister smile appeared on his face, "Ah, many auras are concentrated over there."
The ship, buoyed by the cape, didn't dock along the shore but floated in the air, adding another layer of dark clouds to the sky above the clouds, casting shadows in the forest as it moved forward.
"Carrot, carrot!"
In the forest, a Fur Tribe member resembling a rabbit swayed its fluffy butt, its rabbit tail swinging back and forth as it bent over to pull out carrots in a clearing.
"Master, do you want to eat a carrot?"
Galot pulled out a carrot, wiped the dirt off, and happily spoke to the person above.
"How many times do I have to say it? I don't eat carrots!"
A voice echoed from the tree, and on the thick trunk, a Fur Tribe member resembling a leopard lay, with long bangs covering the left side of his face.
"I'm a leopard-fur tribe. How could I possibly eat carrots?" Pedro said.
"Hey, but carrots are really good."
Galot took a crisp bite of the carrot, revealing a happy smile. "The happiest thing is eating carrots."
"That's because our fur types are different!"
Pedro rolled his eyes. "After eating the carrots, let's continue our training."
"Yes, Master!"
Galot took a hearty bite of the carrot, squinted her eyes, and leaned back against the tree, looking around for signs of new carrots. But as she turned her head, she suddenly froze, then looked up and asked:
"Master, it's getting dark very quickly. It's already night."
"Don't talk nonsense. Don't think about escaping training; it's not dark yet," Pedro said, his hands behind his head. As soon as he finished speaking, his face, facing the sky, froze, and his single eye's pupil contracted.
"Dark clouds? No! How can there be dark clouds here?!"
He stood up abruptly, staring in astonishment at the approaching large dark cloud.
Zouwu's height protrudes above the clouds, so even rain doesn't fall. The elephant king sprays water on its back twice daily, creating a rain-like scene, solving the water demand.
Dark clouds are an absolute impossibility here.
Pedro stood up, climbed the tree nimbly, and perched at the top, gazing at the approaching dark cloud.
"That is..."
He saw clearly. That dark cloud-like thing was more like a fur material, and on it...
"A pirate ship!"
Pedro immediately ran down, pulling Galot along, "Go back! Pirates are coming!"
"P-Pirates? The pirates you've been talking about?"
Galot was so startled that she dropped the carrot and followed Pedro, moving quickly through the forest.
"Pedro, what are pirates like? From what you've told me before, they seem pretty great."
"Of course, there are good ones, but... there are also terrifying ones!"
Pedro's already intimidating face grew even gloomier as he envisioned a massive, terrifying woman in his mind. He took a deep breath and said, "Let's head back first! They're heading in our direction... towards our town!"
In the towns of the Fuzziness Kingdom, numerous members of the Fur Tribe had already gathered, including herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. They all gazed solemnly at the dark cloud approaching in the sky.
"Pedro!"
As Pedro hurriedly arrived from outside, a lion-furred member of the Fur Tribe, dressed like a Western swordsman, looked at him and asked, "You came from outside; did you see clearly? What's up with that dark cloud?"
Sicilian, the captain of the Doglan Musketeers under Duke Doglan, was also the leader of Galot's group.
The Fur Tribe was generally divided into two groups based on their habits: one active during the day and the other at night, giving rise to the Day King and the Night King.
The Musketeers served under the Day King, Duke Doglan, specifically tasked with guarding him.
Pedro, on the other hand, was a leader in the Samurai Guild under the Night King, Viper King.
"Pirates!"
Pedro replied gravely, "I'm not sure what kind of pirates they are!"
The Fur Tribe lived in seclusion, but some still possessed an adventurous spirit. Both the Day King and the Night King had ventured out to sea, and Pedro himself had done so fifteen years ago, so he had some knowledge about pirates.
Although he couldn't identify their flag, the fact that they could ride the clouds already set them apart.
Soon, the dark cloud passed through the forest and reached the town's sky, casting a shadow that covered more than half of the town, causing the members of the Fur Tribe to look up in awe.
"Are those the Fur Tribe? Beastmen? Where's Gabra? If he were here in his human-beast form, he'd probably be similar to these guys, right?"
Renitiah peered through her telescope and exclaimed in surprise, "And it's so strange! Why is a leopard standing with a rabbit, and a lion with a zebra? Won't they eat them?"
"Because they are essentially humans."
Sage explained, "Like giants and dwarves, they just have an extra layer of fur. They are still different from the Beastmen."
The Fur Tribe had more fur. Even in their human-beast forms, Beastmen still retained their human faces.
"Oh? What would happen if a member of the Fur Tribe ate a Beast Fruit?"
Renitiah aimed her telescope at a bison-furred tribe member and then at a horse-furred one beside him, asking, "What would happen if that bison ate a Horse-Horse Fruit, or that horse ate a Bison-Bison Fruit? What would they transform into?"
Sage paused, then replied with a mischievous smile, "I don't know what they'd become, but they might develop an ultimate worker form with a name tag on their chest, only to be exploited for their remaining value and then kicked out by a landlord like me."
"You wouldn't do that. You've taken care of so many severely injured people." Renitiah rolled her eyes.
The dark cloud finally reached the town center and came to a stop, descending to a low altitude.
This allowed Sage to get a clearer view of them, and the Fur Tribe members could also see them more clearly.
Pedro shouted, "Hey! Pirates! The Fuzziness Kingdom does not welcome humans, so leave immediately!"
Sage scanned the area and shook his head. "The aura doesn't match; I don't see the main person."
"Then I'll go greet them."
Lily walked to the front of the ship, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sage. She lightly pressed her hand against the hilt of her sword at her waist, and her eyes took on a spiral-like crimson hue. Immediately, a nearly tangible Overlord Aura surged outward.
Buzz!
A greenish-blackish air current, mixed with a hint of black and red, spread out from beneath the dark cloud, forming a circular pattern around the town center and continuously expanding outward.
"Not bad, a green aura," Sage smiled slightly.
Those with the qualifications to be overlords generally exhibited Overlord Auras in three stages.
The first stage was the initial awakening of the Overlord Aura, which included both unconscious and conscious control, categorized as 'colorless.'
As they became more proficient, they could precisely control the aura to create differentiated impacts, resulting in their unique colors. However, these colors were initially amorphous, and only when they fully grasped and understood their desires would they transform into their true colors.
The third stage, above this, was the Overlord Bind.
Lily's current control over her Overlord Aura was already quite impressive.
(End of Chapter)
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