“Uh… well… Your Majesty Nereus, do I count as a Devil Fruit user now?”
“No. You were only affected by my ability and underwent a transformation. Your situation is similar to a Devil Fruit creation, so you can still swim.
Of course, the abilities you obtained aren’t as comprehensive as mine.”
A slight enhancement to her physique, self-healing, the ability to suck blood, and bat wings for flight—these were the things Ginny had obtained.
As for the three-stage transformation of a Zoan-type, control over blood, the River of Death, unlimited substitutes for death, the stealing of lifespan, and Fruit Awakening and the like, those were Nereus’s own abilities. Ginny could not do them.
If there was anything bad about it, it was that as the original vampire, Nereus’s words would carry a certain commanding effect over Ginny, though this influence generally would not show itself much.
Vampire transformation had certain limitations. Pure women would be transformed into vampires. Men or impure people, even if they underwent the same transformation, would only become ghouls—monsters completely without reason, like zombies.
If the sexes were reversed, the same principle applied. It was just that Nereus basically had never used such crude methods as biting. As his mastery over his ability grew, he could use other actions to accomplish the same thing.
“This won’t cause too many changes to your appearance. Just familiarize yourself with it more.”
“Drum Kingdom is a great medical nation. There’s a doctor there called the ‘Witch,’ Kureha. She may be able to help you a bit, though it will be very expensive.”
Nereus chatted for a while with Luna and the others, gave them some instructions on things to pay attention to during training, inspected the results of their recent training, and then left Little Garden ahead of them.
This crisis did not dispel their desire to temper themselves. Instead, it made them crave strength even more.
Not long after Nereus left, the fatigue that had been expelled from Dorry and Brogy’s bodies returned to them, causing the two Giants, who had not been excited for long, to sit back down on the ground again.
“Is that your king? Looks like the outside world has changed quite a lot over the years…”
Dorry lay on the ground recuperating. After all, he had previously been ambushed by Rook and taken a heavy blow. Brogy, meanwhile, was chatting with the others.
When he heard about Nereus’s deeds, even Brogy’s eyes widened, as though he found it somewhat unbelievable.
“Gababababa, a powerful warrior, huh? When I return to Elbaf, I ought to challenge him… Do you know Elbaf? How is that country now?”
“The current king is Harald. His Majesty Nereus said… he is working hard for peace, but His Majesty does not agree with his ideas.”
“Harald, huh? He’s already king…”
In eighty years, the outside world seemed to have undergone indescribable changes. However, Brogy had no intention of leaving. To him, the most important thing right now was still his duel with Dorry.
However, he did take quite a few old newspapers from Kuma, planning to read them while resting.
With Dorry in his current state, even if Brogy won, it would be an unfair victory. Brogy would quietly wait for Dorry to recover, and then continue their duel.
……
“Ginny, you really don’t feel anything else?”
“No. My body feels lighter, my eyesight is better, and I’ve gotten stronger too. Right now, I feel absolutely great.
If I had to say there’s any problem… I think I get hungry more easily now.”
Ginny was fiddling with the Den Den Mushi in the room. It looked like she was trying to steal intelligence, only she had not captured any valuable information.
“I heard vampires can’t eat normal food and can only drink blood…”
“Nope. At least I don’t feel that way.”
As she spoke, Ginny lifted her leg and showed the pile of snack bags on the floor. She always liked to eat something while working, and before she knew it, they had accumulated into such a pile.
“Mr. Nereus doesn’t only drink blood either. Where did you hear that rumor?”
“A biography about vampires.”
“Then they definitely wrote nonsense. Mr. Nereus is the one who understands vampires best, right?”
In the eyes of those who knew Nereus’s epithet, Nereus was synonymous with vampires, so there was nothing wrong with saying that.
“All right, all right, no need to overthink it. This is a good thing for me. At the very least, if I run into life-threatening danger again, I won’t be a burden.
But I think this gun is a little too light. I might as well switch to a heavy cannon. That way, it’ll have a longer range and greater power.”
Aside from being an intelligence officer, Ginny also doubled as a sniper, and her marksmanship was quite good.
And for a sniper to improve their hard strength, the most effective path was Haki.
If a sniper’s Armament Haki was not refined, then no matter how accurate their shots were, they could only bully small fry.
The impact of unrefined Observation Haki was likewise significant. After all, no matter how accurate one’s aim was, it would still be very difficult to contend with someone who could predict movements.
The performance of the firearm itself also had a certain influence. In the past, Ginny’s physique had only been enough to use conventional firearms. Now, however, she could upgrade to a newer model.
Luna and the others continued sailing across the sea according to plan. Although Nereus had gone ahead first, he did not cause any major commotion again. He merely dealt with some blind pirates along the way and replenished the number of souls in the River of Blood.
The deaths of two CP0 agents were neither a big nor small matter to the World Government. They felt that Luna’s group did not have that level of strength, so some kind of accident must have occurred.
But after sending out investigators, they only found traces of Dorry and Brogy on Little Garden. Since they were giants from Elbaf and had remained on Little Garden the entire time, the World Government did not continue looking into it.
Several hundred CP0 agents combined were still not worth as much as one Harald. Compared to the life and death of one or two CP0 agents, Harald was still more important.
CP0 agents could be replaced at will, but combat power like Harald’s was difficult to find a substitute for. This scale of value had never been equal to begin with.
At this time, the Marines also made adjustments regarding their high-ranking personnel.
Former Marine Admiral Zephyr officially gave up the rank of Admiral and fully retreated behind the scenes, devoting all his energy to training new Marines.
Compared to his original timeline self, Zephyr had retired several years later, which eased some of the pressure on the Marines at this stage to a certain extent.
With Zephyr’s position changing, the rank of Admiral was once again left with only Sengoku. However, this time, the Marines additionally announced information about three other people.
Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan, while retaining the rank of Vice Admiral, gained the additional title of Admiral Candidate.
All three of them were monsters among the Marines and possessed extremely great strength. Aside from their own combat power, Admirals also had to be responsible for more things. In this regard, they still lacked some qualifications and experience, and still needed more tempering.
That was why they were called candidates. But everyone within the Marines knew that in time, these three would become the new three Admirals.
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