Chapter Fifteen: Moving at the Speed of Light
Otherwise, even a millisecond’s delay could cause a deviation from the New World to the Red Soil Continent.
One must remember that the speed of light reaches 300,000 kilometers per second; without the supernatural cognitive abilities granted by the speed-of-light power, moving at light speed is nothing but courting trouble.
In less than a second, Kizaru’s figure appeared above the Marine Headquarters in Marineford.
Gazing up at the towering Marine Headquarters, Kizaru blinked, and the next moment he was at the window of his office.
Inside, Nami sat in Kizaru’s chair—or more precisely, perched on the armrest after the chair had been rotated ninety degrees to the left—unceasingly attending to paperwork.
It was unavoidable; the height difference between her and Kizaru was significant. Although her own seat was right beside him, she insisted on sitting in his chair, perhaps out of a bit of stubbornness.
“Hey there, hard worker Nami,” Kizaru said with a smile as he stood on the moonwalk outside the window. Nami, who had been muttering quietly to herself, was startled by the voice, but when she rushed to the window and looked out, she saw nothing.
“What’s going on? I clearly heard that troublemaker’s voice just now…”
Nami was momentarily confused, briefly wondering if she had hallucinated from overwork. The thought that the hallucination was of Kizaru—the notorious troublemaker—made her cheeks flush inexplicably. She cursed under her breath and drew the curtains.
After teasing Nami a little, Kizaru was about to return to his ship when he spotted Vice Admiral Garp carrying a large bag of doughnuts, heading towards the harbor. Garp munched on one and chatted with his deputy, Bogart.
Kizaru raised an eyebrow and vanished in a flash.
Just as Garp bit into a doughnut, he found he was biting into emptiness. Looking down, both the doughnut and the bag holding it had vanished!
“Ah... huh? Hey! Where did my doughnuts go?” Vice Admiral Garp was dumbfounded. If not for the crumbs still lingering in his mouth, he might have thought he was dreaming.
“Uh... sir, you even ate the bag... Should I go back and buy you another bag now?” Bogart looked at Garp’s empty hands, unsure how to comment.
Having been by Garp’s side for so long, Bogart was no longer surprised by such incidents.
“That shouldn’t be... I already had lunch, so I’m not that hungry... Well, I’ll go buy... uh, two bags then.” Garp pondered for a while, unable to fathom where the doughnuts had disappeared to, finally resigning himself.
“Finally, I can rest easy as a salted fish... Mmm, these doughnuts snatched from Vice Admiral Garp taste pretty good...”
Back aboard his warship, Kizaru held a large bag of doughnuts, casually popping one into his mouth.
If it were someone else endowed with this power—destined to surpass all—they would likely be harboring bold ambitions.
Punching the Four Emperors, kicking the Five Elders, or at the very least, trying to grope Imu’s rear.
Speaking of which, Kizaru had been a Marine Admiral for many years. Not only had he never glimpsed Imu’s true form, but even the Five Elders had never revealed Imu’s existence to him.
This clearly showed that the World Government never truly considered him one of their own. So when Kizaru eventually rises up in revolt, it won’t be a betrayal of the World Government.
For now, though, his strategy was survival above all else—waiting for Imu and the World Government’s trump cards to be exposed.
Kizaru had no desire to storm in headlong, only to discover that Imu was some kind of Super Saiyan or a giant Otsutsuki.
He had ample patience and time to wear down the World Government slowly. Although he hadn’t yet found pure gold to grant him immortality, there were more than enough ways to survive.
Speaking of survival, the first person Kizaru thought of was Orochimaru from the dimensional chat group. They still had a pending deal.
So, reclining on the sofa, Kizaru adjusted into a more comfortable position and connected to the dimensional chat group in his mind.
…
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: Finally passed the assessment to become an intermediate trainee! Throwing flowers!]
[Ai Haibara: Congratulations, you’ve been upgraded from a low-level trash to mid-level trash. Becoming a qualified cannon fodder is just around the corner.]
[Kobayashi: Ai Haibara, that’s too harsh! Passerby-san has been trying their best!]
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: What a devilish comment! If my talent is no good, what can I do? Sorry for being reborn as a passerby character!]
[Orochimaru: Heh, if you’re willing, you can try human modification. It will make you stronger in no time.]
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: No thanks, I haven’t even finished being human yet. I don’t want to grow any strange organs…]
[Kizaru: @Orochimaru, the item is in hand. Feel free to trade anytime.]
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: Wow! Admiral Kizaru! Long time no see!]
[Kobayashi: Huh? Long time? No, didn’t Kizaru-san just speak yesterday?]
[Ai Haibara: Probably because we’re in different worlds, so time flows differently.]
[Kobayashi: I see! Ai Haibara is so clever, no wonder she managed to develop a rejuvenation drug…]
[Ai Haibara: It’s only a prototype. The chance of dying immediately after taking it is much higher than turning into a child, so it’s useless in practice.]
[Orochimaru: Heh, still impressive. If there’s a chance, we should exchange research insights. @Kizaru, besides vampire blood and flesh samples, I also want the Devil Fruits from your world.]
Seeing Orochimaru’s message, Kizaru raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly.
The passerby who wanted to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh was almost always spamming the group, so even accounting for the different flow of time between worlds, it was a bit too enthusiastic.
He could only imagine how much confidential information this person spilled when he wasn’t looking, some of which probably touched on personal privacy that even he dared not comment on.
But basic lore like Devil Fruits was not something he could keep secret.
With Kizaru’s personality, once he understood the wonders of Devil Fruits, it would be absurd if he wasn’t interested in such treasures of the sea.
As for whether to trade with Orochimaru, there was little hesitation.
While Devil Fruits were precious to ordinary people, to an admiral like Kizaru, they were not so rare.
Even Spandam, a CP9 officer, could obtain two Devil Fruits for his subordinates. The Celestial Dragons even forced their slaves to consume Devil Fruits for amusement.
Though Devil Fruits were considered treasures of the sea, their price tag of 100 million Berries each hardly made them priceless items.
[Kizaru: It’s possible, but what will you offer in exchange? @Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh, could you introduce Orochimaru’s situation?]
Of course, Kizaru knew Orochimaru’s situation, perhaps even better than that passerby. But since he had pretended ignorance from the start, he would maintain the act.
[Kobayashi: Well, front row to watch the big players trade~]
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: Of course, but where to start… Orochimaru’s world is called the Ninja World, where chakra is the mainstream. You can think of chakra as your world’s three-colored Haki. With chakra, one can learn ninjutsu, genjutsu, and secret arts.]
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: Besides that, there’s also the hereditary bloodline limits. The former can be understood as Devil Fruit abilities gained through learning, the latter are innate Devil Fruit users. However, most ninjutsu and secret arts have limits lower than those powerful Devil Fruits.]
[Passerby wanting to latch onto Luo Feng’s thigh: Admiral Kizaru, if you want to trade with Orochimaru, I recommend the Reanimation Jutsu and Flying Thunder God Technique. Orochimaru must have seen the Book of Seals, right? Also, the Eight Gates is great; with your constitution, you can definitely endure it. Multi-shadow Clone Jutsu is also excellent. Oh, and Water Release is a must…]