Chapter 532: Encounter with Gaban on the Road, Fusion of Divine Fire!
Ryuunosuke had just finished hearing the system prompt when another piece of information sank into his mind.
The so called divine spirit he had obtained was incomplete.
It still needed to be strengthened.
Right now, the fusion level was only fifty percent. That much, he could tell, was the result of the system forcibly boosting it.
"Infinity Stones, huh…"
In Ryuunosuke's eyes, the Orange Infinity Stone in Whitebeard's hand suddenly became blindingly bright, like a beacon in the dark.
Besides the Orange Infinity Stone in Whitebeard's possession, there was still another Orange Infinity Stone somewhere on Laugh Tale itself.
"Uncle Whitebeard, I am going to check the island again," Ryuunosuke said as he rose to his feet. "If you learn anything important, please let me know then. This jar of good wine is reserved for you."
He left the jar by Whitebeard's side, and his figure vanished from the deck.
When he reappeared on the island, he immediately sensed it.
Beneath Laugh Tale, countless Orange Infinity Stones were buried like embers under ash.
Following that pull, Ryuunosuke made his way toward the place where that energy was most concentrated.
It was a valley he had not had the chance to explore before, hidden behind the place where the pure flames converged.
At that moment, Ace was still locked in a struggle with the Pure Yang Flame, trying to communicate with it. Ryuunosuke did not disturb him and instead headed straight into the valley.
Ace's situation was not solely due to the Orange Stone anyway. Their destinations were different from the outset, so the root cause would not be exactly the same.
After stepping into the valley, Ryuunosuke quickly located more than a dozen Orange Infinity Stones embedded in the rock.
At the same time, he found a massive crater.
He was very familiar with this kind of thing.
The first Eternal Heart he had ever obtained had been discovered in a similar pit back in Frost Moon Village in the East Blue.
But this time, he was not so lucky.
There were only Orange Infinity Stones here, perhaps around twenty in this valley. Adding the scattered ones in other parts of the island, the total would still not exceed fifty.
As for the Eternal Heart he was hoping for, there was not even a shadow of it.
"Captain Ryuunosuke, you came as well?"
A familiar voice drifted over.
"Mr. Gaban?"
Ryuunosuke blinked when he saw the man standing at the edge of the pit.
It was Gaban, the very same man who had boarded the Ark of Eternity before.
He had thought Gaban was still on the Ark with the others.
Yet without anyone noticing, this man had already slipped into Laugh Tale.
And not only that, he had come straight to this place.
So Gaban had found an Orange Infinity Stone here once too.
But…
Ryuunosuke clearly remembered that every single one of them had said they had never entered Laugh Tale before.
This place, however, was clearly the central area of Laugh Tale.
Judging from Gaban's calm expression, this was definitely not his first time here.
"I was curious, so I came to take a look," Gaban said with an easy smile. "Sure enough, things here are different now."
He studied Ryuunosuke's expression.
"I suppose what you are looking for is not here, is it, Captain Ryuunosuke?"
Before Ryuunosuke could ask anything, Gaban cut straight in.
He already knew.
Ryuunosuke's real goal was not the scattered Orange Infinity Stones at all, but the Eternal Heart that had once been here.
If it were only for these stones, they would never have been so attractive to someone like Ryuunosuke.
"Yes," Ryuunosuke admitted. "It seems someone has already taken it away. But from what you just said, that thing was indeed here, right, Mr. Gaban?"
"Yes," Gaban nodded. "Back then, the captain did not allow us to come in, but we were not exactly obedient."
He chuckled at the memory.
"After I found an Orange Infinity Stone, I sensed the Mother Stone in this place. Of course, I did not take it. At the time, I was only curious and did not think too much about it."
He looked down into the empty pit.
"Just as I was about to reach out and touch it, the captain appeared and told me not to. So I left and only brought a few Orange Infinity Stones with me as toys for when I was bored."
It was a story from decades ago.
In other words, just a few decades prior, the Eternal Heart of Orange had still been resting in this very crater.
Now, no one knew who had removed it.
After listening to Gaban's account, Ryuunosuke simply smiled and nodded.
"Thank you for telling me, Mr. Gaban," he said. "Since it is no longer here, there is no point in forcing it. I will go and look for other clues."
His figure disappeared once more.
As soon as Ryuunosuke left, Gaban's smile faded.
"It seems Captain Ryuunosuke does not trust me very much anymore," he murmured. "He really is far too mature for his age."
He shook his head helplessly and began to wander leisurely through the valley.
In less than an hour, Ryuunosuke had swept the entire island clean, collecting every single Orange Infinity Stone.
He needed them to raise the fusion level of the divine spirit.
As long as he possessed the corresponding Eternal Hearts, he could produce the white, green, and other Infinity Stones in unlimited quantities.
However, there were only so many of the remaining ones, such as the Orange Infinity Stones, and the blue stones he had sent Enel to search for.
After thoroughly looting the island, Ryuunosuke returned to the place where the withered roots of the colossal tree lay.
"Yo, Ace," he called out with a grin. "How is it? Getting used to it yet?"
He sat casually on the dried root, looking down at Ace as he "fought" with the Pure Yang Flame.
"Big brother!" Ace shouted, gritting his teeth as the flames coiled around him. "This thing feels alive! How did they even get this fire?!"
He raised his hand, and under his guidance the Pure Yang Flame stirred.
The flames that had been raging wildly began to move like dancers following a rhythm.
And this had only been going on for less than an hour.
Even with Ace's Flame Flame Fruit and his natural affinity with fire, that speed was absurd.
"This flame was not obtained," Ryuunosuke said slowly. "It was born from a human body. It is a special flame, passed down through blood…"
Even as he explained it aloud, he found himself doubting his own words.
He knew better than anyone where this Pure Yang Flame came from.
It originated from a special fire in the world of Fox Spirit Matchmaker, the Demon Slaying Divine Flame.
In that world, only those with the bloodline of the Eastern clan could control it.
The reason Ryuunosuke himself had been able to wield it before was because he had used a trial card granted by the system.
Could it be that Ace also carried the blood of the Eastern clan?
That was impossible. They were not even from the same world. How could there be a shared bloodline?
The only reasonable explanation was that the Pure Yang Flame had been altered by the system in some way and had undergone a mutation.
In any case, the result in front of him was very good.
Bloodline, huh…
"This… I might know the answer!" Ace suddenly shouted. "Come on!"
He took a deep breath, and his voice rang out clearly in the canyon.
"I, Portgas D. Ace, in the name of Portgas, invite you into my bloodline!"
As he spoke, he drew the dagger at his waist without hesitation and slashed it across his arm.
Fresh blood flowed freely.
"Waaah…"
The flames around them let out a low, resonant sound, as if responding.
In the next instant, the Pure Yang Flame surged like a living creature and dove straight into Ace's body.
The Demon Slaying Divine Flame truly possessed its own will.
As the fire poured into him, Ace's entire body became elemental in an instant.
The flames that composed his Flame Flame Fruit ability were slowly being pushed aside and replaced by the Demon Slaying Divine Fire.
Before long, the color of his flames began to change.
The original orange red hue shifted, becoming a blend of blue and white.
At the center of that swirling blue and white blaze, a bright orange flame burned steadily.
The three colors intertwined, merging with one another as naturally as water mixing with milk.
The entire mass of flame twisted and pulsed as if something inside it was trying to break free.
Watching the spectacle, even Ryuunosuke could not help but feel his curiosity spike.
With such a huge commotion, there was no way this transformation would be anything ordinary.
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