[Excellent Boat]: A boat of excellent quality, far superior to an ordinary vessel. Can be synthesized.
Kairos Flint lowered his gaze.
The newly synthesized boat was significantly larger than the one he had originally owned. The increase in size was just one improvement—the real upgrade was in quality. And the enhancement wasn't just surface-level; it was a full-scale upgrade in every aspect.
A ship of this caliber would typically cost no less than 8 million Beli.
And yet, he had acquired it through synthesis.
In other words, he had just saved himself a fortune.
Off to the side, Nami stood in stunned silence.
"You... what did you just do?!"
The sight before her eyes was nothing short of unbelievable. Two separate ships had fused together into one right before her eyes. She had never seen—never even heard—of anything like that happening.
At this point in time, she hadn't yet joined Luffy's Straw Hat crew and had only a basic, vague understanding of Devil Fruits. Without even that basic knowledge, how could she possibly comprehend the impact of Kairos's mysterious synthesis ability?
Kairos cast a side glance at her and said dryly, "Nami, you might want to pick your jaw up off the ground before it falls off completely."
"It's just a Devil Fruit ability. Nothing worth freaking out about."
He had chosen to mask his mysterious golden-finger ability by passing it off as a Devil Fruit power. It was the easiest cover story—and believable enough.
"Devil Fruit?" Nami's eyes widened. "You've actually eaten a Devil Fruit?!"
Her reaction was perfectly reasonable. A Devil Fruit was valued at no less than 100 million Beli, and while she knew of their existence, she had never encountered someone with Devil Fruit powers in real life.
She didn't know whether to consider herself lucky or cursed.
When she had first set out to sea to earn enough to buy back her village, she had fantasized about finding a Devil Fruit. If she could sell one, she'd have the 100 million Beli she needed instantly.
But eight long years had passed—and not only had she never laid eyes on a Devil Fruit, she hadn't even met a single user. Now, however, she finally had.
Of course, she didn't know that Kairos's supposed identity as a Devil Fruit user was nothing but a ruse.
"The powers of Devil Fruit users really are amazing," Nami said, still looking at the newly merged ship with awe.
"It's really nothing special," Kairos replied, shaking his head with mock modesty.
But that only earned him an eye-roll from Nami.
Nothing special? This was the first time she'd seen anything like this! How could he be so nonchalant?
Kairos turned away, his tone shifting. "Alright, time to put everything back on the ship."
"What? I just finished unloading all my stuff!" Nami protested, practically shouting.
Her muscles ached. She had used up a lot of energy just dragging everything off the ship. Now he wanted her to move it all back again? What did he think she was—superhuman?
To be fair, her stamina had improved significantly since Kairos had last fed her something strange. Normally, she wouldn't have had the strength to haul this much in such a short time, yet here she was, still standing.
Kairos noticed and relented a bit. "Fine. Rest for a bit before we move everything."
Truth be told, he was feeling a bit worn out too.
The synthesis process had drained a substantial amount of his physical energy. Even though he had rare body crystals to replenish himself, the effort still left him running on fumes.
Sure, he could consume more body crystals to bounce back to full strength—but he didn't want to waste resources unnecessarily. Why use a divine hammer to crack a walnut?
His real plan was to synthesize all his crystals before confronting any major pirate groups. During battle, those crystals would allow him to restore stamina mid-fight and even improve his body without warning. Even if he found himself up against hundreds of pirates, he was confident he could wipe out entire crews solo.
While Nami rested, Kairos turned his attention to something else—the pirates' swords.
Each one of them could be synthesized.
Just like the pirate ships became nourishment for his own boat, these weapons could become nourishment for the blade in his hand—the Third Generation Demon Sword.
If he fed enough weapons into the synthesis process, he might be able to evolve his cursed sword into a Good Blade, then a Great Blade, and eventually a Supreme Great Blade, or even a Divine Weapon.
The thought made his blood surge.
He had just wiped out an entire pirate crew. That meant dozens—maybe even over a hundred—swords. Looking back, he regretted not collecting every single one.
Even ordinary weapons cost around 50,000 Beli apiece.
And who knew how many weapons it would take to increase the sword's grade by just one level?
Most likely, a lot.
Let's say he needed ten weapons to level up once. To get to Supreme Sharp Blade, he might need a million ordinary-grade swords.
For a Divine Weapon?
Ten million.
And that didn't even account for the physical stamina the synthesis process demanded.
If you did the math…
50,000 Beli per weapon × 10 million weapons = 500 billion Beli.
It was an outrageous sum.
Even if you gathered the wealth of all four Emperors combined, you might not hit that number.
Kairos scratched his head, eyebrows furrowing. "Guess I'll need to start hunting down more pirate crews and looting the weapons off them."
Then a bold, brazen idea crossed his mind.
"Actually, if I just snatch Whitebeard's, Red-Hair's, or Hawkeye's supreme-grade swords and use them as fusion material, wouldn't that save me an absurd amount of money?"
The plan sounded absurd.
But in his mind, it was already forming.
In some far-off corner of the world, the Four Emperors and the World's Greatest Swordsman had no idea that a petty Marine officer, hiding out in the East Blue, was already eyeing the legendary weapons in their hands.
If they ever found out?
They probably wouldn't know whether to laugh… or to strike him down for his arrogance.