After leaving the Galley-La Company, Yami and the two girls didn't go back to the harbor. They went to the largest hotel on the main avenue and booked a luxury suite.
Creak.
Once inside, Yami immediately opened an air door and let the ever-shadowing Robin step out.
"We'll look at the plans tomorrow, then leave this place."
Lounging on the sofa, Yami had Carina and Nami massage him while laying out what came next. "The new ship will take a month to build. I'm putting adventures on pause. I'll find an uninhabited island and put you through special training."
"Yesss, I'm in!"
Nami was first to throw up her hand and cheer.
Right now she was in the same boat as Yami. She didn't dare train on the sloop. One slip and the ship might get wrecked.
"No objections."
"Same here."
Robin and Carina both nodded.
This training block was mainly for Nami.
The stronger Nami became, the safer she'd be.
That way, if an enemy struck suddenly and Yami didn't have time to open an air door, Nami could still protect herself.
At the same time, Carina needed a base for when she ate the Mythical Zoan Vampire.
It would benefit everyone.
Seeing no one object, Yami nodded in satisfaction, then said to Nami, "Go buy a few masks in town. I'll swap the gold for Beli and tag along while you shop."
"Okay, going now!"
Nami's eyes lit up. She released an electric field and radio wave, turned into lightning, and vanished.
Soon she was back with four masks.
Masked up, the four left the hotel for the exchange office.
Just as they had flaunted wealth at Galley-La, when Yami opened that bulging sack of gold, the staff instantly ushered them into the VIP lounge and had the manager handle them.
After the appraiser verified the gold, Yami handed bargaining over to Nami and quietly used mind-reading to catch the other side's thoughts.
Nami's negotiating tactic was like her signature intimidation in the old tale. She openly revealed her Lightning power from the Goro Goro no Mi.
Seeing four masked figures and realizing the maid among them commanded thunder, the manager who'd planned to lowball them immediately offered top price.
Once Yami confirmed the number matched what the man was thinking, he gave Nami a nod.
The first deal went through. They turned one sack of gold into six hundred million Beli.
The manager was overjoyed when the second deal began almost immediately.
Nami blinked away in an electric flash, returned to the sloop, and came back hefting another sack of gold.
A sack traded for seven hundred million Beli.
One point three billion Beli was enough to cover the new ship.
They stashed the money aboard, then went to enjoy Water 7.
They weren't afraid of theft. Yami's clairvoyance and Nami's radio sense were locked onto the sloop at all times.
If anyone tried sneaking aboard, Nami could be back from the main avenue to the harbor in seconds.
Yami also wasn't worried about CP9.
Blueno had been taken out by Yami, so Lucci's group had lost their intel well.
They couldn't enter subspace, couldn't abandon their posts to investigate in person, and any move they made would be seen by Yami anyway.
So he wasn't worried about Robin being exposed.
They wore masks only to avoid accidents that might delay the new ship's birth.
The next day, Yami and the two girls carried six cases to Galley-La.
As expected, Iceburg had finished the plans.
Looking over the internal layout, Yami and the girls were very satisfied.
"As expected of Master Tom's disciple. I'm very pleased with these plans."
Yami nodded, then signaled to Carina and Nami.
The three set their cases on the table and flipped them open.
Six cases of ten-thousand-Beli notes appeared before Iceburg and Kalifa.
"Here's six hundred million Beli as a deposit. When the ship's done, I'll settle the remainder."
Yami took out a Transponder Snail. "Let's exchange numbers. I'm leaving Water 7 shortly. If anything comes up, we can talk by snail."
"No problem."
Having seen Yami's resources, Iceburg was at ease. He had Kalifa bring a dedicated Transponder Snail, and they exchanged numbers.
After a test call confirmed everything, Yami didn't linger and took his leave.
As yesterday, Iceburg personally saw them out.
They rode Yagara Bulls straight for the harbor and, once the sloop cleared Water 7, Yami opened an air door and let Robin, who had been waiting aboard, step out.
Two days later, the sloop reached an uninhabited island off the main routes.
The four began a month of special training.
Carina and Robin were essentially sparring partners.
Carina was still in the general conditioning phase and far from ready for Rokushiki.
Robin was in a flexibility phase. Once she met the standard, she could learn Paper Art. As for the other techniques, she wasn't ready yet.
The leads of this camp were Yami and Nami.
That flash of inspiration in Alabasta with the hand-spun black hole had shown Yami the potential and power of combining the Yami Yami no Mi with the More-More Fruit.
Before then, Yami had rated the Dark-Dark Fruit as a low-damage support ability. It sealed enemy powers and let him take Devil Fruits. That was enough.
But after hand-spinning a black hole, he saw terrifying offensive power in the Dark-Dark Fruit.
First, the darkness of the Yami Yami no Mi is not night but an all-consuming black hole. Or, rather, Yami himself is a small black hole.
According to the data, the Dark-Dark Fruit does not grant standard intangibility. Even in a so-called elemental state, attacks are not avoided.
Darkness draws in everything. Bullets and blades, flame and lightning, physical strikes and energy blasts are all pulled onto the user's body. That gravitational property is why the Yami user cannot rely on intangibility.
Yami even suspected that if he ate another Logia, he still wouldn't be able to become intangible.
Since it is a black hole, infinite gravity and an all-devouring pocket of darkness are the Dark-Dark Fruit's true attacks.
Until now, Yami had only used Dark Water's pull. He had never used Black Hole on an enemy.
A preconceived notion had told him Black Hole's suction couldn't drag foes into that space.
After hand-spinning a black hole, he realized Black Hole might become an ultimate-level finisher.
The More-More Fruit multiplies anything the user touches—speed, strength, size, weight—up to one hundredfold.
The key is not just the number one hundred but the word etcetera.
That word means the list is not exhaustive.
Behind the four basics are countless properties that can be amplified.
Object size and mass. One's own height and reach. And more.
Likewise, More-More can be applied to the Dark-Dark Fruit, not only magnifying Dark Water's pull but multiplying the compression and crushing power of the black hole space.
Especially compression and crushing. Those are a black hole's most terrifying traits.
Once the pull is multiplied, Black Hole's bog-like suction becomes a hand of the abyss.
If compression and pulverization are multiplied at the same time, anything and anyone dragged into that pocket of darkness will be ground to dust.
If stamina allowed, he could even multiply Black Hole's already fearsome area, let the black mist drown an entire island, even swallow one whole.
At that point, the power of a single move would be island-level destruction.
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