"Forget it," Blake muttered to himself, lying back beneath the shade of the parasol. "I'll just use this Kizaru clone to train my Observation Haki."
He sighed. "Still, that man is so irritating. Good thing the ones inside the card space can't talk if they could, I'd probably lose my temper before I could even concentrate on Haki."
A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "If that guy really turns out to be a Revolutionary Army spy one day, I'll make sure to settle both new and old debts when the time comes."
His eyes hardened with quiet determination as he gazed out toward the endless horizon.
In the distance, an island slowly came into view, its misty outline glimmering beneath the afternoon sun. Blake turned to a nearby agent.
"Where are we now?"
"Your Grace," the Cipher Pol officer replied respectfully, "at our current speed, we'll reach Baterilla Island in half an hour."
Blake nodded, his expression unreadable. "A small island like that isn't worth our time. We'll restock supplies, then set course for the West Blue."
Baterilla Island. The name sparked a faint recognition.
Wasn't that where Roger hid before turning himself in?
At this point in history, the Pirate King had already been executed. Yet if Blake remembered correctly, Portgas D. Rouge Roger's lover should still be living there, carrying the burden of her unborn child.
He had no intention of meeting her.
Many other Celestial Dragon transmigrators would have jumped at the chance, taking Rouge captive or "rescuing" her under the guise of mercy, weaving elaborate schemes to raise Ace for their own ends. But those were the types who already had powerful backers among the Five Elders those destined to become part of the Holy Knights or even the Elders themselves one day.
Blake wasn't one of them. He wasn't here to play the saint or the savior.
As for the idea of raising Ace himself? He chuckled dryly. "What, bring him to the Holy Land so he can grow up resenting the world even more? He'd end up more rebellious than ever maybe even start questioning the meaning of life like some tragic hero."
The thought amused him.
A year passed.
The journey from the South Blue to the West Blue was far from simple. Between them lay the towering Red Line a natural barrier even the seas themselves could not breach. Blake had to return to Mary Geoise first before crossing over. The detour, along with political delays in the Holy Land, cost him months.
It was a dull year, yet not an unproductive one.
Blake's strength had grown steadily, his mastery of Haki sharpening with each passing day.
Six months ago, his Observation Haki finally broke through a critical threshold. He had reached the rare level known as Future Sight the ability to glimpse moments yet to come.
For most, such insight required years of training and precise control like Katakuri, who had refined his skill through endless battle experience. Blake, however, had achieved it through sheer numbers, through relentless stat growth and mechanical perfection. A quantitative leap that became a qualitative change.
Armed with this new power, Blake finally managed to defeat young Kizaru within the card space.
He now held in his hand a shimmering golden card one that pulsed faintly with light.
Ability Card: Glint-Glint Fruit.
He couldn't help but grin. "So I really pulled Kizaru's top-tier reward."
It was tempting. The Glint-Glint Fruit granted light-speed movement and attacks one of the most coveted Logia fruits in the world. But there was a catch: the card didn't negate the curse of the sea. Using it would be no different than actually eating the fruit.
He studied the golden light between his fingers, musing aloud, "Why would I give myself a weakness when I already stand above others by numbers alone?"
No he didn't need it.
He decided to keep the card stored away, saving it for someone more suitable. After all, a person could only possess one fruit power, or one ability card, at a time.
At present, his only subordinate was Aramaki, the Forest-Forest Fruit user. That ruled him out entirely.
So the card would stay sealed within Blake's collection at least for now.
Still, his progress over the year was remarkable. He had grown strong enough to challenge even a forty-one-year-old Doflamingo, reaching a level equivalent to a vice-emperor in combat strength.
Even more interestingly, the card system had begun favoring swordsmen in his draws.
It seemed to be guiding him toward becoming a balanced fighter one proficient in all arts.
Thanks to this shift, Blake's swordsmanship had skyrocketed. In just a year, he'd reached a level comparable to early Grand Line Zoro, only one step away from becoming a true master capable of cutting steel.
"Your Grace," one of the Cipher Pol agents interrupted his thoughts, "there's something ahead."
Blake didn't even look up. His Observation Haki, vastly expanded by the card system, already stretched across the surrounding sea almost rivaling Enel's range.
He had sensed the commotion long before anyone else.
Far ahead, two ships were locked in a desperate chase one a merchant vessel, the other a pirate ship in hot pursuit.
"Fire the cannons! Sink that merchant ship!" a burly pirate captain roared, brandishing a massive cleaver.
Suddenly, a hand shot out from behind him and smacked him across the head.
"Don't you dare fire, you idiot!" the first mate barked. "If you hit the treasure, you're the one diving in to fetch it!"
The brute stiffened, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Y-yes, Captain!"
From his own ship, Blake watched the scene unfold with mild amusement until something in the distance caught his attention.
A shadow on the horizon. Massive. Moving.
He sat up straight. "That… can't be."
There, looming out of the mist, was an enormous island ship.
And standing upon it or perhaps within it was a figure Blake immediately recognized.
Gecko Moria.
The once-proud warlord, fresh from his crushing defeat in Wano, now drifted alone with the remnants of his ambitions. His entire crew had been annihilated by Kaido. Only Moria had escaped a hollow shell of the man he once was.
The ship was slow but gargantuan, its size alone enough to command fear.
On the pirate ship ahead, the lookout's shriek cut through the air. "Captain! Something's at four o'clock!"
The silver-haired pirate captain turned toward the call and his jaw dropped.
"Wha… what is that?!" he gasped. "An island? An island that's moving?!"
The West Blue, though far tamer than the New World, still held its share of dangers. Yet the silver-haired fool was clearly not one of its seasoned veterans. His initial panic quickly twisted into excitement.
"A moving island!" he exclaimed. "Could it be… the legendary One Piece?!"
The crew stared at him in awe.
"That's it! No wonder no one's ever found Raftel it's a moving island! I knew it! I'm destined to be the next Pirate King!"
"Turn the ship!" he bellowed. "Forget the merchant full speed ahead! Raftel is right there! Don't let anyone else get to it first!"
"Captain, you're a genius!" someone shouted.
"Long live the Captain!" cried another.
"Yeahhh!"
The crew erupted into cheers, their bloodlust replaced by greed and delusion. They turned their ship straight toward Moria's massive vessel unaware of the holy ship Sanctum and its accompanying navy vessels watching from nearby.
Blake chuckled softly, lounging back again. "Poor fools," he murmured. "They have no idea what they're sailing into."
He could only imagine Moria's mood nursing his wounds, wallowing in defeat when a pack of loud, clueless pirates came banging on his hull.
Still, Blake's eyes lingered on the ship itself.
Now that he looked closer, the architecture on Moria's island ship seemed… familiar.
"Hm… that design does look a bit like the buildings from God Valley," he mused.
There had always been a theory in his previous life that Moria's Thriller Bark was built from the ruins of God Valley itself.
The logic fit.
After his defeat, Moria had returned to the West Blue and converted an entire island into a ship. Some of his undead soldiers even resembled former members of the Rocks Pirates.
Blake wasn't convinced yet. But the possibility intrigued him.
He stood at the bow, eyes glinting with curiosity as he watched the moving island glide across the sea.
"Interesting," he murmured. "Very interesting indeed."