"You'll know when the time comes. Also, I saw something else: you'll have an additional opportunity in Underwater Prison. One of the people you save will become your companion in the future, but I don't know who exactly it will be."
Luo Yan once again played the role of a fortune-teller, speaking in riddles.
Luffy was practically an idiot in everything except combat, and he wasn't in the mood to ponder Luo Yan's words right now. He only remembered that Hancock could help him.
"I understand. I'll go ask her right away. Thank you, Luo Yan."
"Heh! Go. I should be leaving too, Xia Tali, let's go."
Xia Tali nodded, spread her wings, and flew onto the ship. Luo Yan controlled the currents to propel the ship forward at an incredible speed, leaving Nine Serpent Island.
Luffy immediately turned back, no longer going to the banquet he was supposed to attend. He wanted to go see Hancock right away.
On the ship, Luo Yan played with the first talisman he had crafted, a slight smile on his lips, feeling very pleased.
Xia Tali stood beside him, occasionally twitching her nose as if sniffing something.
"Captain, you just came to deliver information to Luffy?"
"Hey! Even if I hadn't come to deliver the information, he would have found out in a few hours anyway, after all, it was just a newspaper. My visit to Kuja was merely to make Luffy owe me another favor."
"If that's the case, then why not help him more?"
Xia Tali was a little confused. She could clearly feel Luo Yan showing goodwill to Luffy repeatedly, but she didn't understand why Luo Yan did this. In her opinion, Luffy wasn't that strong, and there was no need for such an extensive effort to win him over. Yet, having chosen to win him over, he didn't go all the way.
Luo Yan smiled, caught the talisman he had tossed up, and handed it to Xia Tali.
"I can only do this much. If I help him any further, I'll be in danger. Underwater Prison isn't somewhere I can barge into right now. A powerhouse comparable to a Great General is stationed there."
"Then Luffy, he…"
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. He's… Luffy, after all."
Luo Yan originally wanted to say "He's the protagonist," but he changed his words at the last minute.
Xia Tali didn't say anything more. Although she had interacted with Luffy a few times, and they could be considered friends, their relationship was far from the point where they would take huge risks for each other. Since Luo Yan's help was limited, she didn't have any other thoughts.
"Captain, I'm hungry."
Xia Tali suddenly spoke out of the blue, startling Luo Yan, who immediately had a bad feeling.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
As he spoke, Luo Yan unconsciously took a step back, putting distance between himself and Xia Tali.
Xia Tali took out a vial from her pocket containing a pale purple liquid with sparkling points of light, looking somewhat dreamlike.
"Captain, this is a blood-replenishing potion."
"I… I understand."
Luo Yan ultimately didn't refuse. He took the potion, intending to get a cup or something to let Xia Tali have some blood, but he didn't expect Xia Tali to pounce on him directly, hugging him tightly, standing on her tiptoes, and biting his neck.
Luo Yan only felt a slight tingling in his neck, no pain at all. Instead, he felt a moist, soft touch, and combined with their current posture, the atmosphere became surprisingly ambiguous.
Immediately after, Luo Yan clearly felt his blood draining. This process wasn't fast, but the sensation was so clear.
This process didn't last too long. In less than half a minute, Xia Tali released her mouth. Her lips weren't stained with blood, but they looked redder than usual.
"Thank you, Captain."
Xia Tali bowed seriously to Luo Yan, then quickly ran off.
Luo Yan subconsciously touched his neck, finding only a lingering dampness, no wound.
"No, I need to find a hospital to buy some blood."
Luo Yan made a silent decision, and the current propelling the ship sped up even more.
Time came to the latter half of the night. After half a day of sailing, the ship finally left the Calm Belt and returned to the first half of the Grand Line, not far from Sabaody Archipelago. This area was also very close to Marine Headquarters; a typical ship would only need less than two hours to get there, and even faster with favorable winds and currents.
Luo Yan didn't choose to go to Sabaody Archipelago but drifted on the sea. After all, he was planning to get involved in the Summit War and didn't want to show himself yet.
After entrusting the ship to Mite, Luo Yan returned to his room and had a good sleep, sleeping until noon. When he woke up, he didn't leave the room but stayed inside to count his extraordinary characteristics and materials.
Although he hadn't specifically collected them during this time, the number of extraordinary characteristics and materials had still increased significantly. He was now a bit conflicted, wanting to create a few more magical items. After all, he was preparing to get involved in the Summit War, so with resources available, it was natural to make as many preparations as possible.
Although there was no Artisan, it was still very easy to turn extraordinary characteristics into magical items. The simplest way was to formulate the extraordinary characteristics into a potion, let it sit in a container, or pour it directly onto an item, allowing it to combine with the item, which would naturally transform the extraordinary characteristic into a magical item.
The role of an Artisan was that an Artisan could craft magical items into the desired form, whereas items obtained by combining potions with objects were too random and generally had greater negative side effects.
Another point was that an Artisan could create magical items without using extraordinary characteristics, but only using extraordinary materials. However, these magical items had a limited lifespan, usually only one to three years.
"Tsk! I must train an Artisan!"
Luo Yan clicked his tongue, making a silent resolution. If there was an Artisan on board at this moment, he wouldn't need to be so troubled.
Although he thought so, there was indeed no Artisan, so he could only figure it out himself.
After much thought, Luo Yan finally rummaged through a pile of extraordinary characteristics and found the heart burning with flames. This was originally a Pyromaniac characteristic, but it was affected by Ace's blood when he killed that giant Sea Kings, and now it had become like this.
Although it looked normal, Luo Yan didn't want to use this characteristic to formulate a potion for Luo Ta to advance to Pyromaniac. After all, there was a certain risk, and he had more than one set of Pyromaniac materials in his hand, so there was no need to take a risk. Therefore, using this characteristic to create a magical item became a good choice.
"The most active participant in the Summit War is Akainu. If I get involved, I'm very likely to be targeted by Akainu. Besides having fire abilities, a Pyromaniac also has high fire resistance. I hope to create a defensive item with high fire resistance."