Three luck-enhancing traits and items formed the foundation of Ren's confidence.
He was about to draw an item capable of transforming his Calabash Brother Template—an item that could bring about a qualitative change.
{Chip Balance: 33,000,000}
Ren glanced at the balance, lit a cigarette with his silver lighter, and watched as the Silver Roulette began to spin.
Three streaks of light suddenly shot out of the roulette's rim, and the glowing screen displayed the results:
{Draw Result – Potara Earrings}
{Draw Result – Character Template: Fifth Calabash Brother}
{Draw Result – Magical Clima-Tact}
Three short hollow batons, each about the length of an arm, appeared in Ren's hands. Each rod had spherical joints and buttons on both ends. When joined together, they formed a slender sky-blue staff.
Ren froze at the sight.
"Huh?"
[Magical Clima-Tact]
Origin: One Piece Dimension
Type: Technological Weapon / Weather Weapon
Effect: A magically enhanced Clima-Tact, redesigned by Master Usopp using the technology of Weatheria Island. It possesses a wide array of functions—Gust Sword, Black Ball, Thundercloud Rod, Shower Tempo, Cream Route, Thundercloud Trap, Heat Ball, Cream Bubble, Weather Egg: Child of Thunder, Weather Egg: Thunderstorm, and many others.
However, it demands exceptional knowledge in meteorology, mathematics, and related sciences. In the hands of anyone lacking that expertise, it's nothing more than a fancy metal stick good for hitting people.
Cost: None
Ren stared blankly at the floating text.He truly hadn't expected to pull out Nami's future weapon—the Magical Clima-Tact.
For Nami, this weapon was as essential as chopsticks at a meal or claws to a crab. Having it or not made an enormous difference.
In the original timeline, nearly ninety-nine percent of Nami's combat power came from the Clima-Tact. If she had it now, her fighting strength would leap to a level where she might actually spar with Ren himself.
Ren was confident he'd still win—but it definitely wouldn't be pleasant.
Still, judging from the description, the current Nami probably couldn't fully control this weapon yet.After all, she'd never been to Weatheria Island.
That floating island held the secrets of weather manipulation—knowledge capable of changing the climate of entire regions from drought to rainfall at will.
Nami was a genius, no doubt—the true Daughter of Weather—but even genius required a foundation of learning.
"Either way, this is a good thing," Ren said, quickly regaining composure. He stored the Magical Clima-Tact into the Four-Dimensional Chrysanthemum.
Next came something he both wanted and dreaded to see—the Fifth Calabash Brother Template!
[Character Template – Calabash Brother: Fifth Brother]
Origin:Calabash Brothers
Type: Template
Effect: When activated, the user's body transforms into the Fifth Calabash Brother template, slightly boosting base attributes and granting constant control over rivers and lakes.
Cost: Stamina
[Trait – Swallowing Rivers and Flooding Lakes]
Type: Passive (Constant)
Effect: While using the Fifth Brother template, the user can swallow vast quantities of water into their stomach and expel it at will. Maximum capacity: 100,000 tons.
Cost: Stamina
"Trash," Ren muttered.
Utter trash.
He double-checked to make sure, but the results didn't change.
One hundred thousand tons of water—what did that even amount to?A single ten-thousand-ton volume was equivalent to about four standard swimming pools fifty meters long, twenty-five meters wide, and two meters deep.So one hundred thousand tons… forty such pools.
At best, that was just one decent-sized flood.
Compared to the First Brother and Third Brother templates, the Fifth Brother's power was underwhelming.
The prize pool was supposed to have improved, yet this template is so weak? Just swallowing and spitting water, with a cap on storage? Even its attribute boosts are inferior to the others… why?
Ren frowned in thought—and then noticed the key difference.
The First Brother and Third Brother templates had both been Grand Prizes. Grand Prizes were clearly marked as being above the current tier of the roulette pool.
And now it seemed that wasn't just "one tier" higher—it might be a far bigger leap.
While still not equal to the original Calabash Brothers, those two templates had unique traits of their own. Even the first item he ever drew—the Desire Compass—had distinct value.
Only the "007 incident" had been a total loss… but without that, Ren wouldn't have gotten to where he was today.
Forget it. Fate is fate. From now on, I'll lock every Grand Prize into Calabash Brother templates only.
Taking a deep breath, Ren dismissed the disappointment and turned his attention to the final prize—a pair of golden, bead-like earrings: the Potara Earrings.
[Potara Earrings]
Origin: Dragon Ball Dimension
Type: Rule-Type Item
Effect: When worn by two individuals on opposite ears, the wearers fuse into a single being.
Conditions: both must meet specific criteria—mutual recognition, comparable power levels, same race, and high compatibility. The closer they meet these standards, the greater the fusion's power boost. If the criteria aren't met, the fusion may even weaken both parties.
Cost: None
Yes—this was it.
The perfect solution to Ren's problem: the early Calabash Brother templates were powerful but incompatible. This item could merge their strengths.
Combining seven into one was an excellent idea—but the power of each depended on the tier of the roulette pool.A Calabash Brother drawn from a ten-million-Beli pool could never compare to one drawn from a hundred-million-Beli pool.
That was the difference in prize tiers.Grand Prizes could bridge that gap—but there were seven brothers, and Ren couldn't count on getting seven Grand Prizes.
Each roulette upgrade increased the cost tenfold.The next draw would demand one billion Beli—a sum he hadn't yet gathered.
"Looks like I'll have to keep adventuring," Ren sighed, placing the golden earrings into the Four-Dimensional Chrysanthemum. Only three million chips remained.
After some thought, he decided to use them for enchanting the Magical Clima-Tact.
Knockback, Loyalty, Riptide, Lightning Summon—a deep violet glow enveloped the staff.
When it was done, he stowed the weapon and stepped outside.
Night had fallen.
The Pipi Shrimp was docked in a sheltered harbor. Nami and Nojiko were fast asleep in their rooms.
Only Zoro remained on deck, training relentlessly, Ryuen in hand, practicing his sword swings.No fancy technique—just steady, repetitive vertical slashes.
"Four-one-one-zero… four-one-one-one-four-one-one-two," he muttered, sweat streaming down his face.
Ren watched from the doorway, embarrassed—he'd barely practiced the Thunder Breathing Technique he'd drawn.
After a moment's thought, he approached.
"Zoro, got a minute?"
Zoro paused mid-swing and looked over. "Yeah, what is it?"
"I've been wanting to improve myself lately. I drew a kind of breathing technique from a Devil Fruit ability, but I've never trained properly and lack discipline. I was hoping you could help me with that."
Ren spoke honestly—and planned to teach Zoro the Thunder Breathing Technique as well.
After all, they'd traveled together for a long time. Even if Ren knew they wouldn't remain comrades forever…
He had always liked this character in his past life.
(End of Chapter)