One Piece: Rising to Power as a Warlord of the Sea

"Thanks, Natsu, you're the best!" Kalina exclaimed with excitement as she jumped up and threw herself into Natsu's arms. With her sweet scent and soft embrace, Natsu, a two-time lifetime bachelor, found himself blushing faintly.

With such a bold approach, who could keep their cool?

"Ahem! Alright, alright!" Natsu cleared his throat, gently nudging Kalina off of him.

After divvying up the gold, Natsu retreated to his room alone. He had something big planned—point conversion. Power is the key to survival; women will only slow you down.

"System, start the conversion!"

Ding! "Conversion initiated. Countdown: One minute."

The gold pile before him disappeared in the blink of an eye, and in his mind, he could hear the ticking of a clock.

"Conversion complete! Congratulations, host, you have received 220,000 points!"

Two hundred and twenty thousand points! Natsu was thrilled—that's equivalent to 2.2 billion berries! Wealth beyond his dreams.

Indeed, just like the saying: "A horse cannot gain weight without night grazing, and a man cannot grow rich without unexpected wealth." Natsu had worked tirelessly for over a decade, barely scraping together over 10,000 points. But this one trip to Skypiea? Over twenty times that! Clearly, money-making ventures were in his future.

"System, open the shop! It's time for a spending spree!" Natsu shouted confidently.

System: "You've got points, all right. Don't get too cocky!"

Natsu's eyes swept over the shop's offerings. There were about twenty items available. He'd seen them before, but they had always been too pricey to afford. With a minimum price of 10,000 points per item, he hadn't even considered it. The shop refreshed every week, and some items might only appear once—like rare Devil Fruits. But now, with his newfound wealth, it was time to seize everything worth having.

The shop offered Devil Fruits, skill cards, legendary swords, skill upgrade cards, blueprints, potions, powerful gear, and more.

Natsu first spent 10,000 points on a flying item: the Wings of Heavenly Breeze. Then, another 10,000 points bought him a unique skill, Elemental Burst: Planet Befall, inspired by Zhongli's ultimate move in Genshin Impact. Next, he spent 100,000 points on ten skill upgrade cards, 10,000 points on a comprehensive medical skills compendium, 20,000 on a ghost submarine, and 40,000 on two life elixirs, leaving him with a balance of 40,000 points for future needs.

He wasted no time. After confirming his purchases, Natsu immediately used the skill upgrade cards. His Golden Light Curse skill rose from level 8 to level 9 and gained a new ability, Five Thunders Invocation. Now, Natsu could wield thunder strikes at will, utilizing both the yang of thunder and the yin of lightning. With his understanding of Tai Chi, his thunder techniques would only become more powerful.

Tai Chi and his hyper-speed movement skill each went up a level with the upgrades.

He had also bought some gear and skills from the game Genshin Impact.

The Wings of Heavenly Breeze allowed him to harness wind elements to fly. With his mastery of divination and the eight trigrams, he could generate enough wind to soar like a seagull. As long as he maintained his energy, he could keep flying indefinitely.

Elemental Burst: Planet Befall called down a massive meteorite, dealing immense damage and petrifying enemies within range for four seconds.

Both purchases were immensely practical and impressive, giving Natsu's image a powerful boost.

As for Haki, Natsu had tried using skill cards to upgrade it but realized there was no shortcut—he could only improve it through dedicated training, so he put the idea aside.

Natsu's strength had taken another leap, his newfound aura casting an invisible pressure over the entire ship. On the Smile's deck, Enel sensed this and turned toward Natsu's quarters, a glint of envy in his eyes.

Enel was desperate to grow stronger.

Soon, Natsu stepped out of his room, acclimated to his new abilities. Noticing Enel's yearning expression, he smiled slightly.

"Come on, I'll teach you how to use Haki," Natsu said, tilting his head.

"Natsu, you're the one offering to teach me. I didn't ask, you know," Enel replied, his eyes full of excitement, though his stoic face feigned indifference.

The Smile continued on its journey. During the voyage, Natsu explained the techniques and nuances of Haki in great detail, which Enel eagerly absorbed, quickly diving into Haki training.

Time flew by, and three days later, they docked at a bustling port town. The streets were packed with people, voices rising in lively calls to sell their wares.

The crew dispersed in the town. Natsu and kumo entered a restaurant to sample the local delicacies. The Smile had a smart kitchen with great food, but Natsu always felt it lacked a certain soul.

"Hey there, what can I get you?" a smiling server asked as they walked in.

"Hmm, I'll take this, and this, and all of these… just bring me one of each!" Natsu pointed at the menu, ordering over a dozen dishes.

"Hey, did you hear?" a gruff voice came from a nearby table. "The auction house in town caught a Fishman, and they're planning to auction him off!"

"For real? I've never seen a Fishman before. I'm definitely going to check it out."

"Too bad it's not a Mermaid! I hear all mermaids are beauties. Imagine owning one to serve you!" another voice joined in.

"Ha! As if. Even if there was one, you wouldn't stand a chance. Don't forget whose territory this is," sneered a pirate with a scruffy beard.

"Hmph!" came the reply, though the speaker knew the bearded pirate was right. The island's ruler held absolute authority, and thinking of the rumors, he couldn't help but shiver.

"And there's one more piece of news I know you'll be interested in," the bearded pirate said, lowering his voice. "There's a Devil Fruit up for auction."

"What? A Devil Fruit!"

"You sure? You're not messing with us?"

"Of course I'm sure! The info came from my brother's uncle's cousin's grandma's grandson. It's legit!"

"Pfft, yeah right. If a Devil Fruit shows up, some big-name pirate crew will snatch it up in no time. No way we'd get close to it."

As Devil Fruits usually started at an auction price of over 100 million berries, regular pirates had no hope of affording one.

Natsu and Kumo continued eating while listening to the chatter around them. Human trafficking, Devil Fruits, pirates, auctions—everything pointed to one conclusion: this was the domain of a dark lord. And this business reminded Natsu of one particular figure—the Warlord and underworld ruler, Heavenly Yaksha Donquixote Doflamingo.

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