Strengthening Ace and Yamato

"So you can even fuse Devil Fruits together now? Doesn’t that mean you can eat as many Devil Fruits as you want?" Yamato looked at Yota with envy, jealousy, and resentment all over her face.

"How could that be? I can only fuse Devil Fruits that are related to each other. If I could fuse Devil Fruits at will, I’d have already gone off to overthrow the World Government by myself." Yota rolled his eyes.

"I see. That’s still amazing." Ace nodded. "By the way, when you said you wanted to strengthen our Devil Fruits, you meant…"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Yota smiled. "This Ice-Ice Fruit can be fused with Yamato’s Okuchi no Makami Fruit."

"As for your Flame-Flame Fruit, Ace, just give it to me. I can fuse it, and I’ll give you a fusion-type Magma-Magma Fruit made from the Magma-Magma Fruit and the Stone-Stone Fruit."

"You must have noticed that the Magma-Magma Fruit naturally counters your Flame-Flame Fruit."

"Mm… that’s true." Ace touched his chest, where the wound from Akainu’s punch still lay.

When experts in the Pirate World fought, they generally had two kinds of defense. One was Armament Haki around the outside, like invisible iron armor, and the other was the toughness of their own bodies.

Yet during his fight with Sakazuki, Ace had discovered that his physical defense was practically nonexistent before the Magma-Magma Fruit. On the other hand, his Devil Fruit ability attacks had done no damage at all to Sakazuki.

Ace had already been somewhat weaker than Sakazuki. With this back-and-forth disadvantage, the gap between them had widened even further. If they truly fought, Sakazuki would have no problem taking on two Aces alone.

"That’s because the Flame-Flame Fruit is an inferior Devil Fruit to the Magma-Magma Fruit," Yota told Ace. "But because of that, the methods for developing these two Devil Fruits are quite similar. Once you obtain the fusion-type Magma-Magma Fruit, you can apply most of your Flame-Flame Fruit development progress to the Magma-Magma Fruit."

"Is that so… It does sound pretty good. But do I have to change my name to Magma Fist from now on?" Ace scratched his head.

Yota could not be bothered to indulge him. With a sweep of black mist, he extracted the two Devil Fruits from them, then created a fusion-type Okuchi no Makami Fruit and a fusion-type Magma-Magma Fruit before handing them over.

Yamato took a crunching bite, then breathed out cold air and exclaimed, "Amazing! It feels like my freezing power has increased more than tenfold, and I can use Elementalization now too."

As she spoke, her entire body turned into an ice sculpture. With a crack, it shattered onto the ground, only for her to crawl back out from the ice beneath her feet.

Ace also ate the Magma-Magma Fruit without hesitation. "Sure enough. The Magma-Magma Fruit is far more powerful than the Flame-Flame Fruit, though its attack range is slightly weaker."

"But… is this the power of the Stone-Stone Fruit? I feel like I can fully control rocks and turn them directly into magma. I can even create gigantic magma giants."

"Fine, you can test all that later. For now, take your men and leave first," Yota said. "After a while, I’ll return to the Whitebeard Pirates. We’ll have things to discuss then."

"Discuss what? What is there to discuss?" Ace asked.

"We’ll discuss how everyone should rule the world after I overthrow the World Government!"

Ace and Yamato: "…"

"So the Revolutionary Army has come after all? They should have left some contact information, right?"

On an unnamed island in the first half of the Grand Line—the place where Yota had freed those slaves—the former slaves now called it Freedom Island.

"Yes, Lord Yota. Are you going to contact those Revolutionary Army people?" asked a tall man with a scar on his face.

"Of course. But before that, I really didn’t expect this." Yota slowly turned his head. "You came too, Boa Hancock."

"Hmph! My people are here. Why can’t I come?"

Along with a sweet but haughty voice, a dazzlingly beautiful woman approached.

The middle-aged man standing beside Yota was already utterly infatuated, his eyes turning into hearts. Yota helplessly covered his forehead. "You… stop causing trouble here all the time."

"What do you mean, causing trouble? Do you think I don’t know your plan? I want to join too!" Boa Hancock did not even glance at anyone else, her bright eyes fixed on Yota.

"What plan of mine do you know?" Yota asked directly.

"The plan to overthrow the World Government. Am I wrong?" Hancock said proudly.

Yota curled his lip. "Anyone who knows I contacted the Revolutionary Army could guess that I want to overthrow the World Government."

"Then let me lend you a hand. The strength of our Amazon Lily should not be underestimated, should it?"

Everyone on Amazon Lily trained in Haki. Having Haki did not necessarily make someone an expert, but it at least meant they were certainly not weak. Any qualified warrior from Amazon Lily, compared broadly, should have been equivalent to a lieutenant-ranked officer at Marine Headquarters or a colonel-ranked officer in the Four Seas.

They could barely be considered beyond the level of cannon fodder, and they formed the indispensable middle tier of any power structure.

Hearing that, Yota nodded. "If you’re willing, then let’s make a mess together."

"It seems you’ve emerged from your own psychological shadow."

"Of course. Just as you said, Celestial Dragons are nothing more than ordinary people of flesh and blood. They die when they’re killed." Hancock spoke arrogantly, then hesitated for a long while before finally lifting her chin and saying to Yota as though granting him charity, "In any case, I should thank you…"

After saying that, she turned and ran off. Yota rolled his eyes speechlessly. "Such a textbook tsundere… Even saying thank you is that difficult."

Amazon Lily joining them was an unexpected bonus, but the people Yota truly wanted to find were from the Revolutionary Army.

Fortunately, Freedom Island was such a huge prize that it had indeed attracted quite a few Revolutionary Army members. It was also fortunate that the Marines and the World Government had not focused their attention on them during this period. Perhaps they were wary of provoking Yota. Otherwise, the island probably would not have remained like this.

Of course, although there were Revolutionary Army members on the island, there definitely were no high-ranking figures. But Yota did not care. He merely wanted these Revolutionary Army members to show him the way.