Enemy on the Narrow Road

--- Chapter 418 ---

The next day.

"Woah, the Empress actually didn't lie to us! We really could change Devil Fruits for Divine Tools!"

Cries echoed outside Huo Yuhao's mansion as a notice appeared in the Dragon Nest's smartwatches. The notice shortly told them Huo Yuhao accepted any Devil Fruit, especially those with Space Power, and could exchange them with the Divine Tool he made.

Of course, Huo Yuhao didn't do this for nothing. He also wanted to enrich and strengthen this Dragon Nest's branch, and granting them artifacts for Devil Fruits is just one way to do it.

It's not like these Divine Tools left Dragon Nest, right?

For Huo Yuhao, this is a Win-Win Situation.

Of course, only a few people noticed this issue. Even then, they admired Huo Yuhao for his vision.

"Look how excited they are, fufu." Raikou peeked from the window and smiled at Huo Yuhao amiably. "It seemed you achieved the effect you wanted, Honey~!"

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly, drinking the milk tea Raikou made as the cries outside subsided slowly. Even though Huo Yuhao looked down on these low-level Divine Tools he made, he still knew their values.

Although Rayleigh and others might think Huo Yuhao was being generous at the time, he wasn't dumb enough to give them for free.

Huo Yuhao could find any Devil Fruits if he put more effort into it, but it wasn't worth it as some Devil Fruits are special and stored in a "safe" location that even his senses couldn't predict.

As God of Fortune, Huo Yuhao was clear that "robbing" and "being given" by others are different concepts. The latter gave him more benefits than the former.

Even though Huo Yuhao's luck is overwhelmingly high, a series of horrible actions would still lower that luck slightly. Luck is not a permanent thing, after all.

"Well, the sounds finally disappeared." Huo Yuhao commented calmly.

Raikou chuckled, "They wouldn't stay put after learning the news of your generosity. Since training Dragon Nest's methods can be done anywhere, these new recruits entered a craze of finding Devil Fruits to trade with Divine Tools."

"However, I'm surprised by this girl, Hancock. Do you know how many Devil Fruits she handed to the warehouse this morning?"

"How many?" Huo Yuhao tilted his head in curiosity. Last night, he was too occupied with learning [Obsidian Sea's Chapter] and other things.

"Twenty-five!" Raikou grinned with excitement.

Huo Yuhao choked on his milk tea, "Damn, this love-brained girl is more committed than I expected..."

"Twenty-five Devil Fruits, that's insane!"

"She must have emptied many generations of Amazon Lily's treasury."

"You shouldn't say that to a girl in love, Honey!" Raikou chuckled. "This girl, Hancock, is adorable!"

"She just wants to please you. Do you think she cares about Divine Tools more than your affections?"

"Aih, being handsome is indeed difficult." Huo Yuhao rubbed his chin helplessly.

Raikou couldn't help but roll her eyes at this narcissistic man. 'Hmph, but at least you didn't lie. You're indeed handsome.'

"Well, you're right." Huo Yuhao chuckled. "I shouldn't call Hancock Love-Brain. She's just passionate."

"Where is she right now?"

"Sending her gifts from the smartwatch feels wrong after she gave me twenty-five Devil Fruits."

Raikou shook her head gently, "That girl already started training the Kuja Army for you on a remote island a couple of hundred miles away."

"If you go there, it would affect her focus more than anything."

"..." Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched slightly. Indeed, if he visited Hancock as it is, this girl would fawn over him and do nothing all day.

He rubbed his forehead helplessly, "Whatever, we will meet again when the others finish their task."

Ring~! Ring~!

"Hmm?" Huo Yuhao glanced at the smartwatch in his hand and saw Sabo was calling him. He tapped the smartwatch and answered the call.

"What's the matter, Sabo?"

"Ah, I didn't expect Yuhao-sama to respond so quickly! This technology is awesome!" Sabo's virtual appearance floated above Huo Yuhao's watch, obviously smaller than he should have been.

On the other side, Sabo likewise saw the virtual appearance of Huo Yuhao sitting on a sofa with a cup of milk tea in his hand.

"Focus on the report, Sabo!" Koala's voice echoed from the background.

"Haha, you're right." Sabo rubbed the back of his head weakly.

He cleared his throat and reported to Huo Yuhao that they discovered the lost civilization near Elwood. Strong currents surrounded the place, and the weather was horrible, so only Sabo and Koala could enter it.

Karasu and others are still circling around the area, mapping any possible entry they could exploit. Thankfully, the bad weather didn't disturb their communication device.

Sabo was thankful for this convenient watch in his hand. "Yuhao-sama, we need backups."

"Seara, have you locked their locations?" Huo Yuhao asked Seara, who was responsible for monitoring this world.

"Affirmative, Leader," Seara responded with a cold yet feminine voice.

"They are in the Unknown Island on the border between the East Blue and Red Line. The area has a weird electromagnetic field, which causes strong currents and thunderstorms."

"There is also a weird energy reading from my scanning device."

"Oh, what is it?" Huo Yuhao raised his eyebrow.

"It seemed to be power from another world," Seara replied unsurely. "It's not native to this world."

"Oh? That's interesting." Huo Yuhao tapped his finger on the table.

Sabo was shocked, "Not native to this world?"

Although Sabo has learned some truths about Tiny Word, there are gaps in his knowledge because even Huo Yuhao doesn't know everything about this world.

At first, Huo Yuhao was confident it was One Piece World, but then Myriad Heaven Realm and some qualities from other worlds appeared out of thin air.

This information gap occurred because Huo Yuhao's memory of One Piece was incomplete.

When he was 'directly' reincarnated, the series was still ongoing!

"Are there any dangers?" Huo Yuhao asked Seara.

"I didn't detect any harmful substance from the island itself, but..." Seara replied slowly. "I think this happened because of a spatial disturbance beneath the island."

"Spatial Disturbance... So, an unstable portal." Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and deduced the history line of this unknown island with the power of fortune.

Thud!

Huo Yuhao's finger twitched as he looked down solemnly, "Hah, I didn't expect it to be them. Enemies really always meet on the narrow road."

[Host]

"It's them, Evo." Huo Yuhao sighed in awe.

"Neos Artificer."

"I'm surprised they are actually in cahoots with Imu's faction in the Myriad Heaven Realm."

[The Eternal Virgin calculated this to happen, Host]

[He knew you were about to be dragged into this conflict]

[Even then, I don't think they are 'directly' connected to Tiny World]

[The traces you discovered were probably the particles of the transaction between them and Imu]

[After all, Neos Artificer is more of a merchants in Omniversal Order]

[If not, I would be surprised]

[People of their factions wouldn't lower themselves to this level]

Huo Yuhao nodded, "Indeed. My fortune sense only sensed the scattered luck and not tangible evidence. But this makes me question something..."

"What did Imu buy from then?"

"And what did they exactly want from Imu?"

"I don't think Devil Fruits are attractive to them. Even Concept Fruits aren't that important for them."

"You said that the conflict above does not affect ants like us below."

[Unless… It's not the Concept Fruit that they wanted]

[But Law Fruits!]