Chapter 164: The Order from Iron Fortress

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The conversation didn't take long, and Abel emerged from Doflamingo's room shortly thereafter.

He wasn't entirely sure what the outcome was.

However, Abel could tell that Doflamingo was not keen on the idea of Corazon taking Law out to sea in search of medical treatment.

If that had been a viable solution, Doflamingo would have long utilized the power of the Donquixote family to cure both Abel and Law.

But the problem was that Law's lead poisoning was truly incurable.

Unless there was an exceptional doctor willing to dedicate a decade or more to research, similar to what Law's father did.

Unfortunately, Law's father had already passed away.

So even if they found a willing doctor to investigate the disease, there wasn't much time left.

Instead of wasting that effort, it was better to pin their hopes on a Devil Fruit.

If they could find that particular Devil Fruit, all their problems would be solved, and he could also gain...

Abel, of course, had no idea what Doflamingo's precise thoughts were; anyway, he had no intention of suffering out at sea with Corazon.

So after making his position clear, he expressed his desire to learn the Six Powers of the Navy.

This technique was not a secret, as it had already been showcased in battles with the Navy.

Doflamingo didn't think much of it and simply stated that no one in his family knew how to use the technique.

If Abel was set on learning it, he would have to find a way on his own.

Of course, Doflamingo added that he would keep an eye out for him.

Abel figured that Doflamingo's response probably meant he didn't want to expose Vergo, at least he didn't want to risk revealing him over such a trivial matter.

That meant the easiest path was now temporarily inaccessible.

Unless he waited a few more years for Vergo to firm up his footing in the Navy, then it wouldn't be an issue anymore.

Abel wasn't disappointed by this.

After all, he hadn't been counting solely on Doflamingo from the start. He brought it up simply to avoid misunderstandings later on.

"Well, now I have to find my own way," Abel thought as he walked out, recalling memories related to the Navy's Six Powers.

But there was no need to rush; he could take his time.

He already had enough to learn and train for each day.

The next day, he heard that Corazon had taken Law and left the family.

Of course, there was a note left behind.

It had only one sentence: "I'm taking Law out to sea to seek medical treatment."

Law hadn't managed to inform Abel because Corazon had acted on his own accord, knocking Law unconscious and taking him without Law's consent.

Under these circumstances, Law had no choice but to leave without a word.

When Abel heard the news, he thought that the next time they met would likely be the moment of their true separation.

With Corazon in the picture, it was probable that Law would follow the original path from the story and break away from the Donquixote family.

Regardless of whether Law managed to get the Ope Ope Fruit, Abel was determined to stay.

He didn't just plan to stay; he intended to quickly ascend and become one of the top executives of the Donquixote family.

Only then could he begin to implement some of his plans.

Despite the magnitude of these events, Doflamingo, though furious at the time, was helpless against his younger brother and ultimately let him have his way.

Meanwhile, Doflamingo doubled down on the search for the Devil Fruit, not overlooking any information, whether true or false.

During this time, Abel's efforts once again paid off. The skill "Magic Card Remodeling," as it had a relatively low cost, was upgraded to LV5, allowing for five magic cards to be imprinted and kept on hand as a backup.

The skill "Clothes Burst" reached LV4, its leveling pace slightly slower.

The exclusive skill "Breath of Darkness" almost naturally progressed to LV4. At this rate, it might be the first one to be fully upgraded.

"Shura Aurora Slash" remained at LV5, awaiting a card for leveling up.

"Infinite One-Slash" would probably only go up to LV2 once he cultivated 33 types of sword intent.

His physical skills and sword techniques had improved greatly as well.

Especially the Armament Haki and Observation Haki, upon which he had been focusing, had progressed quickly.

Of course, developing these skills was similar to mathematics – in childhood, learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Even the least gifted child could master it with effort.

But upon reaching higher mathematical levels, it's no longer just about effort; talent also plays a significant role.

To reach perfection is exceedingly rare!

Therefore, Abel was uncertain how long his 'genius bonus' would last.

Fortunately, he still had the system, his 'golden finger.' If natural talent wasn't enough, there was always the cheat!

That day, after finishing his training early, Abel went to the kitchen for a big meal and then returned to his room to summon the system.

With another 15 days passed, the system had once again generated a "Search" opportunity.

Moreover, after an update, the generation time for Intermediate Wish Orders for the "Search" and the refresh time for the system's store were also 15 days, meaning new items were available in the store.

So Abel first checked the system store – one purple and two blue items.

The blue ones were useless, and the purple one was a meteor hammer, likely powerful and priced at 1500 trade points.

Abel felt that he would probably never use such a weapon in his life, and since it wasn't one of the 'strange' items, he wasn't inclined to buy it.

Of course, his current financial constraints played a part, as he was down to 1190 trade points.

"Let's just check the orders," he decided.

Abel closed the store and went to the order page, initiating a search.

[Initiating Wish Order search... Search complete!]

[An Intermediate Wish Order has been obtained]

[Order Description: Our 'station' has not seen a 'swift city' arrival for a long time now, and the outside is full of Kabaneri. No, we'd rather starve than become those monsters!]

[Order Details: 1) Supply enough resources for a thousand people to survive three months. 2) Provide a large number of weapons and ammunition capable of remotely killing Kabaneri. (Optional)]

[Base Reward for the Order: 2000 trade points]

[Optional Reward for the Order: Kabaneri Benefit Reformation Needle Type-X (Available upon completion of the optional order content)]

[Time Remaining for the Order: 7 days]

...

After reading the order, Abel immediately went outside.

To gather such an amount of resources, he would need to utilize the power of his family.

This was one of the reasons he insisted on staying.

However, he would need to transfer all the resources away, which meant he had to leave the island first to a location with convenient transport and outside the watchful eye of Donquixote Doflamingo.

He thought it over; perhaps Roman Island would be a suitable place. Even if something unexpected occurred, the king there could cover for him.

The only question was whether seven days would be enough time.