Chapter 261
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August.
With the notoriety gained from the plundering of 'Heavenly Gold' along with the authority and status of a Warlord of the Sea,
Doflamingo, accompanied by the top executives of the Donquixote Family, began aggressively expanding their power throughout the first half of the Grand Line.
Numerous islands found themselves flying the Donquixote Family's flags.
Challenges to the prestige of the Warlord of the Sea, Doflamingo, became a rarity,
and those who dared were often dispatched by the other executives before even getting to see Doflamingo himself.
It was then that the world started to recognize that it wasn't just Doflamingo who was formidable; his Donquixote Family was not to be trifled with either, leading people to wonder where he had recruited such formidable members.
However, Doflamingo was not satisfied as his eyes turned toward the New World.
Dressrosa was his next target!
900 years ago, the ruling family of the Dressrosa kingdom was the Donquixote Family.
It wasn't until a hundred years later that the Donquixote Family became Celestial Dragons and left Dressrosa, enabling the Riku Family to ascend as its new ruling dynasty.
Now, having secured the position of a Warlord of the Sea, Doflamingo was no longer a Celestial Dragon, and naturally, he aimed to reconquer the nation that "others had taken".
Of course, he would not rely on brute force to seize it.
Doing so would lose public support and would never be condoned by the World Government,
especially since Dressrosa was one of the affiliate countries of the World Government.
Even as a Warlord of the Sea, the World Government would not allow him to act recklessly.
That was not part of the original deal they had made.
Nonetheless, Doflamingo was in no hurry; he planned to play a long game, first consolidating his base of power.
Thus, his cadre of family executives became increasingly busy.
Worth mentioning is that Senor Pica followed Abel's advice and, under the pretext of personnel reassignment, successfully deceived his wife Luciannene into moving to a relatively stable island on the Grand Line, where they began a new life.
This island also fell within the sphere of influence of the Donquixote Family, ensuring their protection as long as Doflamingo remained in power.
Therefore, Senor was quite at ease.
He bought a new home in the city on the island and even opened a flower shop for Luciannene.
He himself continued to lie about working at a bank,
though recently his "work" had him traveling frequently.
He was evidently guilty about this.
Pregnant Luciannene thought his melancholy was due to not being able to be by her side and comforted him in turn.
This only intensified Senor's unease, as he couldn't bear to imagine what it would be like when she learned the truth.
"If only I could deceive her like this for a lifetime."
Every night, Senor Pica found himself nursing this thought.
But some things are impossible to hide forever...
...
"Lord Abel, there's trouble in the underground black market; our men can't stop them."
"Understood," Abel said.
In his room, surrounded by darkness, Abel slowly opened his eyes, ending his meditation for the day.
As the Family's operations had expanded so vastly, it had significantly cut into his daily training time.
It was vexing, and there were no easy solutions.
Even Doflamingo was considering recruiting new members to the Family to alleviate the pressure.
Fortunately, Abel still had the 'golden finger' system to rapidly enhance his abilities.Over the past several months, he completed a total of seven intermediate-level prayer orders, earning four three-star ratings and three two-star ratings.
He amassed 11,000 transaction points.
The system's store refreshed seven times, including one quarterly limited-time discount flash sale.
Abel purchased several items from the store, two of which he used to fulfill orders.
The rest of the prayer orders were completed using family resources—purely taking advantage of them was exhilarating!
Items previously saved in the system's package, such as the "Venus's Broken Arm (Replica)" and the "Drunkard's Flat Bottle," were also put to good use.
The former was donated to an ordinary office worker as a collectible.
The latter was traded to a destitute drunkard.
Both transactions turned a nice little profit.
As a result, the new items he acquired include the following:
Item: [One-Month Training Card]
A one-time consumable
Description: A quality product from the system, guaranteed!
Effect: Upon use, the host will enter a special space designed for training, where any training undertaken incurs no costs for 30 days.
Price: 5,000 transaction points
Quantity:
PS: Who says money can't buy time? As it turns out, with money, even time can be bought.
...
Item: [Intermediate Skill Upgrade Card (Purple)]
A one-time consumable
Description: A quality product from the system, guaranteed!
Effect: Upon use, can upgrade any skill at or below level 6 by one level. (Does not affect exclusive skills)
Price: 1,000 transaction points
Quantity:
PS: Do you really get it?
...
Item: [Experience Book: Armament Haki (Blue)]
A one-time consumable
Description: An experience summary from someone reasonably skilled in Armament Haki.
Effect: Upon use, deepens the user's understanding of Armament Haki.
Price: 500 transaction points
Quantity:
PS: If you can buy others' experiences and insights with money, what else could you possibly want?
...
Item: [Experience Book: Observation Haki (Blue)]
A one-time consumable
Description: An experience summary from someone reasonably skilled in Observation Haki.
Effect: Upon use, deepens the user's understanding of Observation Haki.
Price: 500 transaction points
Quantity:
PS: If you can buy others' experiences and insights with money, what else could you possibly want?
...
Item: [Suited Thug (Purple)]
An equippable item
Description: A high-quality suit made of special materials.
Effect: Breathable and close-fitting, does not impede the wearer's movements. When the wearer's appearance and physique meet the minimum requirements, the 'Suited Thug' effect is activated, occasionally causing critical damage to those less attractive during an attack. The greater the difference in appearance, the greater the chance of a critical hit. (Can stack with any effect; can be repaired for 200 transaction points if damaged)
Price: 3,000 transaction points
Quantity:
PS: Being stylish is a lifelong endeavor. If you think this is expensive, you just lack confidence in your appearance and physique.
...
Item: [War Chains (Orange)]
A one-time consumable
Description: A curio condensed from the power of a war deity.
Effect: Upon use, the two parties will be locked in a duel to the death within a specified boundary, and all means of escape are ineffective. The ultimate victor may claim any one thing owned by the opponent as spoils of war. (Spoils may include knowledge, skills, lineage, soul, abilities, etc.)
Price: 5,000 transaction points (crossed out)
Quarterly limited-time discount flash sale price: 1,000 transaction points!
Quantity:
Time limit: 23 hours 59 minutes
PS: If this item weren't one-time use, I might have become invincible by now.