Chapter 16: Marked Gate

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Despite his reservations, the man slowly made his way to Windmill Village to seek out the blacksmith Mihawk had recommended.

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Windmill Village.

Several days had passed since Mihawk's departure.

Ryuusaki continued his routine of forging weapons, occasionally checking in on Ace at night.

Gathering evidence was proving to be a difficult task—so much so that Ryuusaki was tempted to just go with the flow. After all, even if he couldn't complete the mission, it shouldn't be a big problem.

However, what was truly troubling him was finding a suitable hiding place.

Ryuusaki knew that sooner or later, he would clash with the Celestial Dragons. It was only a matter of time before things went south.

Therefore, finding a safe place to retreat to was of utmost importance.

His first choice was Skypiea.

The benefits of Skypiea were obvious—high up in the sky, inaccessible without special abilities.

Recently, Ryuusaki had been pondering the potential of the Door-Door Fruit. If he could somehow teleport directly to Skypiea, it would be perfect!

But how to develop such an ability? That was the million-Beli question.

"Teleportation, huh?" Ryuusaki mused, rubbing his chin.

In the world of pirates, there were people who could teleport, like Law with his Op-Op Fruit. Unfortunately, that kind of teleportation was limited to short distances. It might seem tricky, but it's easy to get caught—especially by someone like Kizaru.

Who else could teleport? Oh, right—the Fourth Hokage, Minato, from *Naruto*.

What was his technique called? Ah, yes—Flying Thunder God.

It seemed like the user would leave a Flying Thunder God mark in advance, and then they could teleport to it. Something like that.

In short, it required a mark...

Wait a minute!

Ryuusaki's eyes lit up. That's it—a mark!

One of the keys to developing a Devil Fruit power is imagination. The use of abilities isn't fixed; it depends on the user's creativity. Of course, imagination is just the beginning—you still need to test whether it's feasible.

With this in mind, Ryuusaki began experimenting.

He named this new technique—the **Marked Gate**.

The basic idea was to leave a mark on an object and then open a door at another location that leads directly to the marked point.

It was somewhat like a portal—instantly transporting from one place to another.

The idea was solid, but how to make it work? Ryuusaki spent a long time fumbling without much progress.

A mark? A mark? A mark...

Ryuusaki scratched his head, feeling frustrated. Damn it, how do I create a mark? Just touch it? But touching it didn't do anything!

No, no, I shouldn't think of it as just a mark.

It's called a Marked Gate, but it's similar to the magical portals in fantasy stories. Since it's a portal, constructing it must require some form of energy.

That's right—both opening and maintaining the portal require energy.

Energy, huh? Although there's no magic, what about stamina?

With this thought in mind, Ryuusaki followed his instincts and touched the wardrobe.

But this time, as he touched it, he channeled his stamina through his hand. To his surprise, it worked—Ryuusaki indeed felt a connection, as if a mark had been made.

However, he also noticed that as long as the mark existed, his stamina continued to drain.

But Ryuusaki didn't dwell on it. He walked out of the bedroom and, following the same sensation, placed another mark on the bedroom door.

Then, he opened the bedroom door and walked inside.

Amazingly, when he emerged, he found himself stepping out of the wardrobe.

Ryuusaki was thrilled—it worked! It really worked!

"Damn it, Bruno, using the Door-Door Fruit like you did was such a waste!"

Ryuusaki continued to practice the technique.

He discovered that maintaining the Marked Gate drained his stamina, and if his stamina ran out, the mark would automatically disappear.

Of course, Ryuusaki could also choose to cancel the mark at any time.

With the Marked Gate, once Ryuusaki decided to retreat, almost no one in this world would be able to catch him.

Kizaru might be able to move at the speed of light, but with a single Marked Gate, Ryuusaki could instantly escape to Skypiea, and with another Marked Gate, he could be in Impel Down. Good luck finding him!

However, the Marked Gate required a mark to be set up in advance.

To use the Marked Gate to instantly travel to Skypiea, Ryuusaki would first need to establish a mark there.

"Damn it, Skypiea is so far away!" Ryuusaki scratched his head. Besides, he didn't have time to go there right now.

"Forget it, I'll just focus on getting used to the Marked Gate for now."

The Marked Gate consumed a lot of stamina, and after a few days of experimenting, Ryuusaki realized that with his current physical capacity, he could maintain at most two Marked Gates simultaneously.

The stamina consumption was significant.

However, Ryuusaki also noticed that as his stamina drained, his overall stamina capacity actually increased!

"Holy crap, is this really happening? This is like training stamina, right?"

Ryuusaki decided to invest all his skill points into his "Basic Stamina" talent, using the Marked Gate's stamina-draining nature to improve his physical endurance.

Of course, due to the rapid depletion of his stamina, Ryuusaki was constantly hungry.

He found himself eating five meals a day and still feeling unsatisfied.

Especially at night—he would wake up starving!

But he had to admit, this was an incredibly efficient way to train stamina. He could train twenty-four hours a day, even while sleeping.

Most people need to at least walk a few steps to train their stamina, but with the Marked Gate, Ryuusaki could train just by lying down without moving an inch.

His sudden increase in food consumption was, of course, suspicious.

To avoid blowing his cover as a spy, Ryuusaki had no choice.

Using the Door-Door Fruit's abilities, combined with his Tunnel Gate and Ground Shrinking Gate techniques, he slowly set up one of the Marked Gates on a deserted island near Windmill Village.

One Marked Gate on the uninhabited island, and one in Windmill Village allowed Ryuusaki to move back and forth quickly.

On the deserted island, he hunted small animals, brought various seasonings, and set up campfires to grill the meat.

The skill reset system was really helpful—Ryuusaki allocated all his life-related skill points to his "Chef" talent. In just a short time, his cooking skills improved dramatically.

The grilled meat was mouthwatering.

The only downside was that it took time to hunt and cook the meat.

But there was no way around it. To maintain the Marked Gates, to train his stamina, to avoid exposure… for all these reasons, he had no choice but to do it!

After a week of this routine, Ryuusaki's stamina leveled up to LV36—a modest increase of two levels, but it was progress nonetheless. He was gradually getting used to maintaining two Marked Gates simultaneously.

"Skypiea, huh!"

Ryuusaki gazed up at the sky. Skypiea wasn't just the best place to hide; it also held something that intrigued him—the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Of course, since he had already eaten the Door-Door Fruit, he couldn't eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit as well.

But he could find it and save it for a trusted subordinate—or perhaps a powerful female ally.

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