"Why is my vampire bloodline acting up all of a sudden?"
Ethan Sugawa frowned, quickly pondering the cause before arriving at an answer.
His gaze swept over the surrounding corpses of the pirates. The heavy stench of blood lingered thick in the air, gradually seeping into his body, fully awakening the dormant vampire bloodline within him.
"Vampires constantly crave fresh blood. Faced with so many freshly killed pirates, it's natural for the bloodline to stir," Ethan muttered to himself.
As the bloodlust in his body grew stronger, Ethan made no effort to suppress it. Instead, he directly activated his Blood Control Art, gathering all the blood from the pirates into a crimson mist. He then compressed and refined it into small, ruby-like blood pills.
He picked up one and swallowed it. The moment it dissolved, the agitated bloodline within him began to calm, and to his surprise, some of his surface wounds rapidly started healing.
"Consuming blood pills can heal injuries? I didn't expect the vampire bloodline to have this kind of power."
Ethan's eyes gleamed with astonishment.
The giant bloodline granted him unparalleled strength and explosive power.
The vampire bloodline allowed him to grow bat wings and granted him the ability to fly. That was already a pleasant surprise.
But now, he'd gained an extraordinary self-healing ability. Though it couldn't compare to the regeneration of the Five Elders, it significantly improved his survivability.
As long as he wasn't killed instantly, he could recover by consuming the blood pills.
Not only that, he soon noticed that the mysterious seed within his middle dantian also began to stir, but only briefly before going dormant again. Unlike the Yuan Spirit Seed in his upper dantian, which had already sprouted.
These three mysterious seeds appeared in his dantians after he consumed his Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit. Until now, Ethan still hadn't fully grasped their true purpose, though he had some understanding of the Yuan Spirit Seed. It would eventually allow him to develop a second soul, giving him the unique ability to eat a second Devil Fruit without any side effects.
Beyond that, he knew that cultivating all three seeds would awaken a special, unknown physique.
"The Yuan Spirit Seed's condition for blooming is absorbing souls. Then what about the second seed? Could it require absorbing blood?"
Ethan's eyes darkened at the thought.
"Soul absorption, blood consumption… Why does it feel like I'm nurturing some kind of demonic flower?"
In any fantasy novel, this would undoubtedly be the cultivation path of a devil.
"Devil's path it is, then." Ethan shrugged without a hint of guilt. "As long as no one messes with me, I won't kill the innocent. But if they come at me like today, I have no problem turning their souls and blood into fertilizer for my seeds."
After refining the rest of the blood into pills and storing them carefully, Ethan set the ship's deck ablaze, completely erasing the evidence, except for Captain Hardy's corpse.
"I've heard that when a Devil Fruit user dies, if you place fruit near the body, the Devil Fruit's power will reincarnate into the nearest fruit."
Whether it was true or not, Ethan decided to test it himself. It wouldn't cost him anything.
He quickly gathered a bag of apples and placed them beside Hardy's corpse. Moments later, one of the apples began to change. It rapidly turned from bright red to emerald green, and its surface soon sprouted a pattern of green snake scales.
A notification appeared before Ethan's eyes:
[Zoan-Type: Snake-Snake Fruit – Cauliflower Snake Model]
Seeing the legend confirmed, a smile of satisfaction spread across Ethan's face. Just as he stored the newly reborn Devil Fruit, a heavy thud reached his ears.
Ethan turned sharply toward the sound, spotting Gloriosa collapsed on the deck, her breath weak and her abdominal wound still seeping blood. If left untreated, she would soon bleed out.
Ethan quickly moved to help her, but the large purple serpent beside her slithered forward to block his path, hissing and glaring at him with fierce hostility.
Ethan raised his hands and calmly said, "I was once a comrade of Gloriosa. I won't harm her. With injuries like that, she won't last another hour if I don't intervene."
The serpent hesitated, then reluctantly slithered aside, still watching Ethan vigilantly as it coiled nearby to rest and tend its own injuries.
Before being taken by Big Mom, Ethan had lived in a small village as a doctor. His medical skills, while not masterful, were highly practical.
Within five minutes, he'd stabilized Gloriosa's wounds, her complexion returning to a healthy pink, and her breathing gradually steadying.
Seeing that both Gloriosa and the serpent were still recuperating, Ethan pulled out the tattered parchment map.
"Now that everything's settled, it's time to find the treasure."
To prevent unforeseen trouble, he left Little White behind to guard Gloriosa, then dove into the sea from the ship's railing.
Activating the Son of the Sea trait, he was able to breathe underwater and avoid attacks from Sea Kings.
The treasure's location, as marked on the map, lay three thousand meters below the surface. Even with Ethan's powerful physique, he wouldn't be able to withstand that pressure unaided.
"Let's see if upgrading 'Son of the Sea' to purple rank can solve this."
Ethan pondered for a moment.
From the last battle, he had gained not only two purple blank slots but also dozens of green ones, more than enough to enhance Son of the Sea.
[Do you wish to use three green blank tags to upgrade 'Son of the Sea'?]
"Yes!"
Without hesitation, Ethan made his choice. A moment later, the updated information appeared before his eyes:
[Deep Sea Walker: You can now roam freely up to ten thousand meters beneath the sea, completely unaffected by deep-sea pressure. Sea Kings will view you as kin and will not attack you. Your underwater breathing time is extended to twelve hours.]
"Unaffected by pressure!" Ethan's heart filled with joy.
His luck was exceptional. The new ability perfectly solved his immediate problem.
Without delay, he swam swiftly toward the ocean floor.
…
Several minutes later.
Ethan reached the seabed at three thousand meters. Following the map's markings, it took him just five minutes to locate the buried treasure.
After clearing away the surrounding rocks, he uncovered an iron treasure chest.
Opening it, his gaze fell upon a heavy, jet-black sword gleaming with a faint metallic sheen.
Cautiously, he didn't touch it immediately, wary of potential traps. Instead, he activated his Appraisal Eye, and soon, detailed information appeared in his mind:
[Abyssal Blade: Forged from meteorite steel, this blade possesses an immensely strong magnetic field, capable of attracting all metal within a hundred-mile radius. After being nourished by Armament Haki for years by an unknown pirate, it is now just a step away from becoming a Black Blade.]
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