Chapter 615: Tesoro's Trouble
After returning from the beach, Ian even wanted to announce publicly that he wouldn't wash his hands for the next month!
But he had to come back, because he realized that if he stayed any longer, he might end up passing out from blood congestion.
A young man full of vitality, teased relentlessly by three fairy-like young ladies, with no outlet for his frustration—it was hard to tell whether this was a blessing or a torment.
However, if you asked Ian whether he'd be willing to do it again, the answer was definitely yes.
The hotel was paid for by Ian, and all members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates would rest there for easy communication. In his hotel room, Ian took a cold shower to cool down significantly. He then lay back on his bed, continuing his relentless refreshing grind.
Ever since he discovered the future version of Trunks card in the card fragment shop, Ian had decided that he absolutely had to get his hands on it.
The card library was vast, with countless cards across all series. However, only six cards could be equipped at a time, so choices had to be made.
Total Psychic Power value had always been a limiting factor for Ian's strength. Although various basic skill boosts and card attribute bonuses helped, there was always an upper limit. Ian estimated that even if he equipped six level-60 red cards, his base Psychic Power attribute would only reach around 25,000. The further he progressed, the harder it became to improve. While he could increase his total Psychic Power through Haki training, that required years of accumulation.
Thus, when selecting cards, Ian favored those with skills that significantly boosted attributes. For example, Flying Shadow's Black Dragon Wave Devour or Thousand Cherry Blossoms' Initial Release and Final Release—these abilities could instantly amplify his attributes, allowing him to break through the Psychic Power limit in a short time.
Although such short-term boosts weren't sustainable, Ian's abilities all depended on Psychic Power value. The amount of Psychic Power output in an instant determined the power of his skills. So even if he couldn't fight a prolonged battle, if he could defeat an enemy with one powerful skill, the duration didn't matter—if the enemy was instantly killed, there would be no further fight.
For the future version of Trunks card, Ian could roughly guess its attributes and skills. Transforming into a Super Saiyan was almost certain—a skill that could instantly boost attributes, exactly what Ian needed.
He also expected skills like Flight Technique and Energy Wave, which would be very practical: from then on, even without relying on the Black Dragon Wave's devour effect, Ian could probably fly freely.
A good point was that Trunks card was defined by the system as a four-star card, so it appeared more frequently in the fragment shop and required fewer fragments to collect—unlike native five-star red cards that needed 180 fragments. Of course, the downside was that Ian would need to repeatedly collect many cards to upgrade it to a five-star red card.
While continuously refreshing the fragment shop, Ian planned his other card choices.
Since he intended to retire the duplicate Iori Yagami card, he needed another card to replace it. Similarly, the Yasuo card could also be retired. Ian's swordsmanship training skill had reached the master-level bottleneck, and advancing to grandmaster required special insights and opportunities. Simply learning sword techniques from cards was no longer useful.
Thus, to fill all card slots, Ian actually needed to find three cards. The future version of Trunks was one, and for the other two, he kept an eye on the fragments that appeared during refreshes, looking for suitable ones.
During the refresh process, several card fragments caught Ian's attention.
The first was from the same series as Ian's Misaka Mikoto card, but it was a native five-star red card: Kanzaki Kaori!
Ian had previously considered choosing Accelerator from the *A Certain Magical Index* series—Vector Manipulation was definitely overpowered. However, during refreshes, he found that Accelerator's card appeared very rarely.
In contrast, Kanzaki Kaori's card appeared more frequently due to Ian's swordsmanship skills.
The second card Ian focused on was from the *Fairy Tail* series, also a five-star red card: the Fairy Queen Erza!
As for the third, it came from the *Bleach* series, but not a protagonist card like Orihime Inoue. Instead, it was the Fourth Espada: Ulquiorra Cifer.
Ian was interested in this card because he guessed it might have a very powerful ability—the flashy Cero Oscuras from the original manga.
These three cards were all native five-star red cards, and because they aligned with Ian's basic skills, they appeared relatively frequently. If he wanted to collect them, it would be easier. However, since they appeared as fragments, Ian didn't know their specific abilities. After thinking it over, he decided to collect them first, assemble the cards for comparison, and then choose two to fill his card slots along with the Trunks card.
Although his diamonds were now abundant, it would still take time to keep refreshing. He also wanted to sacrifice the Flying Shadow card and Misaka Mikoto card, which would require many ten-draw card pulls to collect one-to-four-star cards from those series.
While Ian was working hard on his strength in his room, a Marine warship entered the port of Tesoro.
Marine Admiral Aokiji was the first to set foot on the Golden City.
Normally, a Marine warship visiting Tesoro wasn't unusual—many Marines came and went in the Golden City. So initially, it didn't attract much attention.
However, when Aokiji appeared in the city with Smoker, Kuina, Tashigi, and several Marine officers, it immediately caused a stir.
News of Aokiji's angry resignation as Fleet Admiral and his departure from the Marines had spread throughout the New World in recent days. Although ordinary people didn't know the details, they were keen to discuss it.
So when people recognized Aokiji, they were very surprised. They hadn't expected that his first stop after leaving the Marines would be here!
Tesoro's subordinates immediately reported this to Tesoro.
Tesoro was also very surprised by Aokiji's arrival. He had hosted many high-ranking Marines before, even Fleet Admiral Sengoku had vacationed here, but that was during peacetime.
Aokiji's appearance here was sensitive. His angry resignation had caused some turmoil within the Marines, and even the World Government was displeased, feeling that a Marine Admiral leaving was embarrassing. If Aokiji came here right after leaving, it might make the new Fleet Admiral Akainu and the World Government suspect some secret connection between Aokiji and Tesoro—that would be bad for Tesoro.
Tesoro didn't want unnecessary misunderstandings, but he still came out to welcome Aokiji personally.
Aokiji naturally couldn't explain his intentions to Tesoro. He couldn't tell an outsider like Tesoro that he had received a letter from Ian. So he simply said he was here to relax and asked Tesoro to arrange a few rooms.
With some suspicion, Tesoro arranged accommodations for Aokiji and his group. After he left, Smoker asked Aokiji whether they should go find Ian.
But Aokiji thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "Tesoro is closely connected to the World Government. If we go find Ian immediately, he'll likely notice. Let's wait and see."
To be honest, Aokiji was also quite lost. Suddenly leaving the Marines after so many years, he didn't know what to do next.
When he received Ian's letter, he felt that Ian might want to invite him to join the Dragon Hunter Pirates. Given his personality, even after leaving the Marines, he wouldn't become a pirate. But because of his confusion, he ultimately agreed and came to the meeting place to see Ian.
He had come, but he remained cautious. He didn't trust Tesoro and worried that Tesoro would have his movements monitored, so he didn't plan to meet Ian immediately.
Tesoro, upon leaving, was indeed thinking the same way. He was already suspicious, feeling that Ian had just arrived in the Golden City, and then Aokiji appeared—there might be a connection.
However, before he could arrange for his men to watch Aokiji's movements, his subordinates, sweating profusely, brought him even worse news.
Members of the Big Mom Pirates had also arrived in the Golden City! And not just anyone—it was Candy Minister Perospero and Sweet Commanders Katakuri!
Hearing this, cold sweat ran down Tesoro's back.
For some reason, he suddenly had a bad feeling. Now, in the Golden City, there was not only Ian and the Dragon Hunter Pirates, but also former Marine Admiral Aokiji and members of the Big Mom Pirates. Damn it, none of these people were easy to deal with!
A group of ruthless individuals had inexplicably gathered in his territory, and Tesoro immediately felt immense pressure.
If any conflict or misunderstanding arose between them, things could get out of hand...