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"No, I'm not..."
For the next few minutes, Drake seemed completely convinced that Kyoma was a Marine officer.
No matter how Kyoma explained, Drake wouldn't believe otherwise, responding only with, "Mr. Kizaru would never let anyone other than the Marines know about my relationship with him."
"You're really..." Kyoma was so frustrated that he couldn't find the words.
He lowered his hand helplessly and sighed deeply.
"Fine, forget it. Think whatever you want, but you can't deny my request."
"Of course not." Drake nodded immediately.
The look he gave Kyoma had transformed into the kind of closeness and trust reserved for colleagues.
"However, I'd like to ask what you plan to do with the scales from my transformation." He asked this with genuine curiosity, then quickly added, as if worried Kyoma might think he was having second thoughts:
"If it's confidential, you don't need to tell me. But… my body is severely injured, and my abilities are limited. At my current recovery rate, it will take at least three days before I can support a complete beast form transformation."
Three days?
Hearing this, Kyoma felt slightly startled.
He summoned his ability panel mentally, and after seeing the time displayed clearly, his brows slowly furrowed.
[1 day until next summoning (summoning condition: 30 million Berry)]
One day.
According to the timing of his first summon, the next summoning window would arrive near noon tomorrow.
By then, Drake's body obviously wouldn't have recovered, meaning Kyoma would need to wait two additional days.
The thought made Kyoma uncomfortable.
All the summoning conditions could be met, and the time was approaching, yet he still had to wait.
No, he'd promised Uncle Neil they'd set sail for Dressrosa as soon as possible to rescue his wife and daughter.
He couldn't afford delays.
It seemed he could only place his hopes on obtaining the other summoning medium for now.
****
After chatting for a while longer, Drake finished his breakfast.
To speed his recovery, he said goodbye to Kyoma and Kagura, then prepared to return to his room in the rented house to rest.
Kyoma called him back and retrieved a bundle of newspapers and magazines from a bag. He'd bought them this morning while getting breakfast, intending to keep them for himself to deepen his understanding of this world.
Now that Drake had decided to stay here for several days to recuperate, these materials could help him pass the time.
Drake was genuinely pleased when he saw them.
After thanking Kyoma, he gathered the newspapers and magazines from the table and limped back to his bedroom.
Meanwhile, Kyoma and Kagura also finished their breakfast.
Looking at the clear weather outside the window, Kyoma suddenly felt the urge to go out.
Whether it was to search for another summoning medium or simply to explore, anything seemed better than staying home.
In his previous life, he'd been a corporate drone who rarely left his apartment except for work.
In this new world, he'd finally escaped the endless grind. He should try to make changes and venture out more to enjoy his new life.
****
However, just as Kyoma urged the reluctant-looking Kagura to put on her shoes, a knock sounded at the door.
"Kyoma, Kagura, are you home?"
It was Uncle Neil's voice.
A visitor meant they wouldn't be going out just yet.
Kagura's face brightened immediately.
She had a completely different perspective from Kyoma.
No matter how nice the weather was outside, as long as she wasn't starving, she'd never willingly leave the house.
If Kyoma hadn't threatened to withhold her next meal, she wouldn't have agreed to go out with him at all.
At that moment, she swung her feet and kicked them upward.
The small leather shoes she'd just halfway put on, which Kyoma had taken her to buy yesterday, flew off again.
Then she ran back to the living room barefoot, collapsed onto the sofa, and began flipping through a magazine while sipping a drink.
"..."
The entire sequence happened so quickly that Kyoma stood stunned for a long moment.
Only when the knock sounded again did he snap out of it and open the door.
After the door swung open, Uncle Neil hurried inside carrying a large sack on his back. A very comically large one.
He moved like a thief, his expression both nervous and excited.
"What are you up to now?" Seeing him like this, Kyoma asked suspiciously.
"I got what you wanted."
Uncle Neil smiled mysteriously, then wasted no time setting down the sack.
The contents were clearly heavy.
That was Kyoma's first impression.
Despite Uncle Neil's careful placement, the sack still produced a dull thud when it hit the ground.
Kyoma quickly guessed what it contained, and joy surged across his face.
At Uncle Neil's signal, he crouched down and opened the sack himself.
Sure enough.
It was a bomb.
It was nearly half the size of a person and likely weighed several hundred pounds.
If Uncle Neil wasn't a laborer and experienced shipwright, it would have been impossible for him to carry this to Kyoma's home.
[Found a suitable summoning medium. Do you want to absorb and store it?]
After seeing the notification from his ability panel, Kyoma felt overjoyed.
Despite his excitement, he wasn't prepared to use his ability in front of Uncle Neil.
Instead, he asked him to help move the sack to the underground warehouse of their home.
After relocating it, the two returned to the living room. Kyoma poured two full glasses of wine, slapped away a small, sneaky hand that reached out to grab one, and handed a glass to Uncle Neil.
"Perfect!"
"Uncle Neil, where did you get this?"
After taking a large gulp, Uncle Neil wiped the sweat from his face, looked at Kyoma, and spoke without hesitation.
"It's from our shipyard warehouse."
"Kyoma, you may not know this, but a while ago, eleven famous pirates arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago one after another. They're called pirate Supernovas. To defend against them, local merchant ships and various nobles came to the shipyard to upgrade the weapons on their vessels."
"So when I asked around casually yesterday afternoon, I found out there were still some unloaded bombs in the warehouse. I bought one at the internal employee discount price of several million Berry."
After hearing this, Kyoma understood completely. He was surprised but not particularly shocked.
Weapon regulation in this world wasn't very strict.
Even some East Blue pirates with bounties of tens of millions of Berry could equip themselves with advanced artillery.
In the Sabaody Archipelago, located closest to the New World entrance at Fish-Man Island, it wasn't too difficult to simply find a bomb powerful enough to kill an ordinary Sea King.
Kyoma had originally planned to take Kagura to the black market and auction houses in the lawless zone to try his luck.
He hadn't expected Uncle Neil to deliver the item directly to his doorstep. He had just mentioned it to him in passing after all.
'This was remarkably easy.'
Without dwelling on it further, Kyoma retrieved 10 million Berry from his ability's storage space and attempted to reimburse Uncle Neil for the bomb purchase.
As expected, Uncle Neil decisively refused.
"Kyoma, this is the only way I can help right now. Please accept it."
"Alright, then stay for a meal and have some drinks. You can't refuse that." Kyoma waved his hand, not forcing the issue.
"Hehe, sounds good. Your cooking skills are excellent, Kyoma. Of course I wouldn't refuse."