Looking at the fifteen-year-old girl in front of him, Luo Lan felt a headache coming on.
"Nami, I can leave you 1 billion Berries from this haul, but you have to hand over the rest!"
"I want half!" Nami snapped.
"What do you even need that much money for? The branch urgently needs funds right now—don't be unreasonable!"
"You bastard, Luo Lan! Before we set off, you took 1 billion Berries from me and promised something!"
Nami jabbed her finger at Luo Lan's nose, shouting.
"What did I promise again?"
"You said I shouldn't obsess over that mere 1 billion—that I had to give some to gain more. You told me that once we hit the volcano island score, I'd get multiple times the return on that investment!"
Uh…
Come to think of it, he did say something like that.
Back when funds were tight and he asked Nami for money, he'd made that promise.
Does that mean he really has to give her 2 or 3 billion now?
But if he gives her that much, he won't even have enough points left to upgrade to a B-rank Fortress Builder!
"Nami, how about this: I'll take all of the 7 billion Berries we brought back this time—"
"Don't even start—"
"Wait! Hear me out!" Luo Lan quickly added as Nami's expression darkened.
"Look, the mission only used 2 billion Berries, right? You've still got 800 million left. And once we sell everything on the black market, there should be around 3 to 4 billion more coming in. You can have all of that. Sound fair?"
Nami squinted at him suspiciously, practically radiating distrust.
She might as well have had "I don't believe you" written on her forehead.
Truth be told, Luo Lan had no intention of giving her those 3–4 billion later on. He was planning to figure something out later. For now, he just needed to secure this 7 billion.
"Can I really trust you?" she asked coldly.
"Of course! As the head of Branch 157, my word is my bond!" Luo Lan said, pounding his chest with confidence.
"Then write an IOU."
"An IOU?"
"Obviously! If you back out, who am I supposed to go after?"
Hiss...
She actually wants me to write an IOU?
This girl's getting harder to fool by the day.
"Fine, fine! It's just an IOU, I'll write it!"
He took the paper from Nami and pulled out a pen from inside his coat. After quickly scribbling down the note, he signed it and handed it over.
"Here!"
Nami examined it carefully, then finally nodded and stepped aside.
Luo Lan waved, and several men behind him immediately entered the warehouse, hauling out crates of Berries.
As for the IOU?
Well, Luo Lan had prepared for this kind of situation long ago. That pen he used? Custom-made by Seras. The ink would completely evaporate within a week.
IOU?
In seven days, it'd be nothing but a blank piece of paper.
He couldn't help but give himself a mental thumbs-up for being so clever.
---
Back in his office, Luo Lan immediately topped up his system points.
[Ding! You've added 728,000 points. Current balance: 731,000 points.]
"System, upgrade my Fortress Builder rank!"
[Ding! You've been upgraded to B-Rank Fortress Builder. 300,000 points consumed. Remaining balance: 431,000 points.]
[Ding! Upgrading to A-Rank requires 1.5 million points.]
Yikes, it's getting expensive.
A-Rank costs 1.5 million—who knows how much S-Rank will be? Ten million?
But that's a problem for later.
The system voice continued.
[Ding! You've received a B-Rank Fortress Builder Reward Pack. Open it now?]
"Yes! Open it!"
Upgrade packs were always good stuff.
Back when he hit C-Rank, he got the assault landing submarine Danaan—even if it was an unarmed version.
The B-Rank reward had to be even better.
[Ding! Opening B-Rank Fortress Builder Reward Pack. You've received:]
Fortress Builder Points x100,000
Two B-Rank Construction Teams (3-month contracts)
1 High-Tier Talent Draw Ticket
1 S-Rank Building Draw Ticket
Building Upgrade Module unlocked
As expected, points were a staple. Last time it was 10,000, this time 100,000. Nice.
Construction teams—two this time, same contract length.
A high-tier talent ticket—also great. At minimum, you'd get an A-tier person, with a good shot at an S-tier.
An S-Rank Building draw? That was new, but the name said it all.
As for the last item...
"System, explain the Building Upgrade Module."
[Ding! This module allows you to upgrade an existing building, retaining its current traits. The upgraded level cannot exceed your current Fortress Builder rank.]
Luo Lan nodded in understanding.
So if he had a D- or C-rank building, and wanted it at B-rank, he didn't need to demolish and rebuild—it could just be upgraded.
That would save him both points and time, and the building's original traits would stay intact—unless he chose to refresh them.
Take the branch's marine cafeteria, for example. If he tore it down to rebuild a B-rank version, he'd lose its current bonus of +2 energy grade to ingredients.
If he couldn't roll that trait again, he'd cry.
Being able to keep traits? Absolute gold.
He checked his remaining points—513,000.
Time to go big.
"System, start the high-tier talent draw!"
[Ding! Draw complete. Congratulations! You've obtained S-Rank Research Talent: Xisovis.]
[Ding! Xisovis will arrive in three days. Please prepare to receive them.]
Hmm? Research talent?
Nice. Seras finally gets a fellow genius to work with.
Another S-Rank researcher meant more projects could be accelerated.
Sure, Seras was brilliant, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. The projects without his direct involvement, often led by A- or even B-rank researchers… were painfully slow.
Well—"slow" by his standards. Compared to anyone in the One Piece world (except maybe Vegapunk), these A-rank researchers were still top-tier.
"System, use the S-Rank building draw!"
[Ding! Draw complete. Congratulations! You've obtained: Super Clone Factory.]
Hmm?
Super Clone Factory?
Is that what I think it is?
If so… this might be huge.
Luo Lan quickly checked the description—and… was slightly disappointed.
This wasn't that kind of clone.
In truth, it was just a factory—one that could reproduce anything.
Anything except people.
Because here, "clone" meant replication.
For example, if you put a Rhodes 1518 rifle into the factory, it would instantly reverse-engineer it and then mass-produce perfect copies.
In other words: a counterfeiting workshop!
And it was rated S-rank for good reason:
1. Extremely fast reverse-engineering.
2. 100% accurate replication.
Unfortunately, when it came to ordinary weapons, he already had the most advanced tech in the One Piece world.
What was left to copy?
Wait…
Suddenly, an idea struck Luo Lan. His eyes lit up.
Could it clone Devil Fruits?
After all, Seras had mentioned that Devil Fruits were essentially genetic technology.
In other words, they were artificially created.
Which means…
It might be possible.
---
A/N: Currently at chapter 385 on Ko-Fi
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27