Chapter 238
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[Intermediate Prayer Order Completed, Customer has given a five-star rating (Perfect Praise)!]
[Review: You successfully removed a high-class cursed spirit and defeated the Cursed King, the Two-Faced Host, with a mortal body. Your deeds have been widely spread within a certain range.]
[A five-star rating adds a hundred percent to the base transaction points reward. The optional order content is completed, and the reward is automatically issued, please check it on your own.]
[Due to the customer's great satisfaction, you have received an additional reward—the title: King of Curses.]
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[High-Class Curse Tool Creation Scroll]
One-time consumable item
Description: A special scroll that contains extremely powerful curse energy, possessing magical functions.
Effect: Transforms the chosen inanimate object into a cursed tool. The object's shape, size, precision, and other factors will all affect the success rate. (If failed, both the scroll and the enhanced item will disappear)
PS: Don't even think about using it for things like Gundams or ship girls, that's just dreaming.
......
[Title: King of Curses](Soul-Bound)
Special equipment-type item
Description: A special title that can only be obtained by those who have defeated the King of Curses head-on and earned its recognition.
Effect: Upon wearing, all manner of spirits and demons cannot escape your sight. For every opponent defeated, increase your own spirit value according to the opponent's strength. Current spirit increase:
PS: Above all under heaven, I alone am honored!
......
Abel, whose consciousness has returned to his original body, quickly finished reading the system prompts, especially the title "King of Curses."
He had never seen a title-class special equipment-type item before!
Additionally, it increases the particularly unique attribute of spirit.
With this, he could truly dare to compete with Red-Haired Shanks to see whose Conqueror's Haki is more powerful later on!
And if he ever gets a chance to visit that world again, he wouldn't have to be in an awkward position needing someone else to act as his 'eyes.'
Without hesitation, he wore it immediately.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but now he suddenly felt like raising his head to look at people through his nostrils.
Suppressing this slightly embarrassing desire, he properly stored the[High-Class Curse Tool Creation Scroll].
There was no need to rush to use such a special item to enhance other items; he would keep it for later.
Finally, a sudden influx of 6,000 transaction points made his balance exceed ten thousand, reaching 10,340!
Next time he comes across something good, he can have a nice spending spree again.
Blissful
However, the scenario that Abel anticipated, where receiving a five-star rating would unlock the 'Advanced Transaction Qualification' upgrade, did not happen.
This indicated that he was still far from obtaining the 'Advanced Transaction Qualification.'
No rush, he will take it slow; his strength was already increasing quickly.
The next day.
Abel was called over by Doflamingo for a private conversation.
"We, the Donquixote family, have four armies: Diamonds, Clubs, Spades, and Hearts, each led by our top executives."
"Now that the traitor Corazon has been executed by my own hands, the position of Heart is vacant."
"Although I regard you as a good candidate for the next generation Heart, compared to the other executives, you've been with the family for the shortest time. If you have this ambition, seize the opportunity and make as many contributions to the family as possible."
"As long as your contributions to the family are sufficient and you possess the matching strength, no one will question your right to take that position."
Abel understood that this was both an incentive and a probe into his current thoughts.
After all, although one Corazon was 'dead,' Law managed to escape.
And this Law did not only consume the Ope-Ope Fruit but was also a comrade who escaped from the same place as Abel.
It would be impossible to say that Doflamingo did not have some thoughts about this.
Don't forget, he had just been betrayed by someone he deeply cared about.
If by any chance Abel's attitude toward the family changed because of this incident, then Doflamingo would be able to handle it early and cut his losses.
But who is Abel.
Ever since he came to this world, he has been strictly following the plan he set for himself, step by step, to reach the position he is in today—he cannot possibly give up.
Even Law's departure was within his expectations.
"I will use my absolute strength and contributions to become the new top executive and silence everyone," Abel stated firmly.
Doflamingo, who had been observing his expression, relaxed at this.
"Don't worry, what is yours cannot be taken by anyone else."
"By the way, how has your health been recently? Although we no longer have the Ope-Ope Fruit, the family has never stopped looking for other Devil Fruits."
"I'm fine," Abel replied earnestly. "I have tried to combine various poisons to achieve a poison-against-poison effect. Although I ended up looking like neither human nor ghost, there has been some progress recently. In about three to five years, the mutated Lead Poisoning won't take my life."
"As for the future, I can only take one step at a time. Who knows, maybe I can become the first person to conquer this incurable disease through this method."
Doflamingo was aware of Abel's ongoing 'self-rescue' attempts but didn't know much about it, as it wasn't his field of expertise.
However, he had always seen the results with his own eyes.
It has to be said, this was one of the better pieces of news he'd heard recently.
At least a three to five-year buffer period would give the family enough time to find more Devil Fruits.
Moreover, Doflamingo harbored a rather dark thought in his mind—using Abel's illness as bait to lure Law back.
"Law, you wouldn't want to watch your dear brother die from Lead Poisoning, would you?"
However, he considered further. He felt that if he did so, it would be equivalent to losing Abel's loyalty.
And it might not necessarily lure Law back.
If it failed, the loss would outweigh the gain.
Abel and Law—one of them had to be firmly in his grasp.
What Doflamingo didn't know was that when Abel let Law go, the letter he gave to Law had already warned him not to come back and not to worry about his illness.
So even if Doflamingo were to use that disgusting tactic, he would still not get what he wanted.
After talking for a while longer, Doflamingo said, "In seven days, there is an auction in Carnaval City, and the Donquixote family has been invited to attend. I'm tied up with the final tasks in the North Blue and can't leave, so you'll go in my stead."
"I'll have Diamante prepare the funds. You'll be in full charge. If any Devil Fruits appear, buy them at any price. The rest doesn't matter."
What a great opportunity!
Abel immediately nodded and agreed without hesitation.
Then there wasn't much left to say. Abel called on Baby-5, and they were ready to depart at any time.