"Haha, Bieber, are you getting weak or what?!" On a pirate ship not far from Jaya Island, a drunken pirate clapped another pirate on the shoulder.
"Screw off! What the hell do you know?" Bieber took a swig of ale, grabbed an apple from the table, and was just about to take a bite when the fruit suddenly transformed.
Strange patterns appeared on its surface, glowing with an eerie blue light.
"What the hell is this?" Bieber rubbed his eyes. "Hey, Rob, take a look at this!"
He looked up, only to find Rob slumped over the table, unconscious. Beside him stood a figure draped in a brown robe.
"Would you mind handing that fruit over to me?"
A gust of sea wind lifted the hood, revealing a skeletal face.
"G-G-Ghost!!" Bieber was so terrified by Ainz's appearance that he fell off his chair. The Devil Fruit rolled to Ainz's feet.
Ainz picked up the fruit and vanished from the pirate ship.
Bieber, in shock, rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He hurried to check on Rob and found that his chest was still rising and falling—he was just unconscious. Bieber let out a sigh of relief.
"Thousand Bone Lance."
Countless bone spears—far beyond a mere thousand, perhaps even two thousand—rained down from the sky onto the pirate ship.
By the time the spell ended, only wreckage and lifeless bodies floated on the ocean's surface.
Ainz appeared above the remains, released his Observation Haki, and after confirming there were no remaining life signatures, disappeared once more.
"Ainz-sama, Neuronist has finished extracting and organizing the information from that human's mind. Here is the intelligence regarding that small island."
Albedo respectfully handed over a memory crystal.
"Well done, Albedo." Ainz took the crystal and crushed it, absorbing the information directly into his mind.
"I see." After processing Enel's memories, Ainz finally understood why his earlier magical energy detection had shown such a vast difference in power.
"Albedo, summon Demiurge to meet me." Ainz tapped his bony fingers rhythmically against the Throne of Kings.
"As you command, Ainz-sama."
Before long, Demiurge entered the guild hall, bowing deeply.
As the strategist and one of the most intelligent NPCs in Nazarick, he had already anticipated Ainz's intentions the moment Albedo came to fetch him.
"Ainz-sama, you summoned me. What are your orders?"
"Demiurge, I have already received Neuronist's full report on the island. Its ruler is now dead by our hands. The next step is to claim the island for ourselves. I am entrusting this task to you."
"Ainz-sama, I will ensure that Nazarick claims the island. Regarding this matter, I do have some preliminary thoughts."
Demiurge revealed a cruel smile and proceeded to outline his plan in detail.
"Very well. The operation is in your hands, Demiurge."
At first, Ainz hesitated upon hearing Demiurge's ruthless proposal, but for the sake of Nazarick's future, he ultimately entrusted the matter to him.
"Ainz-sama, I shall not disappoint you. I will take my leave now." Demiurge bowed once more before departing the guild hall.
'For the glory of Nazarick… they shall all offer up their insignificant lives!' Demiurge's shadow stretched long under the dim guild hall lights.
….
"Titus!"
"Ainz-sama!" Titus, the librarian of the Great Tomb's tenth-floor Grand Library, had just entered and was about to bow when Ainz cut him off.
"No need for formalities, Titus. How is the research on the magical materials from Skypiea progressing?"
As a special NPC responsible for item crafting, Titus had been tasked with studying the various Dial shells recovered from Skypiea—resources that Albedo had placed in his hands.
"Ainz-sama, while these materials are nowhere near the caliber of the resources collected by the Supreme Beings, they can still be refined into magical energy crystals.
These could be useful for crafting low-tier magic scrolls and as a minor energy source for certain facilities."
"I see." Ainz couldn't hide his disappointment.
Though they had found a sustainable source of magical materials, it paled in comparison to the resource-rich territories Nazarick had once occupied in Yggdrasil.
"Titus, take a look at this." Ainz handed him the Devil Fruit he had recovered, one that harbored the strange energy left behind by Enel.
"Ainz-sama, what is this?" Titus activated his magical perception, but no magic could be detected from the fruit. Puzzled, he turned back to Ainz.
"This is a Devil Fruit—the reason that human possessed sixth-tier magical power."
"Ainz-sama, I detect no magical essence in this fruit. If it grants someone the power of a sixth-tier spellcaster, it should be on par with an artifact-level item. Yet, this fruit contains no magic at all."
"Titus, are you doubting my words?"
Ainz released an overwhelming surge of magical pressure. Though Nazarick's NPCs remained loyal after their arrival in this world, a lingering fear of the unknown still gnawed at Ainz.
If the NPCs ever turned against him, even with all his items, survival would be uncertain. This paranoia made him particularly sensitive to any perceived challenge.
"Ainz-sama, this humble servant would never dare question the Supreme One!" Titus immediately dropped to his knees.
"Good." Ainz retracted his aura and calmed himself.
"Titus, I'm entrusting this Devil Fruit to you. I expect you to uncover its secrets."
"Yes, Ainz-sama! I will not fail you!" Titus remained kneeling, not daring to rise until Ainz had completely withdrawn his presence.