Sea Calendar, 1517.
A certain sea area in the Grand Line.
Two Marine warships were anchored here, the Marine flag featuring a seagull clutching a balance scale fluttering in the sea breeze.
One warship bore the standard marking “MARINE.” That was a regular Marine warship.
The other warship was also marked “DT-31.” That signified a special logistics team within the Marines—the Custody Unit, responsible for escorting captured criminals.
“Bounty: forty-seven million Berries.
‘Gladiator’ Anatolia has been handed over for custody.
Capturing vessel: Warship T-14551, under Headquarters Major Gushir.” Roy Amos spoke into the recording Den Den Mushi in his hand while watching the burly man being escorted onto his ship.
Once finished, he turned to the Marine officer on the opposite warship.
“Thank you for your hard work, Major Gushir.” “All for justice.” Major Gushir chuckled before adding a reminder, “Though I must warn you, Lieutenant Roy—this guy is quite a tough customer.
You’d better make sure his Seastone handcuffs stay on for the entire trip.
“I wouldn’t mind capturing him a second time, but I’d hate to hear that your ship got sunk by a criminal out on the open sea, hahahaha!” He burst out laughing.
Hearing this, the Marines of the Custody Unit behind Roy darkened in expression.
Roy, however, didn’t care about the mockery.
He simply smiled and nodded.
“Thank you for the advice.” With that, he turned and leaped back onto his own warship.
“Set sail!
We’re returning to Marineford.” “Yes, Lieutenant Roy!” His subordinates saluted in unison and began busily preparing the vessel to weigh anchor.
However…
“Honestly, what is that guy so proud of?
Tell me, Fal, aren’t we all Marines?
He gets lucky and catches some forty-million guy and acts like a king.
Last time, Admiral Kuzan captured a three-hundred-million sea pirate and didn’t brag half as much!” A Marine officer from the Custody Unit grumbled to his companion as they escorted the prisoner into a special temporary cell inside the hold.
“Save your breath, Hans.
It can’t be helped.
We’re the Custody Unit, after all.” The Marine named Fal shook his head helplessly.
Clearly, this wasn’t the first time they had been treated like this.
The reason was simple: the Custody Unit they belonged to occupied a unique position in the Marines.
They were primarily responsible for transporting captured criminals from various seas.
Under normal circumstances, they didn’t engage in front-line combat, yet they received a share of military merit once the criminals were delivered.
Thus, in the eyes of many Marines, members of the Custody Unit were spineless freeloaders who shrank from battle but pushed to the front when it came to sharing rewards.
“What’s wrong with the Custody Unit?” Hans grumbled, even more annoyed.
“It’s not like we don’t face danger when transporting criminals.
Besides, we barely get a sliver of merit each time.” Mimicking Major Gushir’s tone, he sneered, “‘I wouldn’t mind capturing him a second time, but you lot had better be careful…’ What a bunch of nonsense!” Before he could finish, a sharp bark cut him off: “Sergeant Hans!” “Sir!
Lieutenant Roy!” Hans instantly snapped to attention, instinctively saluting toward his rear.
Standing behind him was the black-haired, blue-eyed lieutenant.
“What have I told you before?” Roy asked his subordinate with a half-smile.
“Less complaining, more doing…” Hans said sheepishly.
“Too quiet!
I can’t hear you!” “Less complaining, more doing, sir!” “Good!
Full of spirit!” Roy waved a hand dismissively.
“Now get over to the helm.
Standard rules: I’m taking the first night’s watch over the prisoner myself.” “Yes, sir!” As if granted a royal pardon, Hans hurriedly cast a glance at Fal.
The two ran out of the temporary holding room, though before leaving, Hans didn’t forget to ask, “Sir, should we bring you something when dinner is ready?” “Pizza and Coke, please.” Roy waved his hand and emphasized, “Ice-cold Coke!” “Yes, sir!” The sailors left the hold, leaving behind the massive “Gladiator” Anatolia, bound in Seastone handcuffs, leaning against the cell bars and staring at Roy.
“Sounds like you and your crew aren’t very popular in the Marines,” he sneered.
“I suppose so.” Roy sat down on the sofa inside the hold, casually pulling an hourglass from his vest and setting it on the table.
As the sand began to trickle down, he glanced casually at Anatolia.
“Though I hear Fleet Admiral Sengoku is considering elevating the status of the Custody Unit…
Hm?
Something on your mind?” He didn’t seem to mind having a heart-to-heart with a criminal.
“No, that’s got nothing to do with it!” Anatolia growled in a low voice.
“It’s just because you’re too weak.
If you were strong enough, no one would dare look down on you.
“Status, money, power—you can only grab those with enough strength…
Look at me!” He struggled to sit up straight.
“If it weren’t for these cuffs…” He glanced toward a massive iron object lying nearby—an oversized iron chunk with a grip-like protrusion.
It was his weapon, handed over alongside him: the Iron Weight.
“With my Iron Weight, a full-power strike from me could easily crush you to death and smash this entire prison to pieces.” Anatolia scoffed arrogantly.
Yet he noticed that Roy didn’t seem to care about his provocation at all.
“Ah, right, right, right,” Roy agreed with a deadpan expression.
Then his tone shifted.
“Though…” “A full-power strike from you can only smash a tiny cell like this?
You ate the Strong-Strong Fruit, right?
A muscleman like you is really that weak?” “…Huh?” Anatolia was stunned speechless.
It took him a good moment to process what Roy had said, and his eyes instantly erupted with visible rage.
This Marine—this guy named Roy—how dare he humiliate him like this?
“What did you—” Before Anatolia’s curse could leave his throat, the words lodged in his pipe, and his eyes nearly bulged right out of their sockets.
He saw Roy casually pick up the massive chunk of iron lying nearby—the Iron Weight.
That heavy, massive block of iron, heavy enough to crush a small building, was lifted by Roy as effortlessly as if it were a balloon.
“Hmm…
Judging by the weight of your weapon, you can only boost your muscle strength by about twenty times at most, huh?
Your Devil Fruit mastery is pretty terrible.” Roy offered his sharp critique.
“You…
you…
you…” Anatolia was rendered almost incapable of speech.
The sight before him made him feel like he was trapped in a nightmare.
“Wait…” Moments later, he snapped back to his senses.
“How do you know I ate the Strong-Strong Fruit?” “Ah, about that…” Roy casually set down the massive iron weight and sat back in his seat.
“I just know a teeny-tiny bit about Devil Fruits,” he said nonchalantly, his gaze shifting to the hourglass on the table.
A third of the sand had trickled down, making Roy nod in satisfaction.
“Hmm, perfect timing.” “Timing?
What timing?” Anatolia grew even more bewildered.
The next instant, he saw Roy reach out a hand toward him.
“Nothing.
Get a good rest.” The moment the words fell…
Anatolia felt an immense impact blast into him out of nowhere.
Blackness instantly enveloped his vision.
*Thud!* His massive body collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Roy didn’t give him another glance.
He simply raised his eyes to the air in front of him.
In his field of vision, an illusory screen of light floated in the air.
[Discovered Devil Fruit user ‘Anatolia’] [Confirmed Devil Fruit: Paramecia · Strong-Strong Fruit.
Parsing and storing in ‘Fruit Encyclopedia’] [Fruit Ability: Can enhance and control muscle strength] [Level Effects:] [LV1: Gain minor fruit effect, enhancing muscle strength by 2–5 times] [LV2: Gain partial fruit effect, greatly enhancing muscle strength by 5–10 times.
Requires 60,000,000 / 20,000,000 Berries for permanent/temporary unlock] [LV3: Gain full fruit effect, immensely enhancing muscle strength by 20–40 times.
Requires 300,000,000 / 100,000,000 Berries for permanent/temporary unlock] [LV4: Deep fruit development.
Free control of muscles to form shields and blades, free control over specific muscle hardening and high-speed regeneration.
Maximum muscle enhancement up to 100 times.
Requires 1,000,000,000 / 300,000,000 Berries for permanent/temporary unlock] [LV5: Fruit Awakening · Muscle Dominance.
Can absorb the vitality of living creatures within range to strengthen own muscles, and control the muscle tissue of all living creatures in the surrounding area.
Requires 6,000,000,000 / 2,000,000,000 Berries for permanent/temporary unlock] [Parsing Progress: 33%.
Upon completion, gain LV1 ability for this fruit] Looking at the screen, Roy remained completely calm.
In his eyes, “Gladiator” Anatolia was merely an ordinary, mediocre Devil Fruit user.
However, there was one thing he actually agreed with Anatolia on.
That was…
“Strength is everything.
On this chaotic sea, without enough strength, nowhere is safe.” He looked down at the unconscious Anatolia.
“The difference between you and me lies in our perspective.
“I know how vast this sea truly is, so I choose to stay in the Custody Unit.
“You, on the other hand, know nothing about it, which is why you spewed such ignorant nonsense earlier.
Go do some advanced studies in Impel Down.
The people there are very interesting, and they talk real nice.
You’ll definitely love it.”