Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1517:
Grand Line, somewhere on the open sea.
Two Marine battleships were docked side by side. The seagull-and-scales Marine flag fluttered proudly in the sea breeze.
One battleship bore the standard "MARINE" marking, making it a regular Marine battleship.
The other, however, carried the marking "DT-31."
This symbolized the Detention Unit, a Marine unit responsible for transporting captured criminals: the Marine Detention Unit (Headquarters).
"Bounty: 47,000,000 Beli. Antoria, also known as "The Gladiator," has been transferred into custody. The battleship that captured this criminal is T-14551, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Guxier of the Marine Headquarters."
Roy Amos watched the robust man being escorted onto his battleship while speaking into the Transponder Snail in his hand and recording the log.
After finishing the log entry, he turned to the Marine officer standing on the opposite battleship.
"Thanks for the trouble, Lieutenant Commander Guxier."
"All for the sake of Justice." Lieutenant Commander Guxier chuckled and reminded him,
"But I must warn you, Captain Roy, this guy is quite the handful. Make sure you never remove the Seastone handcuffs during transport. Though I don't mind recapturing him, I'd rather not hear that your battleship was sunk by a criminal!"
He burst into loud laughter as he spoke this.
Hearing this, the Marines of the Marine Detention Unit behind Roy darkened their expressions. But Roy didn't mind the sarcastic tone, and he simply smiled and nodded.
"Thanks for the warning."
With that, he turned and leapt back onto his own battleship.
"Set sail... return to Marineford."
"Yes, Captain Roy!"
His subordinates saluted in unison and immediately began preparing the ship.
However...
"Honestly, what is he so proud of? Fal, aren't we all Marines? He just got lucky and caught a 40-million-Bounty criminal. Does he really need to act so smug? The last time Admiral Kuzan (Aokiji) caught a 300-million-Billion pirate, and he didn't show off like that!"
An officer from the Marine Detention Unit grumbled as he escorted the criminal to a specially built temporary cell on the ship.
"Keep your voice down, Hans. It can't be helped. After all, we're part of the Marine Detention Unit."
Fal sighed helplessly.
Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd been treated like this.
And the reason for that was simple. The Marine Detention Unit was seen as an oddity in the Marines.
Their main duty was to transport criminals who had already been captured in various seas. They usually didn't participate in frontline combat; yet, after delivering criminals to headquarters, they received a portion of the corresponding military merit.
In the eyes of many Marines, the Detention Unit was seen as "freeloaders", cowards who didn't fight but wanted to share in the credit.
"What's wrong with being in the Detention Unit?" Hans became even more irritated. "It's not like we never encounter danger while transporting criminals! And we don't even get much credit in the first place."
He imitated Lieutenant Commander Guxier's tone: "I don't mind catching him again, but you all better be careful."
"What kind of crap is that supposed to be?!"
But just as he finished venting, a low voice cut in.
"Sergeant Hans!"
"Yes, Captain Roy!" Hans instantly straightened up and saluted on reflex as he turned toward the voice behind him.
Roy's subordinate stiffened. At some point, the black-haired, blue-eyed Captain had appeared behind him.
"I've told you something before... what was it?"
Roy looked at him with that half-smiling, half-not expression.
"Complain less and do more work..." Hans answered, sounding a bit guilty.
"It's too quiet. I can't hear you!"
"Complain less, do more work! Senior officer!"
"Good! That's the spirit!" Roy waved his hand as he spoke. "Now, get to the helm. Same rule as always. I'll personally take responsibility for guarding the prisoner the first night!"
"Yes, sir!" Hans looked as if he'd been granted amnesty and quickly shot Fal a look.
The two ran toward the temporary cell area. Just before leaving, Hans asked, "Senior officer, when dinner's ready, should we bring you something?"
"Pizza and cola. Thanks." Roy waved dismissively and added, "Make sure the cola's ice-cold!"
"Yes, sir!"
With that, the Marines left the cabin.
Only the massive Antoria, also known as "The Gladiator," remained inside the cell. He leaned against the wall, his Seastone handcuffs still locked tight. He looked toward Roy.
"Sounds like you and your subordinates aren't very welcome in the Marines." He chuckled as he asked.
"More or less."
Roy sat down on the sofa in the cabin and casually pulled an hourglass from his coat, placing it on the table. Sand began trickling down as Roy casually turned his head toward Antoria.
"But I heard that Fleet Admiral Sengoku is considering raising the status of the Marine Detention Unit. Hm? What, got something to say about that?"
He didn't seem to mind chatting with a criminal.
"No, that's not it." Antoria replied in a low voice. "It's simply because you're too weak. If you were strong enough, nobody would dare look down on you. You need strength to take status, money, and power. Look at me!"
He struggled to sit up despite the restraints. "If it weren't for these handcuffs..."
His eyes shifted toward a huge iron plate not far away. On top of it was a large protrusion shaped like a grip.
It was his Iron Maul, which had been handed over along with him.
"With my Iron Maul, one full-strength swing would kill you instantly. I could even smash this entire cell apart." Antoria sneered triumphantly.
But then he noticed something odd, the guy in front of him named Roy didn't seem bothered by the threat at all.
"Ah, sure, sure." Roy nodded with an overly serious expression.
Then...
"But..." His tone shifted. "Your full-strength swing can only smash this little cell? You're a Muscle-Muscle Fruit user and a muscle man. How can you be this weak?"
"...Huh?"
Antoria was stunned.
It took him several seconds to understand what Roy had implied and when he finally did, anger visibly ignited in his eyes.
This Marine... this guy named Roy... He actually dared to humiliate him like this?
"You little..."
But before Antoria could finish cursing, the words froze in his throat. His eyes widened so much that they nearly popped out of their sockets.
He saw Roy casually pick up the massive iron maul that had been placed not far away.
That enormous weapon, so heavy that its weight alone could crush a small building, was lifted by Roy as easily as if he were picking up a balloon.
"Hm... Judging from the weight of your iron maul, you can only enhance your muscle strength about twentyfold at most. Your development of the Muscle Enhancement Ability is pretty lacking."
Roy offered this sharp critique as if it were nothing.
"You... You... You..."
At that moment, Antoria could barely speak as the scene before him made him wonder if he was dreaming.
"No, something's not right."
After a long moment, he finally came to his senses.
"How do you know I ate the Muscle-Muscle Fruit?"
"Ah, about that." Roy casually set the giant iron maul back down and returned to his seat.
"I just happen to know a teensy bit about Devil Fruits."
He spoke offhandedly, though his gaze shifted to the hourglass on the table.
A third of the sand had already fallen, causing Roy to nod in satisfaction.
"Good. Perfect timing."
"Timing? What timing?"
Antoria was more confused than ever.
The next second, however, Roy extended a hand toward him.
"Nothing much... just get some rest."
As the words fell, Antoria felt a huge impact slam into him out of nowhere.
His vision instantly went black.
Boom!
His massive body collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
Roy didn't spare him another glance. He simply lifted his eyes toward the seemingly empty air in front of him.
A translucent screen appeared in his vision.
[Devil Fruit user "Antoria" detected]
[Devil Fruit confirmed: Paramecia --- Muscle-Muscle Fruit. Parsing and storing in 'Fruit Encyclopedia.'"
Fruit Ability: Enhances and controls muscle strength.
[Ability Levels:]
[LV1: Gain weak fruit effects. Muscle strength increases two to five times.]
[LV2: Gain partial fruit effects. Muscle strength boosted by 5–10 times. Unlock requires 60,000,000/20,000,000 Beli (Eternal/Temporary).]
[LV3: Gain full Devil fruit abilities. Massive muscle boost: x20–x40. Requires 300,000,000 / 100,000,000 Beli to unlock (Eternal / Temporary).]
[LV4: Deep Devil fruit development. Freely control muscles to form shields or blades, and selectively harden or rapidly regenerate muscle tissue. Maximum muscle enhancement ability up to x100. Requires 1,000,000,000 / 300,000,000 Beli to unlock (Eternal / Temporary).]
[LV5: Fruit Awakening --- Muscle Dominion.
You can absorb the life force of organisms within range to strengthen your own muscles.
Can control the muscle structure of all living beings within the surrounding domain. Requires 6,000,000,000 Beli / 2,000,000,000 Beli to unlock (Eternal / Temporary).
[Analysis Progress: 33%. Upon completion, the LV1 Muscle Enhancement Ability will be obtained. Seeing the glowing screen, Roy's expression remained calm. To him, Antoria "The Gladiator" was merely a mediocre muscle enhancement ability user.
However, there was one thing Roy truly agreed with him on.
And that was...
"Strength is everything. On these chaotic seas, without enough strength, you can't feel secure anywhere."
He glanced at the unconscious Antoria.
"The difference between you and me is vision. I know how vast these seas truly are. That's why I chose to stay in the Marine Detention Unit."
"You, on the other hand, know nothing about that vastness. That's why you spout those ignorant lines. I hope you understand the difference in Impel Down. The people there are interesting, and they're nice. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
(End of Chapter)