The next day.
Sunlight pierced through the windowsill, illuminating the spring scenery filling the room.
Brian slowly opened his eyes on the large bed and was about to get up when he noticed a body lying on top of him.
Looking down, he found Tiger Girl fast asleep on him.
Clearly, she had borne the brunt of the action alone last night and was completely exhausted.
Brian carefully moved her aside before getting up.
After dressing properly, Brian didn't linger and went straight out of the bedroom.
The Beast Girls he created weren't entirely human species in the strictest sense.
Brian's ultimate understanding of Beast Girls was his hope for them to become the "yōkai" from the legends of his previous life!
To achieve this, he needed to continue deepening his development of the Millet-Millet Fruit, and even acquire stronger research capabilities.
Moving steadily in this direction, he believed the Beast Girls' strength could also make greater progress.
They wouldn't remain limited to a fixed range like they currently were, unable to break through.
Of course, when daily needs arose, the Beast Girls took care of them too.
As the master of the Beast Girls, most of them perfectly matched his personal preferences.
The combination was simply perfect.
The pleasures here made him forget all about returning!
"Master!"
"Breakfast is ready."
Outside the room, two maids were already standing and waiting.
"Mm, thank you for your hard work."
"Number One, take me to the treasure room after we eat."
"Understood, Master."
Arriving at the dining hall, ten maids were already waiting there, with large amounts of Sea Kings meat laid out on the table.
Sitting down, Brian began devouring the food like a whale.
Last night's consumption had been substantial, plus people of their strength truly had enormous appetites.
After a full thirty minutes of eating, Brian finally stopped.
With his stomach full, Brian left the dining hall and headed toward the innermost room of the villa.
He was currently in a standalone villa north of Hachinosu's central hall, occupying an extremely large area.
During yesterday's banquet, Rocks had personally declared that this villa would be given to him to live in, making the other officers quite envious.
The overall architecture of Hachinosu centered around the central hall at the very core, where Captain Rocks currently resided.
The layout spread out in concentric circles from the center.
The second ring consisted of large villas like Brian's, totaling four in number.
The other three were already occupied by Whitebeard, Shiki, and Charlotte Linlin respectively.
Further out were some medium and small villas where Silver Axe and other officers lived.
As for the other pirates, they each attached themselves to corresponding officers, living in other parts of the island or on pirate ships.
In the past, officers like Silver Axe had long coveted this last remaining large villa, and had even submitted applications to Rocks to move in.
Unfortunately, Rocks had always blocked them, refusing approval.
No one expected that as soon as Brian arrived, Rocks would gift him this villa.
No wonder the other officers had reacted so strongly yesterday, with Silver Axe even proactively provoking.
One could only say that everything had its reasons, as Brian had managed to incur public anger right from the start.
Fortunately, Brian was tough enough to withstand the collective resentment.
And by incidentally crippling Silver Axe, he had firmly established his authority within the pirate crew, making future actions more convenient.
With maid Number One in tow, Brian headed straight to the innermost room, where he encountered Dog Girl standing guard.
"Master, Master, you're here! Dog Girl is on duty guarding the Treasure Vault today."
"Thank you for your hard work, Dog Girl."
A pat on the dog's head solves all worries.
Brian rubbed vigorously several more times, feeling the smooth, fleshy texture with great satisfaction.
Unlike Leopard Girl and Tiger Girl, Dog Girl had a loli-like appearance with her entire body covered in fluffy light brown fur.
Petite in stature, she became extremely attached to her chosen master after acknowledging ownership, and she loved being praised by him.
Originally, Dog Girl even wore a collar around her neck, though Brian had currently put it away for safekeeping.
After receiving Brian's affectionate reward, her tail wagged back and forth happily.
"Leave it to me, Master! Dog Girl will protect your treasures with her life!"
"Then I'll leave it in your care."
"Mhmm, hehehe~"
Only after watching Brian enter the room with Number One did Dog Girl compose her expression and resume her serious guard post at the door.
This was an important task her master had entrusted to her, and Dog Girl was nothing if not loyal.
Upon entering the room, Brian was nearly blinded by the glittering sight.
The room was spacious, yet fully half of it was piled high with uncountable gold pieces. The golden glow alone was enough to lift anyone's spirits.
This small mountain of accumulated gold was harvested from the Frank family previously.
Given their centuries of accumulation combined with the Celestial Tribute , this amount was actually quite normal.
If it weren't at this level, people wouldn't unanimously acknowledge the Celestial Dragons' excessively extravagant lifestyle.
After slowly walking past the golden hill, Brian turned his attention to his true objective.
The six small boxes placed on the shelves were the real treasures he had been longing for.
"Number One, are these all Devil Fruits?"
Brian looked toward maid Number One standing nearby. She was the leader of all current maids and effectively served as his steward.
"Yes, Master."
"We obtained a total of six Devil Fruits from Frank's island."
"Four were excavated from the Frank family ancestral grounds, while two were found among the tribute of Celestial Tribute ."
"Four... it seems that old fox Frank V wasn't being honest either, hiding quite a few good things."
Brian grew increasingly interested in the abilities of these Devil Fruits.
Anything that the Frank family elders would cherish and not voluntarily offer as tribute must be valuable.
"Bring the first box and open it. Today we'll determine how many of these are Zoan-type Devil Fruits."
"Understood."
After Brian sat down, Number One brought the first box and placed it on the table, opening it to reveal the fruit inside.
A honeydew-shaped fruit lay on silk cloth, its surface adorned with spiral patterns that were exquisitely detailed.
The patterns overall resembled a sheep grazing on grass.
With just one glance, Brian felt delighted and had a rough idea.
He took out the collector's edition Devil Fruit Encyclopedia he carried with him and carefully compared the fruit to the illustrations.
After turning to the fifth page, Brian happily stopped and read the contents aloud.
"Zoan-type Devil Fruit Common Sheep-Sheep Fruit: Sheep Form. A promising start, not bad at all."
Among Zoan-type Devil Fruits, particularly in the two main categories of Common and Ancient species, there were distinctions in strength and weakness.
The most common way to distinguish them is by determining whether the corresponding animal is carnivorous or herbivorous.
Carnivorous animals are clearly much stronger than herbivorous ones.
For instance, common animals like pigs, cows, sheep, and dogs are undoubtedly weaker than tigers, leopards, and snakes.
Even if Sheep Girl were truly transformed, her combat ability would certainly be inferior to Tiger Girl and Leopard Girl.
But this applies to others.
For Brian, even the most ordinary Zoan-type ability grants at least Rear Admiral-level combat strength.