While Ian was still savoring the strange, fresh pulse of supernatural power flowing through him, Aokiji finally finished copying down the oath.
He looked up—
and saw Ian still holding the Clay-Clay Fruit.
"Ian, eat it."
The words snapped Ian back to reality.
"Ah?"
Aokiji frowned slightly and repeated with more force:
"Ian. Eat it."
Only then did Ian realize — Aokiji wanted him to eat the now-useless Clay-Clay Fruit.
He had originally planned to observe whether a powerless Devil Fruit would show any unusual changes over time, but… fine. If he had to eat it, he'd eat it.
Ian lifted the bizarrely shaped Powerless Clay-Clay Fruit and took a big bite.
Instantly —
a nausea beyond words flooded from his mouth to every nerve cell in his body.
It wasn't "tasteless as wax."
No — it was like chewing rubber.
Don't tell me all Devil Fruits are handcrafted by the Sun God…
He forced a grin through the suffering.
In just a few bites, Ian polished off the entire fruit — not even the peel remained.
Seeing Ian's blue face, Aokiji seemed to recall his own moment of destiny eating the Ice-Ice Fruit.
"A-la-la."
He chuckled lightly.
"The taste of a Devil Fruit stays with you for life.
"Want to test your power now, Ian?"
"Of course!"
Ian didn't need to be asked twice — frankly, he'd been itching to try.
A blob of white clay appeared in his palm, then began to transform.
A head, a torso, a tail, two broad, flat wings…
Aokiji watched the chubby white creature forming in Ian's hand with amusement.
"A penguin? I actually like penguins."
"Penguin?"
Ian's mouth twitched. He nearly awakened the wrath of the sleeping dragon within.
"This is a dragon."
Ian Adrian — his dream was to raise a dragon.
He couldn't raise a real one yet,
but crafting a tiny clay dragon was easy.
Sure, this little thing was small, round, smooth, with no scales or horns…
But a penguin? Seriously?
Feeling personally offended, Ian's imagination turned dark.
Under his control, the fist-sized white dragon slowly morphed into…
a fat little chicken.
No — not a chicken.
A dirt pheasant,
a white pheasant,
an ice pheasant…
Just definitely not an Aokiji (Blue Pheasant).
"Cough."
Aokiji glanced at the little symbolism-loaded clay creature and cleared his throat.
Ian didn't push it.
He clapped his hands and the "Little Aokiji" turned into "Little Flat-Che" and vanished.
"Sir! I'm ready to accept the undercover mission!"
Ian stood straight, eyes sharp.
"To become a pirate now… I'll defect straight from Headquarters! The charge can be 'stealing a Devil Fruit'!"
…Why are you so enthusiastic?
Aokiji blinked, stunned.
And why do you sound so practiced at this whole "defecting" thing?!
"No! Not yet!"
Aokiji waved frantically, trying to extinguish Ian's dangerous enthusiasm.
The SWORD unit wasn't created so its members could run off to die in the New World the moment they got a Devil Fruit. Headquarters had chosen Ian carefully, given him a precious fruit — not to send him straight to a grave.
In Aokiji's eyes, with Ian's current strength, heading into the New World was straight-up suicide.
"You just ate the Clay-Clay Fruit. Your ability isn't developed yet."
Aokiji soothed patiently.
"For now, your job is to stay in the Navy and grow stronger."
"And becoming a pirate also needs proper timing.
Everything must proceed step by step."
By "step by step," Aokiji meant:
Forget you're even part of SWORD for now.
Just be a normal, freshly graduated Marine soldier.
To that end, he asked:
"Ian, do you plan to stay at Headquarters, go to one of the G-series branches, or head to the Four Seas?"
These were the three standard career paths for a Marine.
Ian knew that well. His original plan had been to join a normal branch in one of the Four Seas.
Marine Headquarters was an elite corps.
The strength gap between HQ and an outer sea branch was like three whole tiers.
Ian was eligible to become a Headquarters ensign — but if he went to a Four Seas branch, he would immediately be a field officer.
In many outer-branch bases, a Marine Colonel was practically the highest authority — a local tyrant.
Maximum autonomy.
Perfect for making money.
And money was needed to buy a Devil Fruit.
That had been his plan.
But now… plans had changed.
"Sir! I apply to be stationed at Impel Down!"
The System Chest required battle — lots of it.
Ian needed as many enemies as possible to boost his stats and get stronger.
As a Marine, his ideal opponents were naturally pirates.
And across the entire sea —
if you wanted both quantity and quality of pirates…
No place compared to Impel Down.
Not even the New World, home of the Yonko.
The prison's grand stage was waiting —
If there's work, you'll get it.
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