"Seastone? Good taste!"
The burly, bearded Marine gave Ian a thumbs-up.
"I remember the last kid who came to commission a Seastone weapon — Smoker."
"We've got Seastone stock, but as for a 'Seastone baton,' we don't have one ready-made. If you want it custom-forged, it'll take a day or two."
"That's fine."
Ian nodded. A day or two was nothing.
"And the sword?"
"The blade, huh…"
The man rubbed at his stubble, sneaking a glance at Ian's bulging pockets.
"Funny thing — the armory just received a batch of Liquor-Iron Ore. Rare stuff. It's like alcohol — it can be ignited."
"Weapons forged from Liquor-Iron can burn."
A burning sword?
A flaming sword?
Ian instinctively thought of the Flame-Flame Fruit.
Now even swords wanted in on the fire business?
"Liquor-Iron weapons can be lit manually or ignited by friction," the Marine continued, clearly entering salesman mode.
"They're popular in the New World."
Sure, the firepower wasn't anything special…
But they were cool.
And cool meant expensive.
The man's mouth curled into the smile of a true capitalist.
"Sounds interesting."
Ian got to the point.
"What's the price? One Liquor-Iron sabre and one Seastone baton."
"Seastone baton — not hard to make. Just the base fee! 200,000 Berries!"
His grin widened.
"But the Liquor-Iron sabre is 800,000! Not a named blade, but worth every Berry!
Total: 1,000,000 Berries! Cash or check?"
"I…"
Ian reached for his pocket — but then glanced down at his Marine recruit uniform.
He paused.
Then smoothly changed tone:
"I'm a new recruit."
"…?"
The armory officer suddenly felt a surge of dread.
This kid isn't going to say "I'm a recruit — give it for free," is he?!
No way! Absolutely not!
I don't care if you're a new recruit — even if you're the king of new recruits!
"Sir!"
Ian beamed like sunshine.
"I'm a new recruit! Give me a discount!"
Kid, I swear I want to hit you with the sword you're buying.
The Marine's fists clenched instantly.
'The armory guy's actually pretty nice!'
Ian hummed happily as he left the equipment depot.
He'd just spent 1,000,000 Berries on:
one Liquor-Iron sabre
• one Seastone baton
• one cross-sea Transponder Snail
• one permanent Naval pointer to Marineford
The last two were free bonus gifts from the overly "generous" armory officer.
Not worth mentioning.
Light-footed, Ian headed to the Headquarters training grounds.
His "200× Effort" cheat required real sweat and grind — not something he could activate by talking.
He'd trained like a madman through the past year: Rokushiki basics, swordsmanship, marksmanship…
But today, he wasn't here to train his body.
He wanted to test his brand-new Clay-Clay Fruit.
"Hei!" "Hup!" "Haah!" "Yaaah!"—
As Ian approached, the chorus of muscles slamming, men shouting, and… questionable groaning noises grew louder.
But the moment he stepped into the training field—
A very questionable sentence drifted to his ears:
"I wanna be Miss Peacock's dog soooo bad—!"
Along with rhythmic PAK… PAK-PAK sounds.
Not "like" a whip.
It was a whip.
Ian turned his head.
On a patch of open ground, not far away —
a tall, blonde, green-eyed young woman was mercilessly whipping a Marine soldier.
Ian raised a brow.
He recognized her instantly.
The granddaughter of Vice Admiral Tsuru — Peacock.
But according to his knowledge, Peacock's weapon used to be a sword, not a whip.
Ian looked closer.
The "whip" in her hand… wasn't a whip at all.
It was a sword softened into a whip-like shape.
Realization struck.
She's already eaten the Whip-Whip Fruit?
At that moment, Peacock sensed his gaze.
She paused mid-swing, turned, and her emerald eyes lit up.
"Ian?!"
She raised her makeshift whip — her expression like a predator spotting prey.
"What are you waiting for? Get over here!"
Setting aside the fact they once stargazed and moon-watched together…
Ian and Peacock were among the top recruits of last year's training camp.
They'd sparred countless times.
Ian knew her depth; she knew Ian's reach.
They were very familiar.
Since Ian had been meaning to test the Ring of Demon Control anyway, he wasn't about to decline.
However—
He had barely taken one step forward…
Peacock suddenly launched herself toward him, her long pale legs driving her at a blistering speed.
So fast an ordinary man couldn't even react—
Rokushiki — Soru!
"IAN!"
Peacock's eyes flashed.
She raised her whip, Ian's figure reflected clearly in her emerald gaze.
"Let me give you a proper lesson!"
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/FicHaven786