As Damon walked toward him, the Den Den Mushi's mouth trembled, and it wanted to shout:
"Don't come over here!"
"Crack!"
A hand landed on the Den Den Mushi's head, instantly swallowing all its thoughts.
Immediately afterward, the Den Den Mushi felt an itch on its scalp, as if something had appeared on top of its head, but it couldn't see it due to its limited perspective.
At this moment, another eyeball appeared between the Den Den Mushi's two eyes. The fleshy tendrils were rooted in the Den Den Mushi's scalp, perfectly disguised as the Den Den Mushi's third eye, with no sign of anything unusual.
Holding the three-eyed Den Den Mushi, Damon thought to himself:
"Things are valued for their rarity. There was no such creature as the Three-Eyed Den Den Mushi in the world before. Once it appears, it will inevitably attract a lot of attention from the outside world."
"Given the Celestial Dragons and nobles' incredibly boring nature, and their use of various slaves as tools for comparison and showing off, they would never easily let go of a rare beast like the Three-Eyed Den Den Mushi."
"However, I cannot reveal the connection between my real body and the three-eyed Den Den Mushi, otherwise there will be no way to explain where I got it. It would be best to use the identity of Dragon Ash, the Descendant of the Dragon, and auction it off through the Sabaody Archipelago."
"In this way, I can not only obtain a large sum of money in the early stages, but also place a pawn in the homes of those Celestial Dragons and nobles. Even if these eyeball clones are more than 5 kilometers away from me, they will lose contact and be temporarily unable to reach me. However, when I go to the Red Line later, I will be able to activate the function of the eyeball clones and discover secret information without anyone noticing."
The plan succeeded!
Having made up his mind, Damon retracted the eyeball clone on top of the Den Den Mushi's head.
Feeling the weight on its head lighten, the Den Den Mushi tilted its head, completely baffled.
"Boom boom boom!"
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
After receiving Damon's consent, the door slowly opened, and Vice Warden Domino stepped into the room, saying:
"The warship that will take you back to Marine Headquarters has arrived."
The two boarded the large elevator one after the other and returned to the first floor of the deep-sea prison. They saw several familiar figures and couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Sons, do you miss your father?"
Smoker and the others who had come forward to greet him stopped in their tracks, their faces stiffening.
Drake, his face flushed red, shouted angrily:
"You damn captain, get out of here!"
Hina raised her hand to smooth the hair behind her ear, feeling both amused and exasperated as she watched these people start fighting the moment they met.
Hina's beautiful eyes shifted, and she looked at Vice Warden Domino, who was always by Damon's side. Her strong sixth sense told her that when Domino looked at Damon, there seemed to be some inexplicable emotions.
"I was obviously the one who came first!"
For a moment, Hina felt a pang of bitterness, as if afraid someone would snatch away her beloved toy. In front of Vice Warden Domino, Hina hugged Damon tightly and said:
"Captain, you've lost weight."
Smoker, Jonathan, Drake, and Daddy Masterson were speechless. The Naval Academy's most beautiful girl of this year's class was already taken, and by a young boy no less. Where did that leave the faces of old bachelors like them?
Heartache!
Having finally escaped the torment of happiness, Damon still felt the lingering fragrance of a young girl on his face. Looking at his five friends in front of him, he asked the question that had been bothering him:
"Why did you all come here? Don't you need to continue your training at the naval academy?"
Smoker lit a cigar, his eyes suddenly sharpening.
"Captain, in the past two weeks since you left, we've discussed it and decided to follow in your footsteps, take the early graduation exam from the naval academy, and venture into the deep-sea prison!"
Good man!
I was shocked!
Are you guys treating Deepsea Prison like a dungeon to farm experience?
Damon noticed that when Smoker finished speaking, Vice Warden Domino next to him looked displeased.
If it weren't for the fact that the visitor was a guest and it wasn't appropriate to cause a scene, and that the Naval Academy held a special position within Marine Headquarters, and that she herself had once been a student there and knew about the graduation exams, she probably would have already turned hostile on the spot.
Damon looked at his five friends with pity. Smoker's unintentional remark had directly raised the difficulty of this early graduation exam from hell to nightmare.
However, seeing their confident demeanor, which clearly indicated they hadn't experienced the harsh realities of society, Damon knew that saying anything more would be pointless, and they probably wouldn't listen anyway. He could only hope that they would have good fortune on their own.
Out of respect for Damon, Chief Warden Magellan, Warden Shiryu, and Vice Warden Domino should not beat them to death... right?
Thinking back to how he almost got cut in two by Shiryu of the Rain, Damon immediately lost confidence.
Damon's gaze swept past the five people, and a kind-faced old man quietly watched them play around.
Damon approached Vice Admiral Tsuru and greeted her familiarly:
"Grandma Crane!"
"Good boy." Vice Admiral Tsuru gently stroked Damon's face, looking at his face which resembled Garp in his youth. Her expression softened even more as she said, "It seems you have gained quite a bit from Impel Down."
Vice Admiral Tsuru planned the naval academy graduation exam and informed Garp in advance so that he could notify Damon.
Otherwise, Damon would not have insisted on coming to the Deep Sea Prison to complete his established goals: to carry out the major reform of the Deep Sea Prison, to subdue Warden Shiryu, and to reach a secret agreement with Bullet.
Warden Shiryu cannot leave Impel Down for the time being. Only after Damon becomes an Admiral in Marine Headquarters will he be qualified to transfer him out of Impel Down.
However, with the help of Warden Shiryu, the Philosopher's Stone transmutation circle will be able to proceed secretly and smoothly.
Vice Admiral Tsuru handed over a set of naval uniform and rank insignia, saying:
"Congratulations on your graduation, child."
"Since you have taken on the mission of hunting down Doflamingo, you will be placed under my command."
"In view of your past actions in arresting Foxy the Silver Fox and the remnants of the Sun Pirates, and killing Boss Teabeard and others, you are hereby granted the rank of Warrant Officer and are authorized to lead 50 soldiers."
The Navy has established a rigorous organizational system, with ranks and titles ranging from lowest to highest as follows:
Seaman Recruit, Seaman Apprentice, Seaman, Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Master Chief Petty Officer, Warrant Officer, Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral, Fleet Admiral.
Damon skipped the soldier class and went directly to the warrant officer class.
This is the advantage of having connections and influence: your achievements won't be overlooked, and promotions and salary increases will skyrocket like a rocket.
As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and when Damon put on this naval uniform, he looked exceptionally heroic, which made Hina and Domino's eyes sparkle.
After bidding farewell to Smoker and the other four, Damon followed Vice Admiral Tsuru to the harbor where the warships were docked.
Besides the warships, there was also a pirate ship docked there.
Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea, was berating the evil dragon on the bow of the ship, expressing his anger at its incompetence and pity for its misfortune. When he noticed Damon coming out, he quickly got off the ship and secretly handed Damon a white Den Den Mushi.
The two men's actions were subtle, and outsiders only assumed that they were shaking hands and exchanging smiles.
Looking at the honest and kind-hearted fishman before him, who could be described as one of the few truly good people in the world, Damon said:
"Race does not represent honor..."
"I have seen the noblest fish-men and the most despicable humans."
"I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate again in the future."
Although Damon's words were very plain, they suddenly moved Jinbe.
Blue sky and azure sea, with white waves crashing.
An albatross soared through the sky and landed on the mast of a warship, tilting its head to survey the group of naval soldiers on the deck.
The Navy has a clear hierarchy, with officers of different ranks being equipped with sailing warships of different classes.
The warship was 58 meters long, 12 meters wide, and had a draft of 6.9 meters. It was equipped with 80 main guns, could store 24 tons of gunpowder and 90 tons of shells, and could sail continuously for more than half a year. Its standard displacement was 2980 tons and its maximum load capacity was 1760 tons.
Currently, the main power of naval warships still relied on the power of three sails. The mainmast was 57.2 meters high, the foremast was 49.3 meters high, and the aft mast was 38.9 meters high. The ship could achieve a speed of 8 knots by relying solely on the power of the sails, and the maximum crew capacity was 560 people.
The bottom of the warships, below sea level, was coated with a layer of seastone to protect them from harassment and attacks by Sea Kings.
Two flags were hung on the mainmast and the foremast, one with a naval symbol of a seagull carrying a scale, and the other with the symbol of Crane.
This was none other than the warship led by Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Vice Admiral Tsuru and Doflamingo the Heavenly Demon are considered mortal enemies. Ever since Doflamingo became known as the Heavenly Demon and was placed on the bounty list, Vice Admiral Tsuru has been tasked with hunting him down and has remained steadfast in her mission for many years.
Unfortunately, even the wise and brave Vice Admiral Tsuru could never have imagined that Doflamingo had already planted a high-ranking spy in Marine Headquarters. As a result, Vice Admiral Tsuru often faltered at crucial moments in the pursuit of Doflamingo, allowing him to escape the encirclement smoothly time and time again.
The leadership team on this warship consisted of a vice admiral and five rear admirals, and all of them were women.
Damon stood among a group of warrant officers, listening to Vice Admiral Tsuru deliver a series of important speeches from the deck.
All leaders are the same; they always intentionally or unintentionally deliver a meaningless opening remark that makes people drowsy. However, you can't pretend to doze off in front of them, and you have to occasionally applaud loudly to appear as if you are listening attentively to the leader's teachings. It's really boring.
To kill time, Damon focused his attention on the system prompts.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, host, for reciting a classic line from World of Warcraft. You have been awarded one chance to draw a prize. Would you like to start the prize wheel?"
The prizes in the lottery wheel were divided into two types: racial talents and skills.
Racial Traits: Escape Expert, Heroic Spirit, Endurance...
Skills: Charge, Rallying Cry, Execute...
[Endurance]: Increases base health by 5%.
The moment he gained the racial talent of endurance, Damon felt that the superhuman cells and gourmet cells in his body seemed to become more active, and even his blood flow accelerated.
Vitality is a very fundamental and important thing for a living being. Damon had heard Chief Warden Magellan talk about it some time ago. Recently, scientist Vegapunk had been studying vitality and invented an item called the Vivre Card.
It was said that the Vivre Card was made by soaking one's own fingernail in certain materials. It was a kind of paper that represented the life force of the fingernail's owner. It was not afraid of water or fire, and it could detect the health and life status of its owner at any time. Even when the Vivre Card was torn, the direction of its owner could be found by the direction pointed to by the fragments of the Vivre Card.
This was extremely unscientific.
Damon suspected that this was some kind of magical product that Vegapunk invented incidentally while researching lineage factors.
Currently, the production of Vivre Cards was limited and could not be mass-produced. They were only circulated among the high-ranking officers of the Navy. Damon had a fragment of Warden Shiryu's Vivre Card in his pocket.
Damon was daydreaming, completely unaware that he was being watched.
A slender young woman stood behind Vice Admiral Tsuru, her long black hair tied in a bun. Her face, free of makeup, was beautiful and delicate. Beneath her arched eyebrows were a pair of captivating eyes, which held a mesmerizing charm. Many naval officers and soldiers couldn't help but steal glances at Vice Admiral Tsuru while listening to her speak.
______________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
---
Chapter 44: Sabaody Archipelago
Chapter 45: Dark King Silvers Rayleigh
Chapter 46: The Auction House
---
Support the journey and unlock advanced chapters!
If you're enjoying Damon's story, his journey of wielding memes from other worlds inside the One Piece universe, collecting ultimate skills like the Sharingan, Bankai, Blood Demon Arts, and Ten Shadow Spells, and watching him shake the very foundations of the World Government… there's always a way to stay ahead.
I work every day on this novel, developing its world and chapters, and every bit of support helps me keep delivering more content with higher quality and faster releases.
By supporting me on Patreon, you'll get exclusive access to advanced chapters before they're released to the public. You can move ahead in the story and read up to 20 chapters in advance!
📚 Support Tiers:
$5 → Read 5 advanced chapters
$10 → Read 10 advanced chapters
$15 → Read 15 advanced chapters
$20 → Read 20 advanced chapters
Every bit of support, even a small one, makes a real difference and helps me continue writing this journey that we're experiencing together.
Join now and start reading the stacked chapters before everyone else:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/The_King_MT
Thank you to everyone who supports the story and believes in this world. You are the reason it continues. ❤️