A Sea of Beauties

Julian knew it was Beatrice and her fellow villager, Alice, talking upstairs from the sounds he heard. The two girls were chatting, and Julian instantly recalled the first time he'd met them. A girl with yellow hair, covered in dust, her hair and face dirty. In that fat Count's dungeon, Alice and Beatrice were the first to follow him.

Alice and Beatrice were both residents of a small island that had been invaded by pirates. Alice was also a skilled doctor, who had cultivated some physical techniques and swordsmanship, excelling in boxing. She had single-handedly defeated several pirate executives before being defeated by the Sea Dragon Pirates Captain's Devil Fruit ability. To torment her, he had then thrown her into the slave ranks and sold her to that pig-like noble, wanting her to live in humiliation.

When she first boarded the ship with Beatrice, she was so dirty that Julian hadn't even noticed Alice, his attention entirely focused on Beatrice. He had let her join Rose's medical team to help. It wasn't until the day before yesterday that he finally noticed the girl.

Julian found it absurd. After Alice showered and changed, she put on light makeup. She had the looks, she had the figure. Standing at 1.9 meters, she was half a head taller than Beatrice. She looked a bit like Nami, with a delicate face and a very impressive figure. Her breasts were comparable to basketballs, two large orbs on her chest. Alice's hair was golden and cascaded over her shoulders, making her look incredibly beautiful. Alice always wore a smile on her face, the kind of girl with a great personality.

Julian grumbled, "What's abundant in the pirate world? It's beautiful women. There's no shortage of beauties anywhere." Julian then added, "I'm not bragging at all. I can easily find a large handful of beauties on my ship. I spend ten hours a day just looking at them. It's just that I have a certain immunity to beautiful women and don't like looking at them."

Why did Julian feel so strongly about Alice? Because it was obvious Alice had a very straightforward personality, with a pair of bright, watery eyes. Back then, Julian hadn't noticed the dirty blonde hair, only looking at the pink-haired Beatrice. Julian thought to himself, Could someone named Alice really be unattractive?

Alice was currently training swordsmanship under Herbert, wanting to improve her strength to kill pirates and avenge her villagers. Julian had told Herbert to handle it as he saw fit, not intending to intervene. Since Alice also came from a lineage of doctors, with generations of medical knowledge, Julian felt it might be overkill to have her become a swordswoman. The only doctor on the ship was Rose, and even he was just a dabbler. Julian often cursed Rose as an idiot.

Herbert was at his wit's end with Alice's persistence, so he taught her swordsmanship but also told her not to abandon medicine. Alice often took Beatrice with her to the Mud Dragon I to find Herbert and learn swordsmanship. Why did she bring Beatrice along? The elite crew members all knew that the captain's wife was most likely Beatrice, so everyone treated Beatrice with great courtesy. Some even often gave Beatrice gifts to curry favor with her, but Beatrice politely refused them all.

All the Division Captains, out of their love and loyalty to the captain, also treated Beatrice with great courtesy, extending their affection to her. They would offer her any delicious food or fun things they had, but Beatrice politely refused, stating they were all family and didn't need to be so formal. Beatrice was also a very gentle person, so all the Division Captains liked her personality, which was why they all got along well.

This was also Pierre's Magnet-Magnet Fruit ability. As soon as he said he wanted to go to a certain ship, a steel plate would fly over. Standing on the steel plate, they could travel to other ships. The ability was very convenient. The two girls had just returned to the Mud Dragon from Herbert's ship. Julian watched them float over from the Mud Dragon I and couldn't help but praise Pierre. His Magnet-Magnet Fruit ability had turned him into a delivery man, truly living up to his title as Logistics Minister. Julian didn't have any demands for the Division Captains; as long as they could get to any ship they wanted, it was a small problem.

It was just that the Division Captains believed that Julian assigning them those ships to guard was a sign of the captain's trust. After all, in this world, ships were a means of transportation. Not everyone had the financial means to build a giant ship, nor did everyone have the strength to sail one on the sea. Therefore, the many Division Captains were extremely diligent.

In the morning, they would check on the brothers in their divisions and then have Pierre use his ability to send them to the Mud Dragon I to learn sword skills from the swordsmanship master Herbert, or to spar. In terms of strength, Herbert was undoubtedly the strongest. Herbert would always leave George's thick-skinned Great White Bear covered in wounds. After this incident, Herbert's sword intent had become even more solidified, and he was recognized by all the Division Captains as the number one. His dual-wielding swordsmanship was too much for others to handle, especially with the Gale Style Swordsmanship, his sword strikes were incredibly fast, capable of cutting through iron.

The second strongest was Tarun, George, with the Dog-Dog Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Great Bear Form. His ability was well-developed, and his physical techniques were formidable. Moves like Brute Force Bear Paw Impact and Savage Giant Strength Fist dealt very high damage. Moreover, the Great Bear Form itself was a creature with high attack and high defense. George stood at 2.8 meters, over fifty centimeters taller than Julian. He trained relentlessly every day. George's physique was almost as robust as Bullet's, his body covered in muscle.

Next was Pierre. His Devil Fruit was truly amazing. He could fight in mid-air and use his Magnet-Magnet Fruit ability to launch steel attacks, steel blockades, or have people fly on steel. He was quite a cheater. He could also turn scrap metal around him into flying swords, like the Sword Control Technique, and use his fruit ability to control the flying swords in combat, shouting, "Myriad Swords Return to Origin!" However, the Magnet-Magnet Fruit was quite draining on stamina. He had many combat methods, but his stamina consumption was high.

White Wolf Allison was quite pathetic. Despite being a pirate worth ten million, he had been knocked out by George's bear claws on the ship, sent flying by Pekki, knocked unconscious by Herbert's sword, and kited by Leo's flying ability. Even his fellow villager, Pierre, had completely dominated Allison with his fruit. Allison was also completely outmatched by the other Division Captains. He had privately asked Julian if there was any way to become stronger. Julian had taught him his rogue version of Soru.

Then there was the second method: using the five hundred years of the little bastard Momonosuke's life to exchange for an increase in strength. Julian stated he would quickly steal the Marine Rokushiki from the South Blue Marine base and give it to his crew members to quickly improve their strength. Although Allison learned the rogue version of Soru, he was quite talented, and his speed improved rapidly. Many elite crew members also learned Julian's rogue pirated version of Soru. They would either get leg cramps or accelerate without the ability to turn, crashing headfirst into something to stop. They used their faces as brakes.

Julian himself laughed, saying, "They are truly skilled. Using their faces to brake is amazing." Julian had some memory of the other four Marine Rokushiki, but he didn't know them, especially the legendary Tekkai. Julian only remembered the name, but not the cultivation method. Julian instructed the other Division Captains to temporarily learn a low-tier, 0.5 version of Soru first.

Being able to learn one was better than none. Julian himself was also learning the low-tier version. His speed had also improved. His Mud Bounce start was already twice as fast as before. Julian was also planning to become a well-rounded fighter with high attack, high defense, and high speed. If possible, Julian was also planning to eat another Devil Fruit. He was even considering trying the artificial Dragon Fruit himself. As for other Devil Fruits, Julian did have ideas. At worst, he would explode and die.

Julian had already died once. Although only a sliver of the original owner's soul remained, a mass of unconscious memories. If Julian were to merge with that memory, he would only gain a bit more memory, which would be useless to him. It was better to save it. Perhaps if he gambled right, he could gain another Devil Fruit. Even eating a 0.5 version of the Dragon Fruit would increase his stamina and combat power. Most importantly, the Dragon Body's defense was also incredibly formidable, though not as good as Kaido's Azure Dragon Body.

Moreover, that Dragon Fruit could also fly and use lightning, storms, flames, dragon's breath, and other powers. Even if he didn't eat it himself, he wouldn't let that little bastard, that dog, Momonosuke eat it. And this artificial Devil Fruit didn't seem to have any consciousness of its own. As for other Devil Fruits, Julian really wasn't confident, but he wasn't afraid of death. Julian thought, I'll take it one step at a time. I have a Logia-type Devil Fruit, and I'm not reckless, so what's there to fear?