Julian said to the Division Captains, "From now on, the six senior officers of the Mud Dragon Pirates will receive a monthly salary of one million Berries. Each division will have three Squadron Captains and fifteen Squad Leaders. Appoint them from within your own divisions. Squadron Captains will receive five hundred thousand Berries a month, and Squad Leaders two hundred thousand. Squadron Captains must be Elite Pirates. Each division must maintain a force of one hundred and fifty people."
"If you do not have enough men, transfer some moderately capable people from Logistics. There are already more than a dozen Elite Pirates aboard my ship, along with dozens of senior pirates. Most are ordinary pirate crew members. Monthly payroll will only be a little over thirty million Berries. With more than two billion Berries, I'm not in much of a hurry. Besides, wherever we sail, we rob. As the saying goes, not even a feather is left behind when geese pass, and thieves never leave empty-handed."
Their weapon supply was more than sufficient. Everyone received a Flintlock Gun and a guard saber. Such a firearm ratio was practically unheard of among other pirate crews. They were also intensifying firearms and swordsmanship training. Leo, the young marksman, taught shooting, while Herbert taught swordsmanship. Once Julian finished speaking, all the Division Captains headed to Logistics to select personnel. After all, there were few strong fighters in Logistics. Most handled cleaning, cooking, sailing, or navigation. Nearly all combat personnel had been assigned to the divisions.
Julian smiled at his own handiwork. When I first took over this pirate crew, it had no combat strength. We lacked food, guns, and ammunition. Most importantly, we simply did not have enough crewmen. Yet in less than half a year, I had everything: navigators, Division Captains, and a ship's doctor. Now I even had the confidence to go head-to-head with the Skypieans and have a real fight →_→.
Julian grumbled, "The only flaw is that the route is too long. It will take another half year or so to reach the Grand Line. That is practically the same as circling half the globe, slowly sailing all the way from the center of the South Blue to Reverse Mountain."
Julian could do nothing about it. The ships were all sailing vessels, relying entirely on wind to propel their sails. Without wind, they moved slower than a person walking. After finishing training that afternoon, Julian soaked in a freshwater bath. He lay in the pool, with Alice and Beatrice standing guard. Seeing him soak so listlessly, Alice and Beatrice both asked, "Julian, what's wrong? Are you sick?" Julian said, "Devil Fruit users fear seawater. Even in freshwater, the water cannot go above the chest." Alice asked, "Are Devil Fruits that dangerous?" Julian replied, "Yes. A Devil Fruit user turns impotent the moment he touches even a little seawater."
After climbing out of the pool, Julian took Alice and Beatrice to discuss the meaning of life. The two women blushed furiously from Julian's teasing. Julian asked, "Alice, how is your swordsmanship training going?" Alice said, "I'm improving quickly." Julian said, "Alice, you truly have talent for swordsmanship. If you keep training hard, you will become extremely strong in the future." Afterward, he brought them to the open-air deck on the fourth floor. Julian said, "Training alone will not do. You need practical sparring to make greater progress."
Julian said, "Come attack me. I'll counter a few times." Alice said, "Here I come!" Alice instantly drew her blade and slashed at Julian with Gale Style Swordsmanship. Watching the katana come down, Julian directly transformed his right hand into a black earth shield, intending to block the attack head-on. With a clang, the iron blade struck the earth shield. Alice's second strike was Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, aimed directly at Julian's head.
Julian stepped back and continued, "You are still not fast enough. Increase your speed, then attack me again." Alice rushed at him with rapid strikes, while Julian repeatedly hopped left and right. He added, "Your movements are fast now. The Gale Style Swordsmanship you are learning is indeed a very fast sword style, but you must train your speed even more to bring out its full potential."
Julian shouted again, "Alice, imagine that I'm that perverted lecher Momonosuke." Alice said, "He's only an eight-year-old child. Julian, aren't you being too malicious toward him?" Beatrice nodded in agreement and said, "He's just a child who hasn't grown up yet." Julian immediately said, "If Momonosuke saw you two beautiful women with such lovely breasts, he would use his cute-child persona to take advantage of you both."
Julian continued to provoke them. "He would cry all over your breasts, shed sinful tears, and grope around with those filthy little hands." Seeing that the two women were already angry, Julian turned up the intensity. "That Little Foolish Bird Momonosuke would even rub that dead-looking head of his around and go after your Little White Rabbits."
Beatrice's face darkened as she said, "That's too disgusting. I can't listen anymore." Alice said, "I really can't stand you. What was wrong with my head that I listened to you tell stories about that little pervert Momonosuke?" Julian smiled and imitated Momonosuke taking advantage of others, wearing a lecherous expression as he said, "Big sister, I'm so scared," while preparing to rub his head against Alice's chest.
Alice directly attacked Julian, raising her blade and slashing at him. Julian activated the Earth-Earth Fruit's transformation ability with both hands. Each hand became a ferocious dragon head, identical to the azure dragon head of Kaido's Azure Dragon form. The technique was called Super Cute-D-Punch.
With that, he began feeding Alice moves to strengthen her combat ability. Alice's swordsmanship was exceptionally fierce. In her enraged state, her sword moves could even carve out hurricanes. She unleashed a flurry of attacks at Julian's lower body. Julian secretly thought, Her swordsmanship is improving far too quickly. Alice had tremendous talent with the sword. The more she fought, the fiercer her swordsmanship became. Her strikes carried far greater force, and her moves were increasingly tricky, all aimed at the lower regions. Her attacks also became more and more ruthless. Julian revealed a fatherly smile and said, "Alice, be careful. I'm about to attack."
He followed with straight punches, swings, and hooks, quickly knocking Alice to the ground with one blow. When Alice fell, her hatred for Momonosuke had already vanished. Alice rose from the ground, paused, and said, "I think my swordsmanship has made a breakthrough. And I think I've grasped something incredible." Julian said, "Congratulations. You're like me now—we both want to become Momonosuke exterminators." Beatrice smiled and said, "Congratulations, Alice." Alice smiled and said, "Julian, you really disgusted me to death."
Julian smiled and said, "Alice, this Momonosuke really is that disgusting. I only imitated a tiny fraction of it. If you met him without knowing better, your Little White Rabbits would be eaten clean." Beatrice stared at Alice's proud twin peaks and said, "I'm so jealous." Alice said, "Stop talking about it. I'm about to throw up. From now on, whenever I see someone named Momonosuke, I'll kill him. I'll rid the people of a scourge." Julian secretly thought, Momonosuke, look at how your deeds have made the Mud Dragon Pirates hate you. Do not let me see you in the future. Every time I see you, I'll kill you.
Before you continue