War with Another Pirate Crew

Julian assembled the crew. Since he had handed out money, morale was pretty high. Everyone stood in two rows, looking spirited. The Mud Dragon Pirates looked decent enough. After all, who could refuse such a remarkable man who understood the art of success?

Julian looked excited as he shouted, "A pirate ship has arrived offshore today. We're going to bully them hard! Today is the Mud Dragon Pirates' first battle. Your captain will lead you in a charge! I'm going to crush them!" George and Pekki both looked respectful as they shouted, "Long live the captain! The captain is invincible in battle!" Leo stood among the crew with his Flintlock Gun in hand. Julian shouted, "Everyone, charge with me!"

Julian led more than forty men charging toward the beach downstream from the island. The opposing pirate ship was also preparing to land there. George said solemnly, "Captain... that pirate crew is called the Wild Boar Pirates. Their captain is a Devil Fruit user with the Wild Boar Form. He's very powerful." Julian said disdainfully, "I'm a Logia Devil Fruit user. I'll absorb them into our crew soon enough. As for the women, I'll have first pick."

As the opposing crew's hundred-plus pirates began landing, Julian took the lead and charged out with his men. The Wild Boar Pirates' captain, Tar Garim, said arrogantly, "Are you looking to die? How dare you attack the Wild Boar Pirates?" Julian merely smiled and did not answer. He immediately activated his Devil Fruit ability, Mud Dragon Giant Mode. Three giant mud dragons flew from Julian's back and attacked Tar Garim's body. "Aah!" Garim cried out in pain. "Shouldn't pirate crews introduce themselves before fighting? Damn it, you attacked without any honor! I haven't even transformed yet!" The three giant dragons strangled Tar Garim to death on the spot.

The Wild Boar Pirates' officers and crew were about to strike when Julian unleashed Earth Spikes at maximum power. Several five-meter-long earth spikes shot into the enemy crowd. Blood mist filled the air as the opposing hundred-plus pirates suffered heavy casualties and screamed in agony. "Aah! Aah!" Julian said fiercely, "Everyone, attack! Kill anyone who refuses to surrender!"

Hearing Julian's order, George immediately made his move. He activated Great Bear Form and rushed in, attacking anyone he saw. Those who refused to surrender were struck by his bear paws. Anyone who took a single slap died instantly. A few minutes later, the opposing pirate crew had either surrendered or died. Julian shouted at the captives, "Listen up! My name is Mud Dragon Julian, captain of the Mud Dragon Pirates. Surrender, and you won't be killed!" Of the Wild Boar Pirates' hundred-plus men, only forty-some remained, with more than ten lightly injured. Their officers and elite members had all been killed by Julian's Earth Spikes. Their entire force had been wiped out.

A thick red blood mist lingered over the beach. Julian used his Devil Fruit ability to cover all the bloodstained sand. He said to George, "Go absorb all of them into our crew." George replied, "Understood, Captain." Smiling, Julian said, "Pekki, take some men and search upstream from downstream. See whether Garim's Devil Fruit has respawned somewhere on this island." Pekki nodded. "Got it."

Julian took two men toward the Wild Boar. He smiled at George again and said, "Take some men and transplant some of the island's apple trees, cantaloupe trees, and orange trees onto the ship." George replied respectfully, "Understood, Captain." Julian thought to himself, Sailing for too long without fruit can cause night blindness. Once these are prepared, there'll be nothing to worry about.

Julian boarded the Wild Boar and began looting its Berries and treasure. He entered the treasure room first and said, "This treasure room is ridiculously poor. There are only two million Berries and some Navigational Charts. The ship is only seventy meters long, and it's a terribly rundown sailing ship." Julian stored the Berries in the Mud Space within his body. This was a Devil Fruit technique he had developed: turning his body into a mud storage space capable of holding a large quantity of items, just like Caribou could store things inside his body.

Julian had also discovered another absurd ability of the Swamp-Swamp Fruit: devouring, breaking down, and developing materials. He had found Niter in a swamp—explosive Saltpeter—and used his Devil Fruit ability to break it down before storing it in his body. This allowed him to develop Clay with explosive power. The Swamp-Swamp Fruit was equivalent to the Earth-Earth Fruit, which was also equivalent to the Earth-Earth Fruit: mud made of soil and water. Developing a Devil Fruit depended on how bold one dared to be.

He could turn into wet soil mixed with water. This kind of soil possessed powerful devouring and adhesive properties, making it ideal for control. Julian had also broken down some mineral soil from earth containing Iron Ore. That soil contained many minerals, allowing Julian to develop black Mineral Mud, greatly strengthening its defensive power. This trait of the Earth-Earth Fruit was incredibly useful. Any soil he came into contact with could be stored inside his body, then further developed to continuously strengthen this ability.

As long as Julian came into contact with more types of soil, he could develop more varieties of earth-based abilities. He planned to develop several more abilities over the next few days, then go out and pull off some major jobs. The South Blue only had a Major General stationed there. The headquarters Vice Admirals were all at Marineford, while Vice Admiral Garp was still chasing Roger across the world. There were only two Admirals at present: Black Arm Zephyr and Buddha Sengoku. Steel Bone Kong was still serving as Fleet Admiral. Julian's company had only just gotten started, so he would not foolishly provoke the Marines. But that did not mean he had no ideas. The South Blue Naval Branch had Marine Rokushiki training methods. How could he not steal some and get stronger?

Julian planned to first activate the Earth-Earth Fruit's Elementalization ability, sneak in from underground, steal what he wanted, and run. With Earth Elementalization activated, he could move freely beneath the ground. At present, Julian only remembered the training method for the Marines' Soru. Of course, it was an incomplete amateur version—version 0.5.

By noon, George had returned. Julian asked, "George, have the fruit trees been transplanted?" George replied, "Captain, we dug up several trees. We also picked a lot of fruit and caught more than twenty wild goats." Looking at the goats, Julian said, "We'll hold a feast tonight. Roast these goats." George replied, "Understood, Captain." Julian had him take men to transplant the fruit trees onto the ship. A while later, Pekki returned as well. Pekki said, "Captain, I found a wrecked ship beneath a cliff over there. I also found these bags of Gold Coins. They weigh over two hundred kilograms in total."

Pekki continued, "We found this Devil Fruit in the fruit grove." He took out a Devil Fruit. Julian said happily, "Your luck is pretty good." Since Julian did not have the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, he truly could not identify it. He could only say to Pekki, "Eat it." Julian thought to himself, It doesn't look like anything high-end. It looks like a gray apple with a few patterns on it. Still, it can't possibly be the Human-Human Fruit, Commoner Form.

After Pekki finished eating it, Julian asked, "Did you gain anything?" Pekki looked at Julian in confusion, then instantly transformed into a black boar six meters long and three meters tall at the shoulder. Julian said, "Just as expected. It's the Zoan-Zoan Fruit: Wolf Model, Common Zoan, Black Boar Form. Garim's Devil Fruit really did respawn in the nearest location."

Julian patted Pekki's shoulder and said, "This Devil Fruit is a perfect match for you. Your name is Pekki, and this Devil Fruit is called Peachy Form. It chose you. One day, you'll become strong." Pekki muttered to himself, "Isn't this Wild Boar Form? Why is it called Peachy Form?" Julian said, "That doesn't matter. What matters is that it chose you." Pekki nodded and said with a smile, "I'm a Devil Fruit user too. I'm so happy!"

Julian thought to himself, As expected, the souls of Devil Fruits seek out the nearest fruit to possess. That afternoon, Julian began drilling the crew. Everyone ran while carrying fifty kilograms of soil. Julian shouted, "You weaklings! If you can't beat an enemy, at least you need to be able to outrun them!" The two Division Captains had both eaten Devil Fruits, so each wore an Earth Weight-Bearing Suit weighing five hundred kilograms. Julian said, "Whoever lasts until the end today gets five hundred thousand Berries!" George won the money that afternoon.

The next day, the Mud Dragon set sail, following the navigator's Log Pose toward the nearest island. This island had been squeezed dry anyway. Ninety-nine percent of the pirate world was ocean. The Red Line and the Calm Belt divided the world into four seas, while everything else was islands. The Red Line was where the Celestial Dragons lived, guarded by Marine Headquarters, protected by the CP Organization, and defended by the Celestial Dragons' Holy Knights. The World Government's Eight Hundred Years of accumulated power meant that even the combined Four Emperors would find it difficult to defeat Imu-sama. The most terrifying one was Imu-sama, and Julian knew almost nothing about him.

He was a god who had lived for Eight Hundred Years and had granted the Gorosei hundreds of years of life. Julian said, "The most disgusting one is Saint Saturn. He's rotten to the bone. The other Gorosei, from episode one to over a thousand episodes, just sit around posing in their office. When Akainu became Fleet Admiral, their daily routine was cursing Akainu. Those are the only two things they do. Their strength is unknown."

After Julian had sailed for five days, he realized that the Sea was truly dangerous. In those five days, they encountered massive waves, tsunamis, storms, and torrential rain. Fortunately, this was a large ship, so ordinary storms and heavy rain were nothing to fear. Whenever he saw huge waves sweeping toward them, Julian's heart would pound wildly. It was too awe-inspiring. No wonder a navigator was a captain's eyes. Without a professional navigator, it was easy to lose one's direction at sea. Islands were extremely sparse, after all. Julian had wanted to visit the original owner's hometown, but the navigator said that without a pointer, they could not get there. They would be like blind men.

Julian immediately gave the navigator a huge sum of money and told him to prepare all the pointers once they reached the next island, especially an Eternal Pose leading to the Grand Line. Julian's navigator was named Garud, an honest and dependable employee. Garud had once told Julian, "My dream is to go to the Grand Line and see every island and every country." Julian said, "Don't worry. I'll help you achieve that dream."

While sitting in the captain's cabin, Julian had been making plans. First, he would collect Devil Fruits from the various World Government member nations and build his own army of Devil Fruit users. This world was filled with powerful people, especially in the New World. Any pirates who went there would be beaten into the ground by people like Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido, and Golden Lion. The Great Age of Pirates had not yet begun, and there were no titles or organizations known as the Four Emperors and Shichibukai. Once those titles and systems existed, Julian had plans. Ideally, he would become a Shichibukai or one of the Four Emperors, then seize a country. That way, he could recruit talent everywhere and have more capable people work for the Mud Dragon Pirates.

Julian thought to himself, Reputation on the Sea is important. The bigger your reputation, the more fans you have—that's how it works. He thought about where the Devil Fruits from his previous life were located. The place that tempted him most was Sleepy Ancient Town. There was a god-tier Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit there: the Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Vampire Form. This god-tier fruit's greatest trait was that it could drain other people's lifespan to extend its user's own life, or consume lifespan to increase combat power. It could also turn into darkness and create bats from the darkness to attack opponents. It was a weaker version of the Dark-Dark Fruit. Its user was Red Count, Count Red, who was currently tightening screws in Impel Down. He would not eat it until more than twenty years later. There was plenty of time.

This gave Julian an idea. Once he reached the Grand Line, he would first go to Sleepy Ancient Town and claim the Vampire Fruit for himself. As for Count Red, he was already a relic of the previous era. The new age had no place for ships from the old era. The reason Julian was so interested in this fruit was because he could eat another Devil Fruit.

Julian's soul had transmigrated into this body. When he ate his first Devil Fruit, he clearly sensed another set of soul memories within his body that did not belong to him. Perhaps it was a case of two souls in one body. Julian could devour that remnant soul at any time, but he had kept it around. It had no consciousness anymore, after all.

For the second one, he would follow Blackbeard's example. Blackbeard could eat both the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit because of the two souls inside his body, not because of the Dark-Dark Fruit's ability. Julian figured that since he had also transmigrated as a soul, he could surely eat one more Devil Fruit. If that did not work, he could go to Punk Hazard and find that Artificial Devil Fruit—the one modeled after Kaido's flesh and blood, the Mythical Zoan Dragon Form. That fruit was an Artificial Devil Fruit and had no Devil Fruit consciousness of its own. Although Vegapunk had created it by extracting Kaido's Lineage Factor, meaning it used Kaido's flesh and blood, it truly possessed the power of Kaido's Azure Dragon Form. The original owner's remnant soul was already so faint. Eating an Artificial Devil Fruit should not make Julian's body explode, right? In any case, Julian planned to take that Devil Fruit. As for leaving it to that little bastard Momonosuke? Not a chance. Was he worthy?

Julian had already planned out Momonosuke's future path for him. He could go to Okama Island and become an okama. He could forget about returning to Wano Country to become shogun. He was not worthy. Julian had plans for Wano Country too. If Kaido were defeated by Luffy, Julian planned to go fight for Wano Country. Either he would turn it directly into a colony, or there would be no other option. →_→ Julian was also coveting those samurai swordsmanship manuals.