Castle-Castle Fruit · Xiao Jin

You know, Hope is an old subordinate of Sengoku. Maybe his abilities aren't enough to hold a general-level position, but his worship and loyalty toward Fleet Admiral Sengoku are absolute.

Disrespect toward the Fleet Admiral of the Marines, so his rank got adjusted? The old man sure can come up with ridiculous excuses.

That's almost worse than saying Hope got severely punished for disrespecting the Celestial Dragons because he stepped into Marineford with his left foot first, causing a slight tilt in the geography of Marineford.

"Can't even make up a proper excuse."

Yaen muttered a powerless complaint, then turned to Hope and said.

"Hope, if you're being coerced, threatened, or framed by Fleet Admiral Sengoku, just blink. I'll take you back right now to argue with him and make sure you get your original rank restored."

Hearing this, Hope seemed to deeply feel the care and gentleness coming from Yaen. His expression and tone grew even more resolute as he said.

"Lord Yaen, you're kind, but this is my choice."

"No, it's not," Yaen said.

"No, it is."

Hope raised his voice and answered loudly.

"I chose to follow Lord Yaen of my own free will, and applying to be Lord Yaen's adjutant was also something I requested from Fleet Admiral Sengoku myself. As long as I can stay by Lord Yaen's side, rank means nothing."

Suddenly, as Hope's volume surged, the Marine Soldiers on the warship and even at the port all turned to look in Yaen and Hope's direction.

Countless curious and surprised gazes made Yaen feel an inexplicable sense of secondhand embarrassment.

Yaen's temple twitched slightly. He waved his hand and said, "Stop, stop talking. Get the ship moving!"

"Yes, Lord Yaen."

Then, under Hope's command, the Medium Warship began to set sail, heading toward the Gate of Justice.

It had to be said, as a former subordinate of Fleet Admiral Sengoku who had fought his way up from the lowest ranks, Hope might lack in decision-making and strategy, but he was fully qualified in ship handling, personnel command, weather and climate, and combat ability.

"Forget it. Hope it is. At least with Hope as my adjutant, I won't need to waste energy on trivial matters."

Yaen sighed softly and comforted himself.

"But this way, heading to the North Blue feels more like a vacation. Just Hope's combat power as a Marine Headquarters Colonel already crushes the level the North Blue Navy should have."

Under the current Marine rank system, the highest was the Fleet Admiral of the Marines, followed by general-level officers, field-grade officers, company-grade officers, and soldiers of different ranks.

Among the Four Seas' navies, the highest rank was only Colonel. There were no officers above general-level, and the value of a Marine Headquarters direct rank was a whole tier above that of the Four Seas' navies.

In other words, Yaen, as a Marine Headquarters Captain, held a status equal to a North Blue Navy Colonel.

Perhaps that was why Fleet Admiral Sengoku set the rank for the Inspectorate Division of the Four Seas as Captain.

And generally speaking, on this Great Sea where the strong are respected, one of the hard requirements for Marine rank promotion was personal strength.

That meant, if former Marine Headquarters Colonel Hope went to the North Blue, there was basically no Marine there who could beat him.

"Tch. With Hope around, I guess I can't be too reckless from now on. Otherwise, the old man will definitely find out. This is basically blatant surveillance..."

As Yaen muttered to himself, he suddenly realized something and laughed at himself.

"If the old man really wanted to keep an eye on me, he wouldn't need to send someone I know well like Hope. He could just assign any trusted adjutant. So..."

Yaen turned his head to look at Marineford, which was gradually growing distant. Vaguely, he felt as if he could sense a concerned gaze watching him. He murmured.

"The old man talks tough, but he's probably worried about my health too. That's why he specially sent Hope to protect me. Honestly..."

In the end, a smile crept onto the corner of Yaen's mouth as he said softly.

"But sorry, old man. I'm still too weak right now. So, you keep busy at Marineford. I'm going to go have some fun outside for a few years..."

"No, without at least ten or twenty years, do you think I'd come back?"

Meanwhile, after directing the warship to maintain a normal cruising speed, Hope hurried back to Yaen's side and called out.

"Lord Yaen, sorry, I forgot to take you to your room to drop off your luggage first... Huh? Lord Yaen, you didn't bring any luggage?"

Yaen smiled and pointed at the Goldfinch standing on his shoulder. "Heading to the beautiful and peaceful North Blue, I only need to bring my bird."

"Bird?" Hope looked in the direction Yaen was pointing and finally noticed the Goldfinch standing silently on Yaen's shoulder, completely still.

What struck Hope as strange was that the Goldfinch's eyes occasionally flickered with a human-like intelligence, even giving him the odd feeling that this bird was smarter than him.

"That's right. His name is Xiao Jin. Say hello," Yaen said.

Xiao Jin raised one wing and made a gesture resembling a military salute toward Hope, chirping, "Chirp."

Seeing this, Hope quickly returned the salute. But as for what to say, he was a bit at a loss.

After a moment of hesitation, Hope suddenly thought of something and reminded Yaen. "Lord Yaen, you didn't mention keeping a bird in advance. There's no bird food prepared on the ship."

Yaen replied, "Don't worry. Xiao Jin is a Castle-Castle Fruit user. Inside his body, he has his favorite bird food and dozens of different snacks."

"Huh? A bird? Castle-Castle Fruit?" Hope said in disbelief.

"That's right. Though it's rare, animals can become Devil Fruit Users too. Xiao Jin is a Goldfinch that accidentally ate the Castle-Castle Fruit," Yaen explained.

Of course, the truth was that Xiao Jin became a user because Yaen forcibly fed him the Castle-Castle Fruit.

And during the feeding, Xiao Jin showed an extremely strong will to refuse, as if he knew Yaen was feeding him something awful.

But Yaen had no choice. After all, the Devil Fruit he consumed would transform into the Void Soul Reaper Blade, so he couldn't become a Devil Fruit User himself.

And around Yaen, there was no one he fully trusted yet.

After some thought, Yaen remembered Chopper, who had originally been an animal that accidentally ate a Devil Fruit, and the Sky Point Bird from Sky Island that ate the Horse-Horse Fruit.

Both of them showed extremely high intelligence after eating their Devil Fruits, and Chopper even mastered medicine.