Loi Amos, a Navy Captain at Marine Headquarters, was the commander of the Detention Unit warship DT-31.
It was said that he hailed from the West Blue. He had joined the Marines at the age of twenty and had now served for eight years.
He had performed only averagely in the physical assessment when he enlisted at a Marine Branch. However, after participating in the capture of the West Blue ability user pirate Captain Rhino, his strength had begun to improve by leaps and bounds—which was hardly strange. Quite a few Marine officers had begun to show their brilliance after encountering a powerful enemy.
After that, he had been specially recruited into Marine Headquarters. Following the Headquarters' new-recruit assessment, he had taken the initiative to apply for service in the Detention Unit.
That was the Detention Unit Marines' understanding of Loi Amos.
But in truth, no one knew that—
Loi Amos's true identity was actually that of a visitor from another world.
However, there was one thing the Marines had gotten right.
Loi did indeed have his own justice.
"Ice Cola is justice!"
Loi sighed contentedly as he sent a piece of pizza and a gulp of ice-cold soda into his stomach.
At that moment, he was simply watching the hourglass on the table before him.
The hourglass had just run out.
Then, by his ear—
[Paramecia: Strong-Strong Fruit has been added to the Fruit Encyclopedia. Current level: LV1]
A voice rang out, and the illusory Light Screen before him changed as well.
It gradually transformed into an illusory book.
At that moment, page after page of the book displayed Devil Fruits of various shapes.
[Paramecia—Cage-Cage Fruit—LV1]
[Zoan—Ox-Ox Fruit: Great Rhinoceros Form—LV1]
[Zoan—Dog-Dog Fruit: Dalmatian Form—LV1]
[Logia—Glimmer-Glimmer Fruit—LV1]
[Logia—Magma-Magma Fruit—LV1]
[Logia—Freeze-Freeze Fruit—LV1]
On the newest page, [Paramecia—Strong-Strong Fruit—LV1] had just finished being recorded.
The book then closed.
On the cover of the closed book were four words: [Fruit Encyclopedia].
[Holder: Loi Amos]
[Current number of Fruits in the encyclopedia: 19 (Paramecia—7, Zoan—7, Logia—4, Special Paramecia—0, Mythical Zoan—1)]
[Number of Fruit Slots: 2]
[Currently equipped: Ox-Ox Fruit: Great Rhinoceros Form LV1, Human-Human Fruit: Great Buddha Form LV1]
[Current Belly: 41.13 million]
"The Fruit Encyclopedia has finally collected nineteen Devil Fruits. Unlocking the third Fruit Slot is only one Devil Fruit away, and this Strong-Strong Fruit is actually quite useful!"
"This trip wasn't in vain."
Only Loi could understand the words he was muttering inwardly.
That was right.
As a transmigrator, Loi also had a system of his own.
It was the Fruit Encyclopedia he was looking at now.
As its name suggested, this system was related to the unique product of the pirate world—the Devil Fruit.
The Fruit Encyclopedia itself had two functions.
The first was collection and use.
As long as he approached a Devil Fruit Ability User and spent some time with them, he could record their Devil Fruit in the Fruit Encyclopedia.
If the Ability User used their power in front of him, the recording process would become faster.
After obtaining an ability, he could use the corresponding Devil Fruit Ability through the Fruit Slot in the encyclopedia.
He had only one Fruit Slot at the beginning. For every ten Devil Fruits he collected, he could unlock an additional slot.
Of course, if Loi directly obtained a genuine Devil Fruit—
he could absorb it and directly obtain the corresponding Devil Fruit's LV3 ability.
The encyclopedia's second function was strengthening Fruit Abilities.
After a fruit was recorded in the Fruit Encyclopedia, its base ability level was LV1.
Loi could then consume enough Belly or equivalent treasure to strengthen and raise the level of his Fruit Ability.
In addition, he could consume a smaller amount of treasure to temporarily unlock a certain level of Fruit Ability. The required amount of treasure was roughly one-third of the normal cost, but it could only provide one hour of duration.
Furthermore, perhaps because Loi had not actually eaten Devil Fruits—
the Fruit Abilities he obtained were not restricted by seawater or Seastone.
As for this cheat of his, Loi's evaluation was simple.
"Absurd!"
That was right.
He knew very well that the Fruit Encyclopedia's effects were terrifying.
It allowed him to use multiple Devil Fruit Abilities without fearing seawater or Seastone.
This was already a broad avenue leading straight to the pinnacle of the entire world.
People often heard Teacher Kai say things like "Haki transcends everything," but wasn't he himself the user of the legendary Fish-Fish Fruit: Azure Dragon Form?
That raised a question.
Where on these seas was he most likely to safely obtain a sufficient number of Devil Fruits?
For Loi, the answer was simple—the Marines.
As the behemoth backed by the World Government and suppressing the Great Pirate Era to prevent it from running completely out of control—
the Marines definitely had the greatest number of Ability Users, as well as the greatest access to Ability Users.
Thus, Loi had chosen to join the Marines and had taken the initiative to join the unpopular Detention Unit.
The facts had also proven that his choice was correct.
Over these eight years, through contact with Ability Users within the Marines and the occasional transport of Ability User criminals, he had obtained a full nineteen Devil Fruit Abilities.
These even included the Logia abilities of the current three admirals, as well as the Fleet Admiral Sengoku's top-tier Mythical Zoan ability, the Human-Human Fruit: Great Buddha Form.
It could be said that, in terms of accumulating Fruit Abilities—
Loi had already built up a sufficient foundation.
Therefore, he now faced only one problem.
That was—
"I need to find a way to make money."
The Navy Captain thought so.
Yes.
Just as mentioned earlier, his Fruit Abilities needed Belly to be strengthened.
The exact price varied greatly depending on the type of fruit, but they all shared one feature: the stronger the fruit, the more expensive it was.
Based on Loi's current summary, strengthening an ordinary Paramecia or Zoan to LV2 required around 50 million Belly. Strengthening one to LV3 required 200 to 300 million Belly, LV4 required one billion, and LV5 Fruit Awakening generally required more than several billion Belly.
Logia fruits were even more outrageous. Strengthening an ordinary Logia like the Smoke-Smoke Fruit to LV2 required 300 million Belly, LV3 required 1.5 billion, LV4 required five billion, and Fruit Awakening required the astronomical sum of over ten billion.
As for top-tier Logia fruits like the Magma-Magma Fruit and Freeze-Freeze Fruit, the cost of strengthening them was even higher.
Incidentally, Loi's monthly salary as a Navy Captain was around 300,000 Belly.
In his eight years with the Marines, even counting his prisoner-transport allowances and rewards, he had only managed to save a little over 40 million Belly.
"I don't smoke or drink, and my only hobby is having some cola, yet even a model young man like me finds it this hard to save money—hic!"
Loi burped and sighed.
This truly gave him a headache.
"I'm broke!"
Who could have imagined that before and after transmigrating, he would be troubled by the exact same thing?
"If all else fails, I'll have to leave the Marines after collecting twenty Devil Fruits and become a bounty hunter or something. It'll require traveling all over the place, but at least I'll make money much faster than I do in the Marines."
"Besides, although all my current Fruit Abilities are only LV1, if I can unlock the third Fruit Slot, that should at least be enough for the first half of the Grand Line."
Loi calculated inwardly.
But at that very moment—
"Boom!"
The cabin suddenly began to shake violently, and shouts came from outside.
Loi hurriedly shielded his Ice Cola and shouted angrily, "What's going on? Who's at the helm? Wait—Hans! Are you trying to get fired!?"
As he shouted, he quickly drained the cola from his cup, then opened the door and walked out of the cabin.
He immediately saw a chaotic deck, along with the Marine soldiers firing their guns.
They were aiming toward the sea.
Under the moonlight shining down from the pitch-black night sky—
a colossal creature was surfacing from beneath the water.
It had a lion's head, a fish's body, and a total length of several dozen meters.
Its enormous eyes blazed in the darkness like burning stars.
"Captain Loi, it's a sea beast! A large sea beast is attacking us!"
Sergeant Fal hurried over to Loi and reported anxiously.
"A sea beast?"
Loi raised an eyebrow.
As a Marine unit that had long been active across the Four Seas, the bottom of the Detention Unit's warship naturally used Seastone technology.
Under normal circumstances, sea beasts and Sea Kings could not detect the warship's presence.
But accidents happened from time to time. For example, if a nearby sea beast or a small Sea King from shallow waters approached too close to the surface, it might discover this "iron lump."
"Yes! Our luck looks terrible."
Fal looked as though he was about to cry.
But—
"What do you mean, terrible luck? Isn't this excellent luck?"
Loi cut him off. "I seem to remember that sea beast meat is worth quite a lot!"
"W-what?"
Fal failed to process that.
But Loi did not answer him. "Everyone, cease fire! If you damage the best meat, you'll all be sorry!"
"?" × N
All the Marine soldiers on the warship froze.
But as soldiers, they instinctively stopped firing.
"Sir, you..."
Someone began to ask a question.
Before they could finish, however, they saw Loi move.
"Boom!"
He bent his knees and launched himself into the air, then leaped!
The force was so great that the entire warship visibly tilted in that instant.
Under the gaze of every Marine, Loi's figure shot toward the enormous sea beast.
"Captain Loi!" × N
The Marines cried out in alarm.
But in the next instant, their cries of alarm turned into terrified screams.
The sea beast had clearly noticed Loi as well.
"Roar!"
The enormous head let out a low growl before charging toward Loi with tremendous force.
"It's over!"
"If he takes that head-on... even the captain—"
"Prepare to rescue him! Prepare to rescue the captain!"
The Marine soldiers were almost thrown into a panic.
Yet the scene they witnessed in the very next moment made their eyes nearly bulge from their sockets and their jaws stretch so wide they almost dislocated.
In the moonlight—
the Navy Captain flew past, his coat emblazoned with the word "Justice" billowing in the wind.
He bent his elbow, then clenched his fist!
Under the moonlight, every Marine saw his thick arm, as though it had been cast from steel!
The muscles beneath that arm were knotted like iron.
[Currently equipped Fruit—1: Ox-Ox Fruit: Great Rhinoceros Form LV1—Weak Fruit Ability. Grants the body of a Great Rhinoceros, with physical strength and muscle density far exceeding that of ordinary humans.]
[Currently equipped Fruit—2: Strong-Strong Fruit LV1—Weak Fruit Ability. Increases muscular strength fivefold.]
Many people knew that Zoan Devil Fruit abilities could almost always grant an Ability User a powerful, beast-like body.
The gladiator Antoria also knew that the Strong-Strong Fruit could greatly strengthen an Ability User's muscles.
But what would happen if someone possessed both the basic physical qualities provided by a Zoan Devil Fruit and the muscular enhancement provided by the Strong-Strong Fruit?
This moment provided the answer.
"Boom!"
Luo Yi threw a punch!
The gale driven by that immense force even pressed the sea in front of him into a gigantic "trench."
The next moment, his fist collided with the sea beast's head.
And so, all the Marines saw it.
That enormous sea beast, which was over a hundred meters long, was actually blasted away by Luo Yi's punch!
"Argh!"
It let out a miserable cry, and the moment it landed on the sea, it passed out.
As for Luo Yi, his figure landed atop the sea beast's head amid the Marines' cries of "Huh?! What?!"
That was right.
This was why Luo Yi was not particularly anxious, despite all his Devil Fruits still being only LV1.
Because
"Stacking Devil Fruits isn't as simple as one plus one. As long as you have a sufficient understanding of enough Devil Fruits, even LV1 Devil Fruits can unleash power beyond your imagination!"
Luo Yi murmured inwardly.
"And in this world, no one understands Devil Fruits better than I do!"
Before you continue