The next day.
Grand Line, Marineford.
The Detention Unit dormitory.
"Bring Binks' Rum to your side~"
"Like the sea breeze, free as can be, riding the wind and breaking through the waves~"
"On the other side of the sea, even the sunset cries out, and the birds sing~ Hic!"
The mysterious happy man was drinking cola and humming a song while gazing at somewhere in the distance.
Hans and Fal were, as usual, huddled in a corner and whispering to each other.
"Hey, the boss seems to be in a really good mood lately."
Fal muttered under his breath.
Hans didn't think much of it. He tugged at his collar. "Of course he is—he's been promoted to major, after all. It'd be strange if he weren't happy, right?"
"But it doesn't seem right to say he's happy because of that. A few days ago, I heard that Vice Admiral Billoss wanted to throw him a promotion party, but he turned it down. Instead, he's been cooped up in his room every day."
Fal frowned, still feeling that something was off.
Hans remained unconcerned and tugged at his collar again. "What's so strange about that? Our boss has always been like this. Besides, not everyone likes to flaunt a promotion everywhere they go."
Then Fal kicked him across the room.
"You bastard! I've been putting up with you for ages!"
Fal furiously pulled back his leg. "You only entered the Marines a few years before me, so the boss promoted you to sergeant major? And now you parade around in front of me every day!"
Yet Hans didn't get angry in the slightest after being kicked.
He simply kept tugging at his collar, trying his best to make the badge that read [Sergeant Major—Hans Torel] more conspicuous.
"Ah, little brother Fal—you're angry at me. I don't blame you. The taste of jealousy isn't very pleasant, is it?"
He spoke in a gentle tone.
Fal was so furious that his teeth nearly itched.
He wished he could go out on a mission immediately and get promoted to sergeant major as well.
Unfortunately, because Luo Yi's official appointment as a major had yet to arrive, they had no missions to take on recently.
"So it's the taste of jealousy, huh? Then let me show you my furious fist!"
Fortunately, though reason had failed, Fal himself knew a little martial arts!
Meanwhile.
"Hic... What lovely weather."
Luo Yi paid no attention to his subordinates brawling nearby. He merely took a sip of iced cola and sighed as he looked at the bright sunshine.
Yes—his mood had indeed been excellent lately.
The reason went without saying.
His plan in Alabasta had progressed remarkably smoothly.
With his foreknowledge of the story, he had specifically designed this Slice Clone, "Dragon."
The Magma-Magma Fruit and the Freeze-Freeze Fruit—these two fruits, which originally belonged to the Marine Admirals Akainu and Aokiji, were both absolute top-tier existences among Logia fruits.
He had spent a full four billion Belly to strengthen them both to LV3.
On top of that, he had strengthened the Slice-Slice Fruit to LV2, along with several other fruits he commonly used. As a result, the enormous amount of Belly he had possessed earlier was completely depleted.
But without a doubt, such a huge investment had been worth it.
"Rain is simply water vapor that has condensed."
"The cold air and frost produced by the Freeze-Freeze Fruit, combined with the hot vapor from the Magma-Magma Fruit—the two together can create rainfall!"
This was Luo Yi's idea for "artificial rainfall." After all, in the original manga, Nami had used the Clima-Tact to create partial rainfall with a similar principle.
He had merely expanded the range.
As the saying went, combining Devil Fruit abilities could give birth to countless possibilities.
The success of this experiment also made a deal between Luo Yi and Alabasta possible.
"Even if I only make it rain across all of Alabasta once, combined with the commission King Cobra gave me, I'll have earned at least five billion Belly. Now all that's left is to deal with Crocodile."
"Besides, I've already obtained the Devil Fruit Abilities of Alabasta's two guard adjutants—the Bird-Bird Fruit: Falcon Form and the Dog-Dog Fruit: Jackal Form."
With such enormous gains, how could Luo Yi not be happy?
Lately, everything tasted delicious to him, and even the flavor of his happy water seemed sweeter than usual.
Of course, it wasn't true that he had no troubles at all.
"Right now, I only have one problem. Although I've strengthened quite a few fruits..."
"When I'm at headquarters, I can only use the Human Form of Zoan fruits. I can't use their Beast Form or Human-Beast Form."
"I also can't use Elementalization with Logia fruits. Otherwise, my identity as an Ability User will be exposed."
Whenever he thought of this, Luo Yi still felt somewhat irritated.
He had clearly strengthened so many powerful fruits, yet his identity prevented him from using all their power. That feeling of being forced to stop just short of release made him extremely uncomfortable.
"If only there were some Devil Fruit Ability that could solve this problem."
But just as Luo Yi was muttering to himself—
"Hey!"
A familiar, low voice rang out. The cola in Luo Yi's mouth sprayed out with a puff.
"Huh!?"
He abruptly turned around and saw Smoker's foul-looking face.
"Smoker!?"
Luo Yi instantly became wary. "Aren't you under confinement? Cough, cough... What are you doing here? I'm warning you, I'm a major now. There's no way I'm going to be your adjutant."
He only remembered halfway through that he bore at least a tiny bit of responsibility for Smoker's confinement, so he hurriedly changed his wording.
"..."
Smoker's expression visibly darkened even further.
It seemed to take some effort for him to suppress the urge to punch Luo Yi on the spot. He forced out, "You asked Vice Admiral Billoss to arrange special training for you?"
His tone softened slightly as he said this.
Clearly, Smoker was rather pleased that Luo Yi—a talented but unmotivated slacker—had finally become "hardworking."
As a friend, he genuinely felt that Luo Yi should attain a higher position and carry out his justice.
"Y-yes. Yes!"
Luo Yi naturally couldn't admit that it hadn't been his own request, so he could only nod awkwardly.
"The person training you happens to have some connection with me, so I was asked to take you there."
As Smoker spoke, he looked at Luo Yi. "If you have nothing else to do, come with me."
Luo Yi was stunned when he heard this. But he didn't hesitate for long. After saying goodbye to Hans and Fal, he followed Smoker out of the Detention Unit's base.
However, as they walked, Luo Yi secretly thought, Just as I expected.
He had previously guessed at the identity of the "old friend" Vice Admiral Billoss had mentioned.
Now it seemed that the other party knew Smoker and was even clearly on good terms with him. Otherwise, the notorious troublemaker known as the White Hunter wouldn't have come all the way over simply to deliver a message.
Therefore, the other party's identity was actually quite obvious to Luo Yi.
"You're participating in this Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament too, right?"
Just as Luo Yi was pondering this, he heard Smoker ask him a question.
"Hmm? What are you talking about?"
Luo Yi nodded instinctively, but quickly realized that something was wrong. "What—the Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament? What's that?"
Wasn't it the All-Army Martial Arts Tournament?
"You don't know?"
Smoker removed the cigar from his mouth and exhaled a plume of smoke.
Amid the swirling smoke, his voice carried a hint of excitement. "Because of the Celestial Gold Heist Incident, the higher-ups of the World Government were furious. They believed the Marines had managed things poorly, causing our internal combat strength to decline severely and allowing something like this to happen."
"So after Marshal Sengoku and Fleet Admiral Kong discussed it, they decided to change the rules of this year's All-Army Martial Arts Tournament. In addition to the Marines, every army and directly affiliated force under the World Government will send people to participate."
"Its name is precisely—the Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament!"
Before you continue