Future Plans

Mosen pushed a cart, a large bundle strapped to his back, and returned to Extreme Cold Hell with twice as much food as last time.

Just as when he had left with Mosen, his return from outside also earned him the prisoners' "gazes of admiration."

Amid the prisoners' welcoming procession, Mosen returned to his little hut.

"Phew~ This place still suits me best! The heat in Scorching Hell was so suffocating!" Mosen muttered as he set down the food.

Meanwhile, the prisoners outside had also gathered in groups of two or three around Mosen's hut.

"That kid was carrying food, right?" Among one group of prisoners, a woman as fat as a ball and wearing Seastone Handcuffs spoke.

"Definitely! I can already smell the meat." The One-eyed Pirate beside her chimed in.

"Damn it! We're shivering outside in the cold and haven't had anything to eat in ages, while he has food, drink, and even meat in there. Disgusting!" the One-armed Pirate cursed.

"If you're not convinced, why don't you rush over and rob him? Maybe then you'll get some meat!" a blonde female pirate with a beautiful face and a curvaceous figure said.

"You want me to go and get myself killed, don't you? Those Military Wolves aren't pushovers. Besides, this guy isn't as weak as he looks. Bette's death is proof enough.

"Speaking of which, Mia, your Observation Haki should be the best among us. Can you sense that jailer's condition?" the One-armed Pirate asked in return.

The blonde woman thought for a moment before answering, "His life aura was extremely weak at first, like the disaster victims in my hometown who had gone hungry for a long time to pay the Celestial Gold.

"But ever since Bette died, his life aura has grown stronger and stronger. It's now a little stronger than that of an ordinary marine."

"How could his physical abilities improve so quickly in such a short time?" one of the pirates questioned.

"If he has Life Return, then it isn't impossible," the One-armed Pirate said.

"Life Return? But he looks only fifteen or sixteen. Can someone that young master Life Return? I didn't learn Life Return until I was nearly thirty," the One-eyed Pirate said.

"That's because you're stupid. Besides, the Marines have the Six Powers. If someone can fully master the Six Powers, it's much easier for them to grasp Life Return than it is for people like us who have to figure it out on our own," Mia the blonde pirate said.

"Mastering the Six Powers and Life Return at fifteen or sixteen... This kid is a genius. He shouldn't have much trouble becoming a Headquarters Vice Admiral in the future. Why would the Marines assign him here?" the One-armed Pirate asked with a frown.

"It's probably related to his physical condition. This guy's a freak. He isn't afraid of the cold and can wear only a single layer of clothing in an environment like Extreme Cold Hell. The Marines need someone who isn't afraid of the cold and can guard Impel Down's Fifth Layer for a long time.

"Besides, his life aura was so weak some time ago that he must have suffered a serious injury, or perhaps something went wrong with his body. The Marines probably decided that someone like him no longer had much potential, so they sent him to Extreme Cold Hell," Mia analyzed.

The pirates thought it over and all felt that Mia's analysis made sense.

"Mia, you're the brains among us. Do you think there's any chance we can persuade this little jailer to switch sides?" the Fat-as-a-ball Female Pirate asked.

"Switch sides?"

"Exactly! Think about it. The Marines sent him to Extreme Cold Hell despite his terrible physical condition. In a sense, he's someone the Marines abandoned. Anyone in that situation would naturally harbor resentment toward the Marines.

"If we can convince him to betray the Marines, we'll have an inside man in Impel Down. He could provide us with food and shelter, and then we might all be able to survive!"

After hearing the fat woman's words, Mia's mouth twitched. This Fat-as-a-ball Female Pirate really wasn't very bright. Otherwise, how could she say something like that?

The Marines and pirates were natural enemies. Generally speaking, eight or nine out of ten people who became Marines had some grudge against pirates and hated them deeply. Trying to persuade someone like that to switch sides was practically impossible.

Besides, these prisoners were penniless and had nothing. Persuading someone whose position was opposed to theirs required leverage. They were trapped here, and in this frozen wasteland, they had barely a tenth of their former strength. What could they use to win him over?

Not to mention that after switching sides, the little jailer would have to provide them with food and shelter. In short, he would be the one constantly giving while receiving nothing in return. Anyone with any sense wouldn't accept their offer.

But persuading this little jailer seemed to be their only chance of survival, didn't it?

Thinking of this, Mia sighed without saying anything. She merely patted the fat woman on the shoulder, then turned and left.

Meanwhile, inside the hut, Mosen looked thoughtfully at the pirates outside.

Mosen had a fairly clear understanding of his current strength.

He had mastered the Six Powers and Life Return, and after awakening his Lineage Factor, he was essentially equivalent to possessing an Ice-Ice Fruit that could not turn its user into an element. Taken as a whole, his current strength was roughly on par with the CP9 members from the Enies Lobby arc.

He was probably somewhat weaker than Rob Lucci, but he should be stronger than the likes of Kalifa.

Before being imprisoned, the pirates outside had all been individuals with bounties exceeding one hundred million, and that had been twenty-two years ago, before inflation. The value of those bounties was considerably higher than that of pirates with billion-level bounties twenty-two years later.

Most of these pirates had mastered two types of Haki, and some of them might even possess Conqueror's Haki. Their combat experience was also extremely rich. If he could learn something from them, it would be highly beneficial to his growth.

Besides, not all of these pirates were purely evil. When Oda created One Piece, he carried over some of the concepts from his earlier manga, Dragon Slayer. Pirates were divided into wicked pirates and righteous pirates.

There was no need to explain the wicked pirates. They were all utterly unforgivable and deserved death, people like Blackbeard and Doflamingo. More than ninety percent of pirates were this kind of person.

Righteous pirates, on the other hand, did not burn, kill, or rob ordinary people. Their targets were mostly nobles who had grown wealthy through immoral means. Some of the bolder ones even attacked the World Government. Some powerful righteous pirates would protect islands and countries in the New World, keeping other pirates from harassing them, such as the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red-Haired Pirates in the original story.

In a sense, these pirates resembled the Revolutionary Army of the future. Both disliked the World Government and the nobles.

If he could gather and control these righteous pirates and have them join the force overthrowing the Celestial Dragons, that would be quite worthwhile.

But all of this required strength as its foundation. At the very least, he needed absolute control over Extreme Cold Hell.

With that thought, Mosen decided to first approach the pirates outside and learn about their general circumstances. If conditions allowed, he could kill a chicken to scare the monkeys and raise his standing among the prisoners.

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