January 3, 1515.
√,√,√,√.
The secret technique has been developed!
Although they haven't been able to develop the true "Dodon Fruit" ability and can't make dango by hand like Hiyori, they are already able to grow dango... or rather, "dango mushrooms".
Based on my previous understanding of the "Millet-Millet Fruit" and the power mainly derived from the "The Hanged Man Path," I successfully cultivated a mushroom with the "Dumpling" effect using my own flesh and blood.
Experiments were conducted on several Blue Gorilla, and it did indeed have an effect.
January 8, 1515.
√,√,√,√.
My deputy, Domino, is currently in command of the Blue Gorilla, while Hannibal commands the Jailer Beast. The Army Wolf and various other strange beasts are also trained by prison guards at all levels...
The Hell Clan seems to have special experience in taming these rare beasts.
This is one of the reasons why they have always been in charge of guarding Impel Down. However, the Jailer Beast is not a "rare beast," but Awakening failed artificial Zoan Devil Fruit user—this is something I have confirmed; it is indeed Artificial Devil Fruit, and in terms of concept, it is Zoan Devil Fruit created by Vegapunk.
This is probably why Vegapunk abandoned artificial Zoan Devil Fruit...
As for Caesar's approach, it was entirely about "letting things get out of control," or even actively letting them get out of control, but separating the out-of-control parts from the user's original body. This is what created the bizarre artificial Zoan Devil Fruit users in the Beasts Pirates.
Various rare beasts, including Blue Gorilla, can be completely controlled by the "Dumpling Mushroom," but it is less effective against the Jailer Beast.
January 12, 1515.
√,√,√,√.
The reforms to the first to third tiers of prisons have begun to show results, although they don't help much in terms of playing a role, but they do look like they're working.
I've already secretly fed all sorts of rare beasts and the eight Jailer Beasts to Tuanzi Mushroom.
January 19, 1515.
√,√,√,√.
For the past week, I haven't personally supervised the prisoners' morning exercises; instead, Blue Gorilla, Army Wolf, and other rare animals have taken over.
As expected, using sheepdogs to herd sheep is still effective in portraying the role of Shepherd!
January 20, 1515.
It has been exactly one year since Sig woke up in Impel Down.
Over the past year, Sig has completely Impel Down into his own "sheepfold."
Today... Sig will leave Impel Down as "Shiryu" to report to Marineford.
Magellan's relationship with Shiryu had improved considerably in recent months, and he made a point of coming to see him off.
Magellan was now unsure whether he had truly misunderstood—the number of prisoners who had "disappeared without cause" in the past year had only increased, but... he had indeed not found any evidence against Shiryu.
On several occasions, Shiryu even had an alibi, since Shiryu most of his time supervising prisoners' morning exercises, so he naturally had plenty of "eyewitnesses."
Therefore, Magellan began to shift his attention from Shiryu to the "Demon's invitation," and began to suspect that there was some secret stronghold in the prison!
Yes, it's clear that in the original work, a large part of the reason Ivankov wasn't discovered was because Shiryu took the blame, since Shiryu did have a habit of testing his knife on prisoners.
Furthermore, in the original work, not long after Shiryu was imprisoned, the Paramount War, and Magellan didn't even have time to react. How could Shiryu be imprisoned while prisoners continued to disappear?
Domino stood ramrod straight before Shiryu, receiving Shiryu admonitions and instructions.
By this time, the Vice Warden, who had originally been close to Magellan, had already been won over by "Shiryu".
"When I'm not around, remember to make the Blue Gorilla watch the prisoners run laps, just like the past few days. I believe you can do well!" Sig said, patting her on the shoulder encouragingly.
"Yes! I guarantee I'll complete the mission... until the Vice Warden returns," Domino said, seemingly a little saddened.
"Haha, don't worry, I'm not that good at Sinner, I'll probably be back in a few months... After all, not all officers are Sprayer who can only work four hours a day." Sig even made a point of mocking Magellan.
Magellan had just returned from the toilet when he vaguely heard "Shiryu's" words, and his face turned purple.
He still hoped that this guy wouldn't come back, but... thinking about it, it really seemed unlikely, after all, the Navy and Impel Down were not the same!
Moreover, Shiryu had previously told him that Sengoku was going to "Sinner" on his own, and it was impossible for him to really have any advancement in the navy.
"Heh, I hope you come back on a warship." Magellan really wanted to say, "Don't come back on an escort ship," but then he felt that would be too sarcastic.
A year later...
To be precise, it should be two years and three months.
Sig set sail again, this time aboard Marine Headquarters warship!
Sig will definitely return to Impel Down, after all, he hasn't yet taken away the few "sheep" he had his eye on.
Although Impel Down has seen numerous deaths and disappearances of prisoners, those whom Sig takes a liking to and is worthy of being used by his "Shepherd" abilities are no ordinary prisoners.
Pirates like Golden Lion Shiki and Douglas Bullet would definitely be investigated if they died for no reason. Sig still needs to use Shiryu's identity, so he didn't want to alert them.
However, Sig still used up his shepherding slots—since they could be replaced anyway. Sig didn't dare touch the more important ones, but it was quite normal for some Devil Fruit ability at the third or fourth level to die or go missing unexpectedly!
The only Devil Fruit ability that could be "taken" from the sixth floor was the Momo-Momo Devil Fruit ability.
The user of this ability, Bundy World, appeared in the original 3D2Y series. He was captured alive by the World Government more than 20 years ago. In the original series, after escaping from prison during the Paramount War, he became a ruthless person who sought revenge by taking down the Marine Headquarters.
In the original work, when World first heard about the "Shichibukai" system, his first reaction was to capture one of them as a hostage. He ended up choosing Empress Hancock, and then... just like all villains, he got completely destroyed by Luffy.
However, World's strength is by no means weak even in the sixth level, especially his Devil Fruit ability, which is incredibly powerful.
He had fought against Black Arm Zephyr multiple times. In the original work, after being thoroughly beaten by Luffy, he still wanted to take the Marines down with him and attempted to fight Akainu and Hawk Eyes. Although he was defeated, the Marines' treatment of World showed how much they valued him, and they even issued Shichibukai assembly order.
Of course, Sig guessed that this was mainly due to their fear of his Devil Fruit ability...
You can tell this by looking at how he was imprisoned—the other prisoners on the sixth level, whether it was Golden Lion or Bullet, were still imprisoned normally, while World had been completely frozen for more than twenty years!
Rather than being wary of its strength, it's more accurate to say that... the World Government simply doesn't want World's fruit to reappear on the sea.