Benefits of Status

Even setting that aside, even if Dawn wanted to become a pirate and go to sea, as a child it simply wasn't realistic—he'd be crushed in an instant.

After arriving in this world, Dawn had been planning for his future all along.

He belonged to the "lawful good" alignment, but that didn't mean he would fight to the death for any faction, especially with a bunch of scum above him.

At the very least, it was certain that for a long time, Dawn would need to operate under the identity of a Marine, while also building up his strength and reputation.

After all, you have to eat one bite at a time.

But the identity shift Adolf brought Dawn—this identity could actually help him a great deal.

Even though it disrupted Dawn's development plans, with this identity, many plans could be implemented ahead of schedule.

As for Dawn's plans...

Before they were put into action, they were just worthless fantasies! Dawn hadn't even completed the first step of his plan—getting strong enough to protect himself—so losing the plan meant no loss at all!

On the contrary, the identity of kingdom heir actually gave Dawn better opportunities for development.

After quickly accepting this identity, Dawn was now conversing with Adolf. After all, since something as bizarre as transmigration had happened to him, what was so strange about his original body being a prince stranded overseas?

Some people transmigrated straight into being Celestial Dragons or came with built-in systems—his little identity was nothing compared to that.

Having swiftly accepted his new identity, Dawn began actively asking Adolf about the Ishtar Kingdom. Through Adolf's explanations, Dawn gained a more intuitive understanding.

First, his kingdom was aligned with the Marines and had decent strength in the North Sea. The king—his own father—was a wise ruler who loved his people like his own children.

But thinking about it, if he were some absurd tyrant, the people would already be destitute, let alone exporting grain—they probably wouldn't even have enough to eat themselves.

Second, this identity didn't bring too many negative effects. Being a prince wouldn't conflict with his position in the Marines; instead, it might even get him some special consideration because of the connection.

This basically meant he seemed to have become a bit freer? He had someone backing him up now~

"So, can I recruit some crew members? Disguised as guards, but as Marines, they'd become my shipmates sailing the seas?"

The gist was that as a prince, the king would definitely send guards to protect him. But since he was a Marine soldier, not a prince, those guards would need to wear Marine uniforms to save face for the organization.

And he could tamper with the selection of guards to train his own crew.

Although the roundabout reasoning was a bit dizzying, the benefit was that the Marines would acknowledge Dawn having private soldiers.

After all, what would it mean for Dawn to have personal guards within the Marines? But if they wore Marine identities, things became much easier.

As long as it looked good on the surface.

But the advantages for Dawn were numerous. Many things would become easy to set up.

For example, if the crew he recruited were nominally Marines, he could still use the Marines to train his companions. Even if merits were required, as long as they were allowed to learn the Marine Six Powers, that would be a good thing.

After all, if you weren't a Marine and tried to learn the Six Powers, you'd probably be hunted down as a target by the Marines.

Thinking of this, Dawn's eyes lit up. Before, his influence in the Marines was only through factions and reputation. But if he could recruit his own crew, they would definitely be like companions.

At that point, he'd be semi-independent—listening to orders but not obeying commands, maintaining his autonomy. That would give him much more room to maneuver.

Just thinking about it felt great.

Shaking his head, he set aside these unrealistic thoughts for now. To reach that step, strength was absolutely necessary.

Besides, even if he could use the memories in his head to recruit people, it wasn't something he could do casually. Some people could only be recruited if he had enough strength as a basic condition.

So in this world, without strength, everything was difficult.

But necessary planning could still be done... Dawn rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

"Your Highness Dawn, after you drop blood on your nameplate, there will be a special mark. Please be careful not to reveal it casually." Adolf, who had been watching Dawn thinking, suddenly spoke with a serious tone.

"Oh? It seems this nameplate has secrets I don't know about? Is that how you recognized me?"

Dawn had noticed earlier that Adolf had covered the nameplate with his hand before putting it directly into his clothes, so he guessed there was something not meant to be shown to others.

"Forgive me, Your Highness. This matter must be explained to you personally by His Highness Gaius." Saying this, Adolf bowed apologetically.

"It's fine. Then... let's wait until we reach the Ishtar Kingdom." After thinking it over, Dawn figured since the other party valued it so much, he might as well wait until he got there to find out.

Besides, cutting himself for no reason would hurt, and it would only raise more questions. It was better to just see the answer directly.

"Mr. Aokiji is on the phone right now. Don't worry, once this matter is settled, there should be a ship to take us to the North Sea."

Dawn scratched his head as he spoke. Suddenly having someone so respectful right beside him felt really awkward, and for a moment, the two fell silent.

In this strangely awkward atmosphere, Dawn couldn't hold back and found a topic first:

"By the way, Adolf, how did you get captured by pirates?" Dawn was genuinely curious about this. After all, as a royal steward, he should have been in the safest place—the palace.

"It's embarrassing to say. His Majesty saw that I was working hard and gave me a vacation to rest and relax. I made plans with an old friend to go sea fishing. Then I was captured, and my old friend was shot and fell into the sea—alive or dead, I don't know..."

Adolf's voice carried some gloom. The pain of watching a friend fall into the sea and being powerless to help.

Well, going sea fishing and running into pirates—what a world.

"Sorry, Adolf." Dawn felt even more awkward. He'd randomly picked a topic and ended up hitting a sore spot.

"It's fine, Your Highness. Meeting you is a blessing in disguise. His Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen should be very excited when they receive the news." Adolf sighed with emotion.

"By the way... you said our family has a tradition of military training. What level is the old man's strength at?" Dawn asked curiously.

"His Highness once said that he sparred with several friends who were Marine Commodores. At best, he could only stalemate them. As for winning—not a single victory."

Adolf lamented, "It's hard to imagine that the Marines are already this strong, yet they still can't stop the pirates sailing the Grand Line. I wonder how terrifying someone like Whitebeard, who's been called a demon, must be."

To this, Dawn could only shrug. For most ordinary people, they really couldn't understand why there were people in the world with such terrifying strength as Whitebeard.

After coming to this world, Dawn realized that the common people's demands on life were truly low.

So low it was pitiful.