Work for Me, and I'll Give You Everything You Want

"Who are you?!"

Because of the Seastone Handcuffs, Caesar spoke weakly and listlessly, and his spirits were extremely low. However, he still looked at Ye Chen with his unique and strange smile.

Standing before Caesar, Ye Chen looked down at him without saying a word, instead scrutinizing him.

"Shuben scientist is asking you a question! You must be someone important to be able to get in here so easily. Are you P?"

Seeing that Ye Chen remained silent, Caesar began to suspect something.

"Work for me, and I'll give you everything you want."

Satisfied, Ye Chen scanned the area with his Observation Haki and, finding no surveillance cameras or outsiders, directly stated his intentions, leaving Caesar completely bewildered.

"Call out"

Caesar burst into exaggerated laughter, clutching his stomach as if mocking Ye Chen. Combined with his grotesque laughter and appearance, it was utterly comical.

"Do you know where you are? Do you know who I am? Do you know who my enemies are? You want me to submit to you? Who do you think you are!"

After laughing, Caesar looked at Ye Chen as if he were an idiot, and said impatiently, "Get lost, you're disturbing my sleep, damn Vegapunk."

After finishing, Caesar muttered something to himself, seemingly harboring a deep resentment towards Vegapunk.

"This is Punk Hazard, a land of death thanks to you. You are Caesar Clown, a scientist second only to Vegapunk, the world's greatest. Your enemy is now the World Government. Besides, you don't need to know my identity. You just need to know that I can let you out and help you achieve your goals."

Ye Chen paced back and forth, his hands behind his back, captivating Caesar from the very first sentence.

"I know you have great talent, such as your Artificial Devil Fruit."

"How do you know?" Caesar suddenly interrupted Ye Chen, his eyes wide with excitement. He knew that the Artificial Devil Fruit were still just embryos, something he had seen in Vegapunk's laboratory. He was certain that, in the entire world, only Vegapunk and he knew Artificial Devil Fruit were feasible or not.

"You don't need to know. You just need to know that I can achieve your goals. As for your extreme ideas, I don't care. All I care about is your talent. Now, you can give me an answer: work for me, and you can leave here, continue your research, and realize your dream of surpassing Vegapunk. Power, funds, everything—I can prepare it all for you."

Standing high above, Ye Chen's face remained indifferent, yet a subtle aura of kingly authority began to emanate from him.

"You, you"

Startled, the once arrogant Caesar suddenly became alert, his hair standing on end, and he looked at Ye Chen with disbelief.

Seeing the terrified Caesar, Ye Chen withdrew his imposing aura, regained his composure, and continued, "I'll give you five seconds. If you don't agree, I'll make you disappear on the spot."

Sweating profusely, Caesar's eyes widened again. "Is this a choice?"

"You have three seconds left."

Caesar's chest heaved violently as he swallowed repeatedly.

"I... I promise you." There's no need to think, because there's only one outcome: life or death.

"Very good." Ye Chen was very satisfied.

"Since I've agreed to your request, then at least let me know your identity," Caesar said cautiously, glancing at Ye Chen.

"You're currently Marine Admiral, and you'll realize later how right your choice was. For now, you'll stay here."

As Ye Chen stepped out of the cell, his eyes turned icy cold before he left. "Oh, right, I forgot to remind you, those who betray me usually die a horrible death. You're not the last one."

The sound of footsteps fading into the distance reached Caesar's ears, and before he knew it, his back was soaked with sweat.

"That aura just now was definitely Conqueror's Haki, how could it possibly be Marine Admiral?"

Swallowing hard, Caesar's eyes were full of doubt. Although he was a scientist obsessed with research, he still understood the basics. As a user of Conqueror's Haki, one in a million, how could he possibly submit to the Navy and become Marine Admiral?

This man is dangerous.

And so, Ye Chen and his group remained in Punk Hazard.

Back in his assigned room, Ye Chen sat cross-legged on the bed and began to think about his future plans.

The appearance of Caesar Clown gave Ye Chen some new ideas and made many connections.

Having influence within the navy alone is not enough, as all efforts could be in vain at any moment. Therefore, a two-pronged approach is necessary.

For now, I must proceed step by step. If necessary, leaving the navy is not out of the question.

There are too many incredible things in this world. If you're careless, too arrogant, or lack strength, you'll die quickly. Only those who survive to the end are the victors.

Moreover, having ruled the world for 800 years, no one knows what the World Government's trump cards are. Even now that Ye Chen is Admiral, there are many things he cannot know.

As for justice and such, Ye Chen never even considered it. The reason he was Admiral was simply because this position brought him many conveniences. To put it bluntly, he only cared about himself.

Slowly, as time passed, Ye Chen began to organize the plans in his mind, or the path ahead.

"Boss, look what this is."

Suddenly, the door opened, and Bai Doudou, holding two items in her hands, grinned from ear to ear.

Pulling himself back to reality, Ye Chen looked at the thing in Bai Doudou's hand and was slightly taken aback.

"Where did you get that Devil Fruit from?"

In Bai Doudou's right hand was a Devil Fruit, its bizarre patterns too obvious; as for her left hand, there was a carrot-shaped spiral dagger, still in its sheath.

"Oh, it's that uncle." For a moment, Bai Doudou actually forgot the other person's name.

"Vegapunk?"

"Right!"

"Why did he give you these things?" Ye Chen took the Devil Fruit from Bai Doudou's hand and examined it.

"I sensed he was someone special, so I treated him to carrots, and then he gave me this Devil Fruit as a gift. I didn't want it at first, so I asked him to exchange it for another present."

"This dagger?" Ye Chen knew what Bai Doudou was about to do the moment she stuck out her butt.

"How did you know?" Bai Doudou asked, her eyes wide.

"Nonsense, I know you too well!" Rolling his eyes, Ye Chen put the Devil Fruit aside, picked up the dagger, examined it, and then pulled it out of its sheath, his expression slightly surprised.

"Is this made of Seastone?"

"That's right, the dagger is Seastone, which is very effective against Devil Fruit users, but the handle isn't. What do you think? It's shaped like a carrot, isn't it pretty!"

With a smug look on her face, Bai Doudou tilted her chin up.

Looking at the radish-shaped dagger in his hand, especially with a few green leaves on the handle, Ye Chen twitched his lips. This was no longer a dagger. Oh well, this Dead Rabbit only had a taste for this.

Ye Chen returned the dagger to Bai Doudou. As for why Vegapunk was able to forge a Seastone dagger in such a short time, and in the shape of a carrot, Ye Chen was not surprised at all. His status as the world's number one scientist was enough.

"What kind of power does this Devil Fruit?"

"I heard that the old man has Paramecia Devil Big Big Fruit, which allows him to grow bigger and bigger, but it's much weaker than mine. I can transform into anything I want; growing bigger is just the most basic thing." Looking down on it, Bai Doudou stared at the Devil Fruit with disdain, perhaps already reliving the taste from when she first ate it.

Upon hearing about Bai Doudou's Devil Fruit ability, Ye Chen's eyes lit up slightly, but he then fell into deep thought, unsure whether Vegapunk had done it on purpose.