Seven Deadly Sins / Please Address Me by My Title at Work!

"Fire God."

This imitated the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's Raigo.

Dimon's body turned into flames. With one massive flaming hand, he seized Isaac and incinerated him in an instant.

"Aaaah!"

Engulfed in flames, Isaac let out a piercing scream.

His ability could absorb impacts, but it couldn't absorb fire. After a few short seconds, his screams abruptly stopped.

Dimon opened his hand. A charred body fell onto the deck, then slowly slid down the tilted surface into the sea.

"He... he killed him instantly?"

In the sea, Colonel Ed stared at the scene, dumbfounded. Only belatedly did he realize what had happened. "Mr. Zoro, you're... a Logia user!?"

Dimon glanced at him without answering, then turned to the remaining pirates.

The Isaac Pirates weren't particularly numerous, with around fifty or sixty members. Most were now floundering in the sea, while a lucky few had caught hold of the hull and were hanging onto the ship.

When they saw the flaming monster look their way, they jumped into the sea in terror and swam madly toward the depths.

Seeing this, Dimon's gaze sharpened.

In an instant, the fleeing pirates' bodies ignited from a distance, and piercing screams rang out one after another.

"Fire! Why am I on fire?!"

"Aaaah, save me! Help!"

"Please, spare my life!"

Pleas and screams rang out without cease, but Dimon remained unmoved.

The burning pirates instinctively tried to put out the flames and save themselves. They held their breath and submerged their entire bodies, but then a bizarre scene unfolded.

The sea caught fire!

The seawater couldn't extinguish the flames. They burned beneath the surface, setting the sea ablaze.

Seawater evaporated continuously, and soon thick steam rose from the surrounding surface, forming a pale mist.

Only after half a minute did the screams finally stop.

Yet even though the targets were dead, the seawater here continued to burn, the flames lingering for a long time.

Colonel Ed, still immersed in the sea, could clearly feel the water temperature rising. It was already starting to scald him.

"Help, save me! Mr. Zoro!"

With a thought, Dimon deactivated Fire God. He walked to the broken edge of the tilted deck and reached out to haul Ed aboard. Then he noticed the shackles on his feet and chuckled.

"Impressive that you didn't sink to the bottom. You're a good swimmer."

With that, he pointed a finger and ignited the shackles' connecting link from a distance. The temperature soared, and the link melted through in moments.

Ed gasped for breath, relieved to have survived. Hearing Dimon's teasing, he finally stammered out a reply:

"I'm a Marine, Mr. Zoro. Swimming is a mandatory test! Even with both my hands and feet bound, I wouldn't drown so quickly."

Chapter 19: Seven Deadly Sins

Half an hour later.

The Wave-Breaking Warrior, dining room.

Ed had taken a bath and changed into clean clothes. Now he was eating heartily at the table.

Dimon sat across from him, legs crossed, leisurely sipping a cup of longevity wine.

As for Mammon, Dimon had sent him to take care of the aftermath and clean up the battlefield.

He had easily wiped out the Isaac Pirates, and their ship was nearly sunk. He couldn't let the valuables aboard go to waste.

"Mr. Zoro, I never thought you'd be the one to save me. I'll never forget what you've done for me. I'll repay you sooner or later!"

Colonel Ed mumbled through his food.

"Forget sooner or later. Just remember to pay me. Want me to do the math for you? Captain Isaac had a bounty of 99 million Beli. None of the other crew members had bounties. Triple that comes to 297 million. Since we're friends, I'll round it off to an even 300 million."

You're rounding it up, not down!

Ed choked on his food and pounded his chest, then hurriedly took a drink of water before he recovered.

He opened his mouth and looked helplessly at Dimon.

"Could I owe you for a while?"

"No."

"Brother, I'm calling you brother here. I really don't have 300 million right now..."

"Aren't you pretty rich?" Dimon asked, puzzled. "What about your uncle, the Vice Admiral?"

"My uncle absolutely can't find out about this!" Ed wore a bitter expression, his voice full of despondency. "You don't know my situation. My warship is gone, and all the Marines aboard were killed. I'll definitely be punished when I get back to headquarters."

Life was hard for Marines too, especially those in frontline combat units. Even the child of a military family could die at sea if he wasn't careful.

Dimon shook his head. "I can give you time to gather the money, but I have one condition."

"Brother, you're my own brother!"

Ed's eyes were full of gratitude.

After this, he fully understood how badly he had misjudged Zoro. Not only were Zoro's subordinates powerful, but Zoro himself was also a rare Logia user.

Someone like that would definitely become a great figure in the future. Befriending him now was absolutely worth more than the cost.

There were only a handful of Logia users in the entire world, after all.

Even within the Marines, whom he knew best, there were only four, and three of them were the current Marine Admirals.

"Brother Zoro, just say the word. What do you need me to do?"

"Do you know about 'Punk Hazard'?"

"The Punk Forbidden Zone?!"

Ed froze for a moment. "That's a secret World Government research base where some World Government prisoners are held. Its name has been erased from the outside world, so ordinary people would have a hard time learning about it."

He didn't dare ask how Dimon knew about it. Some things were better left unsaid.

Dimon nodded. "I want to go there, but I heard there's something unusual about that island. It has no magnetic field of its own, so a Log Pose can't take you there."

At that, Ed was immediately at a loss, his head aching with trouble.

The request was difficult. Of course, given his family's influence, it wasn't impossible, but the question was...

What do you want to do there?!

"Vegapunk is on that island, a genius scientist said to be 500 years ahead of the world. Rumor has it that a lot of top-secret scientific research is being conducted there."

At this point, Ed swallowed and grew nervous. "Brother, tell me the truth. Are you planning to kidnap Vegapunk? I definitely won't sell you out!"

"Why would I go kidnap that old man for no reason?" Dimon rolled his eyes at him. "I have a friend there. I'm going to visit him."

That friend was still a fruit, lying quietly in a laboratory.

So he wasn't lying.

Ed didn't disbelieve him, but he didn't entirely believe him either. Faced with his savior's request, he was torn.

He did have a way to get someone inside.

But the problem was, if anything went wrong and implicated him, the consequences would be unthinkable.

"Actually, there's a simple way." Ed took a deep breath, fixing his eyes on Dimon. "With your strength, if I recommend you to the Marines, you could quickly become an outstanding officer."

After a pause, he added, "Then, when the higher-ups ask which unit you want to join, you can join Punk Hazard openly."

Dimon looked thoughtful at that.

He wanted to go to Punk Hazard, naturally, for the artificial Zoan Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form.

Although that fruit couldn't compare to the few fruits bearing the "names of gods," it was still among the very best.

To get the fruit, he first needed to know where Punk Hazard was.

An island with no magnetic field was practically a ghost island. If he sent Mammon to conduct a blanket search, finding it would be entirely up to fate.

The simplest method, in fact, was to find a way to get Punk Hazard's contact Den Den Mushi. Once he made a call, he could use Ain's ability to immediately pinpoint the other end's coordinates.

So Ed's suggestion that he join the Marines did make Dimon seriously consider it.

"That's a good idea."

"Does that mean you agree to join the Marines?"

Ed's eyes lit up. Recommending a Logia user would be a major contribution!

Maybe this would even spare him punishment, let him be promoted to Commodore, and earn him an audience with Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

Dimon seemed to see what he was thinking, but merely shook his head.

Any respectable major organization would conduct a background check on someone who suddenly joined.

There was no way he could withstand an investigation. As a visitor from another world, his past was a complete blank.

If he were just an ordinary soldier, it wouldn't matter, but he was now a Logia user. If he chose to join the Marines, he would certainly attract everyone's attention.

"I'll send Mammon back with you. Help him arrange a suitable identity."

"Mr. Zoro, are you really not joining?"

Ed looked disappointed, but on second thought, Mammon was powerful too. That would still be a considerable contribution.

"Get some rest after you finish eating."

Dimon drained the longevity wine in his cup in one gulp, then stood and left the dining room.

Back in the captain's cabin, he had just sat down when Mammon came in to report.

"Master, the spoils have been tallied. We seized approximately 50 million Beli in funds, along with a large quantity of arms. Everything has been stored in the hold."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Dimon nodded. "For the time being, you'll accompany Ed to Marine Headquarters. He'll arrange an identity for you. Once you join the Marines, you'll have two main objectives."

"Please give me your orders, Master."

"First, investigate Punk Hazard's exact coordinates. If that's too difficult, settle for the next best thing: getting a way to contact its Den Den Mushi will do just as well. I'll have Ain send a clone to accompany you."

After a pause, Dimon continued, "Second, try to learn Haki."

Whether a sentient Devil Fruit could master Haki was unknown, so this was a good opportunity to let Mammon try.

He could also use Listening to All Things to learn it on the sly.

In this world, a fruit ability alone wasn't enough. Haki was an equally important part of the picture.

"Understood!"

Mammon's expression was solemn. To him, his master's orders came above all else; loyalty was written into his underlying code.

Dimon smiled. "We'll have more and more 'compatriots' in the future. I'm going to establish an organization called the Seven Deadly Sins. You are one of the Seven Deadly Sins, granted the title of Greed. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish."

"Yes, Master."

Mammon remained unsmiling and simply nodded respectfully.

"There's one more thing you need to remember. Keep an eye on Ed. If he makes any move to stab us in the back, eliminate the threat immediately!"

Chapter 20: Please Address Me by My Title at Work!

Dimon had first conceived the idea of establishing an organization made up entirely of devils back in Sleepy Town.

The organization's core objective was to collect every Devil Fruit in the world.

Of course, that goal was too ambitious and fraught with difficulty, so the initial objective was to collect as many unclaimed Devil Fruits as possible and rapidly grow stronger.

Among them, Dimon would grant devils whose strength reached the "Admiral-Emperor level" a title of the Seven Deadly Sins.