Of course...
There was also one man who couldn't be ignored — the Black Emperor, Os!
Klein glanced at Os and thought, "Forget it. The gap between him and the Black Emperor title isn't just a little — with that talent, he'd have to be rebuilt in the womb to have any hope."
"Don't even get me started on sniping. As for mastering both blade and gun? Hopeless."
As for Yasopp's strength — Klein wasn't too sure.
He had clearly seen Usopp's growth throughout the anime, but that path didn't really suit someone like Os.
And Van Augur? Probably just benefitting from power scaling.
Even then, he got beaten by Bepo, who only had a 150 million bounty — and he was a teleportation fruit user. How embarrassing.
Doesn't he know the hottest fruit on Tomato forums right now is the Paramecia-type: Teleport-Teleport Fruit?
Even the Black Emperor couldn't really be called a "true" sniper.
Top-tier snipers were a rare breed!
But Os's eyes burned with confidence. He flashed a brilliant grin and said, "Someone's gotta be the world's greatest sniper — why not me?"
His overflowing self-assurance caught Klein off guard, but made him smile genuinely. "Heh. I'll help you out. Only the world's best sniper is worthy to be a companion of the Marine King!"
"From now on, just call me Mr. Klein!"
"Yes, Klein-san!" Os beamed.
Klein closed his eyes, starting to think about how to make Os stronger. He'd definitely need a Devil Fruit.
As for Haki — Klein could train him personally. He'd need to push him hard on Observation Haki, enough to reach "Future Sight"!
That should be doable… right?
But of course, priority number one right now — was to find Os a healing wife.
"Maybe…"
"…a Giantess wouldn't be bad?"
Klein gave himself a mental thumbs-up. "Well, when we head to the New World later, it wouldn't be a bad idea to find him a giant wife. Giants have strong builds, and more kids is no problem at all."
"It's settled then!!"
Os would become a man worthy of universal praise — a Real Man, off to college!
A famous Cave Explorer!
Klein would lead Os to the peak of life itself — a height never before reached.
Just thinking about Giants brought up that one so-called "Cursed Prince."
"Yoshi... Loki, that kid's got one of those 'Yonko Templates' for sure. And nobody in the Giant Tribe likes him anyway. Shouldn't be too hard to steal him away."
"Later, he can even call me Oyaji!"
Klein knew it wouldn't be easy. After all, the Giant Tribe was known as "The World's Mightiest Nation."
And in this era, their king — Harald — carried the blood of the Ancient Giants. One of the sea's current top powers!
For safety, it was best to... pay-to-win.
The Next Day.
With the money in hand, Klein was overjoyed, grinning ear to ear. "Raiding pirates is way faster than scraping pennies off trainees. What was I even doing before!?"
"Those were hard times, man!"
Even thinking about it made his eyes well up!
Most of the pirates on the island had already been cleaned out. Today, Klein was preparing to set sail for Sky Island. The goal? Empty out all the gold from Sky Island... ASAP!
At the shore, former Captain Bill had already shed his uniform, iron shackles on his hands and feet.
Surrounding him were Marines from the Sabaody base — all there to see Klein off.
Standing at the edge of the ship, Klein grinned. "If you don't want to fight pirates... then don't become a Marine in the first place."
The warship set sail.
Onshore—
All the Marines stood frozen.
That line rekindled the resolve in many of their hearts. With eyes full of admiration and respect, they saluted the departing warship.
Bleleblele—
The Den Den Mushi rang. A temporary officer standing in for Captain Bill answered, "Moshi Moshi, this is Sabaody..."
"Put Klein on. Tell him he's acting commander of the Sabaody Archipelago base until HQ sends a replacement."
"Huh!?"
The officer jolted. "Fleet Admiral Oharden, Klein just left on a warship!"
"He left?" Oharden frowned — then smiled, "Well, I suppose he's heading for the G-14 base. That guy..."
"....."
"........"
The officer was completely stunned. He stammered, "Um, that... that Rear Admiral Klein... I think they're headed in the opposite direction of the New World."
Bang!
The Den Den Mushi leapt up in rage, white brows and beard flaring. "That damn Klein! What the hell is he doing sailing the Grand Line instead of going to the New World!?"
"Infuriating!!"
"Lawless!!"
Aboard the warship.
Klein was drilling his Marines — including Os, who was still weak.
Hard training was mandatory!
Hands behind his back, Klein stared at Os sweating through his training and said in a firm tone: "There was once a man who trained 200 times harder than anyone else to become an Admiral…"
"But that man was a deserter. While you're training, I want you all to understand — the mission of the Marines is to hunt pirates."
"The stronger you are, the greater your responsibility. Marines must take the lead when capturing pirates!"
"As my men, I won't tolerate deserters!"
"When battle starts, fight to the last man. Slay every pirate!"
"..."
Deserters?
How shameful! To abandon your comrades and flee?
Unthinkable!
Os swore to himself — never to become a deserter. He even mentally cursed a certain someone who had deserted.
Two hundred times the effort?
I can do that too!
Result?
He passed out that same day, panting like a dying dog.
Turns out... he couldn't.
A few days later.
Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Whoosh— Whoosh—
A young noble in a tailored suit, with a hairstyle like a scorpion stinger — and features strikingly similar to Red-Haired Shanks, except with golden hair — was practicing swordsmanship.
His textbook-perfect sword moves, sweat dripping down his cheeks, embodied pure discipline.
Among the Celestial Dragons, some lived in decadent luxury… but others, born with "the blood of kings," had access to the best resources and training in the world.
Saint Green was the latter.
Figaland Green.
"Green-sama, guess what I brought back from my voyage?" asked Saint Somarz, dressed in a light shirt and dark shorts.
Saint Somarz.
Green didn't stop moving, focused as ever. "Mermaids? Or did you buy a slave with top-tier cooking skills?"
"Ha ha ha—" Somarz laughed, "Neither! You'll like this one — pirate slaves! This time, the auction had a whole batch!"
"I bought over a thousand pirate slaves in one go!"
He knew Green would be interested.
Sure enough—
"Pirate slaves?!" Green's eyes flashed with icy excitement. He stopped immediately and walked over. "A thousand? Really?"
Mary Geoise had many slaves, but most were already broken — docile like house pets.
"Of course. Many of them have bounties in the tens of millions. Perfect whetstones for us," said Somarz with a bloodthirsty grin.
"Come on. I bet you can't wait. A real swordsman must face blood to grow!"
Somarz led Green and several other Celestial Dragons to one of Mary Geoise's arenas.
Normally, these pits hosted slave death matches for entertainment.
Now, the four Celestial Dragons stood at each of the arena's four gates.
With a cold face, Green rested his hand on his sword and declared, "Somarz-sama, release the pirates. My blade thirsts!"
Somarz pulled out his Den Den Mushi to give the order.
Meanwhile, in the holding cells.
Dozens of pirates were shackled by chains, explosive collars locked around their necks.
Among them, Powell — known for his immense strength — gazed around the cell. In his mind, he couldn't help but picture a short but towering figure, one that seemed to hold up the sky itself.
These pirates had all landed on Sabaody around the same time. He'd hoped to cross paths with them...
Instead—
They were all sold into slavery.
Now, it was a prison reunion.
Powell asked, "Hey… you guys too? Caught by Klein and sold to the slave auction?"