Sea Calendar, year 1517.
The Grand Line — somewhere on the sea.
Two Marine warships were docked there, the Marine flag with the seagull holding a scale fluttering proudly in the ocean wind.
One of the warships bore the standard "MARINE" marking — an ordinary Marine warship.
The other carried the marking "DT-31" — the identifier of a special internal logistics division, the "Detention Unit," responsible for escorting captured criminals.
"Bounty 47 million Berries. 'Gladiator' Antolia — detention transfer complete. Captured by warship T-14551 under Lieutenant Commander Gushir of headquarters."
At this moment, Roy Amos was speaking into a recording Den-Den Mushi while watching the burly criminal being escorted onto his own ship.
After completing the recording, he looked toward the Marine officer standing on the other ship.
"Thank you for your hard work, Lieutenant Commander Gushir."
"All for the sake of justice."
Lieutenant Commander Gushir grinned, then added, "But I'd better warn you, Lieutenant Roy—this guy's a real monster. Make sure you never remove the sea-stone cuffs during the entire transport."
"I don't mind catching him again myself, but I'd hate to hear your warship got sunk by a criminal, hahaha!"
He burst into loud laughter.
Hearing this, the marines of the Detention Unit behind Roy darkened in expression.
Roy, however, didn't mind the teasing. He simply nodded with a gentle smile.
"Thanks for the reminder."
He then turned and leapt back onto his own ship.
"Set sail. Return to Marineford."
"Yes, Lieutenant Roy!"
His men saluted in unison and began bustling to prepare the ship for the return journey.
However—
"Tch, what's he so proud about? Fal, seriously—aren't we all Marine? He gets lucky catching a 40-million guy and struts around like that. Last time, Admiral Kuzan caught a 300-million pirate and didn't act half as smug!"
A Marine officer of the Detention Unit grumbled to his companion while escorting the criminal into the temporary holding cell below deck.
"Just let it go, Hans. Nothing we can do about it—we are the Detention Unit after all."
Fal sighed helplessly.
Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd been treated this way.
And the reason was simple—the Detention Unit held an unusual position within the Marine.
They mainly escorted already-captured criminals from various seas; normally they didn't participate in front-line combat. Yet they still received a portion of the corresponding military merits once the criminals were delivered.
To many regular Marine officers, the Detention Unit was a bunch of "freeloaders" who avoided danger, didn't fight, and still dared to take a share of the credit.
"What's wrong with the Detention Unit?"
Hans grew even more annoyed. "We've faced danger during transports plenty of times. And it's not like we even get much merit in the first place!"
He mimicked Lieutenant Commander Gushir's tone:
"'I don't mind catching him again, but you better be careful.'
What kind of bullshit is that?!"
But before he could continue ranting—
"Petty Officer Hans!"
"Y-yes, Lieutenant Roy!"
Hans snapped upright and saluted instinctively.
Behind him stood the black-haired, blue-eyed Lieutenant—Roy Amos—who had somehow appeared without a sound.
"What have I told you before?"
Roy looked at him with a half-smile.
"C-complain less, work more…"
Hans answered sheepishly.
"Too quiet! I couldn't hear that at all!"
"COMPLAIN LESS, WORK MORE, SIR!"
"Good! That's the spirit!"
Roy waved his hand.
"Now get back to the helm. As always, I'll personally stand guard for the first night of the transport!"
"Yes sir!"
Hans felt as if he had been pardoned from death itself, and quickly shot Fal a look.
The two hurried toward the temporary holding cell's exit, but just before leaving, one of them turned back to ask:
"Sir, once dinner is ready, should we bring you something?"
"Pizza and cola, thanks."
Roy waved his hand, then added with emphasis:
"And make sure the cola is ice-cold!"
"Yes, sir!"
The marines left the cabin.
Only the massive "Gladiator" Antolia—still wearing sea-stone handcuffs—remained, leaning against the cell wall and staring at Roy.
"Sounds like you and your men aren't very popular within the Marine?"
He chuckled.
"More or less."
Roy sat down casually on a sofa inside the cabin. He pulled a small hourglass from his coat and set it on the table.
As the sand began to fall, he turned his head lazily toward Antolia.
"But I hear Fleet Admiral Sengoku is considering raising the status of the Detention Unit.
Hmm? What about you—got something to say?"
He didn't seem to mind having a casual chat with a criminal.
"No, that has nothing to do with it."
Antolia spoke in a low voice.
"It's simply because you're too weak. If you were strong enough, no one would dare look down on you."
"Status, money, power—only strength lets you take any of it. Look at me!"
He struggled and forced himself to sit up straighter.
"If not for these cuffs…"
His gaze shifted to a huge metal plate nearby—on top of it was a protrusion that resembled a handle.
It was the weapon submitted along with him when he was captured.
"With my Iron Weight, a single full-power strike would kill you instantly—and smash this entire cell to pieces."
Antolia sneered as he said this.
But then he noticed something strange: Roy didn't seem the slightest bit provoked.
"Mm-hmm, sure, sure."
Roy even nodded seriously.
Then—
"But…"
His tone suddenly changed.
"Your full-power strike can only break this tiny cell? You ate the Strong-Strong Fruit—you're a musclehead. And that's all you can do? That weak?"
"…Huh?"
Antolia was utterly stunned.
Only after a long moment did he process what Roy had just said. His eyes lit up with visible fury.
This Marine officer—this guy named Roy—he actually dared to insult him like that?!
"You little—"
But before Antolia could finish cursing, the words froze in his throat. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Because he saw Roy casually pick up the enormous iron block—the Iron Weight—that rested not far away.
The massive chunk of metal, heavy enough by weight alone to crush a small building, was lifted by Roy as effortlessly as if it were a balloon.
"Hm… judging from the weight of your weapon, your muscle strength is only increased about twentyfold? That means you haven't developed your Devil Fruit ability very well."
Roy commented sharply, as if critiquing a student.
"You… you… you…"
Antolia could barely speak.
The scene before him felt like a dream.
"No… impossible…"
Only after a moment did he snap back to reality.
"How do you even know I ate the Strong-Strong Fruit?!"
"Oh, that."
Roy set the giant iron block back down casually and returned to his seat.
"I just know a teensy little bit about Devil Fruits."
He said lazily, his eyes drifting toward the hourglass on the table.
A third of the sand had already fallen. Roy nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm. Perfect timing."
"Timing? What timing?"
Antolia grew even more confused.
And then he saw Roy extend a hand toward him.
"Nothing much—just relax and get some rest."
As soon as the words left Roy's mouth—
Antolia felt a massive impact crash into him.
Then everything went dark.
"Bang!"
His enormous body collapsed to the floor, completely unconscious.
Roy didn't spare him another glance.
He simply lifted his eyes and looked at the empty air before him.
In his vision, a translucent screen appeared in the air:
[Devil Fruit user "Antolia" detected]
[Devil Fruit confirmed: Paramecia – Strong-Strong Fruit.
Analyzing and storing into "Fruit Encyclopedia"]
[Fruit Ability: Can enhance and control the strength of one's muscles]
[Ability Levels]
[LV1: Gains weak fruit effects—muscle strength increased 2–5×]
[LV2: Gains partial fruit effects—muscle strength increased 5–10×
Requires 60,000,000 / 20,000,000 Berries for permanent / temporary unlock]
[LV3: Gains full fruit effects—muscle strength increased 20–40×
Requires 300,000,000 / 100,000,000 Berries for permanent / temporary unlock]
[LV4: Advanced fruit development—can freely manipulate muscles to form shields and blades, selectively harden or rapidly regenerate muscle tissue; maximum muscle enhancement up to 100×
Requires 1,000,000,000 / 300,000,000 Berries for permanent / temporary unlock]
[LV5: Fruit Awakening – Muscle Mastery
Can absorb the life force of nearby organisms to strengthen one's own muscles; can manipulate the muscle tissues of all creatures within the domain
Requires 6,000,000,000 / 2,000,000,000 Berries for permanent / temporary unlock]
[Analysis Progress: 33%.
LV1 of this fruit will be obtained upon completion.]
Seeing this projected screen, Roy's expression remained calm.
The "Gladiator" Antolia—
In Roy's eyes, he was just another ordinary, mediocre Devil Fruit user.
But there was one thing Antolia had said that Roy genuinely agreed with:
Yes—
"Strength is everything. On this chaotic sea, without strength, you really can't feel safe anywhere."
He glanced at the unconscious Antolia.
"The difference between you and me is perspective."
"I understand how vast this sea truly is—that's why I chose to stay in the Detention Unit."
"You, on the other hand, know nothing. That's why you said such ignorant things.
Go study in Impel Down for a while. The people there are interesting, and they talk nicely. I'm sure you'll love it."