"Sean, what on earth is this stuff?"
"It suppresses Devil Fruits just like Armament Haki, but its boost to attack and defense is even more potent?"
On the deck of the warship, Rayleigh asked with a look of intense curiosity after sparring with Sean for several hours.
The old man's intuition was frighteningly sharp; in just a few days, he had practically decoded the characteristics of Reiatsu.
As for why he was certain it wasn't Armament Haki, that was obvious. After all, Armament Haki manifested as a black coating...
Beyond the points he had mentioned, the versatility of Reiatsu also left him stunned. It could even be released as a long-range attack.
The most obvious example was the slashing attacks Sean used.
Back on Sabaody Archipelago, Rayleigh had only suspected it, but now he was certain. Although the slashes Sean released looked like the strikes of a master swordsman, they weren't Sword Energy at all—they were something he had never encountered before.
Rayleigh found himself less and less able to understand this man. As Shanks had put it, Sean's power system was completely alien to this world.
"Knowing it won't help you. I'm the only person in this world capable of using this power."
"Fair enough. Let's talk about something else then. What exactly do you plan to do from here on out?"
Rayleigh wasn't offended by Sean's refusal to answer. Instead, he plopped himself down on the deck with a blunt thud. A few hours of sparring had left him completely exhausted.
He figured he'd sit for a bit, chat, and recover... and perhaps fish for some information while he was at it.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Because if I tell you, I won't be letting you and Shakky leave in three months. So, I'll ask you one more time..."
Sean stared deep into Rayleigh's eyes. "Do you 'really' want to know?"
Rayleigh, a wily old fox, knew exactly what that meant. This touched upon Sean's core secrets. Once he knew, he would either have to die or join the crew.
Of course, there was a third option: running away.
However, Rayleigh had heard from Shanks that Sean—or his subordinates—possessed a means of spatial teleportation. Therefore... running was unrealistic. With that ability, Sean could hunt him down to the ends of the earth.
The only way out would be to change his appearance, hide his identity, and never contact anyone ever again.
"On second thought, never mind. This old man still wants to live a few more years!"
"Mm. Live a few more years, and see if Shanks' plan succeeds?"
Rayleigh felt a flicker of embarrassment when Sean read his true thoughts so accurately. Although he didn't entirely agree with what Shanks was attempting, he still wanted to see the final result—whether it would be for better or worse.
But now, he had his doubts. With a monster like Sean in the picture, was there even a chance for Shanks' plan to succeed?
After all, there were three specific Devil Fruits involved. One was with Ace, one was with the person atop the Empty Throne, and the final, most critical one was currently with Luffy.
Originally, as long as they could guide Luffy's path, the plan had a decent chance of success. But as fate would have it, Sean knew about the fruit Luffy possessed.
To put it bluntly, if Sean decided to kill Luffy, Shanks' entire plan would collapse instantly.
And who could stop Sean?
Again, unless Luffy changed his identity and disappeared from the face of the earth, Sean could kill him at any moment.
How could they possibly turn the tide? They couldn't exactly pray every day that Sean would continue to spare Luffy for Garp's sake.
In reality, Sean didn't care why Rayleigh had agreed to his terms or what schemes the old man was running.
To him, Rayleigh was simply an experience pack.
A super-sized experience pack that could provide a hundred or two hundred points of experience for his Zanjutsu every day.
Over three months, with a daily gain of a few hundred base experience points and the boost from the Multiplier System, Sean could push his Zanjutsu to Level 9 even if his luck was poor.
At that level, combined with the fact that his Hekireki could already achieve Bankai, he would likely be able to hold his own against a powerhouse of the Four Emperors' caliber.
He might not win, but he wouldn't lose—and at the very least, if he wanted to escape, no one would be able to stop him.
'''
A few days later, the warship arrived at Alabasta.
Vivi was currently presiding over a recruitment drive there, making it the perfect time for Sean to check on the situation.
"Alabasta... it's been a long time. Back then..."
Standing on the deck, Rayleigh looked at the approaching coastline and couldn't help but reminisce. However, he caught himself halfway through the sentence.
'Good grief, spending too much time with Sean almost made me let that slip...'
A look of relief crossed his face.
However, Sean let out a scoff from beside him.
"Go on. Don't stop halfway."
"Want me to finish the sentence for you?"
"You were saying that back then, right here, you found traces of Pluton. That's what you were going to say, isn't it?"
Rayleigh's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"
Logically, only the early members of the Roger Pirates should know about this. None of those people should have leaked such information.
How could Sean possibly know? Rayleigh began to question his own existence.
Meanwhile, Shakky, who was also on the deck, was staring intently at Robin, who stood behind Sean.
"Sean, I had my suspicions from the start, but now I'm certain of one thing."
"And what's that?" Sean asked with interest.
"The woman behind you... she must be Nico Robin, right?"
"You're as sharp as ever, Shakky. How did you figure it out?"
"Because very few people know about that incident, and I'm certain none of them would have told you. That leaves only one possibility: Nico Robin, the only person left who can read the ancient texts!"
"I see... but unfortunately, I didn't learn about Pluton through Robin, nor do I understand ancient texts myself."
"That's impossible!" Shakky exclaimed.
Could her deduction be wrong?
Behind Sean, Robin was struggling to suppress a laugh behind her mask.
This man was simply too wicked. Everything he said was technically the truth, yet he had completely fooled Shakky.
Did Sean lie? No.
Was it true that Robin hadn't told him about Pluton? Yes (since he already knew via the plot).
Was it true that he didn't understand ancient texts himself? Also true.
With just two simple sentences, he had left Shakky questioning her reality and doubting whether the masked woman was actually Robin.
However, Robin herself was equally curious. How did Sean know so much?
He was practically like a prophet—all-knowing.
Just as he had during his last visit to Alabasta, Sean had Nami navigate the ship up the Sandora River, eventually docking to the west of the royal capital, Alubarna.
This was the shortest path to the capital. Otherwise, they would have had to dock at the port city of Nanohana and trek across the vast desert to reach Alubarna—a grueling ordeal they were keen to avoid.
However, as the group arrived outside the gates of Alubarna, they were all stunned.
A line as long as a dragon stretched from within the royal capital to the outskirts, with the queue extending for several kilometers beyond the city walls.
"What... did something happen in Alabasta?" Robin asked.
Sean shook his head, unsure. He began walking toward the crowd to investigate, while Rayleigh and the others, equally curious, followed close behind.
"Excuse me," Sean asked a nearby youth, "could you tell me what's going on here? Why is there such a long line?"
"Hmm, are you a Marine?" the youth asked.
"I am!"
"You're a Marine and you don't know they're recruiting?" The youth looked utterly bewildered. 'Aren't the Marines the ones doing the recruiting? How can a Marine not know?'
"Recruiting... is it for the 16th Branch?"
"Yeah, the Marine 16th Branch."
"But isn't the 16th Branch only looking for around 400 people? Looking at this line, there must be tens of thousands here!"
"Tens of thousands? That's nothing. Today is actually a slow day. This recruitment has been going on for over ten days now. The first few days were the real madness—the line almost reached all the way to Nanohana!"
'Good grief...' Sean thought. 'It's just a recruitment drive. Does it really need to be this insane? I only need 450 people!'
Based on the youth's description, it seemed that over the last ten days, over a million people from across Alabasta might have signed up.
"Let me tell you, Vice Admiral Sean of the 16th Branch is just the best!" The youth gave a big thumbs up. "If it weren't for him, Alabasta would still be suffering from the drought, and we'd probably be in the middle of a civil war. Just thinking about it is terrifying."
"Fortunately, Commodore Sean—no, wait, he's a Vice Admiral now—he's a hero to us in Alabasta. Now that the branch where Vice Admiral Sean is stationed is recruiting, and with Princess Vivi personally overseeing it, I bet all twenty million people in Alabasta would have squeezed in here if it weren't for the age and physical requirements!"
'Well...'
Sean felt a wave of embarrassment. He had asked Vivi to handle the recruitment in Alabasta because he was afraid they wouldn't get enough applicants, or that they wouldn't find enough recruits who met his standards. But now it seemed that even without Vivi, the goal would have been achieved. With her involvement, it had simply spiraled into madness.
Beside him, Rayleigh and Shakky remained silent, their expressions unreadable.
Just then, members of the royal army maintaining order at the city entrance rushed over. Leading them was Igaram, the captain of the royal guard.
"Vice Admiral Sean! You've finally arrived!"
"Igaram. I've come to see how Vivi is progressing with the task."
"Rest assured, Vice Admiral Sean. Princess Vivi actually completed the recruitment quota on the first day. The reason they're still taking applications is so the Princess can select the absolute best of the best."
"I see!" Sean nodded, feeling very satisfied.
Over the past few days, he estimated that over a million people had applied. Since he only needed 450, it meant that after the final selection, every single recruit would be the cream of the crop—roughly one in every two thousand. It looked like the quality of this batch of recruits would be significantly higher than the last.
"Vice Admiral Sean, Her Highness is still presiding at the palace. Please, follow me!"
"All right."
A moment later, Sean and his group entered the capital. The youth from earlier stood there, completely frozen.
'Wait... was I just chatting with Vice Admiral Sean? Can you believe it?'
Once he snapped out of it, the youth became incredibly excited. Even if he wasn't selected, the fact that he had spoken with Vice Admiral Sean was something he could brag about for the rest of his life. Not to mention, he had actually complained to the man. This was gold for future storytelling.