Approximately three hundred nautical miles from the 16th Branch, on a small, uninhabited island, a top-secret test was underway.
A vast network of surveillance Den Den Mushis had been deployed across the island, covering nearly every inch of the terrain. Simultaneously, a massive ironclad warship sat anchored about one kilometer offshore.
Inside the ship, Sean stood with Robin, Lucci, and a team of scientists in white coats, their eyes fixed on a wall of monitors displaying the live feed from the island. On the screens, several pirates dressed in prisoner uniforms were scattered across the landscape, exploring the area.
"Vice Admiral, Special Shell No. 7 is loaded! The ship's cannons are calibrated!"
"Then let's begin. Order Usopp to fire!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"
A few seconds later, a deafening roar shook the air. A specialized shell screamed from one of the main cannons at the bow, slamming into a target on the island in less than three seconds. A terrifying explosion erupted, flattening a vast swath of trees around the impact zone.
Fortunately, the shot was precise. The impact point was nearly a hundred meters away from the nearest surveillance Den Den Mushi, allowing the feed to remain uninterrupted. For over a minute, however, the screen was filled with swirling dust and debris, rendering the scene nearly invisible.
As the dust finally began to settle, the images became clear.
"Vice Admiral, the pirates within ten meters of the blast zone are confirmed dead. They've been riddled with holes," Retes reported, analyzing the footage.
"Those within thirty meters show slight signs of movement; they are judged to be critically injured."
"The pirates within fifty meters are moving, but they can only crawl. Their injuries aren't severe, but the Seastone fragments embedded in their bodies have left them extremely weak."
"The pirates at eighty meters were hiding behind trees. Aside from some shock from the blast, they don't seem to have suffered any other damage."
"Those at a hundred meters were knocked flat by the shockwave, but they are already getting up to flee. Their injuries are very minor."
"Preliminary conclusion: the effective kill range of the shrapnel shell against ability users is approximately fifty meters. At a hundred meters, it has almost no lethal or incapacitating effect."
Based on the visuals, Retes immediately provided his analysis. The projectile fired just now was no ordinary shell. It was a new type of ammunition developed by the research institute under Sean's direction: the Shrapnel Shell.
In the world of pirates, simple gunpowder damage was often insufficient. The physical constitutions of the people in this world were far superior to those of humans in Sean's previous life. Even an average person's physical strength was several times that of an elite soldier from his old world. This was even more true for pirates who had eaten a Devil Fruit.
That was why Sean had proposed the concept of the Shrapnel Shell. As usual, Sean wasn't a technician; he simply provided the idea.
What if Seastone were fashioned into countless micro-fragments and packed into a shell? Upon detonation, the shell would release a massive cloud of these fragments, creating a wide-area attack with no blind spots.
Though it was just a suggestion, it was enough. The scientists of this world never lacked raw talent—their capabilities were often far beyond those of the scientists from Sean's previous life. What they lacked were fresh ideas and new directions.
Thus, the Shrapnel Shell was born.
The results proved that these shells were devastating to ability users. Even if a pirate's powerful physique allowed them to survive the impact, the presence of countless Seastone fragments in their bodies would completely strip them of their combat capabilities.
Once riddled with Seastone, an ability user was effectively neutralized. They could do nothing but slump to the ground and wait to be captured, only to be sent to Sean's Seastone dark room for Devil Fruit extraction.
As for those within ten meters of the blast, they had been hit by so many fragments that they were essentially turned into sieves. In those cases, death was almost certain.
"The effect is decent," Sean remarked. "But it would be even better if we could ensure that targets within ten meters survive. We need them alive."
"Yes, Vice Admiral! We will continue to look for ways to refine the payload!"
"Right. There's no rush. Start mass-producing the current model while you develop the improved version. Now, let's try the other treasure."
"Understood!"
Retes nodded, but his expression quickly shifted to one of awkwardness.
"What is it?"
"Well... regarding the cluster bombs you proposed, Vice Admiral... we've built them, but we currently lack a way to deliver them. To meet the launch requirements, we would need a ship's cannon with a caliber of at least 500mm..."
Sean sighed. He could understand the problem. The strongest cannons currently in his arsenal were under 300mm, and the sheer size of a cluster bomb—given how much it had to carry—meant it couldn't be small.
"Give me the briefing first," Sean said.
"Yes, Vice Admiral. The cluster bombs we've developed also utilize shrapnel for damage. Each main shell carries approximately 180 high-explosive shrapnel sub-munitions. Once triggered in mid-air, these sub-munitions can cover an area of roughly one square kilometer."
"In terms of raw killing power, it's far lower than the 280mm shrapnel shell we just tested, and it's unlikely to cause immediate death. However, it can ensure dense coverage of the area, neutralizing every ability user within the zone."
"We could reduce the number of sub-munitions to make a smaller cluster bomb that fits our current 280mm cannons, but then the coverage area wouldn't meet the requirements you originally set. Therefore..."
After listening to Retes, Sean understood. The problem was that his own requirements were simply too ambitious for the current hardware.
"It's fine. Let's test the effect first. Where is it?"
"Right this way, Vice Admiral!"
'''
A few minutes later, the scientists on the bow deck were staring in disbelief.
Sean had simply picked up the massive cluster bomb with his own hands.
"Vice Admiral?"
"I'll be the human cannon for this one!"
'Human cannon... what the hell?'
"By the way, how does this thing detonate?" Sean suddenly remembered a crucial detail. How was it supposed to explode above the target?
"Based on the calculated flight time to the target, we set a countdown timer for the cluster bomb."
"I see. Fine, set it for three seconds."
"Vice Admiral, are you planning to—"
"Don't ask. Just do it!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"
Retes quickly set the timer.
"How do I start the countdown?"
"You don't have to. The countdown triggers automatically once the cluster bomb reaches a high velocity."
"What if I just throw it from the air? Is the falling speed enough to trigger it?"
Sean frowned.
This was a detail that needed to be clarified; after all, the velocity of a fired shell was supersonic.
"It's enough! In fact, it will trigger as long as it reaches a speed of about 30 meters per second!"
"30 meters? That's no problem then!"
Nodding, Sean ignored the stunned expressions of the scientists in white coats. He hoisted the massive cluster bomb onto his shoulder and began to step into the air, ascending as if he were simply walking up a flight of stairs.
"Commodore Lucci, is the Vice Admiral using the Marines' Moonwalk?"
Retes looked completely bewildered, turning to Lucci for an answer.
Lucci simply shook his head.
'How could that be Moonwalk...'
Truth be told, Lucci still had no idea how the Vice Admiral was actually doing it. He had attempted it several times himself, but failed every single time. Whenever he asked Sean, the answer was always the same: it was a special ability, and he was the only person in the world capable of it.
Over time, Lucci had simply stopped questioning it.
'''
Ten minutes later.
Carrying the massive cluster bomb, Sean finally reached the center of the island, hovering approximately 500 meters above the ground.
Even for him, this was becoming a bit of a struggle.
Well, a 'tiny' bit.
It was certainly more taxing than carrying nothing. After all, the device weighed several tons, and his base Doriki was only just under 7,000—far from reaching the monstrous level of someone like Garp. Otherwise, he could have just followed Garp's example and hurled the shell with one hand.
"Sigh, my physique really is too weak!"
He let out a soft sigh and looked down at the island below. Then, Sean released the massive cluster bomb.
A few seconds later, with a thunderous boom, the outer shell of the bomb shattered. One hundred and eighty high-explosive fragmentation shells instantly scattered, raining down toward the surface like a torrential storm.
About ten seconds later, the shells hit the ground, and a series of explosions erupted in rapid succession.
'Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!'
From his vantage point in the sky, Sean noted that while these explosions weren't as intense as the previous 280-fragment shells, they made up for it with sheer coverage. Nearly half of the uninhabited island was engulfed in fire.
Sean felt that Retes' estimate of a one-square-kilometer coverage area had been far too conservative.
"What's the status, Retes?"
Now that he was no longer lugging around the heavy payload, Sean quickly returned to the warship.
"We are confirming now, Vice Admiral!"
"Right."
Sean waited patiently as the scientists scrambled to gather data. A full minute later, the results were in.
"Vice Admiral, of the nine pirates who survived the previous round, one is dead and eight have been completely stripped of their fighting capacity."
"Wait, how did someone die? The lethality of these shells shouldn't be enough to kill those pirates outright, right?"
"Uh, that's because one of the high-explosive shells happened to land directly on a pirate who was already critically injured and barely breathing from the previous test..."
Sean sighed. If he had known, he would have moved the survivors out before testing the cluster bombs. Now that the man was dead, they couldn't extract the Devil Fruit.
Even though the fruits of these ten pirates were garbage, Zoan-type fruits, no matter how useless, could still significantly enhance one's physical strength.
What a waste...
"Lucci, notify Bruno to come clean this up. Bring all the survivors back to the branch's research department, then send them one by one to the 'Black Room'."
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"
Lucci knew exactly what the "Black Room" was. It was the code name for the small Seastone cell. Lucci had been present the first time it was used. Furthermore, Sean had already handed over the authority to use the Black Room and the processing of captured Devil Fruit users to him.
Eight Zoan-type Devil Fruits...
'Maybe I could use them as prizes for a branch-wide competition for the Marines?'
That sounded like a plan!
"Lucci, get things organized. We'll hold a branch competition. Only Marines below the rank of Field-grade officer may participate. The top eight finishers will be rewarded with a Devil Fruit!"
"Vice Admiral, that part is fine, but what if the top finishers aren't interested in these Zoan fruits?" Lucci paused, raising a valid point.
Put simply, some might look down on these fruits because they were exceptionally low-tier, even for Zoan types. More importantly, Sophia would almost certainly place in the top ranks, and Lucci didn't want her eating trash fruits.
"Hmm, that is a concern. In that case..." Sean considered. "After the competition, the top eight will choose in order. They can either take a fruit or decline. If they decline, the reward passes to the ninth place, and so on, until all eight fruits are distributed."
"Additionally, those who decline the reward will be given a priority right."
"Take Sophia, for example. I know you don't want her eating these. So, from now on, regardless of what new fruits the branch acquires, she will have the first right of refusal. How about that?"
Lucci's eyes lit up, and he nodded immediately.
Currently, among those below Field-grade officer, the strongest were Ace and Sophia. Ace was already a power-user, so he didn't need to be considered, meaning Sophia would likely take first place in this competition.
This meant Sophia would have first pick of any Devil Fruit the 16th Branch obtained in the future. If a high-quality fruit appeared, she could claim it instantly.
'And I can specifically hunt down a pirate with a powerful fruit for her...'
Lucci couldn't be more satisfied with Sean's addition.
"Vice Admiral, I would like to request permission to lead a team into the Grand Line for field training!"
"Give it a rest. You just want to hunt a powerful Devil Fruit user to give to Sophia, don't you?"
Having his petty thoughts read so clearly, Lucci couldn't help but look embarrassed.
"Alright, stop making that face. I agree!"
"Thank you, Vice Admiral!"
'Purupurupuru...'
Just then, Sean's Den Den Mushi began to ring.
"This is Sean!"
"Vice Admiral, this is Kaku."
"Kaku, what's happened?"
"Vice Admiral, the people from Amazon Lily have arrived. They've delivered fifty warriors who have awakened Armament Haki, as agreed."
"Oh, Hancock is surprisingly trustworthy. Get them settled. I'll be back in two days at most."
"About that... Vice Admiral, the people from Amazon Lily said you need to return immediately, otherwise it will be too late!"
"Huh? What's going on?" Sean was confused.
What did "return immediately or it'll be too late" even mean?
"According to Sandersonia, Boa Hancock seems to be ill—critically ill. They say only you can save her!"
"Ill? Critically ill? What kind of sickness?" Sean was completely lost.
"According to her, Hancock has contracted Love Sickness. I asked the military doctors, but they said they've never heard of such a disease."
"Say that again. What disease?"
"Love Sickness!"
...
Sean understood now, but he was also stunned.
What on earth was Love Sickness? Having read the original story, how could he not know?
'Isn't this that curse from Amazon Lily—the illness that only their Empress can contract?'
'Love Sickness... and they're saying I'm the only one who can save her?'
'So, Hancock has actually fallen for me?'
'Just because I erased the mark of the Celestial Dragons from her?'
'It's a bit absurd, but I suppose it makes a certain kind of sense...'
"Lucci, have Blueno come and escort me back to the 16th Branch!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"