One Piece: Saving Hancock with the Batto Batto no Mi

Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 60, Marine Base.

Inside the gym, thick steel plates lay on the ground, and various "overweight" exercise equipment filled the space, reflecting the intensity of the training conducted there.

Dressed in a black tracksuit, with his medium-length hair falling freely, Sephiroth held an alloy iron rod in his right hand. A dominating, transparent Armament Haki (Busoshoku Haki) enveloped it, preventing the rod from deforming under the excessive weight. On the alloy rod, five heavy barbell plates, one meter in diameter and twenty centimeters wide, made of pure steel, were stacked together. Now, Sephiroth felt as if he were swinging a lightweight wooden sword, unhurriedly, waving it up and down with remarkable rhythm, demonstrating incredible strength and mastery.

More than a month had passed swiftly. Sephiroth, by now, was completely familiar with his work and well-acquainted with the officers at the base. On normal days, apart from his daily routine, he only had to deal with pirates who dared to cause trouble in the Sabaody Archipelago.

For pirates who didn't cause problems and genuinely made their way to the New World, as well as illegal incidents like drug trafficking and human trafficking, he chose to turn a blind eye. There were some things Sephiroth couldn't do alone, but so many complex issues were involved that he didn't want to step into the "muddy waters" of these problems.

Of course, if he found pirates with Devil Fruit abilities, he would also hunt them down secretly, regardless of whether the other party was causing trouble or not. The Sabaody Archipelago was a gathering place for pirates from all over the world, and the likelihood of Devil Fruit abilities appearing was much higher than elsewhere. In over a month, he found four pirates with Devil Fruit abilities by placing a network of Den Den Mushi surveillance along the Sabaody Archipelago's coastline.

They were the users of the Oto Oto no Mi, Nishiki Nishiki no Mi, Sube Sube no Mi, and the Zoan-type Mogura Mogura no Mi. Of the four fruits, he successfully obtained two: the Nishiki Nishiki no Mi and the Sube Sube no Mi. Sephiroth still hadn't fully grasped the mechanism of Devil Fruit regeneration. For safety, he deliberately brought the capable person into the basement to kill them, and there was a mountain of fruits inside, but he still couldn't ensure the Devil Fruit would 100% regenerate in the pile of fruits. Related to this, besides being helpless, he could only set aside some of his time each day to conduct research on the theory of Lineage Factor. He hoped to understand it as soon as possible and independently create Devil Fruits!

Every day after work, Sephiroth socialized in certain circles, aside from occasionally working overtime temporarily due to pirate issues. Among those he befriended were people in the underworld and the high-level corrupt faction of the Marines.

Speaking of which, Sephiroth managed to gain access to the corrupt upper echelons of the Marines so quickly, thanks to Brigadier General Kesha. Initially, he thought that Brigadier General Kesha was his boss, and that the two needed to have a good relationship to save the other from making things difficult for him in the future. So, Sephiroth invited Kesha to visit entertainment venues in Joy Street a few times.

After Kesha had too much to drink, he revealed, intentionally or unintentionally, that he had ways of making money in dirty business. As long as Sephiroth understood the situation, he would become popular and "eat spicy food" with him from then on.

So, the next day Sephiroth sent two hundred million Beli under the pretext of it being the other party's "birthday" a few months ago—a very belated but significant gift. After some polite words, Kesha laughed heartily and accepted the unexpected birthday red envelope. A few more days later, Kesha brought him one by one, introducing Sephiroth to various corrupt Marine Commodores, Rear Admirals, and Vice Admirals, as well as some high-ranking World Government officials. Among them, he also met a despicable man, the official Celestial Dragon, Spandine.

Anyway, Sephiroth now always successfully blended into the dark, decadent forces of the World Government and became one of them. He had also roughly seen just how decadent those at the top of power were. Corruption, bribery, money-and-power transactions, and participation in illegal trade... All these kinds of dirty and disgusting operations were simply shocking. Sephiroth inwardly cried out, "Sooner or later, the World Government will be finished!"

However.

He wasn't in a hurry to use those people's influence to expand the Umbrella Corporation's business. He knew people by their faces, but not their hearts, especially a group of wicked individuals. Before he could ascertain the details and weight of each other's power, Sephiroth would not act rashly, lest he be eaten until he had no bones left.

At the gym's entrance, Frank ran in panting, with an anxious expression on his face. He hurriedly reported to the silver-haired youth, "Colonel Sephiroth, I just received a communication from the Den Den Mushi, there's a report of a pirate robbery on the street in Grove 45..."

"Understood!" Upon hearing this, Sephiroth nodded calmly and dropped the barbell in his hand.

Boom! There was a loud sound on the steel floor, and the entire room vibrated from the impact.

Sephiroth, with slightly longer bangs on his forehead, freely brushed aside his silver hair that was obstructing his vision. He then stepped over to the gym's rest chair and picked up his long, black-sheathed Butcher's Blade that was placed on the chair.

Uh-huh! As he pulled his knife and drew it, a thin red line was drawn in the air, and a folded spatial portal immediately expanded to both sides.

"Tell the team members to come here and gather!" After saying this, Sephiroth used his ability to split a Black Den Den Mushi and left it in the gym, while he himself stepped into the world within the portal. He then went through the Black Den Den Mushi he had left in the central area of Grove 45 earlier, directly opening the door and arriving at his destination.

Frank had long been accustomed to the scene since the death of his grandfather, and he climbed onto the fallen barbell on the ground, wanting to carry the barbell back to the rack. However, no matter how hard he tried with both hands, his face turned red. He only managed to slightly lift the corner of the barbell. "Hah! Sure enough, I still can't move it! When will I be as good as Mr. Sephiroth!" Frank let out a long sigh, and with a hint of disappointment in his heart, he let go of his hands. He stood up, and quickly walked out of the gym, then went to call the others to come and gather there.

Sephiroth beat up the entire department on his first day of work. Initially, those Marine soldiers were still a little displeased with this commander. But after they carried out several missions with Sephiroth, the youth's prestige in their hearts was instantly firmly established. There was no other reason, only because of the benefits!

The Special Mobile Unit was actually a very thankless department with extremely high casualty rates! Every temporary mission either resulted in bloody battles with many casualties, or the pirates would have vanished when they arrived on the scene, leaving them with nothing.

But after this officer came, he was almost alone in every mission. They only needed to collect the pirates' corpses afterward, and the bounty criminals he killed were all counted as group mission cooperation, distributing bounties to the soldiers of the Special Mobile Unit. They didn't have to work themselves to death, and they could get bonuses every time. Who wouldn't like this kind of officer?

In truth, Sephiroth didn't really care what the people under him thought; pirates offering tens of millions of Beli bounties, for him, were just "mosquito legs"—give them away, it was no problem at all. He only asked the soldiers under his command to be safe and sound, and not suffer casualties! The number of casualties among soldiers and the number of captured pirates both constituted evaluation indicators for officer assessment and promotion. From Colonel to Brigadier General, it was a big or small hurdle. It required accumulating some merits on paper to pass it steadily.

For this, he didn't mind treating his men like "pigs"—in the sense of letting them "eat, drink, and get fat," meaning safe and profitable, so they wouldn't hinder his future! Therefore, the bounties had to be a means to appease the hearts of the people. After all, if you don't give others the opportunity to perform meritorious service, and you don't give them benefits, then who will be willing to listen to you? It would be good if people didn't act against you!