"I've decided, Chopper. Come sail with us."
"My name is Luffy, and I'm the man who wants to become the Pirate King!"
Hearing this, Chopper's expression shifted slightly, as if recalling a bad memory. "Your ship... There won't be ferocious carnivores like cats and leopards, right?"
"Of course not," Zoro replied. "If there were, the captain would've eaten them already."
"That's good..." Chopper let out a long sigh of relief. "Then I'll try sailing with you guys!"
Shin gave Chopper a pitiful look. There were no ferocious carnivorous animals—but there was a ferocious carnivorous captain.
Luffy and the others' trip to Punk Hazard was brief, lasting only two or three days. During that time, Luffy was drawn for blood samples multiple times.
Over the course of those days, Luffy consumed nearly an entire month's worth of Punk Hazard's food supply. In exchange for these tubes of "Sun God Blood," the research base paid a heavy price.
It was later said that the entire base had to survive on vegetarian meals for a whole week...
Of course, this had little to do with Shin. His clone didn't require food. The reason Luffy wasn't allowed to stay longer wasn't just because of the food shortage—it was also because Shin's wooden clone could no longer sustain his chakra. The long-distance Flying Thunder God teleportation consumed a significant amount of energy.
Thus, after a short stay in the New World, Luffy and his crew were teleported back to East Blue, ready to continue their journey.
Meanwhile, Shin's real body had infiltrated Impel Down, using the Flying Thunder God mark left on a pirate prisoner captured by the Donquixote Family.
With the Clear-Clone Fruit, Shin moved through the prison like a shadow, undetectable to anyone.
[Note: Clear-Clone Fruit is the name I gave to the combination of Clear-Clear Fruit and Clone-Clone fruit.]
Without hesitation, he began his Devil Fruit harvesting journey.
Starting from the upper levels, where a few overlooked prisoners resided, he methodically worked his way downward through Crimson Hell, Wild Beast Hell, Starvation Hell, Blazing Hell, Freezing Hell, and Eternal Hell.
Most of the lower levels housed numerous Devil Fruit users.
The prisoners felt nothing—only a sudden darkness overtaking their vision.
Occasionally, a prisoner would catch a glimpse of black mist before Shin vanished entirely, leaving them wondering if they had imagined it.
Floor by floor, Shin's harvest grew considerably.
Among his findings were two Snake-Snake Fruits—Black Mamba and Titanoboa—along with three Devil Fruits that could enhance his Azure Dragon fusion, as well as a Crocodile Fruit.
He had also collected nearly twenty additional Devil Fruits, intending to distribute them later to his subordinates, or as offerings to Wano and the Whitebeard Pirates.
"However, the real top-tier Devil Fruits are on the sixth floor... and there's no way to be discreet about it."
In the first five levels of Impel Down, prisoner counts were imprecise. Even on the sparsely populated fifth floor, there were at least a thousand inmates present. Moreover, Devil Fruit users were all restrained with Seastone handcuffs, rendering them powerless. Even if a few went missing, no one would notice.
Considering a certain underground king who occupied the hidden 5.5th floor, amassed countless followers, and siphoned off resources—yet the prison guards remained oblivious.
But the sixth floor was different. Here, every prisoner was accounted for. The total number was barely a hundred, and each one was closely monitored.
If any of them died or disappeared, it would cause a major disturbance.
Furthermore, every prisoner on this level, regardless of their nature, possessed an unshakable will. Many were Haki users, some even possessing Conqueror's Haki. Even if Shin wanted to manipulate their memories with his abilities, it wouldn't work.
"So, there's no need to hide anymore."
A smirk crossed Shin's face as he stepped boldly into the sixth floor.
His footsteps echoed through the hollow chamber, drawing the attention of the prisoners.
"Someone's here. A new inmate?"
"Not one of those mindless jailer beasts..."
"He seems pretty relaxed. Could he be a new warden?"
Shin scanned the rows of cells. Each prisoner was held in solitary confinement, the walls and bars reinforced with Seastone, making escape nearly impossible.
Even an Emperor would struggle to break through these conditions without some kind of specialized ability.
Although Shin wasn't here to free anyone, extracting Devil Fruits required him to enter the cells. The Dark-Dark Fruit's absorption ability was powerful, but it couldn't bypass Seastone.
As he contemplated his next move, Shin approached one of the cells. The prisoner inside, restrained by thick Seastone chains, grinned at him.
"Well, well. A new warden? Haven't seen someone as young as you before."
The prisoner sneered. "Kid, if I'd met you at sea before, you would've been in for a real treat. The Celestial Dragons love young ones like you..."
"A slave trader, huh?" Shin nodded. "Then I'll start with you."
Since acquiring the Dark-Dark Fruit, he had developed a special sense for Devil Fruit users, almost as if his fruit's gravitational pull allowed him to detect their abilities.
Without hesitation, Shin pulled out a kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God seal and tossed it into the cell.
"What? Your aim is awful. Are you trying to give me a massage?" The prisoner chuckled—until Shin's figure flickered and reappeared inside the cell.
"Ah—!" The prisoner barely had time to react before Shin's hands erupted in black mist, engulfing him.
"Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Zoan—Tyrannosaurus Rex model." Shin examined the Devil Fruit now in his grasp. "A good harvest."
Without hesitation, he kicked forward. With a sickening crack, the prisoner's head exploded like a ripe melon, blood and brain matter splattering the cell floor.
"In this world of pirates, the ones I hate the most are the Celestial Dragons... and second to them, the slave traders. And you just happen to mention both."
With an icy gaze, Shin wiped the blood from his boots onto the lifeless corpse's tattered clothing.
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