Chapter 15 : Silver Rayleigh

After half a month of sailing from the Water Seven, the CP0 ship finally arrived at the front of the New World.

"Hey, we're about to part. Don't you have any parting words?"

On board, masked CP0 seems to have gotten used to Dylan's usual hippie grin.

"Don't be so serious, even being a spy, you have to try to enjoy your life." Dylan patted CP0 on the shoulder. CP0 neither dodges nor responds to him.

Seeing CP0's attitude, Dylan shrugged his shoulder helplessly and picked up two small boxes and said to his Fishman companion, "Let's go back, Tom. We are done here."

Inside the box were two devil fruit he picked from Mariejois. After more than half a month of boring voyage, even Tom, who was born and lived in the sea is a little tired. Hearing Dylan's words, Tom stood up shaking and walked to Dylan's side, "Finally... finally arrived at the destination, even if it is loud, I can't stand it."

After the two got off the boat, CP0 stood at the bow and watched Dylan's back.

Ten days ago, after a quick round of investigation, the identity of the teenager named Trafalgar Law was confirmed. The World government acted quickly, and even directly mobilized Sengoku to recruit the boy. After learning about Rosinante's past, Sengoku returned to Marineford holding Rosinante's little hand.

As Fleet Admiral, Sengoku also personally called Dylan, although he only said thank you, but the weight of it is self-evident. That's a good thing for Dylan though, as having a favor to cash from the fleet admiral would help him in a long run.

When Dylan walked into the gate of the G5 base, the originally messy and dirty base had become very tidy. Although it was still under construction, the look from the outside is quite good compared to the mess he saw the last time he was here.

"You are finally here."

At the gate of the base, Shiryu bit his cigar and looked at Dylan and Tom behind him. After being transferred from Impel down to the G5 branch, Shiryu also got a new military rank, a marine captain under Dylan's command.

Although his strength could match the strong vice admiral and even could hold an admiral in the battle, Sengoku decided to give him a captain rank, considering Dylan is still a rear admiral. Shiryu didn't mind though, as he went here just to follow Dylan.

And as for Tom's identity, Dylan communicated with Sengoku on the way, but Sengoku said that Tom can only be awarded the title after he has made a certain contribution to the Marine. Dylan didn't refute this. After all, both he and Tom still lived on Marine's salary.

"Nothing happened, right?"

Dylan looked at the eerily quiet G5 base, his observation haki allowed him to observe all the residents in the base. With Shiryu here, he didn't want to know how many injured soldiers are in the infirmary now, or even worst, how many of them want to be transferred outside of the G5. Even though all the marine soldiers here are the toughest and the most rebellious ones, compared to Shiryu's bloodthirsty, they are still nothing.

After perceiving it for a while, he found that there is no one missing here, but they seemed to have lost their arrogance and wildness before. It seems they have received the good old-fashioned beating from Shiryu.

Good. Now, he doesn't need to curb their big ego and would have loyal subordinates here.

Dylan stepped in, and Shiryu took the initiative to walk half a step behind Tom. Shiryu looked away after glancing sideways at Tom, snorted a little. Just a Fishman, what can he do?

"Adams Dylan! I want to report you to the headquarters!"

Before entering the hall, a brutal voice sounded from inside, and then an ugly Marine stepped forward angrily.

"What kind of guy did you bring back? It's an insult to Marine's justice, it is too much!"

At first, the Commodore with a belt across his chest glanced at Shiryu behind Dylan with a look of fear in his eyes. But after seeing that Shiryu didn't beat him violently as usual, he went overboard and became arrogant again.

"Come on, everyone! This guy has been abusing G5 Marine officers and soldiers every day for less than a month. Where is your pride as the G5 members?"

*BOOOOOM!!!*

Suddenly, a fist covered in high-strength Armament Haki punched Commodore's stomach over his head.

"Ugh!"

Like a fired cannonball, the Commodore flew out from where it was and was heavily embedded in the distant wall.

"Deduct the relevant expenses from the salary of this bastard as maintenance." Dylan turned to the orderly next to him and spoke to the other marines.

"Yes, Sir!" The orderly straightened his body and glanced over his head. After that, Dylan went straight to his office called Aokiji.

"Ah, what's the matter? I've only had a quiet holiday for a few days."

"The Commodore of the 06 unit of the G5 branch went too far, suspected of human trafficking, smuggling, and embezzlement of Marine assets. Should I execute it on the spot or the headquarters will take over and escort it back for investigation?"

"..."

"Is it true?"

"Maybe."

"Ahhh... it's not good to execute on the spot. You can report it to the supervision department directly, and someone will take over."

"Come on, Kuzan, can you just say yes and granted your lovely subordinates' request?"

*Click!*

The phone was closed, leaving Dylan dumbstruck. But after a moment, a burst of laughter could be heard from his mouth as he didn't expect Kuzan would do that for him. The ever-polite Kuzan Started to hang up other people's calls this rude!?

Dylan shook his head, stuffing the Den Den Mushi into his arms.

After the orderly man lifted his head down and locked him up, Dylan went to the office and sat down.

"Shiryu, your sword hasn't been refined into a black sword yet, has it?"

Shiryu twirled the cigar in his mouth and took out Thunderstorm, his infamous sword. "Ah... this is not something that ordinary people can do. As far as I know, only the Hawkeye Mihawk has been able to coat his sword with hardening and even emission ... No, it seems your sword is too."

Dylan smiled, "If you have a problem with your sword, I can give you a pointer at the whereabouts of one of the twelve swords supreme." Dylan thought for a moment, where is Moria now? Devil's triangle? And has he achieved the corpse of Ryuma, the legendary swordsman from Wano no Kuni?

But it's still early, there are still eight years before the Straw Hat goes to sea, so there is no rush. Let's give it to Moria's hands first and when the time comes, he could grab it anytime he likes.

"In addition to Haki, swordsmanship is also a very important part. Of course, if you are simply pursuing power, I have better choices here."

Shiryu raised his eyebrows, "What is it?"

Dylan picked up a box he had just brought off the CP0 boat and put it on the table.

"Mythical Zoan, Hito-Hito no Mi, Model Ashura."

Mythical Zoan?!

Shiryu took a breath. He has served in Impel down for many years, of course, he knows how rare it is. Dylan looked at him with a half-smile. In terms of rarity, the mythical zoan was indeed higher than Logia.

But that doesn't mean it must be stronger than Logia. Power is a very broad concept, which includes various comprehensive factors. Physical skills, Haki, fruit, talent, experience, even racial specialties, weapons, and equipment may affect a person's strength.

Compared with the mystical zoan, Dylan thinks that Logia's ability is purer and more intuitive.

"This fruit is very suitable for you in some respects, because the legendary Ashura is also very warlike and irritable. How far you can develop it depends on your own good fortune and whether can you gain its approval or not. "

"Approval?"

Dylan didn't explain too much.

After all, the awakening of Devil Fruit requires certain conditions, especially the mythical zoan type. It seems that each mystical creature species has some kind of "will" stored in it. If you want to awaken and obtain the real power in it, you need to get the "will" in the fruit to approve your strength.

Seeing that Dylan didn't answer him, Shiryu didn't ask any more questions, and stood in front of the table, staring at the Ashura fruit and thinking. Dylan didn't rush him either and started drinking tea on his own.

Ten minutes later, Shiryu seemed to have made up his mind, "If I accept it, what price will I pay?"

"There is no extra price, you are my sword, of course, the sharper the better." Dylan pushed the box containing the Ashura fruit forward,

"The taste is a bit bad, I hope you are not picky."

Shiryu stared at Dylan and smiled after a long time before saying, "I really don't know how strong you are. But I want to ask a question. Are you really confident that even if I can achieve the strongest level possible for my haki and I could reach the top-level development of this fruit, you could still beat me??"

Dylan laughed dumbly but did not deny Shiryu's statement,

"Let's talk about it on that day, Shiryu, the war will not be too far away, and there is not much time left for you. You are eager for blood and fighting. There is no need to worry about this. In the near future, there will be endless battles waiting for you, and a lot of strong people would be our target. Whether your enemies would fall into your feet or you will leave the world first, it is up to you."

"Is that so..." Shiryu showed a smile on his face, "Then I will not be polite, I will repay the kindness of this fruit with the blood of the enemy."

After speaking, Shiryu picked up the Ashura fruit and bit it without any hesitation.

...

After a month and a half.

Sabaody Archipelago.

Dylan strolls around Island 12. Dylan paused as he passed a bar.

"Shakky's rip-off bar?"

Dylan stopped and looked at the signboard, isn't this the bar owned by Rayleigh's old friend? He should be working as a ship coater for anyone who wanted to go to the new world now. Dylan glanced at it and turned away.

"Hey~ Brother Marine, are you looking for someone?" Rayleigh looked at Dylan with his clothes in one hand and a wine bottle in the other.

"I am just passing by."

Dylan glanced at Rayleigh, this guy, neither the Summit War nor the Wanokuni incident in the future did he come forward. He just guided the cultivation of straw hats for two years in the middle. However, Dylan didn't know what to think about this man in front of him.

He is not like the mainstream transmigrator who would be in awe when they looked at legendary figures like Rayleigh or Shanks. He more likely would observe their movement first and if they wouldn't cause any trouble, he would rather get away from those legendary characters.

The problem is, Dylan knows Shanks and Rayleigh have some sort of conspiracy plan here, and he didn't know what they are going to do. The only thing he knows is it involved Luffy as the eater of the Hito-Hito no Mi model Nika here.

Or maybe, their target is Luffy from the start? If not, why would Shanks let Luffy eat the devil fruit? Dylan wouldn't believe that it was some coincidence that they were careless about the fruit. No, he would rather believe Shanks deliberately let the grandson of the marine hero to eat the fruit and lured him out to be a pirate rather than a marine like Garp.

It would also explain Rayleigh's behavior when he is around Luffy's group. He is quite protective of them, even repelled Kizaru and spent two years full just to train the captain. No, Dylan knows Rayleigh wouldn't do that just for charity for Shanks or just because they reminded him of Roger.

No, there is a hidden motive here, and Dylan is determined to figure it out sooner before they could cause a lot of ruckus in the future.

….

Seeing that Marine in front of him didn't pay much attention to him, Rayleigh just stared at him with a strange and playful look, and couldn't help but feel a little strange.

"Aren't you coming in for a drink? I can treat you if you want."

Dylan snorted a bit.

"Stop joking, you poor old man. You don't make a lot of money from coating, you go to the black market to sell yourself every day, how can you treat me with good wine?"

Rayleigh stared at Dylan in the distance, then remembered what Shanks said two years ago when he returned from East Blue.

-A little flashback-

"Rayleigh-san, I met a very interesting kid in the East Blue, you know? He said the same thing as the captain, and I put my hopes on him."

"Really? That's really nice."

"But..." The excited look on Shanks' face disappeared, replaced by a serious one, "In East Blue, I also met a very... unique marine."

"Unique marine?" Rayleigh looked at Shanks a little strangely, this guy, in a sense, was also one of the bearers of the 'fire', always possessing a strong self-confidence and unparalleled optimism.

Why is there such an expression?

"A very unique Marine, Rayleigh-san," Shanks recalled the moment Dylan Conqueror's Haki broke out in Logue Town.

"His strength simply suffocated me. Even if I hadn't lost my left hand, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to defeat him."

"Oh?"

Hearing Shanks' words, Rayleigh also put down the bottle in his hand. At that time, Shanks, in terms of personal strength alone, was almost on par with the strong pirates from the older generation.

And the Marine who can make him feel oppressed like this.....

For the time being, only Garp and Sengoku should have this kind of strength in the active Marine.

"And... He is also very young, seems to be only a few years younger than me. Rayleigh-san… I am afraid he would be a thorn in our plan."

After a moment of silence, Rayleigh smiled slightly, "Shanks, isn't that what the sea is like? If you want to chase your dreams, crossing one mountain after another is an indispensable experience. Since you are optimistic about East Blue's kid, then just believe in him. After all, didn't our captain say in the past that what the sea lacks most is a miracle?"

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Author note:

Hello! Thank you to Pathseeker for being my first ever patron! And thank you to you all who have been reading this story since the beginning! If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon account, Patreon(.)com/SpaceDebris

There, you could read this story up to chapter 27!

Once again, thank you!