One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 23: Goodbye Smoker, News of Military Exercises!
The next day.

The Grand Line, Marineford.

Detainee barracks.

"Bringing Binks's liquor to your side~"

"Like the sea breeze, free and unrestrained, riding the waves~"

"On the other side of the sea, the sunset is noisy, and the birds are singing~ hiccup!"

I watched a mysterious, happy man somewhere, sipping cola and humming a song.

Hans and Fal were, as always, whispering to each other in a corner.

"Hey, boss seems to be in a really good mood lately."

Far muttered to himself.

Hans, however, didn't seem to care, tugging at his collar: "Of course—after all, he's been promoted to major, it would be strange if he wasn't happy, right?"

"But it wouldn't be right to say he's happy because of that. A few days ago I heard that Lieutenant General Bilos was going to hold a promotion banquet for him, but he refused and instead stayed in his room every day."

Far frowned, still feeling that something was wrong.

Hans remained unperturbed, tugging at his collar again: "What's the big deal? Our boss has always been like this. Besides, not everyone brags about promotions."

Then, he was kicked away by Far.

"You bastard, I've put up with you for far too long!"

Far resentfully pulled his leg back: "So what if you joined the Navy a few years earlier than me? That's why the boss promoted you to sergeant major, right? You're always hanging around in front of me!"

Hans, however, showed no anger whatsoever after being kicked.

He simply kept pulling at his collar, trying to make the medal on it that read "Sergeant Major - Hans Töl" even more conspicuous.

"Sigh, Brother Far—I don't blame you for being angry with me. You must feel jealous, right?"

He said gently.

As a result, Far was so angry that he almost gritted his teeth.

He couldn't wait to go out and do a mission, and then get promoted to sergeant.

Unfortunately, because Roy's official appointment as a major has not yet been issued, they have no missions to take on recently.

"Feeling jealous? See how angry I am!"

Fortunately, although the logic didn't work, he, Far, did have some knowledge of boxing!

And the other side.

"Hic, what a beautiful day."

Completely ignoring his subordinates fighting amongst themselves, Roy simply took a sip of his iced cola and sighed as he looked at the perfectly sunny weather.

Yes—he's been in a really good mood lately.

The reasons are self-evident and need no further explanation.

His plans in Alabasta are progressing quite smoothly.

Using his precognitive knowledge of the plot, he specifically designed the 'Chenlong' clone.

The Magma-Magma Fruit and the Ice-Ice Fruit—these two fruits, originally belonging to Marine Admirals Akainu and Aokiji, are absolutely top-tier Logia-type fruits.

He spent a full four billion Berries to upgrade them all to LV3.

In addition to the sliced ​​fruit that was upgraded to LV2, he also upgraded several commonly used fruits, so that the huge amount of Berries he had previously possessed was completely exhausted.

But such a huge sacrifice is undoubtedly worthwhile.

"Rain is what we call rain, which is the product of water vapor condensation."

"The cold air and frost created by the Frozen Fruit, and the high temperature of the Magma Fruit—the combination of the two can bring rain!"

This was a method of 'artificial rain' that Roy had thought of before—after all, in the original manga, Nami demonstrated a similar partial rainfall using the Weather Stick, and the principle was similar.

He simply expanded the scope of that.

As I said before, the combined use of Devil Fruits will create countless possibilities.

The success of this attempt made the deal between Lowy and Alabasta possible.

"Even if we just bring rain to the entire country of Alabasta now, plus the commission from King Cobra, we'll have at least 50 billion Berries. Now all that's left is to deal with Crocodile."

"Furthermore, I've also obtained the Devil Fruit abilities of those two guards from Alabasta—'Bird-Bird Fruit: Falcon Mode' and 'Dog-Dog Fruit: Jackal Mode'." With such a huge gain, how could Roy not be happy?

So much so that lately he feels like everything he eats tastes delicious, and even the taste of soda seems sweeter.

Of course, it's not that there are no worries at all.

"Right now, for me, there is only one problem—that is, although I have strengthened many fruits."

"But at headquarters, I can only use the human form of Zoan-type Devil Fruits, not the beast form or the human-beast form."

"I can't use elemental transformation with Logia-type Devil Fruits, otherwise my identity as a Devil Fruit user will be exposed."

The thought of this still made Roy a little irritated.

Despite having enhanced many powerful fruits, he was unable to use their full power due to his identity, and this feeling of being "limited" made him very unhappy.

"If only there were a Devil Fruit ability that could solve this problem."

However, it was precisely while Roy was muttering to himself that...
"Hey!"

A familiar, deep voice came from inside, and Roy spat out the cola in his mouth.

"Um!?"

He turned his head sharply and saw Smoker's sullen face.

Smoker!?

Roy immediately became alert: "You're not in solitary confinement... cough cough, what are you doing here? Let me tell you, I'm a major now, there's no way I can be your adjutant."

He only realized halfway through his sentence that he seemed to bear a little responsibility for Smoker's confinement, so he quickly changed his words.

"."

Smoker's expression visibly worsened.

He seemed to have a hard time suppressing the urge to punch Roy directly, and managed to say, "You asked Lieutenant General Bilos to arrange special training for you?"

As he said this, his tone softened slightly.

Clearly, Smoker was quite pleased that Roy, a talented but unmotivated slacker, was finally putting in the effort.

As a friend, he genuinely felt that Roy deserved a higher position to uphold his justice.

"Yes, yes!"

Of course, Roy was too embarrassed to say that this was not something he had requested himself, so he could only nod reluctantly.

"The person who gave you special training happens to have some connection with me, so he asked me to take you there."

Smoker then looked at Roy and said, "If there's nothing else, come with me."

Roy was taken aback when he heard this, but then he did not hesitate. After saying goodbye to Hans and Far, he followed Smoker and left the detention center.

However, as he walked, Luo Yi thought to himself, "As expected."

He had previously guessed who the 'old friend' Lieutenant General Bilos was referring to was.

Now it seems that the other party knows Smoker, and even has a obviously good relationship with him—otherwise, this notoriously troublesome Smoker wouldn't have come to deliver a message so easily.

Therefore, in Roy's mind, the other party's identity was actually quite obvious.

"You're also going to participate in this 'Three Armed Forces Exercise,' right?"

However, just as Roy was pondering this, he heard Smoker's question.

"Huh? What is that?"

Roy nodded subconsciously, but quickly realized something was wrong: "What—what is this 'Three Armed Forces Military Exercise'?"

Isn't it supposed to be a 'full-scale military exercise'?

"You don't know yet?"

Upon hearing this, Smoker took the cigar out of his mouth and exhaled.

Amidst the swirling smoke, his words carried a hint of excitement: "Because of this Heavenly Gold robbery incident, the World Government's top brass are furious. They believe that our navy's mismanagement has led to a severe decline in internal combat capabilities, which is why this happened."

"Therefore, after discussing it, Fleet Admiral Sengoku and the Air Commander-in-Chief decided to change the rules of this all-army exercise - except for the Navy, all the armies and directly affiliated forces under the World Government will send people to participate."

"Its name is—Military Drill!"

(End of this chapter)