"Mm. We're already at over thirteen hundred people now. Once the national warrior assessment is over, we'll continue recruiting onboard."
Hancock adjusted her posture slightly, her slender fingers tracing irregular circles across Borsalino's chest.
Borsalino felt a bit helpless. The upper limit of the Kuja Pirates was simply too low—no matter how much support he provided from behind the scenes, they couldn't truly compete with the massive pirate crews of the New World.
That said, every woman qualified to join the Kuja Pirates was an elite who had already mastered Armament Haki. With more than a thousand of them, they barely qualified to serve as a decisive force at critical moments.
"Let's go. Sitting around is sitting around anyway—might as well go watch the national warrior assessment."
Borsalino shook his head. Since there was no way to rapidly expand the Kuja Pirates in numbers, he might as well focus on improving quality instead.
The national warriors were already the cream of the Kuja fighters. With a bit of polishing, they'd be more than usable.
Of course, on the surface Amazon Lily was still a pirate power. No matter how much of a double agent Borsalino was, as a Marine admiral he couldn't act too brazenly.
At the very least, something as conspicuous as the Six Powers of the Marines was absolutely off-limits. Fortunately, Borsalino had other options.
"Hancock, is that Zoan-type Devil Fruit I had sent over last time still here? I remember it was an Ancient Type—something like the King Kong Giant Ape Fruit?"
Borsalino helped Hancock to her feet.
In a sense, Amazon Lily was his personal vault. More than half of Borsalino's assets were stored on Kuja Island.
Another smaller portion was managed by Nami.
Some things were simply too sensitive—keeping them at Marineford would be inconvenient, to say the least.
Even as a Marine admiral, there were unspoken rules that had to be observed.
"It's here. Everything you've sent me, darling, I've kept safe."
Hancock spoke as if she were asking for praise.
She didn't really care whether those things were meant to strengthen the Kuja Pirates. As long as they were from Borsalino, she wanted to keep them.
Of course, what she wanted most was Borsalino himself—but that was the one thing she could never truly possess.
"Good. Have someone bring it over later."
Borsalino nodded.
Then, as he followed Hancock toward the national warriors' training grounds, he opened the dimensional chat group in his mind.
[Fubuki: I didn't expect your taste to be this good. These bags are all pretty nice.]
[Haibara Ai: Hmph, same to you. Your taste isn't bad either. Too bad my collection ended up benefiting who-knows-who—otherwise I could've shown you a few of my classic pieces.]
[Fubuki: Is that organization still hunting you? Want me to come over and beat those bad guys up for you?]
[Haibara Ai: It's not as simple as you think. If they were that easy to track down, they'd have been wiped out by international police long ago…]
[Fubuki: Then there's nothing I can do. Be careful and protect yourself—if you're ever in danger, call me.]
[Borsalino: Huh? Did I miss something? When did their relationship get this good?]
[Kobayashi: Well… I'll never understand girls' friendships~]
[Random Passerby Who Wants to Hug Luo Feng's Thigh: Uh… Kobayashi, you are a girl yourself. sweat]
[Kobayashi: I'm an office worker who can handle triple the workload!]
[Random Passerby: Just remember to take it easy, Kobayashi. If you suddenly overwork yourself to death, the consequences could be serious—world-ending, even.]
[Kobayashi: Huh? What do you mean?]
[Random Passerby: Your Tohru! Have some awareness—your dragon maid is literally a world-ending calamity. If she goes berserk, she's basically Godzilla!]
[Kobayashi: You're exaggerating…]
In Kobayashi's world, looking at Tohru in the kitchen—humming while cooking, her big tail swaying back and forth—anyone would scoff at Passerby's words.
Such an adorable maid—how could she possibly be a world-destroying dragon?
[Borsalino: @Random Passerby Your Devil Fruit is ready. Zoan-type, Ancient Species—King Kong Giant Ape Form. I'll send it to you later.]
[Random Passerby: Whoa! Thank you, Boss! Love you, seriously—an Ancient Zoan! You went all out!]
[Fubuki: What's a Devil Fruit?]
[Haibara Ai: Seems to be a specialty of Borsalino's world. Eat one, and you gain all sorts of unbelievable superpowers…]
[Fubuki: That's impossible! You're saying even ordinary people can become superpowered?!]
Even in the One Punch Man world—where heroes and monsters ran rampant—true psychics were extremely rare.
Among the S-Class heroes, excluding the mysterious Blast, only Tornado of Terror was a genuine esper.
So Fubuki's shock at hearing that eating a fruit could grant superpowers was completely understandable.
[Borsalino: By the way, quick question for everyone. @all Does anyone know a way to rapidly train a large number of subordinates? It needs to be fast, with minimal side effects. They don't need to be crazy strong, but not too weak either—something that can be used on a few hundred people.]
[Random Passerby: Uh… quick question, Boss. When you say 'not too strong, not too weak'… what level are we talking about?]
[Borsalino: Hmm. You know how things are at Marine Headquarters, right? I need a method that can push a batch of people with HQ lieutenant commander strength up to colonel or brigadier-level power.]
[Random Passerby: Holy—would Stands work? Didn't Boss bring some arrows back from Jotaro's world?]
[Borsalino: No. Using the 'arrows' would kill too many people. I can't have my subordinates taking that kind of risk.]
[Haibara Ai: Police dog, how strong is a Marine Headquarters lieutenant commander, exactly?]
In the Conan world, Haibara Ai stared intently at the virtual screen while enjoying her afternoon tea.
Not long after joining this mysterious dimensional chat group, she had already begun thinking about acquiring some means of self-protection through it.
But compared to members who casually fought vampires or kept dragons as maids, she really didn't have much bargaining power.
The one thing of value—APTX 4869—she didn't even have on hand.
Now, finally, a request appeared that didn't seem to require overwhelming personal strength.
And at that moment, Haibara Ai suddenly had a bold idea.
After all, as Passerby had once casually mentioned in the group, technological development in Borsalino's world was highly unbalanced.
The Marines' warships still relied on sails, of all things…
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