One Piece: From Marine to Legend

After obtaining two new [Bronze Trophies], Storm immediately turned his attention to his skill list. Without hesitation, he allocated them to [Iron Body] and [Paper Art] respectively.

The star ratings behind these skills flickered for a moment before stabilizing—

[Iron Body: ★★★]

[Paper Art: ★★★]

'If I want these techniques to be truly effective, I need real combat experience.'

Storm clenched his fists, feeling the refined strength coursing through him. The best way to improve was through actual battle.

He turned his gaze toward the Blugori squad, the once-formidable beasts that had provided him with so many trophies.

However, this time, something was different.

The blue gorillas, usually aggressive and eager to fight, now avoided his gaze. Some looked at the ceiling, others fixated on the floor. A few busied themselves picking at their fur or inspecting their weapons—anything to avoid making eye contact.

Their behavior was eerily similar to students in a classroom, desperately trying not to be called on by the teacher.

Storm frowned.

Just then, one particularly bold blue gorilla picked up a double-sided axe.

Storm's eyes lit up. 'Finally, someone who dares to fight me!'

But instead of attacking, the gorilla held the axe at an angle, using the reflective surface like a mirror, checking its face.

If it could talk, it might have muttered something like:

"Huh… This is a real axe, isn't it? Yup, no doubt about it."

Storm sighed. These once-proud warriors had been utterly conquered by his relentless beatdowns. No matter how he encouraged them to attack, they stood frozen, as if their feet were glued to the ground.

"I remember someone saying that Brugli isn't very smart…"

Storm clicked his tongue. Now, even as training dummies, they were useless.

With no willing sparring partners, he had to get creative.

Storm raised his hand, channeling his power—

Clay Clone!

White clay oozed out, shaping and molding itself into a perfect copy of Storm. Within moments, his doppelgänger stood before him, identical in every way except for its stark white color.

With his Clay-Clay Fruit now at four stars, the clone's basic attributes—strength, speed, and endurance—matched his own.

The only downside?

It had no intelligence. The clone could only follow commands without independent thought.

But for training purposes, that was enough.

Storm immediately launched into battle, using his clone as a sparring partner. He tested his [Iron Body], hardening his muscles to withstand the clone's powerful strikes, and fine-tuned his [Paper Art], dodging blows with near-effortless fluidity.

After an intense morning of training, Storm finally halted, his body drenched in sweat.

But something felt off.

The exhilarating rush of improvement had vanished.

Storm knew this feeling all too well. When he absorbed a trophy, he would be flooded with inspiration, as if his mind were unlocking techniques at an accelerated pace.

But the moment he fully mastered the new skill level, that surge of insight disappeared abruptly.

It was like trying to sneeze, but the sensation vanished at the last moment. A frustrating, unsatisfying halt.

Storm glanced at the blue gorilla squad, his eyes narrowing.

'Why can't they provide higher-level trophies? It's because they aren't trying hard enough!'

The gorillas, sensing the danger in his gaze, panicked.

One by one, they dropped their weapons, flopped onto the ground, and curled into defensive positions—arms over heads, butts sticking up—completely surrendering without a fight.

Storm sighed in disappointment. Once, these beasts had been strong warriors. Now? Just a single glance from him was enough to break their spirits.

They were utterly useless.

"Get out of my sight!" Storm waved them away.

As if pardoned from execution, the blue gorillas leaped to their feet and bolted, screeching as they scrambled toward the nearest exit.

Storm watched them go, deep in thought.

These creatures had multiple responsibilities in Impel Down. Aside from keeping prisoners in check, they were also responsible for gathering food from the ocean—hunting Sea Kings.

That sparked an idea.

"Sea Kings…" Storm muttered.

They were massive, powerful creatures that roamed the Calm Belt—far stronger than the blue gorillas.

If blue gorillas could provide silver trophies, then Sea Kings might be a viable new hunting target.

But after weighing the risks, he decided to delay that plan for now.

Impel Down itself was filled with strong pirates. If he was looking for a new source of trophies, he didn't have to go far.

Storm changed into his chief guard uniform, strapped his Blazing Saber to his waist, and tucked the Seastone Baton inside his coat.

He strode confidently toward the large elevator leading to the lower floors of Impel Down.

But just as he approached—

Ding!

The elevator doors slid open, revealing a group of medical personnel rushing out, carrying a stretcher.

Storm glanced over, and his eyes landed on the injured figure lying on it.

Little Sadi.

The once-fearsome dominatrix was in bad shape, her usually confident expression replaced by exhaustion.

Storm's brow arched. "What happened to you, Little Sadi?"

A weak voice answered from the stretcher.

"We… were attacked by the Jailer Beasts…"

Storm's concern instantly disappeared.

"If she can still talk, then she's fine."

Without another word, he stepped into the elevator and gave his next order—

"Crimson Hell."

The structure of Impel Down resembled a pyramid; the deeper the level, the larger the space became.

The Crimson Hell spanned several times the area of the first floor above sea level, but it wasn't entirely the forested landscape Storm had envisioned.

In the outer circle of Crimson Hell, heavily guarded prison cells varied in size—some were single deluxe cells, while others housed multiple inmates in a confined space.

Meanwhile, the inner circle was a blood-red forest filled with needle grass—natural instruments of torture. Every movement here inflicted pain.

This forest was the true Crimson Hell.

Prisoners in Impel Down were sorted into different floors based on their bounty value.

For the Red Lotus Hell, the average bounty was under 10 million berries.

Only a few inmates had bounties exceeding that threshold.

Storm walked calmly through the dimly lit corridors, gripping a prisoner roster he had pulled from the database.

His uniform alone commanded fear and respect.

No prisoner dared to provoke him outright.

After all, those foolish enough to test the jailers ended up in the blood-red forest.

A fate worse than any punishment within their cells.

Then, trouble arose.

In one of the mixed cells, a riot had broken out.

The stronger inmates were bullying the newcomers.

Storm's gaze turned cold.

This kind of power struggle was inevitable in a place like Impel Down.

But resolving it?

That was simple.

Storm stepped into the cell.

Before anyone could react, he beat all of them senseless.

Of course, he held back.

By the time the cell fell silent, eight prisoners lay groaning on the ground.

Storm casually observed his system.

Eight bronze trophies.

Disappointing.

After wrapping up the riot, he flipped through the prisoner list and muttered to himself.

"Mixed Cell No. 4… The highest bounty here is 9.31 million berries. The lowest? 3.64 million. None of them surpasses 10 million."

His eyes narrowed.

"All of their trophies are only two-star bronze ones?"

A pattern was emerging.

Storm needed to confirm his theory.

His next target?

The highest bounty prisoner in Crimson Hell.

A pirate worth 12 million berries.

The strongest inmate on this floor.

Not that it mattered.

Storm didn't even need a proper reason to deal with him.

He simply looked at the man's black and white striped uniform and muttered.

"I don't like that outfit today."

Then, he knocked him out cold.

The moment the prisoner collapsed.

A shining silver trophy materialized before Storm's eyes.

"So my guess is correct..."

After finishing his patrol, Storm returned to the upper floors.

He summarized his findings:

Prisoners with bounties under 10 million Berries will only drop bronze trophies.

Prisoners above 10 million will drop silver trophies.

This discovery forced Storm to reconsider his strategy.

His physique and devil fruit were already four stars. A three-star silver trophy could no longer help him improve.

What he needed now was a gold trophy.

He flipped through more files, analyzing bounty trends by prison level—

Crimson Hell: Below 10 million Berries.

Wild Beast Hell (Second Level): Average bounty 15 million Berries.

Starvation Hell (Third Level): Minimum bounty of 50 million Berries.

Blazing Hell (Fourth Level): Bounty of over 75 million Berries

Freezing Hell (Fifth Level): All prisoners had bounties over 100 million Berries.

A realization struck him.

"If I want a gold trophy, I need to go to at least the fifth level—Freezing Hell!"

Storm's lips curled into a smirk.

He pulled out a den-den mushi and dialed the fourth floor—Blazing Hell.

The voice of Impel Down's Warden crackled through the receiver.

"What do you want?"

Storm grinned.

"I want a more worthy opponent."

"…What?"

"I want a promotion."

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