Demon Slayer Virgil [Isekai One Piece]

Upon hearing Zavia's relaxed tone, it was now Valona's turn for his mouth to twitch.

"You little brat, I sent you to this world to cultivate, not to cause trouble for me."

At this moment, Valona's heart was filled with helplessness, as if ten thousand divine beasts were stampeding past.

"What? Isn't it okay to be discovered?" Zavia looked at Valona with puzzlement.

"Sigh, of course not, otherwise why would I go to such great lengths to hide you? And have you quickly cultivate, with the Demon Core helping you rapidly grow stronger. With you exposing yourself now, my previous efforts were almost wasted."

Valona now felt a severe headache, and he was worried about the decision made by his master.

"You scoundrel, you still have the nerve to say that!? You told me to cultivate, but you threw me onto an isolated island with only animals. How was I supposed to cultivate? You think I'm one of those genius talents who can seclude themselves and cultivate alone? And since I inherited Vergil's power from Devil May Cry, why can't I even sense demonic power until now? And what about the other two weapons, Beowulf and Force Edge? Why did this power only give me the Yamato blade?"

Valona was fine until he spoke, then Zavia became angry and voiced all his doubts one by one without taking a breath.

"...You little brat, how many days have you been in this world and you're already this arrogant?"

"What...!"

After venting all his anger, Zavia calmed down. But once he regained his senses and saw Valona's slightly distorted face, with a vein seemingly bulging on his forehead, Zavia realized things had gotten serious.

A fist covered in blue particles instantly appeared above Zavia's head and struck him, slamming him into the ground.

"Kid, don't be too resentful, or else you'll only invite hatred."

Valona held up his steaming fist, his expression displeased as he spoke.

"Enough, no need to pretend. I didn't even use one percent of my strength in that punch."

Shaking his fist, Valona kicked Zavia a couple times to stop him from playing dead, while also answering his questions.

"Um...so these are really just beginner equipment? Sigh, I can't do anything about it then. Just send me to the Devil May Cry world and I'll check it out myself."

Getting up from the ground, Zavia felt a bit dejected as he rubbed his head.

It wasn't his fault for feeling dejected. He had thought Valona could resolve all his questions, but it turned out the answers were already decided from the very beginning.

"You little brat, forget it, seeing you like this, let me give you some positive energy. For weapons, you can indeed only get the Yamato blade, forget about Beowulf and Force Edge. But for the demonic power issue, it's simple, yet not simple."

Seeing Zavia's dejected look, Valona dropped his angry expression and pointed him in the right direction.

"What? There's a way?"

Upon hearing this, Zavia instantly became interested, after all, the Stinger move was super cool, right?

"You little brat, you only hear what you want to hear. Yes, the method is to find the Demon God's Core hidden in this world."

"..."

Hearing this, Zavia's face twitched again.

"I've been thinking about that too, that if I find the Demon Core, I might be able to sense demonic power..."

Zavia replied dismissively while glancing at Valona.

"But you don't know the location of the Demon Core, right? It makes sense, if you knew, then it wouldn't be called 'hidden'. Never mind, I'll help you this time, since the intrusion of the 'Troupe' requires you to grow stronger quickly. Listen up, the Demon Core in this world is located on Raijin Island."

Ignoring Zavia's tone and gaze, Valona revealed the location of the Demon Core.

"Raijin Island? Hmm, the last of the three initial New World islands, Raijin Island? Didn't expect this time's Core would be the Lightning Core."

After thinking about the original story, Zavia muttered to himself.

Of course Zavia, as an avid One Piece fan, knew about Raijin Island. But his knowledge of the island was pitiful, only aware of the terrifying thunderstorms that constantly raged there and the "umbrellas" needed to land.

After all, the original work didn't really describe much about this island, only showing a few glimpses of it. Zavia's deepest memory was of a strange monk standing near the island's waters.

"Correct, it's the Lightning Core, with power rivaling that of the God of Thunder. However, it has been sealed away for certain reasons."

Valona gave Zavia a simple introduction to help him understand the general idea of the Lightning Core.

"I see."

"Alright, time is a bit tight now, so I won't linger any longer. Oh, and after I leave, don't expose your identity again."

After the introduction, Valona was about to leave the One Piece world, as he had only come to check if Zavia was okay.

"Heheheheh."

Zavia gave a helpless laugh, letting Valona experience it himself.

"Okay, I'll let you off this time, but don't let it happen again, understand?"

Valona directly ignored Zavia's expression, then blue particles appeared on his hand. He snapped his fingers and the blue particles instantly dispersed.

"Alright, the memories of all intelligent beings in this world who knew about this have been modified, and rest assured there are no side effects to worry about."

"What the hell, you can even use memory modification magic! And the range is the entire world!" Seeing this, Zavia was so shocked his mouth nearly dropped open.

"Don't try to flatter me, who do you think I am? This world may require you to tread carefully, but to me it's no more than an ant I can crush with a casual wave of my hand."

Valona said these terribly ominous words without any expression, to him an entire world was equivalent to a mere ant.

After speaking, Valona walked straight through the spatial portal without even glancing at Zavia.

"Um, crap! I forgot to ask how to contact him!"

After coming to his senses, Zavia shouted out loud. But within a second, Zavia realized the reality of the situation.

Three seconds after Valona left the One Piece world, time began to slowly flow again in that world, and Zavia naturally returned to his original position, his posture exactly the same.

"Tsk! Why do I suddenly feel a headache?"

As time resumed its flow, everyone reacted by holding their heads, showing signs of a headache.

This is the memory modification magic... Zavia thought to himself as he watched this scene unfold.

"Hm? Zavia, what are you doing here?"

As if Zavia had appeared out of thin air, Sengoku looked at him standing in front of him with surprise.

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I..."

"Zavia? Oh right, Zavia came in first place in this competition, so I will take him as my disciple."

Zavia was about to think of how to respond to Sengoku, when suddenly Zephyr blurted out those words, leaving Zavia speechless.

Or rather, he was speechless towards Valona. Seeing Zephyr's reaction, Zavia couldn't help but suspect that everything he had done was seen by Valona, who was just pretending not to know.

"Zephyr, now that you mention it, Zavia did come in first place in this competition."

Prompted by Zephyr's words, it was as if a stone had been thrown into a tranquil lake, causing everyone present to suddenly recall.

"Then what are we doing here?"

"Reporting to Fleet Admiral Sengoku, you and I were just discussing my military rank issue together." Zavia seized the opportunity to interject and respond to Sengoku's question.

"Hmm, seems so."

"..."

Seeing Sengoku's reaction, Zavia was utterly baffled inwardly. He had just casually responded, yet Valona's memory modification made it the truth. Zavia couldn't help but feel admiration for Valona, which dissipated three seconds later.

"Then Zavia, what rank do you think is suitable for you?"

"???"

If he was just speechless before, this time Zavia was completely dumbfounded.

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, do you mean for me to choose my own rank?"

"Yes, considering your outstanding performance in this competition, and from what Garp has told me, your strength seems to be approaching that of a Vice Admiral already. Giving you just the rank of Lieutenant Commander seems unreasonable, so you can choose any rank below Vice Admiral yourself."

"..."

This time, Zavia was utterly stunned. He never expected the memory modification magic to be so powerful that it could do this!

"Um, okay then, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, please give me the rank of Rear Admiral."

With no other choice, Zavia went for broke and made an ambitious request. This wasn't actually his original intention, it was just to test if it was true. But the following scene left him in shock.

"Rear Admiral, is it? What do you all think?" Sengoku pondered for a moment, then asked for the others' opinions.

This might seem odd, but Sengoku's action was purely for show. With just his command as Fleet Admiral, Zavia could instantly become a Rear Admiral.

However, in the Navy, for someone to be promoted to Rear Admiral, they needed the approval of at least five Vice Admirals. Otherwise, the promotion couldn't happen. This was something Zavia had heard from Robbie.

So Sengoku's move was purely for human deception.

"I think it's fine."

"No objections."

"Same for me."

Zephyr and the others all voiced their agreement.

"Good, then Zavia, congratulations on your promotion to Rear Admiral. I'll have someone bring you the certificate and other materials later."

After confirming there were no issues, Sengoku nodded as well. At this moment, Zavia was officially promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the Navy.

"..."

But for some reason, Zavia didn't feel particularly happy. Although he put on an appearance of being delighted about the promotion, he couldn't shake the feeling that this rank had been forced upon him.

"Now that the matter of your rank is settled, Zavia, come with me. I will impart all of my lifelong knowledge to you!"

With the promotion event concluded, Zephyr stood up, ready to begin instructing Zavia.

"Understood."

And so, this almost farcical incident came to an end, and Zavia would officially begin his secluded cultivation.

However, unbeknownst to everyone else, a dragonfly was flying outside the office window, observing the events unfolding inside.