The screen appearing before Roy silently revealed one fact.
Yes—this young man so easily captured by Branch G-51, whose real name was 'Alan', was actually an ability user.
And furthermore—
"This fruit ability..."
The moment Roy saw the ability description, he'd already realized it.
Alan's ability was extraordinarily special, even among Devil Fruits.
"Its ceiling and floor are vastly different."
"If an ordinary person ate it, its strength would be even weaker than most Zoan fruits."
"But if this ability was obtained by a powerful Haki user, the effects would be absurdly strong!"
Imagine if Marine Hero Garp or the World's Greatest Swordsman Hawkeye Mihawk had eaten this fruit.
Each of their Slice Clones would essentially possess their full strength.
"Seven Vice Admiral Garps... that would be insane. The Marines might as well rename themselves the Garp Force."
And this fruit's enhancement price clearly matched that strength.
Its enhancement cost was the highest among all the Devil Fruits Roy had encountered so far.
"Want something to eat?"
So at this moment, while watching the analysis progress on the screen, Roy smiled at the young man in the cell. "My treat!"
"I-I won't eat your food!"
Alan clearly didn't understand the thoughts racing through Roy's mind—he just found this rambling Marine somewhat frightening.
And at that exact moment, the sand in the hourglass ran out.
"Alright then."
Roy casually stood up. "I'll be going then."
He picked up the hourglass and pocketed it, then turned to leave.
However, when he reached the cabin door, his steps suddenly halted.
"By the way, kid—you know that even with most of the branch Marines attending the banquet, rescuing those people would be extremely difficult, basically impossible, right?"
He turned his head slightly, asking quietly.
"...I told you, I don't understand what you're talking about!"
This time, Alan let out an angry roar.
Though it was hard to say whether his roar contained more anger or fear.
But one thing was certain.
His words might contain fear, might contain anger, but there wasn't a trace of wavering.
So Roy smiled.
Brave souls always commanded respect.
"Sir?"
When Roy emerged from the cabin housing the temporary cell, the Marine on deck watch showed a confused expression.
"I'm pretty tired. Going to rest. Have someone take over my shift—and remember to prepare some food and water for the prisoner, plus a blanket."
Roy instructed.
"Yes sir!"
The Marine immediately nodded in acknowledgment.
After giving these instructions, Roy silently returned to his room—an independent cabin on the aft deck with a skylight.
The moment he entered, the system notifications continued ringing in his ears.
[Paramecia-type: Slice-Slice Fruit has been added to the Fruit Encyclopedia, current level LV1]
[Current Encyclopedia Fruit Types: 19→20 (Paramecia - 8, Zoan - 7, Logia - 4, Special Paramecia - 0, Mythical Zoan - 1)]
[Total recorded fruits have reached 20, gained additional 'Fruit Slot']
[Current Fruit Slot Quantity: 2→3]
[Current slotted fruits: Ox-Ox Fruit: Giant Rhino Form, Rabbit-Rabbit Fruit: Snow Rabbit Form, Vacant]
Listening to the continuous notifications, watching the prompts flashing on the screen, the smile on Roy's face grew wider and wider.
"This trip was absolutely worth it!"
He sighed with genuine sincerity.
That's right.
After obtaining the 'Slice-Slice Fruit', his fruit count had finally reached 20, successfully unlocking his third fruit slot.
For him, this improvement was massive.
Of course, more critically—
"The Slice-Slice Fruit—this ability is crucial for me! Incredibly crucial!"
That was what made Roy happiest right now.
As mentioned before, his biggest headache was the identity problem.
He needed his Marine identity and position for protection, and Marine channels to accumulate fruit abilities.
But simultaneously, he needed vast amounts—practically unlimited amounts—of money to upgrade his fruit abilities.
These two needs were nearly incompatible—especially the latter, since almost all methods of earning large sums quickly involved significant danger.
But now...
"Slice!"
Roy said softly in his mind.
The next moment, the Slice-Slice Fruit was equipped into the newly appeared fruit slot, and then—
"Hum!"
The muscles and skin on Roy's body began continuously changing—his body seemed to be tearing apart at this moment.
But Roy felt no pain.
He only felt his body and consciousness undergoing some indescribable change.
The next second, a 'Roy Amos' almost identical to himself appeared naked before him out of thin air.
And at this moment, that special sensation became even clearer.
He felt the body before him had become an extension of his own body.
His consciousness seemed to split into two parts, yet both parts remained under his control.
This sensation was extremely novel, even for Roy who had mastered many Devil Fruit abilities.
However, Roy quickly recovered.
He first grabbed one of his spare uniforms for the clone to wear—though he was reasonably well-endowed, staring at his own naked body just felt weird.
Then he controlled his Slice Clone, carefully feeling the changes in his body.
And then—
Both Roy's mouths began curling upward simultaneously at that moment.
"As expected, just as I suspected..."
He murmured quietly.
Then he had the Slice Clone throw a punch.
"BOOM!"
The tremendous force created a sharp whistling sound through the air, and faint white fur could even be seen growing on the clone's arm.
That was Snow Rabbit fur!
That's right.
"The clone created by the Slice-Slice Fruit is a perfect 'copy'."
"It even includes the 'Devil Fruit abilities' themselves!"
Roy had already guessed this back in the prison.
Because the Alan in the cell was clearly a Slice Clone, yet his Fruit Encyclopedia could analyze the fruit ability from him.
This was enough to prove that the Slice-Slice Fruit's clones most likely copied the fruit abilities along with everything else—just that the copied Slice-Slice ability couldn't be used again.
This characteristic would be meaningless to most other people.
After all, so what if you discovered the Slice-Slice Fruit could copy Devil Fruits?
Except for that freak Blackbeard, normal people could only eat one Devil Fruit.
But for Roy, the situation was obviously different.
For instance, right now—
"This clone of mine also possesses the abilities of the 'Snow Rabbit Fruit' and 'Giant Rhino Fruit'!"
"The only downside is that the Slice-Slice Fruit itself occupies one of the clone's slots and can't be freely swapped, meaning the clone has one less fruit ability than my main body. But that's more than enough!"
Roy understood just how significant this discovery was for him.
This meant the dilemma he'd been facing finally had a solution.
Starting today, he could continue staying with the Marines, safely obtaining Devil Fruit abilities.
While his other clones could go acquire the astronomical amounts of berries needed for Fruit Encyclopedia enhancement—without worrying about methods!
For instance, right now, he had a very bold idea.
"First, I need to conceal my identity..."
Roy muttered quietly, his gaze sweeping the room.
Soon, he spotted an item.
Near the storage locker in the corner sat a mask.
The mask looked like a rooster, remarkably lifelike.
And Roy certainly remembered what it was.
It was a gift Hans had brought back for him after returning to his South Blue hometown two years ago.
"This is the South Blue's unique 'Sea Beast Head Mask', made from South Blue's special iron ore..."
According to Hans's earnest explanation, this thing was one of the South Blue's most famous specialties, found everywhere in South Blue's kingdoms and even throughout the Grand Line's various nations, renowned for being sturdy, form-fitting, and nearly indestructible.
Of course, Roy had later learned from someone who wished to remain anonymous—namely Farr—that while the mask was indeed a South Blue specialty, Hans's main reason for buying it as a souvenir was because it was cheap.
The next day, Hans was assigned two weeks of night watch for stepping onto the deck with his left foot first, and the mask had been tossed in Roy's room corner ever since.
But now—
Roy picked up the mask and casually tossed it to his Slice Clone.
After the clone donned the mask and put on the uniform, Roy checked repeatedly—completely impossible to discern any facial or physical features.
Finally, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Well then... let's begin!"