12 Marine Based - 12

That night, after he'd gained his first win over Commodore Yarisugu, Kaden was busy packing his bags.

All of two of them, and he just stuffed one inside the other. The smaller bag contained what little clothes he had that weren't torn to pieces through his training every day, his cash and some food.

Mostly fruit.

Specifically apples.

And a few other essentials. Honestly, most of his marine uniforms were totalled, so much so that currently, he found himself in just a pair of his uniform pants, black combat boots and a crimson red tank top.

And he stuffed the bag containing his essentials, into the big ol' sack containing the sea stone he'd scraped from the bottom of a few warships to put to better use.

What use he didn't quite know yet, since he didn't want to waste it on some common sword like the cutlass he had currently. Maybe he could coat a meito or two with it?

An easy pair to get his hands on was back in Logue Town.

He cast a look at his right wrist, where two different log pose sat innocently. One with a single compass and the other with three. One for Paradise and one for here in the New World.

Not that he planned on using them any time soon, but it was best he grabbed them now when he had the chance.

Not to mention a bunch of Eternal Poses he pilfered as a well. Beyond the one he needed to get to Punk Hazard, he wasn't sure where he'd head after he grabbed the item he was after.

He wasn't planning on sticking around there long. But, that wasn't to say he really had an ironclad goal right now for after he obtained the clone of the dragon devil fruit.

Dressrossa wasn't that far away from Punk Hazard and was one of the few places he could head to and know what to expect. But that was Doflamingo territory and despite how much he liked Rebecca, he really didn't want to deal with that guy until he was strong enough to do something about him.

But Punk Hazard was also at a point where he could skip over a few areas and come out in the East Blue.

Unlike others he wouldn't need to deal with most of the dangers of doing something like that.

Getting that far with Geppou would be a stretch…but with the ability to fly with the clone of Kaido's fruit, it would be much more manageable.

"I'd definitely be getting a bounty like that though." Kaden mused, collapsing onto his backside on his bed. He had no illusions towards his ability to stay out of sight for long.

Even if going to the East Blue sounded like a real vacation right about now. Head to East Blue, kick the shit out of Arlong and his little band of wimps that loved to pick on the weak, attain the gratitude of everyone on that island, especially Nami's, get her gratitude and affection…and profit with a hot orange haired babe of a cat burglar.

Sadly that life was not for him. Because a marine of the New World going rogue and turning up in the East Blue? And a known user of the Rokushiki?

He'd have some real heavy hitters sent after his ass if he stuck in one place for long.

The amusing idea of heading there and hanging around to get recruited by Luffy popped into his head, before he squashed it. Amusing as it would be to be a Straw Hat, something all fans of One Piece wanted to be at some point, him turning up with Joyboy himself was bound to make him an even bigger target once his grandfather realised he was still alive and kicking and Luffy had no interest in being the likes of a Shichibukai.

"…That wouldn't be a bad spot to be in." Kaden grinned faintly at the thought of the seven warlords of the sea. Too bad all seven spots were filled though.

A hard knock on his door stopped his thoughts from going down any deeper on that path.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Kaden got up and made his way over to the door and pulled it open…

To reveal a large queerly dressed fishy lipped annoyance beaming at him with a massive grin, "Kaden, good news!" Commodore Yarisugu laughed, "We got your promotion to Commander put through after I convinced Vice Admiral Vergo about your strength and potential, congratulations! Let's go hunt some pirates together to celebrate and use them to fish for giant sharks for dinner tomorrow!"

".....Fuck you." After a long awkward silence, Kaden growled out a cuss and slammed the door shut in the mans face.

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The next morning, around the time Kaden was originally supposed to have been leaving the shitty island G5 was stationed on behind and moving on with his quest to get good with the power of a dragon-

He was instead still there, and currently in a very bad mood. Right now, instead of moon walking his way across the sky towards Punk Hazard, he was instead smashing his bandaged fists over and over again into the front of a massive marine battleship.

His fists stung mightily and his bandages seeped with blood, but Kaden was too annoyed to pay it any attention and just kept hammering his bloody fists into the front of the giant ship over and over again.

'How do I use this?' his thoughts swirled around that one notion. His abrupt promotion that he hadn't been taking seriously at all when that queerly dressed fucker had brought it up, yet found foisted upon him within less than a literal day.

It made no fucking sense that it was approved of so fast. Unless Marineford HQ just had a standard of putting through promotions for G5 without putting much thought behind it.

…Which sounded depressingly on point.