Chapter 212: 16th Marine Branch

"Is this something worth praising?!"

A group of Marines couldn't stand it anymore and started complaining, yet Garp didn't care at all, scratching his head and laughing out loud.

"You bastard, you idiot, go to hell!"

Just as the atmosphere on the ship was gradually devolving into absurdity, with a loud shout, the escorted Colonel Morgan suddenly broke free from his restraints, raised his massive axe-hand, and swung it directly down at the foolishly grinning Garp.

With a soft *clang*, the giant axe struck Garp's chest, but as a layer of black Armament Haki spread across Garp's chest, Morgan's axe was shattered into two pieces by the impact.

Clearly, facing a sober Garp, Morgan was no longer qualified to hold the title of Axe-Hand. It seemed Morgan's attack had slightly brought Garp back to his senses, and as if reminded, this Marine Hero clenched his fist and instinctively threw a punch.

With a loud *boom*, poor Morgan was struck in the chest; his eyes bulged, blood sprayed wildly from his mouth, and a terrifying force surged out from behind him, carving a storm-tossed path across the sea that refused to calm for a long time.

Morgan hung from Garp's fist, his whole body going limp, eyes rolling back, mouth twisted, blood dripping out. Garp flicked his fist, and the guy fell onto the deck like a pile of rotten meat.

After seeing this punch from Garp, Nami's legs trembled, her head was covered in cold sweat, and even her teeth were chattering as she squeezed out a smile:

"Um... we probably recognized the wrong person, hehehe... the guy who broke our ship must have been lying to us, he actually doesn't have anything to do with Mr. Garp..."

Garp picked his nose, flicked the booger away, wiped his hand on the unconscious Morgan, and said nonchalantly:

"How is that possible? Besides that brat Luffy, there isn't a second guy in the East Blue who wears a straw hat and causes so much trouble!"

Why are you so confident in your grandson's ability to cause trouble! You are a Marine Hero, the son you raised is the world's most heinous criminal, and the grandson you raised wants to be the Pirate King—how can you put on such a proud expression!

Nami felt her mentality completely collapse, and she finally recalled the words Uchiha Feiyu had said to her back then:

When you truly see that guy Garp, you'll know why I said he doesn't have an ounce of airs.

No matter how noble the status, no matter how incomparably powerful the strength, if the person possessing them has the personality of a clown, no one will think they have any dignity.

"You even know your grandson can cause trouble! Then hurry up and pay me back! That's the money to buy back Cocoyasi Village from the Arlong Pirates!"

While Nami was still in a state of disarray, Uchiha Feiyu had already walked up to Garp again to confront him. Garp scratched his head, showing a troubled expression:

"Alright, how much money exactly? I'll help that brat pay it... wait!? What did you say? You want to buy back Cocoyasi Village from a pirate crew!??"

"That's right, is there a problem? Isn't that the good work of you Marines? That Colonel Rat from the 16th Marine Branch said that Arlong belongs to the Seven Warlords of the Sea and they have no jurisdiction, telling us to just honestly pay the money."

"What exactly is going on?!! Tell me about it!"

In that instant, Garp's face turned completely black, and he reached out and patted Uchiha Feiyu on the shoulder, making him feel as if half his body had gone numb.

The Dog-Head Warship, which should have returned to Marine Headquarters, made a wide turn in the East Blue and headed toward the 16th Marine Branch.

And on the warship, after just hearing about the 16th Marine Branch and Arlong, the furious Garp was now training Uchiha Feiyu.

Don't think that whenever people talk about the most famous training instructor in the Marines, everyone thinks of Zephyr; in fact, this old man Garp also has a bit of a penchant for teaching.

Fun fact—besides Zephyr, Garp is also a famous instructor at the Marine training camp; it can be said that apart from his two grandsons, many other Marines were trained by him to become talented.

"Very good, not bad, very spirited!! You kid still have a bit of potential!"

On the deck, the blood in Uchiha Feiyu's body flowed rapidly, his figure flashed and disappeared, constantly attacking Garp, yet Garp only threw a few casual punches and sent Uchiha Feiyu flying back.

"Tsk, you learned all the Six Powers so quickly; I didn't expect you kid to be a genius."

Watching Uchiha Feiyu, who had been knocked to the ground, climb back up, Garp was laughing on the surface, but in his heart, he was already shocked.

As the basic martial arts of the Marines, the Six Powers are not difficult to learn if one's physique is up to par, but they are by no means easy.

Especially since Uchiha Feiyu's physique had only just reached the passing line for practicing the Six Powers, and he wasn't the type whose physique was far stronger than the average user, which made it even more commendable.

Although pirates who learn the Six Powers after just one look or one battle often appear on the sea, that is because their physical fitness is too strong—brute force overcoming technique—which greatly lowers the difficulty of learning the Six Powers.

For someone whose physical fitness just barely meets the requirements for practicing the Six Powers, one generally must fully understand the techniques of the Six Powers and engage in long-term, diligent practice to truly use them with ease.

That Uchiha Feiyu could break this convention can only be said to be because his understanding of his own body far exceeds that of ordinary people, and at the same time, his learning ability and cultivation talent have reached a shocking height.

This brat, he feels like he has potential! With more training, he might just be a candidate for a Marine Admiral!

Thinking of this, Garp looked at the standing Uchiha Feiyu and asked:

"Hey, kid, do you want to join the Marines?"

Regarding Garp's question, Uchiha Feiyu seemed prepared and shook his head directly:

"I don't want to join; the Marines have too many rules and too many restrictions."

"What kind of talk is that? As a young person, you should train more in the barracks so you can shine for the cause of justice in the future..."

"And then turn into a stubborn old man like you? I heard that Marshal Sengoku has a good relationship with you; he must eat a lot of blood pressure medication, right!"

"Uh... does Sengoku eat blood pressure medication?"

Garp turned his head and asked his adjutant; the Marine Swordmaster named Bogard blinked, looking hesitant.

The old man didn't think much of it and turned his head back to look at Uchiha Feiyu:

"Look at me, I haven't been under any restrictions in the Marines..."

"Hehe... then why don't you go be a Marine Admiral?"

Uchiha Feiyu gave Garp a look of disdain, making Garp scratch his head:

"Young people these days are really hard to fool... *cough cough*, they really have no sense of justice. Back when I was young..."

Uchiha Feiyu didn't care at all what Garp was like when he was young; anyway, if you teach me to cultivate, I'll learn, but if you want me to join the Marines, that's absolutely impossible.

However, Garp didn't seem to have any obsession with this aspect; just looking at how he educated his two grandsons, one could see that this old guy didn't have any intention of forcing others—although he was always idle, eating, sleeping, and beating up kids, saying he wanted to train them into the strongest Marines, in reality, Garp's actual approach was closer to letting them be.

Otherwise, if he had just brought the two little ones to Marine Headquarters, wouldn't they have naturally become Marines after a few years of influence? Is that really so difficult?

The reason Garp didn't do that can only be said to be that he didn't really care about the choices of the younger generation; many times, this Marine Hero's actions were quite contradictory.

No way around it, who told the profession of Marine to be born as a lackey for the World Government?

When Garp was young, his rank was low and his strength was high, so this feeling wasn't very clear.

By the time Garp achieved fame and success, his status in the Marines rose step by step, and at the same time, he was increasingly constrained by the World Government; to say he had no resentment toward the stance of the World Government and the Marines would be the real strange thing.

This contradictory feeling was the root of why this Marine Hero's education of his grandson was so rough. At the same time, facing Uchiha Feiyu, a stranger, although Garp had the idea of pulling him into the Marines, he wasn't very proactive in his actions.

After learning a little from Garp, Uchiha Feiyu completely mastered the Six Powers during the battle—in fact, he already had some experience in practicing the Blood Scripture, and combined with his current talent, learning the Six Powers was even easier than Uchiha Feiyu had imagined.

Even with Armament Haki and Observation Haki, Uchiha Feiyu now had some insights, he just hadn't displayed them in front of Garp.

After all, having endured several Iron Fist of Love from Garp, each punch containing a certain amount of Haki, Uchiha Feiyu simply hadn't had a concept of this stuff before, which was why he couldn't use it; after taking two punches, he naturally grasped it immediately.

"Vice Admiral Garp, we have arrived at the 16th Marine Branch!"

Just as Uchiha Feiyu was still working hard at learning and training, the voice coming from the lookout interrupted his practice; he raised his head and saw a tiny black dot appear in the distance, which was exactly the location of the 16th Marine Branch base.

"Almost there... is it finally time to settle this?"

Beside Uchiha Feiyu, Nami's hands were clenched tight, her face revealing an expression that was both excited and filled with a bit of trepidation; Uchiha Feiyu gently patted her shoulder twice and spoke:

"Rest assured, a mere Marine Branch, plus an Arlong Pirate crew, added together, aren't even enough for two of Vice Admiral Garp's fists."

Just kidding, let alone trash like Rat and a mere Arlong, even if you dragged Jinbe the Knight of the Sea over, he could at most take one punch from old man Garp; any more than that would be disrespectful to old man Garp.

Although the Pirate King manga has reached this point and old man Garp's invincible myth has long since shattered, at least this guy's strength definitely belongs to the Marine Admiral level, and as everyone knows, there is a huge gap in strength between Marine Admirals and Four Emperors level powerhouses and the levels below them.

The Dog-Head Warship soon approached the 16th Marine Branch, and at this time, the 16th Marine Branch seemed to have also discovered the warship coming from afar; there were already quite a few Marines on the pier, set up in a welcoming formation.

After all, Garp returning to the East Blue wasn't some secret mission, and plus this old man often patrolled the East Blue in the past; although the 16th Marine Branch was a bit surprised by this Marine Hero suddenly descending, they weren't completely without mental preparation.

——Well, a certain Colonel Rat, sweating profusely with trembling legs, indeed had no mental preparation; unlike someone inexperienced like Nami, as a member of the East Blue Marine officers, Colonel Rat knew Vice Admiral Garp's personality very well.

As for the things he had done, as long as they were exposed even a tiny bit, he could welcome a GG ending; perhaps he could even get an IF route of a tour in Impel Down!

In fact, it wasn't just Rat; some of the Marine officers under him were also trembling with fear; compared to the 153rd Marine Branch, the 16th Marine Branch was actually rotten even more thoroughly.

Morgan of the 153rd Marine Branch was also once a hot-blooded Marine, but later, after being put under Hypnosis by Kuro of a Hundred Plans, his personality changed drastically; but honestly, that personality change of his was like having his brain muddled, almost becoming a psychopath who did whatever he wanted.

Because of this, Morgan was not only hated by the residents on the island, but even the Marines under him were extremely disgusted with him; this was the reason why, as soon as Morgan was defeated, he was directly locked in a dungeon by his subordinates.

However, Colonel Rat was different; compared to Morgan, Colonel Rat was much more normal; although he was treacherous, cunning, greedy, and vicious, he had a good sense of his own abilities and what he had done.

So, while using the Arlong Pirate crew to suppress the residents on the island and conveniently collecting bribes from Arlong, he also shared the spoils, dragging the officers and many Marines of the 16th Branch into the water.

After all, Rat had ordinary strength and didn't have the suppressive power over his subordinates that Morgan had; what's more, even Morgan wasn't locked up by subordinates who found an opportunity, and his dirty deeds reported directly to Marine Headquarters?

Luffy's arrival was just a catalyst; with Morgan's style of conduct, getting caught was almost a matter of time.

But Rat was different; because the officers under him also got a piece of the pie, even if the matter exploded, as long as it didn't reach the higher-ups, Rat could still suppress it; in the original work, after this guy was punched away, not only was he not locked in a dungeon like Morgan, but he even took the opportunity to strike back, pinning a 30 million Belly bounty on the Straw Hat Pirates.

Therefore, the 16th Marine Branch could be said to be rotten from top to bottom; even if ordinary Marines didn't collude, it still counted as hiding and abetting; as long as they were investigated, not a single one could end up well.

(End of this chapter)