Chapter 56

East Blue, Shimotsuki Village.

A green-algae-headed kid was holding two wooden training swords and slashing wildly at the target in front, only stopping when he was drenched in sweat.

"Hoo, hoo~"

"Senior Brother Zoro! Come and see the newspaper quickly! There is news about the World's Greatest Swordsman today!"

Zoro, who was panting heavily, had his pupils shrink, and he ran over and snatched the newspaper.

"The day before yesterday, Navy Colonel Karl and the World's Greatest Swordsman Hawkeye Mihawk competed in swordsmanship on Scrap Island in Water 7..."

"Although Colonel Karl and Hawkeye Mihawk were both injured, they did not distinguish between victory and defeat..."

Zoro read the content of the newspaper silently, looking at the photo of Karl and Mihawk in the newspaper, and the desire to become stronger became more intense.

"Hawkeye Mihawk, Navy Colonel Karl......"

"I really want to fight them soon! Kuina..."

It's just a pity that this call could no longer get a response. Kuina had died two years ago after falling down the stairs.

Navy Headquarters.

Sengoku frowned as he looked at the report in the newspaper. How could Mihawk, a Warlord of the Sea, attack Karl? How dare he attack the navy?

Thinking of some recent intelligence about the Warlords of the Sea, an idea gradually emerged in Sengoku's heart.

"Speaking of which, this group of Warlords of the Sea was full last year. It's time for them to 'get together'!"

After the words fell, Sengoku took out the Den Den Mushi specifically used to contact the Five Elders from a hidden place.

Karl, who shone brightly in the operation to capture Kaido last time, only appeared in the internal newspaper of the navy, and the influence was limited to the navy.

But now, Karl's handsome face appeared on the world-wide newspaper for the first time, immediately causing a strong reaction.

What made Karl cry and laugh was that he didn't become famous because of fighting Hawkeye, but because of his unparalleled appearance.

Busybodies even put his photo together with the world's number one beauty, Boa Hancock, calling him the world's number one handsome man.

This made Karl not dare to land on islands at will now, otherwise he would face women whose eyes turned green when they saw him.

Karl was also puzzled! Before he was in the newspaper, they would at most look secretly! Now they look at him undisguisedly, wishing they could strip his clothes off.

Could this be the celebrity effect?

On the sea, a warship moved slowly forward.

Karl wore sunglasses, was shirtless, and wore beach shorts and the symbol of a big shot—flip-flops, lying comfortably on a chair, with a parasol next to him.

"Colonel, this is the juice sent from the kitchen."

"Oh~ ah... put it here!"

Karl stretched, yawned, and looked at the distant sea with sleepy eyes. This is what life is called!

If there are pirates, fight pirates; if there are no pirates, take a vacation. And you still get paid, it's so comfortable~

"Colonel, this is the intelligence sent from Headquarters. Why does it feel Move Move Like there are more tasks recently?"

Karl naturally knew the reason, but there was no need to tell Nelson. He shrugged and said: "Forget it! Anyway, there are only more tasks during this period."

"Alright, don't disturb my sleep, call me if anything happens!"

"Yes, sir."

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the end of the year is approaching, and Karl has also been slacking off for more than two months.

"Ding! The cumulative slacking time has reached 500 hours, and the first stage of [Career Mission - King of Slacking] has been completed."

"Reward: Advanced designated attribute enhancement card * 10, [Armament Haki: Emission] skill card * 1"

Karl grinned: "Use all enhancement cards to enhance perception."

After the enhancement was completed, Karl's attributes were as follows.

Host: Karl

Age: 24

Physique: B

Perception: B-

Will: B+

Haki: Armament Haki LV6 (Hardening, Infusion, Emission), Observation Haki LV5

Special abilities: [Still as a Virgin], [Moving as a Rabbit], [Child of the Sea], [Swordsmanship LV3]

Holy Light Fruit: 23.6% (Awakening progress)

Active skills: Weak as a Willow (usable), Shadow Vision (used)."

Karl's strength was still steadily improving, especially in Haki and swordsmanship, progressing rapidly.

"Colonel! We have arrived at Marineford, please give instructions!"

"Hmm, then, dismiss! Have a good rest!"

"Yes, sir!"

After following Karl for two months, Nelson had grown a lot, at least he didn't have to come to Karl for everything.

Karl patted Nelson on the shoulder, turned and left, and walked straight to the Marshal's office.

Knock, knock, knock~

"Come in!"

Karl walked into the Marshal's office, nodded and smiled at Staff Officer Tsuru on the side, then sat on the side, quietly being a handsome man.

"Karl, you did a great job in these two months. 4 pirate crews with bounties over 100 million were easily taken down by you. Your efficiency is really high!"

Karl was stunned. Is this efficiency considered high? Then how slow is the efficiency of others?

Thinking carefully, Karl felt it might be because he was relatively lazy. He gave up on those pirate crews with little intelligence and infrequent activities, and specifically targeted those jumping pirate crews. How could the efficiency not be high?

He wouldn't be Move Move Like the future Smoker, chasing a straw hat from the East Blue all the way to the New World.

"Everything is for justice!"

Sengoku and Tsuru looked at each other and nodded. Sengoku took out an official document from the drawer and handed it to Karl.

With a faint smile on his face: "Congratulations, Karl, from now on, you are a Rear Admiral of the Navy Headquarters!"

"Ding! Detected that the host's rank has been promoted from Colonel to Rear Admiral, obtaining a jump-level reward: Special designated attribute enhancement card * 3."

"Daily mission rewards changed to 7 designated attribute enhancement cards + random rewards * 4 (can be stored), and the probability of obtaining rare rewards increased to 7%."

Karl's face was happy, he took the official document from Sengoku's hand, and felt beautiful in his heart.

"Rear Admiral Karl."

"Here!"

Sengoku shook his head with a smile and handed a document to Karl. Seeing the headline starting with Warlord of the Sea, Karl frowned: "Marshal Sengoku, this is..."

"That's right, I didn't agree with it, but under the pressure of the World Government, I didn't say much. But recently their behavior has been a bit excessive, and you should have a deep understanding of this."

Originally, Sengoku turned a blind eye to the behavior of the Warlords of the Sea, as long as they were peaceful and didn't go too far.

But Karl's two experiences with the Warlords of the Sea sounded an alarm for Sengoku. Obviously, some Warlords of the Sea didn't take the navy seriously at all.

Karl nodded hurriedly. Isn't that so! Especially that Mihawk, his heart is very bad. Look at how dedicated Moria is; he killed so many of his zombies, and he didn't dare to take action against us.

"So I plan to gather all the Warlord members to come to Marineford for a meeting during the World Conference, and your task is to 'invite' one of the Warlords of the Sea to come to Marineford."

To tell the truth, except for having to accept the mandatory summons of the World Government and paying a certain amount of income to the government, the Warlords of the Sea usually act freely and are not interfered with by the government at all.

Even if he is the Navy Marshal, he cannot mobilize these Warlords of the Sea at will, so Sengoku worked hard for this summons order and spent a lot of effort to get the approval of the World Government.

After thinking about it again and again, Karl nodded. It was indeed a challenging task.

"Marshal Sengoku, tell me! Who am I going to invite?"