Chapter 46

There is a system that lets you grow stronger by signing in, and a permanent buff called the True Meaning of a Thousand Hammerings that shortens cultivation time.

He had great confidence in the speed of his own power growth.

This time, fighting Karp at full strength brought him great gains; after fully digesting and absorbing it, his power might climb another level.

"Old Man Karp, I just want to know one thing."

"What?"

Karp crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed by being called "Old Man Karp," but since the boy said he wouldn't become a pirate, he decided not to care.

"What level would you say my strength is, roughly, on the Grand Line?"

Luo En asked him.

"Well…"

Karp crossed his arms and thought before saying: "You're not a Devil Fruit user, and you don't use Haki—but your physical strength far exceeds others', and combined with your swordsmanship and your spontaneous slashes… in my view, your strength is about equal to a pirate with a bounty of two or three million Berries."

"In the Marines, that's roughly equivalent to a Headquarters Colonel. I know a Natural Fruit user named Smoker—he just graduated from the Marine Academy—and your current strength is about the same as his."

"But if you actually fought him, you probably wouldn't win."

"So I still lack Haki, huh…"

Luo En thought to himself.

He glanced at Karp before him; if only Karp could teach him Haki, that would be best.

It seemed Karp sensed his thoughts.

Karp winked and grinned at him: "If you want me to teach you to grow stronger, you must become my disciple and join the Marines."

Luo En gripped Lei Qie and turned to walk away.

In the following period of time,

every time Luo En trained with Ace and Luffy, Karp would show up.

Luo En still wanted to fight him a few more times, but Karp stubbornly insisted he'd only teach if Luo En became his disciple and joined the Marines, which infuriated him.

He would occasionally offer advice to Guina's swordsmanship and footwork right in front of Luo En.

One wanted to learn, the other wanted to teach, yet they silently clashed over the issue of whether or not to join the Marines.

Even so,

Karp and Luo En sometimes drank together at Machino's bar.

When the tall old man and the small boy sat side by side at the counter, they were truly eye-catching.

Every time Machino saw the two drunken old and young men sitting shoulder to shoulder, calling each other brothers, she couldn't help but smile.

One evening,

after finishing training with Ace and Luffy, Karp called Luo En over to his side.

Luo En sat beside him.

"What do you want?"

Karp, wearing a flowered shirt, sat cross-legged beside him, his usual grin gone; he looked at Luo En seriously:

"Luo En, I want to know why you don't want to join the Marines—is it really because of Sabo?"

"Sort of," Luo En said softly. "To me, the Marines' so-called justice is a heavy chain. Good and evil in this world can no longer be defined or separated by Marines and pirates."

"You're right. I didn't expect someone so young to have such insight."

Karp pulled out a rice cracker from his pocket. "Want a rice cracker?"

Luo En reached out his hand.

Karp reluctantly handed him one.

The two ate rice crackers together.

Karp chewed as he spoke: "Every Marine carries a personal sense of justice they wish to protect—each different, some stubborn, some rigid, but overall good. Yet among pirates, only a small fraction are special; the vast majority are wicked, evil men who have committed countless crimes!"

Crunch. Crunch.

Karp chewed his rice cracker loudly, turned his head to Luo En, and said: "I'm furious about Sabo too. I know those World Nobles are trash. But on this matter, I'm powerless. Because those trash World Nobles stand atop order—if that order is broken, the entire world will descend into chaos, unleashing a storm that swallows everything, even a small place like Windmill Village won't be spared."

"But I hope for change in the future—change brought by young Marines of tomorrow, not by pirates shattering order and triggering a storm that overturns the world."

Karp's gaze fixed on Luo En, utterly serious.

"Luo En, your potential is immense—greater than anyone I've ever seen. Your future is incalculable. I sincerely hope you become the hand that drives change in this world."

"So join the Marines!"

Luo En lowered his head, eating the rice cracker in silence for a long time.

"Whether I join the Marines or not—I'll decide based on what I see with my own eyes."

"What do you mean?"

He looked up at Karp, grinned, and said something that left Karp stunned.

"Do the Marines take interns?"

38, Admiral Sakazuki Can't Stay Calm (2/5)

One month later.

Marine Headquarters.

Marineford.

"Interns… of the Marines?"

Sakazuki was stunned.

Do the Marines even have interns?

"Pirate ships have interns—why don't the Marines?"

Karp, draped in his Marine justice cloak, sat beside him, munching on a donut. "That kid said exactly that."

"Hu Nao! How can our Navy be the same as those pirates?"

Zhan Guo said irritably.

"Zhan Guo, you disagree?"

Ka Pu narrowed his eyes.

Zhan Guo looked at Ka Pu with the gaze one would give an idiot: "Of course I disagree. How could our Navy possibly set up a Navy intern position that has never existed before, just for a ten-year-old kid?! Ka Pu, did you fry your brain eating doughnuts?"

Ka Pu stuffed a doughnut into his mouth, his gaze slanting toward Zhan Guo behind the desk: "And here I was, saying a whole bunch of good things about the Navy in front of that kid. If he doesn't end up joining the Navy because of this, Zhan Guo, don't you dare regret it later."

"Me, regret? I'm the Navy Admiral. Tell me, has any decision I've ever made been one I regretted?"

Zhan Guo rose, slammed the desk, and said angrily to Ka Pu: "It's you who's always giving me nothing but trouble. You don't go capture pirates either. You only had a ten-day vacation, yet you went back to visit your grandson for a whole month. And now you want to change the Navy's rules for some kid who popped out of nowhere, copying the pirates with some intern nonsense…"

Ka Pu picked at his nose and said: "I wasn't here, and nothing major happened, did it?"

Zhan Guo was so furious his head smoked. He shot out from behind the desk, snatched the doughnut from Ka Pu's hand, and stuffed the whole thing into his own mouth.

"Ah, my doughnut… Zhan Guo, you bastard!"

Ka Pu stared at the empty bag and clenched his fist.

"Get going and capture some pirates, Vice Admiral Ka Pu."

Zhan Guo said, slanting a glance at him.

"Pulling rank on me now, are you?"

"Is that not allowed?"

Their gazes collided.

Ka Pu snorted coldly and strode toward the door.

Before stepping out, he paused, turned his head, and glanced back at Zhan Guo behind the desk:

"I had a fight with that kid Luo En."

"Oh? So?"

Zhan Guo didn't even look up.

"So I know his strength." Ka Pu said, picking at his nose: "He's not a Devil Fruit user, but his strength is absolutely no less than that of Smoker, the natural-type Devil Fruit user who just graduated from the Navy Academy this year."

Zhan Guo, who had been about to handle some documents, suddenly stood up from behind the desk and stared at Ka Pu in utter shock:

"Ka Pu, what did you just say?"

"What, you didn't hear me?"

Ka Pu picked at his nose, turned his head, and grinned at Zhan Guo, who was staring in shock behind him. "What, getting old and your ears aren't working either?"

"You're saying that kid's strength is no less than Smoker's?!"

Zhan Guo, no longer in the mood to banter with Ka Pu, asked urgently.