Momonga: I Don't Want to Be Left Too Far Behind!

Early in the morning, before the fog on the sea had even dissipated, a warship slowly docked at the port.

Immediately afterwards, Vice Admiral Hoshigaki stepped off the warship, looked at the misty island, and sighed, "The Admiral is truly upright and honest. He can live here in such a barren and desolate place."

After muttering a self-deprecating remark, Hoshigaki didn't linger and headed towards the small two-story building on the island.

However, before they had gone more than a few steps, they saw a figure running and exercising in the mist. At that moment, a sea breeze blew by, dispersing the mist in the distance and revealing the Momonga's figure exercising.

"Momonga!" Hoshigaki called out happily as soon as he saw his old friend, the Momonga.

The sweating flying Momonga looked over in surprise after hearing the sound of the Hoshigaki, and after confirming the location, it ran over with a smile.

"Long time no see, Momonga! I didn't expect you to still be so diligent. It's not even fully light yet, and you've already started exercising?" Hoshigaki didn't mind the sweat on the Momonga's body and gave him a warm hug.

The Momonga casually took off the towel from his neck, wiped away the sweat, and then sighed, "G-5 is different from other bases. This place is full of monsters. An ordinary Marines like me has to train twice as hard to avoid being... left too far behind."

To be honest, among the Vice Admiral admirals in the Marines, Momonga is actually quite outstanding.

But there are too many monsters in G-5. Ortolan goes without saying, Issho is ridiculously strong, Gion and Kajiki are at least Admiral Candidate. This directly resulted in Momonga being at the bottom of the group.

He could only bully those like Smoker who hadn't fully grown up yet.

Therefore, the pressure on his strength is enormous. As long as he has no duties, he will definitely spend all his time on training to improve his strength. Even so, the Momonga admits that he can't catch up with those monsters and can only be considered... not falling too far behind.

Of course, growth in strength doesn't happen overnight. The other monsters, one by one, won't let their guard down either, because their leader, Ortolan, is always pushing them to their limits.

Unlike Momonga, Ortolan doesn't exercise every morning. His schedule is not fixed, but there are always times when he has free time during the day, and at those times, people can occasionally see Ortolan exercising.

This has led to a rather strange situation: Tianyi saw it at noon, Tomorrow's Kajiki saw it in the afternoon, and the Momonga saw it in the morning. Individually, it's not a big deal, but when the group of them sit down and talk about it, it seems as if Ortolan is a construction maniac who has to go and construct whenever he has free time!

This put immense pressure on them from the sidelines, creating a competitive atmosphere.

"Since the pressure to improve your strength is so great, why not choose to become a Devil Fruit user? Before I came to headquarters, Gion mentioned that the Admiral is very fond of you and has prepared quite a few powerful Devil Fruit. Just say the word and you can choose any one." Hoshigaki raised an eyebrow and said with a smile.

The flying Momonga draped a towel over its shoulder and stretched. "Sigh, speaking of which, lately I've been wavering on this matter... Before, I didn't eat Devil Fruit because I always felt a sense of unease, believing that I could become stronger even without external help. But now..."

At this point, a hint of helplessness flashed in the Momonga's eyes.

Hoshigaki casually asked Yu, "What's going on now?"

"Now, I finally admit it. There really is a huge gap between people that exists from birth... and this gap cannot be bridged by my efforts alone." The Momonga sighed.

Many people think that hard work is really no match for talent.

In reality, most people's level of effort is far from reaching the point where talent matters, and the real gap only begins to widen when that level is reached.

The Momonga can now understand this feeling. He has worked hard enough to reach the point where talent matters, and thus he can see the difference clearly.

Fortunately, in this world, there are at least Devil Fruit, which can somewhat bridge the gap called 'talent'.

"I see..." Hoshigaki looked at the Momonga's stressed expression and patted him on the shoulder. "When you came to G-5 with the Admiral, I was a little envious. Now it seems you're not having an easy time here either... Away from the Admiral, you don't feel as much pressure. Look at me, I used to work at the Paradise, and it felt so easy..."

As Hoshigaki said this, he felt a little emotional. Perhaps nowadays, he was no longer a match for the Momonga?

"I heard that after the Admiral, you will be sent out to be a base commander?" Hoshigaki asked again.

"Yes, G-12, it's basically confirmed. He just communicated with Sakazuki a couple of days ago. After Sakazuki takes care of things with G-12 and transfers the personnel, I'll go and fill the position." Momonga nodded.

After receiving a definite answer from the Momonga, Hoshigaki continued, "Then you'll be able to leave this vortex of pressure and relax a bit..."

"No, that won't happen." The Momonga shook its head and said seriously, "At that time, I'll have to shoulder the responsibility of an entire base all by myself. The New World is not a place to play around. Leaving Ortolan's side will only make things more dangerous, not to mention..."

"What else?" Hoshigaki couldn't help but ask, looking at the Momonga's resolute gaze.

"Besides..." the Momonga said in a deep voice, "Besides, that guy is a man I firmly believe can change the world! So I want to follow behind him and change this terrible world together, therefore, I absolutely cannot fall behind!!!"

"Change the world!?" Hoshigaki looked at the Momonga with surprise. He could hear the power in the Momonga's words. He wasn't just talking nonsense; he really believed it!

Suddenly, Hoshigaki realized that he hadn't seen the Momonga for years, and his former friend was now completely incomprehensible to him.

The Momonga smiled with a relaxed expression and looked at Hoshigaki, saying, "Hoshigaki, you haven't worked under Ortolan before. There are many things you can't imagine. I can only say that the G-5 Marines... no, from now on it should be described like this... the Marines of the New World, it's the Marines of the New World, different from the navies of other places!"

"I don't understand what you mean..." Hoshigaki scratched his head and said.

"Don't worry, you'll gradually understand why I said Ortolan would be the man who changes the world... Experience the changes in this New World. At first, you'll question it like I did, even doubt justice and him. Later, you might become numb. But I think you'll understand soon: a disease needs drastic medicine. Without madness, there is no life. This world is too corrupt, so only a truly madman can truly turn the tide!" The Momonga said with a somewhat fanatical look in his eyes.

Seeing this, Hoshigaki was shocked. What was going on?

That initial fervor dissipated rapidly, and the Momonga quickly returned to normal, laughing as it said, "Well, there's really no point in me saying all this; you'll have to see it for yourself..."

Go and see for yourself the mighty army of G-5, go and see the Shipbuilding Island where warships are being continuously launched, go and see for yourself the latest weapons equipped in everyone's hands, go and see for yourself... how prosperous this New World, known as the most ferocious sea, is within the jurisdiction of G-5!

Language may not be able to change people's thoughts, but reality certainly will!

"No, it has meaning..." Hoshigaki looked at the Momonga and retorted, then said with a smile, "Now I'm not curious about what you've said, curious... what kind of magic did the Admiral use to turn you into this state?"

"If you're curious, you'll also be affected by this magic, the Hoshigaki," the Momonga laughed.

After laughing, the Momonga looked at the small two-story building not far away and said, "Although I had wavered before, after seeing you today, I can finally make up my mind. Hoshigaki... I want to become a power user. I need to become stronger!"

Hoshigaki was stunned for a moment, then, both amused and annoyed, he cursed, "You bastard, what do you mean? Are you using me as a negative example?"

"No, I can't really explain why. It's just that I suddenly saw a dear friend I hadn't seen in a long time, and for some reason, I gained some power. This power ultimately made me make up my mind." The Momonga shook its head with a smile.

Hearing this, Hoshigaki stopped cursing and swearing. He raised his hand, scratched his head again, and chuckled, "You know what, I feel the same way. After seeing you... I inexplicably feel like I have more strength!"

The Momonga chuckled, saying nothing more, and pulled Hoshigaki's arm, saying, "Come on, this place isn't developed yet, the conditions aren't great. I'll find you a room so you can rest. Ortolan probably hasn't woken up yet..."

"Huh? Back when we were at headquarters, wasn't he more diligent than both of us?" Hoshigaki asked in surprise.

"He used to be just a regular soldier with nothing to do, so he was naturally diligent. Now he's incredibly busy every day, so what's wrong with letting him take a good rest?" The Momonga instinctively defended Ortolan.

The two friends, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, left chatting and laughing.