Night gradually fell.
Mo Xingchen returned to Dragon's little courtyard. When he opened the door, he saw Dragon sitting in the living room reading. Taking a closer look, he had to admit that the kid was truly diligent, still studying military knowledge so late at night.
"You're back, Brother Mo."
Dragon looked up at him and greeted him.
"Sorry, Dragon. I had a few drinks with Kuzan and the others, so I got back a little late. Here... I bought you a little gift!"
"Thanks, Brother!" Dragon happily accepted it with both hands and thanked him.
"Mm... it's nothing. It's too late tonight, so we won't train today. Don't stay up reading either. Get some rest early. I'm going to bed first."
"Mm, got it."
Early the next morning, Mo Xingchen got up, grabbed the hat he had bought yesterday, and knocked on Garp's door.
"Xingchen, have you eaten? Come have some with me."
The moment he entered, Garp invited him to breakfast. Mo Xingchen did not stand on ceremony. He sat down and dug in, handing over the bag as he ate.
"Mm... not yet... I bought this hat for you yesterday... while I was out shopping... Try it on."
Hearing that there was a gift, Garp beamed and accepted it. He opened the box, saw the dog-head hat inside, and happily put it on.
"Yo hahahahaha! This old man is very satisfied! If that brat Dragon were as sensible as you, that would be wonderful!"
"That kid... is pretty good too."
"Mm, eat first. Afterward, I'll take you to meet some old friends of mine. If you ever get into trouble in the future, you'll need them to lend you a hand."
After breakfast, Garp put on the dog-head hat and headed out with Mo Xingchen toward the Office Building at Marine Headquarters. Before long, they arrived outside an office. Garp pushed the door open and walked in.
"Yo hahahahaha! Little Tsuru, what do you think of my hat?"
Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had been working, set down the document in her hand and glanced up at Garp. Her lips curled in disdain, her face full of disgust, before she began sizing up Mo Xingchen behind him.
Garp casually walked over to the sofa and plopped down. Mo Xingchen closed the door behind him, then turned to find Vice Admiral Tsuru looking at him. He straightened his back and saluted.
"Reporting to Vice Admiral Tsuru, I am Vice Admiral Garp's communications officer, Mo Xingchen, with the rank of captain!"
"Oh? So you're the recruit who defeated Kuzan. Garp has mentioned you before. Mm, you're quite a spirited young man. Not bad!"
Vice Admiral Tsuru put down her paperwork, rose, and sat down on the sofa as well. She began preparing tea, then gestured for Mo Xingchen to come over.
"Come sit. No need to be so formal. Although you're only a captain now, Garp thinks very highly of you. He practically wants to take you as his disciple. And your own strength is considerable, so I can't treat you like an ordinary recruit."
Mo Xingchen was the sort who knew how to take an inch when given one, so he sat down without ceremony and said with a grin.
"Hehe, Sister Tsuru, you're making me embarrassed. Uncle Garp has praised you to me so many times!"
"That bastard with a dog's mouth that can't spit out ivory would praise me? More likely he'd insult me."
Vice Admiral Tsuru poured the hot tea, clearly unconvinced.
"It's true. He praised you for being young, beautiful, and resourceful. He said that whenever he and Admiral Sengoku did something stupid, you were the one who cleaned up after them!"
Mo Xingchen spoke with complete seriousness. His sincere gaze, paired with his handsome face, made Vice Admiral Tsuru burst into laughter.
"You smooth-talking brat. I'm already old, yet you're still calling me young and beautiful. Honestly... From now on, I'll call you Xingchen too, like Garp does."
Though Vice Admiral Tsuru said that, the smile on her face made it obvious to anyone that she was very fond of this strong, polite, and eloquent young man.
Just then, the office door opened again, and two burly men walked in.
"Brat! I heard you slandering me the moment I came through the door! What punishment do you deserve?"
It was Admirals Sengoku and Zephyr. Mo Xingchen awkwardly stood and saluted. He had never expected praising someone would lead to this. His toes began digging a house into the floor.
"Admiral Sengoku, Admiral Zephyr!"
"Hahahahahahahaha..."
The four high-ranking Marines saw Mo Xingchen's red-faced, embarrassed expression and laughed heartily without a shred of dignity. Finally, Vice Admiral Tsuru spoke up.
"That's enough, Sengoku. Stop teasing Xingchen. If you laugh him out of the Marines, Garp will beat you up."
At that, everyone burst into laughter again. Mo Xingchen silently thought, These four middle-aged and elderly people have no sense of martial ethics, ganging up to bully a pure and upright young man like me. I was careless—there was no dodge!
"All right, all right, Xingchen, sit down too." Zephyr smoothed things over, then turned on Garp. "You old bastard, I looked for you all day yesterday and couldn't catch you. This term is about to graduate. You have to let Xingchen join next term's Training Camp."
"Yo hahahahaha! Look, everyone, this old fellow is getting anxious! Zephyr, it's not that I won't let Xingchen join your Training Camp. The main thing is that his strength has already reached the level of a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral. You know as well as I do that once one's strength reaches this point, training alone can no longer improve it. Rather than let him waste two years in the Training Camp, it would be more useful for him to follow me outside and gain real experience for a few years." Garp laughed and spoke smugly.
"But the Training Camp doesn't only improve strength. There's also the bond between classmates and comrades-in-arms. With those connections, Xingchen's path to promotion will be much easier in the future."
Zephyr truly had Mo Xingchen's best interests at heart. He sincerely liked this promising seedling and wanted to teach him properly, his face full of anxiety.
The other three understood Zephyr's unspoken meaning. The Elite Training Camp truly offered enormous help with promotions. Basically, those who graduated from it eventually attained the rank of Major General or above. They said there were three unbreakable bonds in life: studying together, carrying a gun together, and doing that thing together... Now imagine that all your future classmates were Major Generals, Vice Admirals, or even Admirals! Damn... that network of connections.
Besides, the Marines were such a massive organization, with interests tied up in every possible direction, so factions existed within the Marines. And at this point, signs of them had already begun to emerge: the Dove faction led by Sengoku, the Hawks led by Kong, and some neutral factions aligned with neither side, though they had no leader yet. If you did not have a faction backing you, then even if you became an Admiral, you would have no voice within the Marines and no one under your command.
Just look at Fujitora and Ryokugyu, who came up through the Great Conscription after Sengoku retired. They might have been called Admirals, but in truth they were merely the Marines' hired muscle. Fujitora was assigned only one warship of ordinary soldiers, probably not even fully staffed. He did not have a single higher-ranking Field Officer, nor did he have a base. In the end, Sakazuki even directly forbade him from returning to the new Marine Headquarters or attending internal Marine meetings. That basically meant that everything within the Marines had nothing to do with him!
Ryokugyu was the same, going straight to Mary Geoise to become the Celestial Dragons' security guard. Just look at that treatment, that say in matters! If only Gion and Kake had been a little more capable, there would have been no place for those two!
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