That's right.
Luo Yi naturally understood this very clearly by now.
The strongest army under the World Government was, of course, the Marines.
But the Marines were definitely not the World Government's only army.
Aside from the Marines, the World Government also had several sizeable elite forces—and the renowned Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies, Steel Bone Kong, was the supreme commander of all of them.
Among them were the Guardians of Nations, responsible for suppressing bandits, garrisoning the territories of the World Government's affiliated nations, and wiping out bandits and members of the Revolutionary Army.
There was also the Sky Guard, responsible for guarding the Western Heavenly Peak and ensuring that the Sky Island routes remained open.
There were also patrol forces specifically responsible for patrolling the Red Line and ensuring Mary Geoise's safety.
The overall strength of these forces was, of course, far inferior to that of the Marines, and few people around the world had heard of them.
Even so, they still had no shortage of powerful fighters.
As for the World Government's direct forces, there was even less need to elaborate—the term clearly referred to the World Government's intelligence agency, Cipher Pol, commonly known as CP.
And according to Smoker, all these forces would send people to participate in this Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament.
So Luo Yi was genuinely astonished at this moment—he had never expected that his use of clones to plunder the Celestial Gold would lead to something like this.
"Phew, yeah."
Smoker exhaled a cloud of smoke before nodding.
"So this tournament is much larger in scale than before, and apparently the rules are also quite unusual."
There was a hint of fighting spirit and excitement in his voice.
"And the rewards are equally astonishing. Although they can't compare to the World Conscription's direct selection of 'Admirals,' I hear that the champion this time can also be promoted to Admiral Candidate by special dispensation!"
"The top five can also be directly promoted to Vice Admiral or Commodore!"
Admiral Candidate—just as the name suggested.
Although their rank remained that of a Division Vice Admiral, they held a special position and could enjoy an Admiral's exclusive title, as well as greater authority.
Moreover, after an Admiral retired, as long as there was no World Conscription for directly selecting a new Admiral, the Admiral Candidates could fill the vacancy and become Admirals.
And as long as a man was a man, he would more or less yearn for fame and power.
Smoker was no exception—he considered his own strength to be far from weak and believed he had what it took to show his abilities in the Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament.
As he said this, he gave Luo Yi a glance.
"Hey, you're not planning to promote yourself to Commodore or Vice Admiral and then make me your adjutant, are you?"
Luo Yi immediately sensed his sinister intentions.
"Phew, I don't necessarily have to do that."
Smoker did not deny that he had indeed considered it. "After all, this is the Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament. There'll definitely be an extraordinary number of monsters participating."
"Don't worry. I absolutely won't let you place in the top three."
Luo Yi declared this decisively.
Smoker sneered when he heard that. "If you can do it, try."
Just as the two of them were bickering—
"Senior Smoker."
A voice suddenly rang out.
Luo Yi came back to his senses and realized that he had unknowingly arrived at a Marine training ground.
There were quite a number of patrolling Marines around them. They moved in neat formations and looked like elite soldiers.
The one who had spoken was a man.
He wore a ninja outfit, had extremely long arms and legs, held a tree branch in one hand, and carried a green Nodachi and a massive kunai on his back.
If not for the Marine uniform he wore, Luo Yi would almost have thought he was an infiltrator.
But at that moment—
[Devil Fruit user 'Binz' detected] [Devil Fruit confirmed as 'Paramecia · Shove-Shove Fruit'; currently analyzing and storing it in the 'Fruit Encyclopedia'] [Devil Fruit Ability—Can accelerate plant growth and control plants] [Effects by level] [LV1: Obtains a weak Fruit Effect and can slightly enhance plant growth speed, up to three times] [LV2: Obtains part of the Fruit Effect and can greatly enhance plant growth speed, up to ten times; requires 80 million/33 million Belly for permanent/temporary unlocking] [LV3: Obtains the complete Fruit Effect, allowing plants to instantly grow to maturity and be controlled; requires 500 million/200 million Belly for permanent/temporary unlocking] [LV4: Deep development of the Devil Fruit; can control plants to perform finer transformations and operations, create 'plant clones,' and synchronize senses with plants; requires 1.2 billion/400 million Belly for permanent/temporary unlocking] [LV5: Devil Fruit Awakening · Flourishing Vitality; obtains the tenacious Life Force of plants, can reconstruct the body through 'regrowing severed limbs' via plant growth, can absorb surrounding water and Life Force to heal itself, and can make plants grow far beyond their normal size; requires 7 billion/2.3 billion Belly for permanent/temporary unlocking] [Analysis progress: 0%. Upon completion, LV1 of this Devil Fruit Ability will be obtained]
The information from the Fruit Encyclopedia confirmed the man's identity and completely established who Smoker had brought him to meet this time.
"Binz, why are you the only one here? Where's Ain? And Instructor Zephyr?"
Smoker's words now confirmed his guess.
Zephyr—Former Marine General and the Marines' former chief instructor for new recruits.
He had enlisted at the same time as Marine Hero Garp, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and the Marines' Chief of Staff Tsuru.
He had once been famous across the seas for his powerful Armament Haki. After subduing countless pirates, he had earned the title of Black Arm Zephyr.
Later, his wife and children were killed in a pirate attack carried out in retaliation. Disheartened, he resigned from his position as Admiral and began teaching new Marine recruits instead, producing a large number of powerful Marines.
For example, the current Three Admirals—Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru—had all once been his prized students.
Incidentally, Smoker had also once been his student, but Luo Yi had not. After recruit training ended, some of the more elite recruits could receive training from Zephyr.
At the time, however, Luo Yi had already volunteered to serve in the Detention Unit, so he had missed the chance to study under Zephyr.
But clearly, Vice Admiral Billoss had brought Luo Yi here to make up for that regret.
"Ain went out on a mission. As for Instructor Zephyr, he went to the SSG. He should be back soon."
The man named Binz answered Smoker while looking at Luo Yi. "You must be Major Luo Yi?"
"That's right."
Luo Yi also came back to his senses and said hesitantly, "Vice Admiral Billoss found Zephyr as my instructor? But as far as I know, he should have already—"
He did not finish, but Binz and Smoker clearly understood what he meant.
Four years ago, the trainee ship fleet led by Zephyr was attacked by pirates during a mission.
Most of the disciples he had painstakingly trained died aboard the ship, while Zephyr lost an arm and suffered severe injuries.
After that, he completely withdrew to the second line.
"Yes. After that incident, Teacher hasn't trained new recruits in a long time."
Binz spoke in a low voice.
He was one of only two Marine soldiers who had survived the incident aboard the ship.
"However, he and Vice Admiral Billoss are old friends, so he agreed to the request."
Binz gave a brief explanation. "Come with me."
He turned and walked toward the depths of the training ground.
Luo Yi and Smoker naturally followed close behind.
Soon, they arrived at a clearly special training ground.
There were no ordinary training facilities around it. Instead, it was surrounded by enormous iron walls, with a building at the far end bearing a distinctive "Z" emblem.
"Teacher Zephyr told you to wait for him here. He should be back soon."
After saying this, Binz immediately sat down cross-legged and fell silent.
Seeing this, Luo Yi and Smoker followed suit.
"Don't mind him. Binz is a good guy. He just doesn't like talking much because of what happened four years ago."
Smoker actually offered a rare explanation.
He was rebellious by nature, but he was genuinely grateful to Zephyr.
"Understood."
Luo Yi naturally did not care about such trivial matters.
More precisely, he was quite happy about it.
"The Shove-Shove Fruit... This ability isn't bad. It might be extremely useful in certain types of terrain."
"It's just a pity that Ain isn't here. I remember that girl is also an Ability User, and her ability is incredibly abnormal."
Luo Yi reflected as he watched the steadily increasing numbers in the Fruit Encyclopedia.
Ain was the other survivor of that attack four years ago.
Her Devil Fruit was the Return-Return Fruit, which could make anything she touched grow younger—a Devil Fruit that, as far as Luo Yi knew, rarely touched upon the domain of time.
Just as Luo Yi was thinking that he absolutely had to obtain the Return-Return Fruit's ability later—
"Oh? You're already here!?"
An old yet still bold voice echoed through the training ground.
A figure strode into the training ground.
His features were firm, his build tall and powerfully muscular, and he wore a dark purple sleeveless vest beneath a Marine coat.
The years and countless battles had left deep marks on him, but they had done nothing to diminish the aura of a supreme powerhouse surrounding him.
What drew the eye was his right arm. It had been severed cleanly from the shoulder, leaving only a number of special metal components in its place.
That was none other than Black Arm Zephyr.
"Admiral Zephyr."
Upon seeing the former Admiral, Luo Yi naturally rose and prepared to salute.
But before he could speak—
"You're that brat Luo Yi, aren't you?"
He saw Zephyr's face split into a grin.
"I've heard Billoss mention you. He told me you're the most talented young man in the entire Detention Unit. But I don't believe in words!"
As he spoke, Luo Yi saw the former Admiral's body vanish from where he stood with a sharp whoosh.
That was Shave—and it was faster than any Shave Luo Yi had ever seen!
Then—
"The rule here is simple—fists do the talking!"
Luo Yi felt a violent gust of wind strike his ears.
Before you continue