Power Rankings

"Sorry, sorry, kept you waiting!"

In an instant, Saxe vanished from the air.

When he reappeared, he was already above Luo Sa. Armament Haki covered his right leg as he brought it down in a chopping kick!

Boom!

Like a kite with severed wings, Luo Sa was smashed straight out of the sky by Saxe, crashing into the ground and sending dust flying everywhere.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

A moment later, Luo Sa climbed up from the ground, coughing violently.

"Alright, mission complete. You barely count as passing!"

Saxe descended from the sky, clapped his hands, and smiled.

"Damn it!"

Sakartam looked utterly miserable at the moment. It seemed the guy who had beaten him up had quite the temper!

"Hahaha, kid, are you thinking of getting revenge on me? Too bad, you won't get the chance!"

The old soldier burst into laughter, mocking him without restraint.

"Don't underestimate me. It won't be long before I surpass you!"

"Oh, is that so? I remember saying the same thing back then. Unfortunately, at the exact time I entered the Elite Camp, they graduated!"

"Graduated?"

Sakartam's expression changed.

"Hahaha, that's right. All four of us have already graduated. Losing to four Marine Headquarters Captains isn't anything to be ashamed of!"

The old soldier laughed loudly and turned to leave.

However, they did not head toward the Elite Camp. Instead, they walked toward the Marine Fortress.

"Kid, you're pretty good. Train hard. Maybe one day, we'll fight side by side!"

As Saxe passed Luo Sa, he paused and patted him on the shoulder, his eyes full of approval.

"Keep it up, little ones. This is the final gift from us seniors to you!"

The old soldiers all laughed as their figures vanished in an instant.

"Although they're Marine Headquarters Captains now, as long as they accumulate enough military achievements, becoming Branch Rear Admirals won't be a problem at all! Is this what people from the Elite Camp are like?"

Drake's face was filled with fervor. He had entered the Elite Camp precisely to become stronger!

"I'm really looking forward to it more and more!"

Smoker stared intently at the island where the Elite Camp stood opposite them, then immediately stepped onto the bridge.

"So this is the strength of a Headquarters Captain?"

"And my current strength should fall somewhere between a Branch Vice Captain and a Headquarters Vice Captain."

Because the power rankings in this world were extremely chaotic, Luo Sa had combined his experience from his previous life with his firsthand experiences in this world, while also referring to Marine ranks, in order to create a clearer and more intuitive division of strength.

Thus, he categorized strength according to officer ranks: Major, Vice Captain, Captain, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, and Admiral—the six levels.

If divided further, each could also be split into Branch and Headquarters tiers.

Although there was still a gap between Branch and Headquarters, it was not as exaggerated as it would be ten years later, and one could not yet overcome ranks.

Luo Sa's system of power rankings actually circulated within the Marines as well.

After all, without the corresponding strength, one simply could not sit in that position!

At the same time, based on the battles between the Marines and pirates, Luo Sa had also established a corresponding comparison between Marine and pirate strength.

A Major-level Marine was roughly equivalent to a pirate with a bounty of around 20 million Beli.

A Vice Captain-level Marine was equivalent to a pirate with a bounty of around 50 million Beli.

A Captain-level Marine was equivalent to a pirate with a bounty of around 80 million Beli.

A Rear Admiral-level Marine was equivalent to a pirate with a bounty of around 100 million Beli—roughly on par with the weaker Supernovas from his previous life.

The strength of Vice Admirals and Admirals was somewhat vague, and Luo Sa had yet to completely distinguish between them.

Take the Shichibukai, for example. Luo Sa felt that the weakest among them could only be considered Vice Admiral-level, while the stronger ones had clearly surpassed Vice Admiral-level but still fell short of Admirals.

At this point ten years ago, most of the commanders serving under the Four Emperors should have been at the quasi-Admiral level.

For example, several division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, the three Calamities of the Beasts Pirates, and the Four Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates.

Furthermore, even among Admirals, the disparity in strength was extremely obvious. Luo Sa had originally wanted to create a Fleet Admiral or Emperor Level rank.

But after thinking it over, he abandoned the idea. His strength was still far too weak; he simply could not glimpse that level!

"Those old soldiers should all be somewhere between Headquarters Captain and Branch Rear Admiral."

Pulling back his thoughts, Luo Sa looked at the departing old soldiers' backs and pondered inwardly.

"Drake and Smoker are at the Branch Vice Captain level."

"Sakartam was a Headquarters Major."

"Hina and the others were a little weaker, with only the strength of Branch Majors!"

Luo Sa ran through the names of the people he knew in his mind, assigning labels to their respective strengths.

"From now on, we're comrades-in-arms. Looking forward to working with you!"

At that moment, Sakartam suddenly walked up to Luo Sa and proactively held out his hand.

Luo Sa's gaze sharpened. He stared at Sakartam for several full seconds, unable to quite figure out what Sakartam meant.

They had been enemies before. Luo Sa had even considered killing him outright, so Sakartam's actions now seemed rather unusual!

"Actually, you don't need to be surprised. Once we enter the Elite Camp, it'll be like entering the New World!"

"Our only goal is to grow stronger. Those petty schemes are worthless before the strong!"

Sakartam suddenly smiled. Without waiting for Luo Sa to shake his hand, he clasped his hands behind his back and headed toward the bridge.

After stepping onto the bridge, Sakartam placed his hands on the iron chains on either side and walked forward while brushing against them. His pace was steady, each step seeming precisely timed, even the length of his strides exactly the same.

Luo Sa fell into thought as he watched Sakartam's retreating back. Come to think of it, he and Sakartam had never truly reached the point of a life-or-death feud.

If Sakartam stopped causing him trouble in the future and kept his mouth shut, then Luo Sa would not go looking for trouble either.

Just as Sakartam had said, their only goal in entering the Elite Camp was to grow stronger!

Having thought it through, Luo Sa relaxed as well. Still, one should never let down one's guard against others; he just needed to be more careful in the future!

Besides, after entering the Elite Camp, there would be plenty of opportunities to go out and train. If Sakartam truly refused to behave himself, Luo Sa would not mind arranging a little accident for him.

For example, a ghost knocking on his door in the middle of the night.

On the other side of the bridge, Zephyr was waiting with the Elite Camp students.

This sort of lesson from graduating veterans to newly admitted recruits was a mandatory ritual whenever the old and new classes changed over.

Every official member of the Elite Camp was the strongest in the entire New Recruit Camp, and it was only natural for them to be proud and arrogant.

This ritual of the Elite Camp existed to grind away that arrogance in the recruits!

Such tempering was crucial to a recruit's growth, because the Elite Camp carried out actual combat missions.

When fighting real Pirates, excessive arrogance and looking down on others could very easily cost them their lives!

Third update today. There would be a fourth one later. Once again, thank you Shang for the 100-book-coin reward.