As the broadcast faded away, the noisy plaza seemed to freeze in time, falling silent in an instant.
A deathly silence!
The next second—
Hiss!!!
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath, and the temperature in the entire plaza seemed to rise several degrees.
The expressions on the cadets' faces were a sight to behold. They all turned to look at Kazan, who had held the top spot in the written exam for years.
The glory that should have belonged to Kazan had been claimed by a useless bottom-ranker?
Kazan himself was a little surprised, but his personality was completely different from Onigumo's.
His gaze settled on Morito. There was no jealousy, anger, or unwillingness to accept it—only a hint of curious scrutiny.
The onlookers were even more dumbfounded.
Not only had Morito taken a commanding lead in the physical test, but he had also crushed everyone in the Doriki test.
Even the written exam had put him in first place!
The announcement had been broadcast throughout the Naval Academy. There was no way it was a joke, and everyone had recognized the voice of the person making the announcement!
It had unmistakably been Zephyr, the former Marine Admiral and current chief instructor of the Naval Academy!
Zephyr was a serious, conscientious man. How could he joke around in a place like this?
And he certainly wouldn't give someone special treatment because of Vice Admiral Garp.
That left only one possible truth!
Ōtsutsuki Morito really had come first in the Training Camp's written exam!
"Did the broadcast just say that blind guy's name? First place in the written exam? Did I hear wrong? Shouldn't it have been Kazan?"
Some would rather believe their ears had failed them than accept that Morito had come first.
They could've accepted it if it had been anyone else!
Morito had been expected to fail this exam and get kicked out of the Academy. Instead, he had crushed everyone in every test with overwhelming force.
He'd kept quiet until it mattered, then stunned everyone!
The mocking voices were gone, as if someone had squeezed the necks of a flock of drakes, leaving their cries stuck in their throats.
The contemptuous looks disappeared, replaced by astonishment, shock, and disbelief.
Morito stood quietly among the crowd, his expression calm and unruffled, no different from usual.
Even this tremendous honor didn't seem to excite or astonish him.
As though it was only natural!
The cadets' gazes began to change, perhaps without them even realizing it.
Morito was still Morito, his expression still the same as always.
But in their eyes, his usual dead-fish face had become unfathomably mysterious.
Intriguing beyond words.
Incredibly handsome.
Impossible to look away from.
For a moment, they were all spellbound.
Amid all those emotion-filled gazes, Morito sensed one that was completely different.
It was as hot and furious as an erupting volcano.
Morito turned to look.
Onigumo!
"Trash like you can only deceive people with underhanded tricks. I'll beat you back to your true self in the practical exam!"
Onigumo didn't believe any of this was real. He mouthed the words at Morito.
But Morito merely glanced at him indifferently, then looked away.
Onigumo hadn't even finished speaking.
The one he had always looked down on had just ignored him!
The psychological blow Morito had dealt Onigumo was enormous. If Onigumo couldn't overcome this mental barrier, he might never achieve anything more in his life.
That only made Onigumo more determined to beat Morito in the practical exam to come!
A short while later, the final Doriki test ended, bringing the morning's written and physical tests at the Training Camp to a close.
The real event everyone was looking forward to was the practical exam that afternoon!
No matter how good your written score was, it was all theory. And no matter how strong you were in the physical test, that strength had to be put to use in battle.
When it came to capturing pirates, what mattered in the end was combat ability.
The cadets who saw their scores were a mix of happy and worried, and most of them couldn't calm down for a long time.
Countless gazes fell on Morito.
He had skipped the exams for nine years. The legendary blind man, the useless good-for-nothing, the trash, the Training Camp's bad apple—he had stunned everyone, crushing the competition at every turn to take first place in both the written and physical tests.
Even if Morito did poorly in the practical exam that afternoon, his scores in the first two tests would still be enough to pass.
For some reason, a strange thought suddenly crossed every cadet's mind.
Morito hadn't skipped the exams because he lacked ability. He'd skipped them because he wasn't interested!
Achievements that took them months, or even years, of hard work to attain—and that they might never manage to reach—had come to Morito with ease.
When someone became so powerful that everyone could only look up to them,
the jealousy, resentment, and envy in everyone's hearts would all turn into a helpless sigh.
Still, not every cadet had lost hope.
There were plenty like Onigumo, whose only hope was the practical exam that afternoon. They hoped Onigumo would beat Morito until he was crawling on the ground.
Trash belonged underfoot.
What business did a blind man have becoming a Marine?
Morito wasn't going to waste his time on a bunch of nameless nobodies. Let them look if they wanted. He couldn't help being handsome enough to attract attention.
Just as he was about to leave, the crowd parted to either side.
A familiar fragrance drifted over.
Then Morito felt himself pulled into a soft embrace, his face buried between a pair of enormous breasts.
Soft and fragrant.
"You little brat! You even dared to trick me!"
Gion wrapped Morito in a tight hug, her eyes brimming with delight.
She had already decided to give up on Morito. Letting him live an ordinary life as an ordinary person was better than letting him die on the battlefield because he wasn't strong enough.
She hadn't expected the name announced as first place in the written exam over the Naval Academy's broadcast to be Morito's!
Gion had double-checked before hurrying to the plaza.
Morito's scores were at the very top of the giant electronic board displaying the physical test results, and the string of S's had nearly blinded her.
Without her even noticing, the little brother she'd always protected had grown to this point.
"Phew."
Morito braced a hand against Gion's shoulder and pulled his head free. He'd almost suffocated!
The people in the pirate world were downright unscientific. It was bad enough that they were all tall and strong, but every last one of them also seemed to have a curvy figure, long legs, and a slim waist.
Morito pushed Gion away and took a step back, frowning.
Before he could say anything, he suddenly felt the air grow heavy.
As if it had stopped moving.
Gion—the future candidate for Marine Admiral, the current belle of the Naval Academy, and Zephyr's prized pupil in the monster-filled Elite Class.
Sexy and alluring.
Powerful.
The goddess countless people dreamed of!
And that guy had been held in the goddess's arms, yet he'd dared to push her away with a look of disgust!
Morito immediately felt countless murderous gazes shooting toward him.
Like sharp arrows, they seemed determined to pierce him through.
The nobodies who had just been completely won over by him suddenly turned aggressive. Every one of them looked ready to devour him alive.
He glanced sideways and saw pairs of furious eyes burning with desire as they glared at him.
Morito's mouth twitched. Jealousy, envy, and resentment?
Keep it bottled up!
"Want to go get something to eat?"
"Sure."
Before you continue