Women Are All Trouble

As the broadcast voice gradually faded away, the noisy plaza seemed to have its time frozen, falling into instant silence.

Dead silence!

The next second.

Hiss!!!

The collective intake of cold air caused the temperature of the entire plaza to spike by several degrees.

The expressions on the students' faces were truly spectacular as they turned in unison to look at Kazan, who had dominated the top spot in the written exams for years.

This honor, which should have belonged to Kazan, had been snatched away by a bottom-tier loser?

Kazan himself was also somewhat surprised, though his personality was completely different from Onigumo's.

His gaze landed on Morito, devoid of jealousy, anger, or resentment; there was only a hint of intrigued investigation.

The onlookers watching the ceremony were even more dumbfounded.

Not only was he far ahead in the physical fitness test, but he had also crushed everyone in the Doriki test.

Even in the written exam, he sat at the very top of the rankings!

The broadcast had announced it to the entire Naval Academy; it was naturally impossible for it to be a joke. Furthermore, everyone had recognized the voice of the person making the announcement!

It was none other than the voice of the former Admiral and current Chief Instructor of the Naval Academy, Zephyr!

Zephyr was a man of extreme seriousness and integrity; how could he possibly be joking on an occasion like this?

And he certainly wouldn't pull strings for anyone because of Vice Admiral Garp.

Then there could only be one truth!

The first place in the Training Camp final written exam was truly Ōtsutsuki Morito!

"Was that the blind guy's name read on the broadcast just now? First place in the written exam? Did I hear wrong? Shouldn't it have been Kazan?"

Some people would rather doubt their own ears than believe that Morito had taken first place in the written exam.

They could have accepted it if it had been anyone else!

Morito, who they had assumed would be kicked out of the academy for failing these final exams, had instead crushed everyone in every test with overwhelming force.

He had remained silent until now, but with one move, he had shocked everyone!

The sounds of mockery vanished, as if the voices were stuck in throats gripped by invisible hands, unable to come out.

The looks of contempt disappeared, replaced by surprise, shock, and disbelief.

Morito stood quietly in the crowd, his expression calm and indifferent, no different from his usual demeanor.

It was as if such glory was not worth getting excited or shocked over.

It was as if it should have been this way all along!

The way the students looked at Morito gradually began to change, perhaps even without them realizing it themselves.

Morito was still the same Morito, and his expression was still his usual expression.

It was just that in the eyes of the crowd, the face that had once looked like a lazy slacker now appeared incredibly profound and unfathomable.

Incredibly intriguing.

Incredibly handsome and extraordinary.

Incredibly eye-catching.

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

Amidst these gazes filled with various emotions, Morito keenly sensed a gaze that was completely different from the rest.

It was as scorching and furious as a volcanic eruption.

Morito turned his head to look.

Onigumo!

"A piece of trash only knows how to use underhanded tricks to deceive the world. I will beat you back to your true form in the live combat test!"

Onigumo did not believe any of this was real; he mouthed the words at Morito.

However, Morito merely gave him a faint glance before looking away.

Onigumo had not even finished speaking.

The person he had always disdained was now ignoring him!

The psychological impact Morito had on Onigumo was immense; if he could not overcome this mental block, Onigumo's achievements for the rest of his life would likely stop right here.

Onigumo became even more desperate to defeat Morito in the upcoming live combat test!

A short while later, as the final Doriki test concluded, the morning written exam and physical fitness test of the Training Camp final assessment came to an end.

What truly commanded attention was the live combat portion in the afternoon!

No matter how good the written exam results were, it was ultimately just talk on paper, and no matter how strong the physical fitness test results were, they still had to be applied in actual combat.

Capturing pirates ultimately comes down to combat power.

The students looked at their results with a mix of joy and worry; for the vast majority, their hearts could not calm down for a long time.

Countless gazes fell upon Morito.

Having skipped exams for nine years, the legendary blind man, the loser, the trash, the rat of the Training Camp, had suddenly stunned everyone, crushing all opposition to take first place in both the written exam and the physical fitness test.

Even if Morito did not perform well in the afternoon's combat exam, his results in the first two tests were enough to qualify him.

For some reason, a strange thought suddenly flashed through the minds of all the students.

Morito hadn't skipped the exams because he lacked strength, but because he had no interest!

Achievements that would take them months or even years of hard work to attain were achieved by Morito with effortless ease.

When a person becomes so strong that everyone has to look up to them, the jealousy, resentment, and envy in the hearts of the crowd all turn into a helpless sigh.

However, not all students had lost hope.

There were quite a few students like Onigumo; their only hope was the afternoon's combat exam, expecting Onigumo to beat Morito until he was crawling on the ground.

Losers should be trampled underfoot.

What kind of Navy soldier is a blind man anyway?

Morito wouldn't bother with a bunch of extras who didn't even have names. If they wanted to stare, let them stare; he was quite helpless about being so handsome and attracting so much attention.

Just as he was about to leave, the crowd was pushed aside to both sides.

A fragrant breeze wafted over—it was a familiar scent.

Immediately after, Morito felt himself being pulled into a soft embrace, his cheek buried right between a pair of soft mounds.

Soft and fragrant.

"You brat, you actually dared to lie to me!"

Gion held Morito in a full embrace, her eyes filled with pleasant surprise.

She had originally decided to give up on Morito, thinking that letting him live an ordinary life as a commoner was better than him dying on the battlefield due to a lack of strength.

She never expected that the name announced over the Naval Academy's broadcast for first place in the written exam would be Morito's!

After confirming it repeatedly, Gion had hurried to the plaza.

On the massive electronic board for the physical fitness test, Morito's name sat at the very top, and the string of S-ranks for every test dazzled her eyes.

Before she knew it, the little brother she had always protected had grown to this extent.

"Huu."

Morito pushed off Gion's shoulders to pull his head out; he had nearly suffocated!

The people in the world of pirates were simply unscientific. It was one thing for them to be tall and imposing, but every single one of them also had a curvaceous figure with long legs and a slender waist.

Morito pushed Gion away, frowned, and took a step back.

Before he could even open his mouth, he suddenly felt the air grow heavy.

It was as if it had frozen solid.

Gion, a future Admiral candidate, the current campus belle of the Naval Academy, and a prized student of Zephyr in the Elite Class Monster Camp.

Sexy, charming.

Powerful.

She was the goddess of everyone's dreams!

That guy was actually held in the goddess's arms, and he even had the nerve to push her away with a look of disgust!

Morito instantly felt countless murderous gazes shooting toward him.

Like sharp arrows, they were determined to pierce him full of holes.

Those small fries who had been completely won over by him suddenly turned aggressive, looking as if they had been injected with adrenaline, itching to swallow him whole.

He glanced sideways, only to see pairs of eyes burning with lust glaring at him.

Morito twitched the corner of his mouth. Envy, jealousy, and hatred?

Bottle it up!

"Going to grab something to eat?"

"Sure."