This Isn't Cowardice, It's Caution!

After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, the Roer brothers' expressions grew grave.

"Are we really going to do this? That kid has Vice Admiral Garp backing him!"

Roer, the older brother, looked hesitant, like a greedy man tempted by the devil.

He refused with his words, but in his heart, he was more than willing.

What he needed was a voice to tempt him, a voice he could shift the blame onto, a voice that would let him do something bad with a clear conscience.

"At this rate, how long do you think it'll take us to earn enough military merit? How long until we can become Navy Captains?"

Roer, the younger brother, looked grim. Instead of answering, he asked a question of his own.

After a pause, he continued, "I hate to admit it, but compared to those three monsters, we really are far behind."

"Even those three monsters took this long to earn enough military merit to become Rear Admirals."

At that, a trace of bitterness flickered in the depths of Roer's eyes.

They had been in the Elite Class for three years, yet they had only accumulated enough military merit to become lieutenants.

At this rate, when would they ever get ahead?

To rise above the rest, strength alone wasn't enough. A stroke of good fortune was essential, too.

"Vice Admiral Tarantula has already agreed. Once we get this done, we can apply to graduate, and he'll arrange for us to serve under him."

"Besides, Vice Admiral Tarantula promised to help us become Navy Captains within a year. We might even become Rear Admirals."

In the Naval Academy's reserve camp, military merit earned during the Elite Class's combat exercises at sea was distributed fairly.

The merit earned for every pirate captured and every civilian rescued by the Reserve Navy was recorded meticulously by Zephyr's former subordinates.

Those who slacked off could stay safe on every voyage, but all they'd get in military merit was whatever scraps were left over.

But outside the world of the Naval Academy, things got a little murkier.

Tarantula was a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral with his own warship and troops.

When reporting the results of a battle, all he had to do was exaggerate someone's contribution a little, and he could help them earn extra military merit.

That was what Roer was counting on Tarantula to do.

"Stop hesitating!"

"Yeah!"

Morito watched the Roer brothers' room for a long time, but he couldn't read lips or hear what they were saying.

From the younger brother Roer's fierce expression and the older brother Roer's increasingly resolute, icy gaze, he sensed that something was wrong.

Those expressions didn't belong on the faces of righteous Marines.

"I hope those two don't go looking for trouble."

Then Morito checked the rooms of Kazan, Momonga, and the burly Ulysses.

Momonga and Ulysses were resting.

Kazan was resting, too, but he was listening to music through headphones, with half a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"Come to think of it, was Ulysses raised on fake milk or something?"

Morito glanced down at his own arm. It was a normal man's arm, not skinny at all. He could even feel muscle when he squeezed it!

Of the six, Morito had a normal human build.

Momonga, Kazan, and the Roer brothers were all beyond human in size.

Ulysses, meanwhile, looked like a gigantic black bear.

Morito looked away, but he didn't go straight to rest. Instead, he used his Byakugan to check every nook and cranny in the room.

"No surveillance Den Den Mushi or anything like that."

Then, at the only entrance—the doorknob—he tied one end of a fine thread and looped the other around his finger. He'd feel it if the door moved even slightly.

The window faced the sea, and the passage outside was cluttered. It was almost impossible for anyone to pass by.

But almost impossible wasn't the same as completely impossible.

Geppo, one of the Marine Six Styles, allowed its user to stay briefly in the air. Even Morito himself could scale walls by concentrating Chakra in his feet.

"I'd better secure the window, too."

Clunk!

He shut the window and locked it.

A thread too fine to see stretched across the window. Unless someone could compress their bones, they couldn't get into the room without touching it.

Morito wasn't doing this to stop anyone from getting in. He wanted to sense them while they were entering.

For the rest of the voyage, Morito didn't plan to rest. He was going to refine his Chakra instead.

For him, refining Chakra was a form of rest.

Zephyr's flagship and the three smaller warships slowly sailed away from Marine Headquarters. Their patrol route ran from Marine Headquarters to Twin Cape.

After leaving Marine Headquarters, the three smaller warships spread out, keeping a certain distance from Zephyr's ship as they advanced toward Twin Cape at Reverse Mountain and widened their patrol range.

The journey was quiet, with only the sound of waves slapping against the hull.

Aside from Morito, Kazan, and Doberman, who were all rookies, everyone else was an old hand. They knew what to do at this hour.

The Roer brothers each returned to their rooms to rest.

Morito wasn't disturbed either. It seemed his caution had been pointless.

But the peaceful atmosphere didn't last long.

The fleet had left Marine Headquarters' waters, and the three smaller warships had only just spread out when a pirate ship appeared in the sight of the warship on the left.

The alarm blared at once.

And Morito's warship was the one assigned to the left-hand route!

"Is that an enemy alert?"

Morito swung himself out of bed and went straight to the window.

He was the team leader, as well as the warship's nominal "captain." The Navy Captain and the other Marines aboard were only acting as sailors.

Zephyr's orders were clear: they absolutely weren't to intervene unless necessary.

Otherwise, the naval battle training would be pointless.

Morito quickly reached the deck. Kazan and the other four soon appeared as well.

"What's the situation?"

Morito asked Kazan, who had reached the deck first.

Kazan lowered his spyglass. "A pirate ship is approaching us. The sentries spotted it, so they sounded the alarm."

"A pirate ship is approaching?"

Morito raised an eyebrow. Were pirates really this brazen these days?

He could've sworn the Straw Hat Pirates turned tail the moment they saw the Marines.

As if he'd sensed Morito's confusion, Kazan added, "Looks like they were being chased by something. They wandered into our route in their panic."

"They've spotted us now, and they're turning around to change course."

"What should we do?" Momonga asked.

Morito was the team leader. No matter what the others thought, they'd chosen to board this warship, so they had to obey his orders in public.

Otherwise, a single charge of insubordination in battle would be enough to wipe out all the military merit from this operation, and they'd be punished as well.

Slacking off was one thing; disobeying orders in battle was another.

"Fire the cannons! Bring them all out and sink that ship!" Morito said without a second thought. Why make things complicated when they could keep it simple?

Out on the open sea, without a ship, ninety-nine percent of people were doomed.

Not everyone was Rayleigh, capable of swimming across the ocean and crossing the Calm Belt.