This Isn't Cowardice, It's Prudence!

After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, the faces of brothers Romen and Roar turned extremely grim.

"Are we really going to do this? Vice Admiral Garp is backing that kid!"

Brother Romen looked hesitant, like a greedy human tempted by the devil.

He refused verbally, but his heart was a thousand times willing.

What he needed was an instigating voice, a voice he could shift the blame to, a voice that would let him do bad things with a clear conscience.

"At our current pace, how long do you think it will take us to accumulate enough military merit to become Captains?"

Brother Roar asked back with a dark expression, not answering directly.

He paused, then continued, "Although I don't want to admit it, compared to those three monsters, we are indeed far inferior."

"Even those three monsters took this long to accumulate the military merit for Rear Admiral."

Hearing this, a barely perceptible bitterness flashed in Romen's eyes.

They had been in the Elite Class for three years, and their accumulated military merit was only that of a Lieutenant.

At this rate, when would they ever advance further?

To stand out, besides one's own strength, an opportunity was also indispensable.

"Vice Admiral Tarantula has already agreed. As long as this matter is done, we can apply for graduation, and he will arrange for us to become his subordinates."

"Moreover, Vice Admiral Tarantula promised to help us become Captains within a year, and even Rear Admiral is possible."

The military merit from the sea battles of the Elite Class in the Naval Academy's preparatory camp was all fair.

Whoever captured pirates, whoever rescued civilians, the military merit of all Reserve Navy members was meticulously recorded by Zephyr's old subordinates.

Those who slacked off could ensure their safety on every voyage, but the military merit they received was only the leftover scraps.

However, outside the world of the Naval Academy, things became a bit more gray.

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

When reporting battle results, exaggerating someone's achievements could help them gain more military merit.

This was precisely what Roar valued in Tarantula's promise.

"Stop hesitating!"

"Okay!"

Morito stared at the room of the Romen and Roar brothers for a long time, but he couldn't read lips and couldn't hear their conversation.

From his younger brother Roar's fierce expression and his older brother Romen's gradually firm and cold gaze, he sensed something was wrong.

Such expressions shouldn't appear on the faces of righteous Marines.

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

Then, Morito looked at the rooms of Kazan, Momonga, and the strong man Ulysses.

Momonga and Ulysses were resting.

Kazan was also resting, but he was wearing headphones listening to music with a half-smoked cigarette butt in his mouth.

"Speaking of which, was Ulysses raised on fake milk?"

Morito looked down at his own arm. It was a normal man's arm, not slender at all, and he could feel muscle when he squeezed it!

Among the six, Morito had a normal human physique.

Momonga, Kazan, Romen, and Roar already had superhuman physiques.

Ulysses, on the other hand, looked like a huge black bear.

He withdrew his gaze, but Morito didn't rest immediately. Instead, he used his Byakugan ability to check every nook and cranny of the room.

"No Den Den Mushi or anything like that."

Then, he tied a thin thread to the only entrance, the doorknob. The other end of the thread was tied to his finger, so he would be able to sense any movement at the door.

The window faced the sea. The corridor outside was chaotic, and it was almost impossible for pedestrians to pass through.

But almost impossible didn't mean completely impossible.

The Marine Six Styles' Geppo could provide temporary aerial suspension, and Morito himself could use the technique of concentrating Chakra on the soles of his feet to scale walls.

"The window needs to be secured too."

Thump!

He closed the window and locked it.

A thread, barely visible to the naked eye, was stretched across the middle of the window. Unless the other party knew contortionism, it would be impossible to enter the room without touching the thread.

Morito did this not to prevent others from entering, but to detect when someone was entering the room.

For the next stretch of the voyage, Morito didn't plan to rest but to refine his Chakra.

For Morito, refining Chakra was a form of rest.

Zephyr's flagship and three smaller warships slowly departed Marine Headquarters, their patrol mission taking them from Marine Headquarters to Twin Cape.

After leaving Marine Headquarters, the three smaller warships separated, maintaining a distance from Zephyr's warship to expand their patrol range and advance towards Twin Cape from the direction of the Red Line.

It was quiet along the way, with only the sound of waves lapping against the ship's hull.

Except for Morito, Kazan, and Doberman, who were new recruits, everyone else was an experienced hand and knew what needed to be done at this time.

The brothers Roman and Roel returned to their rooms to rest.

Morito was not disturbed either; it seemed his caution was in vain.

However, the peaceful atmosphere didn't last long.

As the fleet left the waters of Marine Headquarters, and the three smaller warships had just separated, a pirate ship appeared within the sight of the small warship on the left.

An alarm immediately blared.

And the warship Morito was on was the one responsible for the left route!

"Is this an enemy alarm?"

Morito rolled out of bed and went straight to the window.

He was the leader and the nominal 'captain' of this warship. The original Marine Captain and soldiers on the warship only served as crew.

Zephyr's order was to absolutely not intervene unless necessary.

Otherwise, the naval battle training would be meaningless.

Soon, Morito arrived on deck, and Kazan and the other five also appeared one after another.

"What's the situation?"

Morito asked Kazan, who had arrived on deck first.

Kazan lowered his binoculars. "A pirate ship is approaching us. It was spotted by the sentries, so they sounded the alarm."

"A pirate ship approaching?"

Morito raised an eyebrow. Were pirates this brazen nowadays?

Why did he remember that the Straw Hat Pirates group turned tail and fled at the sight of the Marines?

As if sensing Morito's confusion, Kazan added, "They seem to be being chased by something, and they blundered into our route in their panic."

"They've spotted us now and are turning to change their course."

"What should we do?" Momonga asked.

Morito was the leader. Regardless of what the others were thinking, since they had chosen to board this warship, they had to outwardly obey Morito's command.

Otherwise, the mere charge of disobeying orders on the battlefield would be enough to nullify all military merits from this operation and result in punishment.

Slacking off was ignored, but disobeying orders on the battlefield was unacceptable.

"Let's bombard them. Bring out the cannons and sink them!" Morito said without thinking. Why make things complicated when they could be simple?

On the vast ocean, without a ship, ninety-nine percent of people would die!

Not everyone was Rayleigh, capable of swimming across the sea and traversing the Calm Belt.