Battlefield Mission!

On the food street of the town behind Marineford, Morito stood in front of a barbecue shop waiting for his skewers.

The sky hadn't fully brightened in the early morning, and there weren't many pedestrians on the street.

However, Morito already had many coins at his feet, all tossed to him by the elderly folks rushing to buy groceries early.

"Morito, Morito!"

A shout came from the end of the street. Morito recognized the voice – it was Kazan's.

What is he doing here?

As he pondered, Morito called back loudly, "I'm here!"

Following the sound, Kazan quickly found Morito. He had been specifically sent by Zephyr to find him.

Only those familiar with Morito knew his usual haunts.

Zephyr had told Kazan to look for Morito on the food street in the small town.

"Finally found you! Come with me quickly! We're setting sail soon!" Kazan's expression was somewhat anxious, with a hint of excitement visible.

"Setting sail? A new sea battle training?"

Morito paid, took a bag of barbecue skewers, and offered one to Kazan.

The two walked together towards the Naval Academy.

Along the way, Kazan explained the purpose of his visit.

Marine Headquarters had decided to go to war with the Flying Pirates. Even if they couldn't defeat Golden Lion in one battle, they would at least curb his arrogance.

A month had already dragged on for too long. If Marine Headquarters remained inactive, the people of the Four Seas and the Grand Line would be disappointed!

Losing public trust was far more terrifying than losing a battle.

After a full month of preparation, Marine Headquarters had assembled fifty thousand elite troops, led by Admiral Sengoku, to engage the Flying Pirates.

The Naval Academy's reserve camp would also participate in this battle.

Marine Headquarters would naturally not send the reserve camp to the front lines to directly confront Golden Lion's main force. The Naval Academy's reserve camp consisted of the Navy's future.

The main purpose of having the reserve camp participate in this operation was to let the cadets experience the atmosphere of a major battle.

The reserve camp's formation was positioned at the edge of the battlefield, at the rear of the main Marine fleet.

However, the elite class within the reserve camp was an exception.

Especially the "Three Monsters" of the first batch – Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Dragon – their strength had already reached the Vice Admiral level.

Such combat power would be a waste if they were relegated to the rear, just "skating."

Not only the monsters from the first batch, but also Kuzan from the third batch and Gion from the fourth batch were assigned to the front lines.

Flowers raised in a greenhouse are delicate; only the battlefield can forge a hardened general.

The thirty-odd cadets from the elite class were dispersed among various units.

Each warship was assigned only about two to three elite class cadets, overseen by a Marine Vice Admiral.

This ensured both that the cadets received training and that their safety was guaranteed.

Morito and Kazan were assigned to the same warship.

"Do you know the specifics of our operation?"

Morito wasn't surprised by Marine Headquarters' arrangements. It was time to see what they were made of. No matter how good their grades were or how tough they were at the academy, it was all meaningless.

The elite class was composed of the most exceptional talents, handpicked by Marine Headquarters using the strength of the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line.

Each of them had enough talent to aim for the position of a Marine Vice Admiral.

The only things they lacked were time and experience.

Time couldn't be controlled, but experience had to be accumulated bit by bit.

"Only Vice Admiral Akita knows the specifics of the operation."

Vice Admiral Akita was the highest-ranking commander of the warship on which Morito and Kazan were currently serving.

"But I heard some rumors."

Kazan said mysteriously, "Our mission this time should be an island in the first half of the Grand Line, an island covered by the Flying Pirates' influence."

In the world of the Pirate King, the Grand Line and the Red Line divide the world's seas into four regions: East, West, South, and North, collectively known as the Four Seas.

The Grand Line is a circular oceanic region that intersects the Red Line perpendicularly. It is the most magical and dangerous route in the world, with dangerous Calm Belts on both sides.

To enter the Grand Line, besides crossing the Calm Belt, one can only enter through Reverse Mountain.

The World Government and Marine Headquarters' principle for dealing with pirates is to drive them all into the Grand Line, allowing them to fight and kill each other there, thereby reducing their numbers and ensuring the stability of the Four Seas.

The Shichibukai policy has not yet emerged. Currently, the seas do not have a balance of power between the Shichibukai, the Marines, and the Four Emperors. (Shichibukai stabilize Paradise, Marines occupy the Four Seas, Four Emperors control the New World.)

The seas today are incredibly chaotic, in a state of warlordism.

The struggles and conflicts are intense in both the New World and Paradise. Golden Lion's influence extends not only to the New World but also covers some islands in Paradise.

Marine Headquarters' objective in this operation is to eradicate the Flying Pirates' influence in Paradise.

"The target is the Golden Lion? Aren't you afraid he'll just throw an island at us?"

Morito knew exactly who the Golden Lion was. The Float-Float Fruit's ability might not seem impressive, not as overtly powerful as the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's Haki.

But if it came down to a real fight, the Float-Float Fruit's ability was utterly shameless!

You had to be on guard against an island randomly falling on your head for everything from eating and drinking to using the restroom and sleeping. Even if you wanted to go head-to-head with the Golden Lion, you'd have to see if he even agreed to it.

That feeling of helplessness was incredibly frustrating.

If the Golden Lion wasn't such an idiot, abandoning his large crew and his BUG-level Float-Float Fruit ability to single-handedly storm Marine Headquarters and challenge Sengoku, Garp, and the future Marine Admirals, he wouldn't have been captured.

"You don't know?" Kazan suddenly asked.

"Know what?" Morito shot back.

"Looks like you really don't," Kazan said, glancing at Morito in surprise. Morito didn't even know about the Flying Pirates flattening Marine G5 Branch!

Morito had been getting beaten to a pulp every single day recently, leaving him with no time or energy to care about anything else.

Before dawn each day, he had to buy food for the entire day and head to the back mountain.

He wouldn't return to his dorm until nightfall.

Morito's dorm was a single room. Lately, besides Zephyr, he had barely interacted with anyone else.

"The G5 Branch in the New World."

Kazan organized his thoughts and recounted how the Golden Lion had flattened the G5 Branch a month ago.

The single sentence, 'The Golden Lion dropped an island on the G5 Branch,' was enough to imagine the tragic scene.

"No wonder."

With that, Morito understood why Marine Headquarters had chosen to go to war with the Golden Lion.

Anyone would have to fight!

Whether they could win was one thing; whether they would fight was another!

Furthermore, in terms of sheer combat power, Marine Headquarters was definitely superior to the Flying Pirates.

First of all, the top-tier combatants on both sides were not equal.

The Flying Pirates only had the Golden Lion, while Marine Headquarters had Sengoku, Garp, Zephyr, and Marshal Steel Bone Kong!

The only difficult problem was that the Golden Lion could fly!

While they chatted, Morito and Kazan returned to the Naval Academy.