I'm So Awesome, How Come I Didn't Know It Myself!

Among the current senior veteran admirals of the Marines, the most reliable are Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru. As for Admiral Zephyr and Vice Admiral Karp, compared to the former two, they are clearly the type of stubborn, unyielding characters.

In Karp's words, Sengoku and Tsuru live by their brains, unlike him and Zephyr, who live by their fists.

Those with overly clever minds think too much and live far less carefree lives.

Due to the achievement of capturing the Pirate King Roger, Fleet Admiral Kong should be getting promoted soon. As for the vacant position of Fleet Admiral, it will most likely be succeeded by Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

Karp and Tsuru only hold the rank of "Vice Admiral" and cannot skip directly over the Admiral rank to become Fleet Admiral.

Meanwhile, Admiral Zephyr has long since lost interest in Marine affairs. If not for being repeatedly persuaded to stay, he would have left the Marines long ago, making it even more impossible for him to compete with Sengoku for the Fleet Admiral position.

Analyzing all this, Kadaru understood whose handiwork today's large-scale exercise at "Marineford" was.

The new recruits now landing at "Marineford" were the first batch of Marines under his tenure as Fleet Admiral. It seemed quite normal for Admiral Sengoku to take such measures.

A new broom sweeps clean, but the fire usually burns the old-timers. For the newcomers, naturally, he would choose to win them over as much as possible, since these people would become the main backbone of the Marines in the future.

After some thought, Kadaru had already analyzed some of the intentions of Admiral Sengoku, known as "The Wise General." Of course, whether there was deeper meaning behind it, he couldn't say.

However, it seemed that Admiral Sengoku's deployment had yet to even get off the ground before Vice Admiral Karp had already messed it up.

What's more, the latter was now acting carefree and unconcerned, asking Zephyr if he had found any good prospects during the recruitment of new soldiers.

Speaking of the new recruits, Zephyr also showed a smile. Before leaving "Marineford," Karp had jokingly said there might be unexpected gains.

At first, Zephyr didn't take the words to heart, just considering them an old friend's comfort. But he never expected to actually encounter such a thing.

"They're all good kids. Though still a bit green now, with systematic training, they'll definitely become excellent Marines in the future.

And this time, I did run into an interesting brat. Though young in age, he's a fellow with considerable backbone."

Hearing the conversation between Zephyr and Karp, Wood instinctively sensed trouble. He was just about to squeeze himself to the back of the formation when he found Zephyr's gaze had already locked onto him, and he was called out by name.

Heaven help him—the reason Wood chose to join the Marines was, on one hand, simply to get stronger, and on the other, to lean on a big tree for shade. He had no other intentions.

This was Marine Headquarters "Marineford," not Maple Leaf Island in the first half of the Grand Line. Everywhere he looked, there were either Boss-level big shots or elite monsters.

Even those small fry standing guard now might, a decade or two later, become some colonel, rear admiral, or vice admiral.

Wood had a very clear understanding of his own position. He was a supporting character. Without the fate of a protagonist, he couldn't become one of the main figures of this era.

He had long since planned out his future: lean on the Marines, the big tree, to survive and grow stronger while gilding his resume.

A dozen years later, when the main plot officially began, he would use his experience at Marine Headquarters and his connection with Zephyr to apply for a transfer to the Marine branch on Maple Leaf Island as a colonel and retire there.

Who said a transmigrator had to fight heaven, earth, and everyone in between? What did "One Piece" have to do with him, Wood? The lost century of history? He had zero interest in that either.

Training enough strength to protect himself on the sea, then going back home to bully rookie pirates and live a comfortable life—that was Wood's pursuit.

So before arriving at Marine Headquarters, Wood had already made up his mind: he absolutely had to keep a low profile and avoid being noticed by so-called "big shots."

He had quite liked the "useless nepotism hire" persona he'd set up earlier. In fact, Wood had originally planned to maintain that image throughout his time at "Marineford."

Train unremarkably for a dozen years, become an unremarkable Marine, apply for a post on an unremarkable little island, and live an unremarkable life.

But things always seemed to go against his wishes. Heaven knew, out of thousands of Marine recruits, why Zephyr had remembered only his name and called him out in such a setting.

Being singled out by a Marine Admiral in front of everyone—what could Wood do? Even if he was unwilling, at this moment, he had no choice but to obediently step forward.

Thanks to Zephyr, everyone's attention was now fixed on Wood. He had wanted to keep a low profile, but on the very first day, he had become famous!

"Is this the brat you were talking about? His age doesn't seem to meet the recruitment standard, does it?"

The newly recruited Marines were generally around eighteen years old. Although Wood had a sturdy build, his rather youthful face stood out conspicuously among the crowd.

"That's right, he's only sixteen now. But in terms of experience, he's probably already richer than most Marines.

Would you believe it? This sixteen-year-old kid recently single-handedly slaughtered nearly half a pirate crew, plus a Devil Fruit user with a bounty of 20 million Belly.

But that's not the most important part. What I value more is the quality this kid possesses.

Karp, would you believe it? At the time, I was actually startled by this kid's gaze. It was a look that poured all of his life into upholding justice!"

Karp had initially only been mildly interested in Wood. But after hearing Zephyr say this with such a serious expression, his face immediately became moved, and he began to scrutinize Wood carefully.

Having known each other for so many years, Karp knew exactly what kind of man Zephyr was. For Wood to receive such high praise from Zephyr, he must have something extraordinary about him.

So Karp was now curious about the Wood before him and intended to personally test his mettle.

As for Wood, who had been listening to their entire conversation from the sidelines, he was now standing there dumbfounded.

Zephyr's string of exaggerated praise left Wood completely speechless. If not for being addressed by name, Wood wouldn't have known the person being described was himself...

In other words, as the saying goes, he was so awesome that even he himself didn't know it...

If Wood himself was reacting like this, there was no need to mention the surrounding onlookers.

Especially those rookies who had been on the same ship as Wood. They had originally thought he was just a connected slacker, but it turned out the guy was a real badass!

At sixteen, he had already taken down a pirate with a 20 million Belly bounty and nearly half a pirate crew. When they were sixteen, they had also been "fighting pirates"—except those "pirates" were just role-playing games they played themselves.