I'm This Awesome, and I Didn't Even Know It!

Among the senior officers currently serving in the Navy, the most reliable were Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru. As for Admiral Zephyr and Vice Admiral Garp, compared with those two, they were both typical hardheads.

As Garp put it, Sengoku and Tsuru made their living with their brains, unlike him and Zephyr, who made theirs with their fists.

People who were too clever thought about too many things, and they were nowhere near as carefree as he and Zephyr were.

After his achievement in capturing Pirate King Roger, Fleet Admiral Kong would probably be promoted soon. As for the vacant position of Fleet Admiral, Sengoku would most likely take over.

Garp and Tsuru held only the rank of Vice Admiral, so they couldn't skip straight to Fleet Admiral without first becoming Admirals.

And Admiral Zephyr had long since lost interest in Navy affairs. If he hadn't been persuaded to stay several times, he would have left the Navy long ago. There was even less chance of him competing with Sengoku for the position of Fleet Admiral.

After putting all that together, Kadaru understood who was behind today's large-scale exercises in Marineford.

The new recruits arriving in Marineford now were the first batch of Marines under the next Fleet Admiral. It seemed perfectly normal for Admiral Sengoku to take such measures.

A new broom sweeps clean, but it was usually the old hands who got swept away. For newcomers, naturally, the best approach was to win them over. After all, they would form the Navy's core in the future.

After some thought, Kadaru had already figured out some of the ideas behind Admiral Sengoku's plans. Of course, he had no idea whether there was some deeper purpose behind them.

But it seemed that Admiral Sengoku's plans hadn't even gotten off the ground before Vice Admiral Garp had already wrecked them.

Even now, Garp was still acting as if he hadn't a care in the world. He asked Zephyr whether he'd found any promising recruits while out recruiting this time.

At the mention of the recruits, Zephyr smiled. Before leaving Marineford, Garp had joked that he might find an unexpected treasure.

At first, Zephyr hadn't taken the comment to heart, assuming it was just a friend's attempt to cheer him up. But he hadn't expected to actually find someone.

"They're all good boys. They're still a little green, but with proper training, they'll definitely become excellent Marines.

"And this time, I did come across an interesting kid. He's young, but he's got a lot of backbone."

Hearing Zephyr and Garp's conversation, Wood immediately sensed trouble. He had just started edging toward the back of the group when he realized Zephyr had already spotted him—and was calling him out.

Heaven help him, Wood had joined the Navy partly because he wanted to get stronger, and partly because he wanted to enjoy the shade beneath a mighty tree. He had no other plans.

This was Marineford, Navy Headquarters—not Maple Leaf Island in the first half of the Grand Line. Everywhere he looked, there were either boss-level big shots or elite enemies.

Even those nobodies standing guard might become some colonel, Rear Admiral, or Vice Admiral ten-odd years from now.

Wood knew exactly where he stood. He was a supporting character, and without a protagonist's destiny, he had no chance of becoming one of the main characters of this era.

He'd already worked out his plans for the future: hide beneath the Navy's big tree while getting stronger, and polish his résumé along the way.

Then, once the story officially began more than ten years later, he'd use his experience at Navy Headquarters and his connection to Zephyr to request a transfer to the Navy Branch on Maple Leaf Island, where he could settle into a quiet life as a colonel.

Who said that transmigrators had to challenge the heavens, the earth, and everything in between? What did One Piece have to do with Wood? He had no interest at all in the history of the Void Century.

His goal was to get strong enough to protect himself on the seas, then go back home and bully rookie pirates, living out the quiet life he wanted.

So before arriving at Navy Headquarters, Wood had already resolved to keep an extremely low profile and avoid attracting the attention of any so-called "big shots."

He'd actually liked the "useless kid who got in through connections" persona. He'd even planned to keep up that act in Marineford.

He'd train inconspicuously for ten-odd years, become an inconspicuous Marine, request a posting to some inconspicuous little island, and then live out an inconspicuous life.

But things never seemed to go as planned. Who could have guessed that, out of several thousand Marine recruits, Zephyr would remember only his name—and call it out in front of everyone?

With an Admiral calling him out in front of the entire crowd, what could Wood do? No matter how unwilling he was, all he could do now was step out obediently.

Thanks to Zephyr, everyone's eyes were now on Wood. He'd wanted to keep a low profile, but he'd become famous on his very first day!

"This is the kid you mentioned? He doesn't even look old enough to meet the recruitment requirements."

The Marine recruits were generally around eighteen. Wood was sturdy, but his rather boyish face made him stand out in the crowd.

"That's right. He's only sixteen, but he's already had more experience than most Marines.

"Can you believe it? This sixteen-year-old kid recently slaughtered nearly half a pirate crew all by himself, as well as a Devil Fruit User with a bounty of twenty million Belly."

"But that isn't even the most important part. What I value most are the qualities this kid possesses.

"Garp, can you believe it? At the time, this kid's gaze actually scared me. It was the gaze of someone who would give his life to uphold justice!"

At first, Garp had only been a little interested in Wood. But after hearing Zephyr say all that with such earnestness, his expression changed, and he began to look Wood over seriously.

They'd known each other for many years, and Garp knew Zephyr well. If Wood had earned such high praise from Zephyr, he must have something exceptional about him.

So Garp had grown curious about Wood, and decided to test him himself.

As for Wood, who had been listening to their entire conversation, he was now staring blankly.

Zephyr's over-the-top praise left Wood utterly speechless. If Zephyr hadn't named him, Wood wouldn't have known who he was talking about...

As the saying went, I'm so awesome, and I didn't even know it...

If Wood himself looked this stunned, there was no need to mention the onlookers around him.

The rookies who'd been on the same ship as Wood were especially shocked. They'd thought he was just a recruit with connections, but it turned out he was a total badass!

He was only sixteen, and he'd already taken down a pirate with a twenty-million-Belly bounty and nearly half a pirate crew. When they'd been sixteen, they'd also been fighting pirates—but those "pirates" were just characters in the role-playing games they played themselves.