After dealing with Evil Dog Joyce, the Giant Tooth Pirates were all honorably "temporarily conscripted" by Wright, who even arranged free rooms for them in Impel Down—
Just kidding, anyone who could manage a 38,000,000 bounty while understanding the "way of survival" so well must have been up to all sorts of things, even a blind man could guess what this seemingly well-behaved squirrel had done—nothing more than bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
Zephyr contacted the warship coming to receive the "trophies," which was led by Headquarters Colonel Kanse—who apparently was also Wright's senior by two classes, similarly coming under the tutelage of Chief Instructor Zephyr. Learning Wright's location from Zephyr, this senior brother immediately rushed over at top speed to help Wright handle the aftermath—
Jokes aside, would Colonel Kanse, himself coming out of an elite squad just like Zephyr, not know what kind of person Zephyr was? Now he was actually personally looking after a newly promoted major... What the hell kind of newly promoted, a new monster had emerged from this training camp, and the officers and generals under Zephyr's command at the headquarters had all heard wind of it; this guy had still been a second lieutenant just recently!
When had Teacher Zephyr ever personally looked after a major who hadn't even graduated from the training camp all these years? Well, previously the training camp hadn't had anyone promoted to major before graduation either... That wasn't important; what was important was that this kid was actually running a personal field exercise mission?!
Regarding the freakish actual combat exercise scores of this training camp's cohort, Kanse didn't know much about them yet because he had recently been patrolling at sea, but Zephyr had bumped into his warship before returning to the headquarters, and that was less than a week ago...
Which meant that within a week, this newly promoted Major Wright had single-handedly settled a pirate captain with a 75,000,000 bounty, along with an entire pirate crew carrying a 38,000,000 bounty as a bonus?!
Not to mention the 38,000,000 one, Kanse had long heard of the great name of Evil Dog Daniel Joyce—an old acquaintance, you see. Joyce never fled when he met him; instead, he was the one who needed to constantly consider a strategic retreat when he encountered Joyce!
I, Kanse, am a headquarters colonel, and a relatively outstanding one among colonels at that. Today, I encountered a headquarters major who had been promoted for a single day, and I discovered that if I fought him, I would be instantly killed.
Hehe, this must be a major general, the headquarters really knows how to play!
"Yo! Senior Brother Kanse! You've finally come, I was almost smoking from waiting." Wright boarded the warship, seeing Colonel Kanse with his slicked-back hair, triangular sunglasses, and smoking a cigar. Having learned about him from Zephyr beforehand, Wright greeted him with practiced familiarity—calling him senior brother was certainly more comfortable than addressing him as Colonel or sir, especially since he couldn't beat him anyway.
"..." Kanse's mouth twitched, taking a deep drag of his cigar, and he chuckled while exhaling smoke: "Hahaha, junior brother, your battle record is truly... making your senior brother feel utterly unworthy. As expected of the elite carefully nurtured by Teacher Zephyr."
This kid isn't bad, he gave me a way out—calling me senior brother is certainly more comfortable than addressing me as Colonel or sir, especially since I can't beat him anyway.
Heartache... just like eating a whole bowl of lemons.
"Hahaha, Senior Brother, you flatter me. It's all thanks to Teacher Zephyr's guidance..."
Hailing Zephyr to the skies was always the right choice; they were fellow disciples, didn't that make their relationship closer?
"Say, Senior Brother Kanse, you can take these guys off my hands. Should your junior brother beat this pirate crew up first? Just in case they aren't cooperative, it might get a bit troublesome, and having too many people makes things chaotic..."
"We will definitely fully cooperate with you, Colonel! So please, my lord, do not exhaust yourself!" The Giant Tooth Pirates, well-versed in the "way of survival," shouted in unison, causing Colonel Kanse's skin to twitch slightly.
"Oh? Is that so, what a pity." Wright said with disappointment: "I originally wanted to see how many of you would resist so I could just finish you off and save Impel Down some space."
The pirates of the Giant Tooth Pirates involuntarily looked at their captain with adoration—the captain's "way of survival" was truly miraculous, they had snatched back another life!
Aside them, "Evil Dog" Joyce, who had been fitted with Sea Stone leg irons, passed out completely from holding his breath—having been brutally beaten and having one arm severed by Wright, starved for a day, and shackled with Sea Stone leg irons, only to hear such heart-piercing words, it was simply cleaner to just faint; dreams had everything.
"Hoo—"
Kanse let out a deep breath, narrowly avoiding choking to death on a mouthful of cigar: "...Junior Brother Wright, you don't need to trouble yourself. With the Sea Stone handcuffs, as Devil Fruit users they won't be able to stir up any trouble."
"Taking over a pirate crew takes some time, Junior Brother, you go rest first. I'll notify you when we return to the headquarters, and leave escorting them to Impel Down to your senior brother—I'm familiar with this job!"
"Ahahaha, then many thanks, Senior Brother... Um, let's have some dinner before resting? The pirates' cook isn't very good, and I have no idea how they all manage to eat so much and get so fat."
The cook of the Giant Tooth Pirates was already weeping tears of boundless grief—thank you so much for your mercy in not finishing me off despite my cooking not tasting good!
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Having just bid farewell to Colonel Kanse, the latter had hurried off toward Impel Down, seemingly not wanting to see the junior brothers who had come to welcome Wright—I, Kanse, am a dignified headquarters colonel; if I can't beat you, I still have my pride as a man, you know!
Bearing the title of the "fastest-promoted major in the headquarters," Wright, who had just turned 18, was a celebrity within the headquarters as well, yet very few had actually seen him in person. His dao, Ashes, was even more famous than he was!
Seeing Smoker, Rosinante, and the other fellow trainees leading the welcoming party for him, Wright smiled: "Yo! Hello, comrades, you're all looking in good shape. Huh? You're all dressed so formally, looks like Teacher Zephyr gave you a day off? We're all such close relations here, there's no need to be so formal!"
"Hey! You bastard Wright, you're already so strong? You leaving us like this makes things really hard for us; how are we supposed to happily hang out from now on?!"
Had Rosinante not only learned to smoke lately, but also picked up smooth-talking? Would Admiral Sengoku really make things difficult for Smoker and these few "elite trainees"?
"Teacher Zephyr is still waiting for you, stop dawdling, hurry up and go clean up and change your clothes!"
This guy Smoker is still as cold as ever. Looks like it's necessary to use actual combat to help him develop his fruit ability; exchanges promote progress, after all!
"Hahaha, Smoker, if you go back talking like that you're going to get beaten up, you know?" Seeing Wright twitching his eyebrows, Rosinante quickly stepped out to rescue this emotionally challenged buddy: "Wright, Teacher Zephyr knew you would arrive today, so he set the training camp's graduation ceremony for today."
"Mmm... There's still an hour left. Teacher Zephyr instructed us that the moment we saw you, we were to tell you to hurry up and change into your dress uniform. In a little while Fleet Admiral Kong, Admiral Sengoku, and all the vice admirals will be entering!"
"What the—!"
Wright couldn't keep his composure; Zephyr hadn't told him about this! Was this supposed to be a surprise for him? And you lot dressing up so formally weren't here to welcome me after all! Hehe... You guys are getting quite bold today!
"Farewell!"
Wright activated Lightspeed, vanishing in a few blinks and leaving his buddies exchanging wry smiles: "Just looking at that speed, even if he didn't fight back we couldn't hit him. This gap..."
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