Kuzan's Visit

I, Wright! Back in the day, I worked 996 hours, forced into overtime every day by a heartless boss, staying up late even to play games—

Now, I had decided to work hard and grow stronger, while strictly keeping myself in check to achieve my dream—but why did you locals all want me to become stronger even more than I, an outsider, did?

First an admiral personally trained me, then after graduation, a vice admiral with the combat power of an admiral at his peak trained me every day. Wasn't this resource allocation a little... too awesome?!

The daily patrol was probably what Wright looked forward to most—the so-called "recess time."

Whenever that time came, Wright especially hoped some blind pirate would crash right into them and give this major, who was bored out of his mind, something to do.

In fact, sailing at night was extremely dangerous for pirates, especially on the Grand Line—the dangers brought by darkness at sea were far greater than those on land.

That was why the chances of encountering pirates during the day were usually quite high. Yet for some reason, Wright had not run into any worthwhile pirates during his patrols lately. Those little fellows with bounties of twenty or thirty million only served as a warm-up for him.

"Report! Major Wright!" A marine ran up to Wright, saluted, and said, "Lieutenant Commander Bogart from the branch has sent word, requesting Major Wright return at once!"

"Hm? What is it? We've only been out on patrol for two hours, and we haven't even seen a pirate's shadow!" Wright said unhappily. Was Old Man Garp stirring up trouble again by calling him back early?

"Uh... apparently Vice Admiral Kuzan will be arriving at the branch soon, and they need you back to make arrangements," the marine replied. As for Major Wright's habit of getting upset whenever he failed to find pirates on patrol... please stay upset forever!

If you were upset... then wouldn't us subordinates be delighted that there were no pirates?

"Oh my, a truly important figure is coming." Wright became interested. "Pass the order, return! Let's go meet this 'monster' vice admiral—I'm really looking forward to it!"

Compared with someone from the same generation, just how far behind this famous man was he?

"Yo! Smoker!" At the harbor, Wright immediately spotted his old buddy Smoker stepping off the warship behind Kuzan. He looked at the man with laughter and tears in his eyes—Smoker had two cigars clenched between his teeth, and even had a ring of cigars tied around the left side of his coat and his left arm. "Can that salary of his even afford cigars? Old Man Garp is more economical. Donuts are much cheaper than cigars."

Bang!

As usual, Garp's "Iron Fist" smashed into his head. "Bastard! This old man's salary is much higher than a captain's! And my donuts are top-quality, damn expensive!"

No, Vice Admiral Garp, wasn't your focus a little off...?

"Ah la la la... seeing you so lively puts my mind at ease, Mr. Garp." At the front, Vice Admiral Kuzan, wearing a dark coat, a swim cap... no, a military hat? And small round sunglasses, chuckled.

He had thought Mr. Garp would be down for a while. It seemed... he had been quite fulfilled lately. Was it because of this junior major?

Kuzan let out a huge yawn and looked at Wright, whose head had just been smashed by Garp. Naturally, he was no stranger to this major whose "reputation had spread far and wide" at Headquarters—what kind of astonishing endurance and recovery did someone need to become Garp's punching bag? Even he, a Logia user known as a "monster," could not withstand Garp fighting like that!

Besides, as an elite personally trained by Zephyr just like him, this kid really was his junior—those two guys had surely taken notice as well, right?

"Oh, Kuzan!" Old Man Garp finally came to his senses beneath the helpless stares of his own marines and carried out his duties as branch commander—yeah right!

The old man was greeting Kuzan instead. "Come, come, you arrived at just the right time! This old man set a new donut-eating record just yesterday! How about it? Want to compete with me?"

"Ah la la, as expected of Mr. Garp, setting another record. In that case, I need to work hard too—would you like some ice-cold beer?"

"..."

As Kuzan and Garp laughed their way into the branch, their subordinates clearly seemed used to this and went about their own business. They did not forget to cast Wright looks of awe—truly thick-headed! Only Wright and Smoker remained standing there, utterly dumbfounded...

Wright: That old man is unreliable enough, but Kuzan was this unreliable when he was young too? What the hell is with ice-cold beer?!

Smoker: What is going on? Where am I? What am I supposed to do? Vice Admiral Garp, is your wise and valiant "hero" image really allowed to be like this?!

"Ahem!" Wright coughed and called out to the dazed Smoker. "Hahaha, Smoker, does it feel like Old Man Garp's heroic image has collapsed? Like, shattered into tiny pieces?"

Smoker nodded blankly. "I suddenly feel that Vice Admiral Garp's place suits you surprisingly well, Wright."

Wright's face darkened, and the Pseudo-Fist of Love smashed Smoker in the head. "You bastard, Smoker! Are you saying I'm like that old fool? How could that be! Ask those adorable subordinates of yours—how are we alike?"

Smoker's adorable subordinates: Very alike. Just from the visual effect of that head-smashing, Major, didn't Mr. Garp beat you up exactly like that just now?!

"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." Smoker clutched his head and crouched down. So this was Vice Admiral Garp's legendary signature technique—the Fist of Love? Had Wright become so used to getting beaten that he had awakened some strange skill?!

"Oh right, I haven't asked you yet, Smoker. Why did Vice Admiral Kuzan come to our G3 Branch? Weren't you stationed outside on long-term missions?" Wright asked. Smoker had only been a lieutenant when he graduated. It had only been a few months, and he was already a captain? He was nearly catching up to yours truly!

"...Mr. Kuzan came because pirates have been increasing in number lately, and their strength has gradually been rising as well." Smoker rubbed his head and took a hard drag on his cigar—this bastard's fist even carried Haki. "Pirates with bounties over a hundred million have appeared one after another recently. Their frequency and numbers have both increased compared with the previous few years."

"So? Vice Admiral Kuzan came to... borrow troops?" Wright looked at Smoker in surprise and led him toward the branch training grounds. "Has it gotten this serious already? You need to request support from the branches? Even Vice Admiral Kuzan, known as a 'monster'?"

Smoker nodded, his gaze somewhat dim. "Pirates are like locusts. We capture batch after batch, but during my time following Vice Admiral Kuzan, I have seen more than once villages and towns ravaged by pirates."

"Unfortunately, because we lack manpower, most of the time we cannot arrive in time. No matter how strong Mr. Kuzan is, he is only one man. Pirates... are too numerous and too scattered."

"Also, Mr. Kuzan is not someone who likes searching everywhere for pirates. He hopes to borrow a portion of the branch's elites from Vice Admiral Garp to help him locate pirates. That way, he can lock onto targets and strike directly instead of wasting time searching aimlessly."

"Aha, that does sound like Vice Admiral Kuzan's style! Still, I'm really jealous. He gets to fight pirates instead of fighting Old Man Garp at the branch every day..."

Smoker: "You mean getting beaten by Vice Admiral Garp every day! Have some shame, will you?"

It was Friday today. I heard that if I did not get recommended in the station's messages today, I would be finished. I wonder how the results will turn out... anyway, please support me with recommendation votes!

A few days ago, I discovered that someone had actually sent me a fan donation... I was extremely excited, but since the scheduled three daily updates had already been set, making too many changes to the release times might get my permissions restricted. I could only adjust the release times for the final few chapters... four updates on Friday and Saturday as thanks! The fourth update will be at 20:30. Thank you for the fan donations, thank you for everyone's recommendation votes, and thank you to all the big shots who bookmarked this book!