With the arrival of Kuzan and Smoker, Wright's life finally became a little less boring. Borrowing troops sounded simple, but actual execution was not so easy at all.
A Marine Headquarters warship required a complement of about one thousand personnel, including a complete ship operation crew, scouts, intelligence processing personnel, logistical supply personnel, and combat personnel, and needed to be commanded by a lead officer of at least commander rank.
Kuzan would provide the lead officer, but the warship and all other shipboard personnel had to be "borrowed" from Garp. Therefore, branch personnel assignments were quite frequent during this period. Kuzan was a junior deeply appreciated by Garp and possessed great strength, but he was just too lazy... so Garp still needed to select some quick-witted Marines so they wouldn't easily disturb the Vice Admiral's sleep.
Well, Old Man Garp could never think of so much; these details were deliberately instructed by Wright to Bogart, who was in charge of selecting the people. The deadpan man actually looked at Wright in a new light this time—this scoundrel of a guy even understood these things?
Taking advantage of the fact that Garp had Kuzan to deal with, Wright arranged a task for himself during this period—disciplining... cough, training Smoker.
"So Smoker, you've been by Vice Admiral Kuzan's side during this period, and he happens to be our fellow apprentice as well." Wright held his sword and looked at Smoker, who was prone on the ground with black lines all over his head. "Apprentice-brother Kuzan is an expert in 'shaping' combat styles. Didn't you ask him for any experience?"
Smoker had previously proposed sparring with Wright to see how much progress he had made recently, and then he was educated by Wright, who readily accepted.
Smoker's progress during this period could not be described as small. The Smoke-Smoke Fruit had been developed through the concept of "condensation," yielding preliminary results: he could condense a smoke-hardened layer similar to Armament Haki with astonishing hardness, while simultaneously retaining the characteristics of a Logia—even if shattered, his physical body would not be hurt. Smoker had abandoned his jitte and concentrated on practicing fist techniques and other martial arts to form his own unique, versatile combat style.
"You pervert, Wright!" Smoker, filled with confidence, wanted to weigh Wright's measure, only for that bastard not even to draw his sword; a single horizontal sweep sent him sprawling and unable to get up. Wasn't this guy a swordsman! Why were his kicking techniques so fierce? Was he practicing Tempest Kick as swordsmanship?!
"..." Giving Smoker a Holy Light Spell to help him get back up, Wright also realized the results of Old Man Garp's intensive training during this period. Along with the strengthening of basic physical fitness, strength, and defense, although swordsmanship had not progressed much, his speed and destructive power had shown significant improvement.
Normally, whenever he encountered pirates, he just captured them directly so it didn't show, but until now, seeing Smoker who had also made huge progress, he finally realized that building a solid foundation really was an important factor affecting one's combat power ceiling.
Smoker got up and lit a cigar—the previous one had been blown out by Wright's sweeping kick—took a deep breath, and turned to Wright. "Of course I asked about 'shaping'; otherwise, how could I have grasped the essentials so quickly?"
"Mr. Kuzan praised the direction of my ability development—of course, I told him you guided it." Ignoring Wright's darkened face, Smoker was too embarrassed to say thank you, but he could recommend you to the higher-ups. "However, Mr. Kuzan also said that the principle of my 'condensation' ability is different from his, and his experience can only be used as a reference rather than copied. On the other hand, once fully developed, my ability will be much more flexible than his."
Smoke condensation was equivalent to 3D printing, making it more flexible than simply creating ice, but it lacked the terrifying low-temperature effect bonus of the Ice-Ice Fruit. Each had its pros and cons, depending entirely on the user's level of development.
Realizing the huge gap between himself and Wright, Smoker wasn't too discouraged. Wasn't Vice Admiral Kuzan back then such a "monster" too? Upholding justice wasn't enough just relying on a few "monsters"; they needed help from people like him, who were at least "elites." The path they had to walk was even harder, and he didn't need to think too much—he just had to strive to catch up!
With the troop deployment complete, Kuzan left with Smoker and the borrowed warship. Before leaving, he actually issued an invitation to Wright, his "junior apprentice-brother." "Ahahaha, little Wright, interested in coming to hang out on my ship? I heard you have a high enthusiasm for cracking down on pirates; staying cooped up at the branch base must be too stifling, right?"
"Bastard Kuzan!" Old Man Garp leaped up in fury. "Borrowing a warship isn't enough, and now you want Wright too? You brat, you've got quite an appetite! Take Old Man Garp's Fist of Love!"
Wright's eye twitched as he watched Kuzan, who had been punched by Old Man Garp into a pile of ice shards across the ground, slowly reform, and he said regretfully, "Vice Admiral Kuzan, look, I originally wanted to agree, but this hot-tempered old man hits even you. I reckon if I went over, he'd smash your ship..."
"Ahahaha, that's true too. I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Garp did that." Kuzan smiled and waved his hand. "Then little Wright, train well under Mr. Garp. 'We' are looking forward to the day we can fight side by side with you..."
"See you at Headquarters."
"...'We', huh..."
After Kuzan and Smoker left, Wright returned to his "peaceful" life. As the pirate threat grew daily, Garp began sending Wright on long-term patrol missions. Moreover, for many pirate crews that required a Vice Admiral to handle personally, Garp merely provided backing while all specific matters were handled entirely by Wright.
Thus, over the next two years, Wright's combat power firmly reached the Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral level, with more time spent on increasing combat skills and developing Holy Light Power.
A Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral could be said to be a rank with an extremely exaggerated gap in combat power: the strong ones were like the future Three Admirals and Admiral Candidates, while the weak ones were little stronger than rear admirals. Wright's combat power could only be considered on the lower end among Vice Admirals—after all, he hadn't been training every second over the years; his focus was on foundations and comprehensive qualities, which even included leading troops in battle, military strategy, and military affairs.
The Marines were not pirates, after all; Zephyr had said back then that as the elite of the elites, one could not be a brute who only knew how to fight. Even Garp, who looked the most like a pure brute among the Marines, actually possessed a formidable macro-perspective, precise vision, and powerful means—it was just that the existence of the Strategist Sengoku and the Great Staff Officer Tsuru made Garp entirely too lazy to use his brain, leaving the two of them to worry about everything while just using his fists felt simply amazing!
Over the two years, Wright had killed and captured countless pirates of all sizes. Many pirates from the East Blue still remembered Wright as the nightmare of the East Blue. As Wright headed to the Grand Line's Marine Headquarters, the East Blue pirates had a brief party before being suppressed by Marine reinforcements. However, high-end Marine combat power wasn't stationed in East Blue, allowing quite a few East Blue pirates to successfully enter the Grand Line.
Consequently, these pirates stubbed their toes and met their end at G3 Branch. As long as they were encountered by Wright, not a single one managed to escape; all of them turned into Wright's experience points... and military merits, promoting him to the rank of Marine Headquarters Captain.
A captain possessing the combat power of a Headquarters Vice Admiral—G3 Branch boasted Garp with an Admiral's combat power, Wright with a Vice Admiral's combat power, and Bogart with at least a Rear Admiral's combat power, vaguely becoming a nightmare for nearby pirates.
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