Kuzan's Visit

Me, Wright! Back in the day, I worked 996 under a heartless boss who forced overtime every day. Even playing games meant staying up late—

Now, I'd decided to work hard and grow stronger, strictly discipline myself, and pursue my dreams—but why did you locals want me, an outsider, to become stronger even more than I did?

First an admiral personally trained me, then after graduation, a vice admiral with peak admiral-level strength trained me every day. Wasn't this resource allocation a little... too wonderful?!

Daily patrols were probably what Wright looked forward to most—the so-called "time out."

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

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

So, the chances of encountering pirates during the day were usually quite high. But for some reason, Wright had not run into any pirates worth mentioning during patrols lately. Those little fellows with bounties of twenty or thirty million were only enough for him to warm up.

"Report! Major Wright!" A marine ran up to Wright and saluted. "Lieutenant Colonel Bogart from the branch has sent word, requesting that Major Wright return immediately!"

"Hm? What's the matter? 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 making them return early?

"Uh... supposedly, Vice Admiral Kuzan will soon arrive at the branch, and you're needed back there to make arrangements," the marine replied. As for Major Wright getting upset every time he went out and failed to find pirates... please stay upset forever!

If you were upset... then wouldn't us subordinates be perfectly happy with no pirates around?!

"Oh? A truly important figure is coming." Wright became interested. "Pass the order, return to port! Let's go meet this 'monster' vice admiral—how exciting!"

Compared to someone from the same generation, just how big was the gap between him and this famous man?

"Yo! Smoker!" At the harbor, Wright immediately spotted his old buddy Smoker walking off the warship behind Kuzan. He watched with mixed laughter and exasperation as the guy held two cigars in his mouth, with an entire ring of cigars even strapped 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" cracked him over the head. "You bastard! My salary is much higher than a captain's! And my Donuts are premium quality—expensive ones!"

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

"Ara ara ara... seeing you so full of energy puts my mind at ease, Mr. Garp." At the front, Vice Admiral Kuzan, dressed in a dark coat and wearing a swim cap... no, a Military Hat? With small round sunglasses perched on his face, let out a chuckle.

He had thought Mr. Garp would be dejected for a while. It seemed that... he had been living quite fulfillingly lately. Was it because of this "junior disciple" major?

Kuzan gave a huge yawn and looked at Wright, who had just been struck over the head by Garp. Naturally, he was no stranger to this major whose "fame had spread far and wide" at Headquarters—what kind of astonishing durability and recovery did someone need to become Garp's punching bag? Even he, a Logia user called a "monster," could not withstand Garp fighting like that!

Besides, as an elite personally trained by Zephyr just like him, this kid was genuinely his "junior disciple"—those two fellows had surely taken notice of him as well, right?

"Oh, Kuzan!" Old Man Garp finally came to his senses under the helpless gazes of his own marines and prepared to fulfill his duties as branch commander—yeah, right!

The old man was calling out to Kuzan instead. "Come on, come on! You came at just the right time! I set a new Donut-eating record just yesterday! How about it, want to compete with me?"

"Ara ara, as expected of Mr. Garp, setting another new record. In that case, I'll have to work hard too—want some ice-cold beer?"

"..."

Watching Kuzan and Garp walk into the branch laughing and joking, while their subordinates clearly seemed accustomed to the sight and went about their own business, not forgetting to cast Wright respectful looks—truly iron-headed!—only Wright and Smoker remained standing there in bewilderment...

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

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

"Ahem!" Wright coughed and called over to the bewildered Smoker. "Hahaha, Smoker, does it feel like Old Man Garp's heroic image has collapsed? Completely shattered, that kind of thing?"

Smoker nodded blankly. "I suddenly feel that Vice Admiral Garp's place is unexpectedly suited to you, Wright."

Wright's face darkened as the "Pseudo-Fist of Love" smashed into Smoker's head. "You bastard, Smoker! Are you saying I'm like that old clown? How is that possible?! Ask your adorable subordinates—how are we alike?"

Smoker's adorable subordinates: Alike. Just from the visual effect of that head-smashing, Major, weren't you beaten exactly like that by Mr. Garp just a moment ago?!

"Ow ow ow ow..." Smoker crouched on the ground, clutching his head. Was this the legendary unique technique of Vice Admiral Garp—the Fist of Love? Had Wright gotten so used to being hit that he had awakened some bizarre skill?!

"Right, I haven't asked you yet, Smoker. Why did Vice Admiral Kuzan come to our G3 Branch? Weren't you carrying out missions outside for long periods?" Wright asked. When Smoker graduated, he had only been a lieutenant. In just a few months, he was already a captain? He was almost catching up to me!

"...Mr. Kuzan came because there have been more and more pirates lately, and their strength has gradually been growing as well." Smoker rubbed the top of his head and took a hard draw from his cigar—this bastard's fist had Haki behind it. "Pirates with bounties exceeding one hundred million have been appearing one after another recently. Both their frequency and numbers have increased compared to the past few years."

"So? Vice Admiral Kuzan came here to... borrow troops?" Wright looked at Smoker in surprise and led him toward the branch training grounds. "Has it become that serious? You need to request support from a branch? Even Vice Admiral Kuzan, who is called a 'monster'?"

Smoker nodded, his eyes somewhat dim. "Pirates are like locusts. We catch batch after batch, but during the time I've followed Vice Admiral Kuzan, I've seen villages and towns ravaged by pirates more than once."

"Unfortunately, because we lack manpower, most of the time we can't arrive in time. No matter how strong Mr. Kuzan is, he is only one person. Pirates... there are too many of them, and they are too scattered."

"Also, Mr. Kuzan is not someone who likes searching everywhere for pirates. He hopes to borrow some elite personnel from Vice Admiral Garp's branch to help 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 staying at the branch every day and fighting Old Man Garp..."

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

Today was Friday. I heard that if I don't get a recommendation slot message today, I'm doomed. I wonder how the results will turn out... Please support me with recommendation votes!

A few days ago, I discovered that I actually had fans sending rewards... I was incredibly excited. But since the scheduled updates for three chapters a day had already been set, making too many changes to the release times might get my permissions restricted, so I can only adjust the release times for the last few chapters... Four updates on Friday and Saturday as thanks! The fourth update will be at 20:30. Thank you for the fan rewards, thank you for everyone's recommendation votes, and thank you to all the big shots who have bookmarked this book!