Temporary Mission

Noah felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Why did it have to be like this?

Was heaven playing a cruel joke on him?

It was one thing to have his daily assessment canceled, but now he couldn't even participate in the live combat assessment?

--What a joke! He had been counting on this assessment to show off his skills and finally make a significant leap in the rankings that had remained stagnant for ages!

His gaze went blank. A long moment later, he suddenly bolted up from his chair, lunged at the beaver-cat that was busy burying its face in dried fish, and grabbed it by the neck.

"Change it back, you jerk!"

Noah said viciously, "No energy, no stamina—those are just excuses! You took it upon yourself to do something so outrageous, and yet you still have the nerve to sit there leisurely eating dried fish?"

The chubby little cat froze in place, looking up at him in bewilderment.

"..." Aokiji was startled by his outburst.

After a moment of speechless forehead-rubbing, Aokiji shook his head. "It probably isn't lying. It likely didn't think about the consequences beforehand. Just let it go; what kind of bad intentions could a little cat have?"

"It's not that simple, Mr. Kuzan!" Noah gritted his teeth. "At the very least, there must be a punishment..."

Just as Aokiji thought the guy was about to say something profound, he snatched the remaining pieces of dried fish from the beaver-cat's paws and tossed them into his own mouth.

"You're already this fat and you still want to eat? Keep dreaming!"

Aokiji: "..."

Momousagi: "..."

"...It's clear, Noah, that you take this live combat assessment very seriously."

Aokiji tried his best to ignore the pitiful look the beaver-cat was giving him, cleared his throat, and turned to Noah.

"I did consider postponing the assessment for a few days until you two swapped back into your own bodies, but since this is an off-site live combat mission, making the entire fleet of hundreds wait for you at sea for so long is, for one..."

"No need to explain that."

Noah had already regained his composure. He waved his hand with a sigh while chewing on the dried fish. "I understand, Mr. Kuzan."

Seeing the disappointment Noah couldn't hide, Aokiji didn't know how to continue.

After all, he was only a temporary instructor filling in, and he wasn't particularly skilled at comforting people in this regard.

"How about I participate for you?"

Momousagi, who had been silently observing from the side, suddenly spoke up with a smile. "Although my strength is limited while using your body, taking first place in this recruit assessment shouldn't be a prob..."

"No!"

Before she could finish, Aokiji and Noah interrupted her in unison.

"Hey—" Momousagi glared at the two of them with some dissatisfaction. "Interrupting a lady while she's speaking is very rude, you know."

"Sorry."

Noah lowered his head slightly, but his tone remained firm. "That is absolutely out of the question, Rear Admiral Gion. It is true that I want to prove myself in the live combat assessment, but if it isn't achieved by my own hands, then no matter how beautiful the final result is, it's meaningless!"

"Indeed."

Aokiji nodded as well.

"If you were to participate, Gion, it wouldn't be fair to the other recruits in this batch. Besides, you have your own mission to attend to; how could you possibly have the time?"

"Oh, right, I almost forgot..."

Momousagi finally remembered. She rubbed her temples with a headache, then suddenly seemed to realize something. She whipped her head around to look at Noah, her eyes brightening.

"Uh..." Noah felt flustered under her gaze. "Rear Admiral Gion, you... you don't mean to ask me to carry out your mission, do you?"

"Is that not allowed?"

Momousagi said with a smile, "No matter how you look at it, you are in my body right now. It shouldn't be a big deal for you to complete a mission in my stead, right?"

"But... but I only have the appearance!" Noah felt like crying. "For Rear Admiral Gion to personally come all the way to the West Blue, the mission must be very difficult. With my level of strength, I can't possibly..."

"Ara, that's where you're wrong."

Momousagi suddenly reached out a hand, gently pinched the cheek that belonged to her own face, and smiled slightly.

"The reason the Headquarters sent me has nothing to do with strength. All they need is this face of mine."

"W-what do you mean?"

Being pinched by his own original body didn't actually feel like much, but the thought that Momousagi was the one inside it made Noah feel a bit strange.

"Major General Shizi, have you heard of this name?"

Momousagi withdrew her hand and asked in a relaxed tone.

Noah thought carefully, even searching through the memories of his past life, but in the end, he honestly shook his head. "No."

"You only came to the Headquarters last year, so it's normal that you haven't heard of her."

Momousagi crossed her legs again. This time, the movement was a bit wide, and she seemed to have bumped into something, causing her expression to become slightly unnatural as she had to readjust her sitting posture.

"But Major General Shizi is actually quite famous. She is a veteran marine from the same generation as Mr. Zephyr, and she was once one of the most important strategists in the Headquarters' intelligence group."

"Just like Vice Admiral Tsuru?" Noah's attention was entirely on Momousagi's words, so he didn't notice her subtle movement.

"Yes, to be precise, before Rear Admiral Shizi retired, she was Tsuru's deputy and helped her complete many important strategic plans."

Momousagi frowned as she said this, "But for some reason, three years ago, she suddenly left without saying goodbye. It wasn't until she arrived at her hometown in the West Blue that she submitted a resignation to the headquarters, stating that she was getting old, no longer suitable for the position of a headquarters staff officer, and intended to spend her retirement in her hometown."

"At that time, the headquarters had just executed the Pirate King Gol D. Roger in Loguetown in the East Blue, and we thought the situation on the seas would stabilize. After one failed attempt to persuade her to stay, we accepted her request for retirement, but you should know what happened afterward..."

Momousagi didn't spell out the rest, but Noah naturally understood, so he nodded slightly.

Three years ago, the Navy publicly executed Gol D. Roger, intending to deter the other pirates on the seas and allow the increasingly powerful Navy to further control the order of this world.

But no one expected that because of the words Gol D. Roger spoke himself, the entire world would fall into a fanatical pursuit of the great treasure "One Piece," thereby kicking off the turbulent Great Pirate Era.

Because of this, the world became even more chaotic and unstable.

"In short, ever since the Great Pirate Era began, the pressure on the headquarters has been growing. We are currently in a period where we desperately need talent, and we can't just leave an excellent staff officer to continue spending her retirement in her hometown. Besides, Rear Admiral Shizi is a few years younger than my sister, so she can hardly be called old."

"But whether it was through Den Den Mushi or letters, the messages sent out were like stones sinking into the ocean, with no response at all. Later on, Zephyr personally made a call, and it was finally answered, but even after he extended the invitation, she still politely declined."