Childhood Sweethearts

Was this one of the random items mentioned in the rules, refreshed every week?

It was more reliable than he had expected. It hardly seemed like something from a Love Cell Cultivation System at all. It was downright legitimate—though the points required for most items were terrifyingly high...

An Apparition Skill Scroll? Was that the spell from the Harry Potter world, or some nerfed version that had been modified?

Either way, if he could really exchange for it, wouldn't it be a godly ability for traveling across the seas!

As for Wind Wall, the name sounded somewhat familiar. It seemed to be an incredibly powerful skill as well.

However, the prerequisites for Advanced Swordsmanship were right there. It was still far too distant for Noah, and no matter how tempted he was, he could only set it aside for now.

"Only fifteen hundred points were given."

After finishing his soup, Noah tore into the grilled meat in large bites while silently scanning the shop panel. "Looks like this week's random items can at most be exchanged for these two..."

Six Powers Kami-e Skill Scroll (Intermediate), and a Taijutsu Training Acceleration Card (7 Days).

Noah happened to need both of them right now, and he would still barely have some points left after purchasing them. However, he did not rush to exchange for them immediately. Instead, he browsed the exchange options in the permanent shop.

[Basic Strength Point: 2,000 points per point at current stage]

[Basic Agility Point: 2,000 points per point at current stage]

[Basic Endurance Point: 2,000 points per point at current stage]

[Basic Intelligence Point: 20,000 points per point at current stage]

[Basic Charm Point: 50,000 points per point at current stage]

[Character Detector: 500 points per use, purchase limit of 2 per day]

"Most of them only cost two thousand points for now."

Noah began to hesitate.

The increase in strength brought by raising basic attributes would certainly be considerable. Should he use the few points in his hand to buy those two items, or save up a little more and exchange for attribute points instead...

Besides, Intelligence and Charm were outrageously expensive.

Perhaps they followed different quantification rules? Thinking about his current Charm value, which had already made him nearly irresistible among the women in the Recruit Camp, Noah suddenly understood.

The gap between every point of that attribute was simply too vast. If he truly specialized in Charm at any cost and added several more points, then when he smiled, his destructive power might even rival that of the future Pirate Empress, Hancock, right?

Just as he was pondering this, a commotion suddenly came from the entrance to the cafeteria.

"Hm?"

Noah temporarily shifted his gaze away from the system panel. Looking toward the sound, he discovered a familiar figure standing by the doorway at some point.

The Marine soldiers at several tables near the entrance had all left their seats and eagerly crowded around him.

"Vice Admiral Garp!"

"Vice Admiral! You're finally back!"

"You're half a month later than expected. Did this mission go smoothly?"

The person surrounded by the crowd was none other than the Marine hero, Garp, currently a vice admiral at Marine Headquarters.

The old man's face was covered in travel-worn fatigue, and his hair was a mess. He seemed to have just stepped off a warship.

Yet upon seeing those youthful, passionate faces, he concealed his exhaustion and could not help breaking into a wide, delighted grin.

"Hahaha! Long time no see, you brats!"

"Of course the mission went smoothly! With me personally taking action, could any pirate possibly escape from my hands?"

As Garp answered, he tried hard to squeeze his way deeper into the cafeteria. However, the soldiers around him were simply too enthusiastic. It was practically like a fan meet-and-greet, and after a long while, he had barely moved a few steps. He immediately grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"Hey, why are you all blocking the way? Move aside, all of you! You may be full, but this old man's stomach is practically shriveling up from hunger! I'm in a hurry to eat!"

His words sparked laughter all around. The young Marine soldiers exchanged embarrassed looks, then moved aside one after another, clearing a path to the cafeteria counter for the poor old man whose stomach was growling with hunger.

"Ha, that's more like it."

Garp laughed heartily and strode through the crowd toward the counter.

"Mr. Garp..."

Noah had not gone over to block the way. As he watched Garp, something suddenly occurred to him—the Character Detector the system had mentioned earlier.

Judging from the description, it seemed capable of detecting another person's attributes and displaying them before him as a data panel. But how universal was it? Could it only be used on the opposite sex, or could it be used on anyone?

Noah had long been curious about just how strong someone like Garp, who stood at the peak of the seas, truly was. Besides, it was already nighttime, and the day was nearly over. There was no reason not to use his one free daily detection...

So without hesitation, he used a detection on Garp.

[Character: Monkey D. Garp]

[Age: 57]

[Strength: ???]

[Agility: ???]

[Endurance: ???]

[Intelligence: 7]

[Charm: 8]

[Skills: Armament Haki (Master), Observation Haki (Master), Rokushiki (Master), Hand-to-Hand Boxing (Master)...]

[Estimated point reward for successful conquest: Ambiguous Relationship / 80,000 points, Romantic Relationship / 400,000 points]

[Note: Although I have no idea how utterly deranged you must be to detect an empty-nester old man who picks his nose every day, there is no doubt that conquering this great Marine hero will earn you an astonishing number of points.]

"..."

After remaining silent for a long time, Noah expressionlessly closed the panel.

The first part would have been enough, you bastard!

Was something wrong with this system's thought process? He had merely been curious and wanted to detect Garp. Why did it assume he wanted to conquer him? He was straight, okay!

Still, he had indeed seen the data panel he wanted. There were just rather too many unknown question marks. Noah guessed it was because the gap in strength between Garp and himself was too enormous, causing the physical basic attributes to be displayed incompletely.

It was like when he played online games in his previous life: after leaving the beginner village and entering the main city, the powerful NPCs he encountered always had a string of question marks where their levels should be.

He truly was a peak powerhouse of this world... Noah clicked his tongue inwardly. He did not consider the detection a waste. He was only wondering what level of strength he would need to reach before he could see Garp's full attributes clearly.

And could he himself reach that realm of strength someday?

Come to think of it, although the detector liked to add clever little remarks of its own, its function and range of application were clearly far greater than he had expected. Noah was quite satisfied with it.

"Hm?"

Just then, as Garp passed through the aisle, he suddenly noticed Noah in the corner. As though remembering something, he slapped his forehead, pulled a letter from his chest, and strode over.

"Mr. Garp!"

Rosinante and Shiryu both stopped eating, rose to their feet, and saluted. Noah did the same, though when he saw the letter in Garp's hand, he paused slightly and roughly guessed what it was.

"Hey, little Noah!"

Garp walked straight up to the table and stuffed the letter into Noah's hand. "Your family asked me to bring this to you when I stopped to rest at the 16th Branch. Good thing I suddenly remembered. Once a man gets old, his memory only gets worse and worse."

"Not at all."

Noah carefully tucked the letter into his pocket and gave Garp a solemn bow. "Thank you for the trouble, Mr. Garp. Thank you very much."

Setting aside his admiration for Garp's deeds and character, this old man had recognized his potential. If not for Garp's support, it would not have been so easy for him to enter the Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp. He might still be muddling along in the East Blue.

"It was nothing."

Garp waved dismissively. "By the way, I haven't paid attention to you recruits in a while. A few months ago, I asked Zephyr about you, and he said you ranked fifty-ninth in the assessment. How have things been lately? Have you improved?"

"Uh..."

Noah was embarrassed now. He scratched his head. "I'm still more or less the same..."

Back at the 16th Branch, Noah had performed exceptionally well, earning Garp's favor and high expectations. Unfortunately, after entering Marine Headquarters, he had become rather unremarkable among the crowd.

"Huh?"

Garp was initially surprised, but then clicked his tongue and patted Noah on the shoulder.

"You still aren't working hard enough, kid! You'll graduate next year. I'll come watch the final assessment then too, so work harder! Try to earn Zephyr's highest evaluation when the time comes!"

"Yes, Vice Admiral!"

Noah gave a salute and answered firmly and loudly.

Only after Garp nodded in satisfaction and Noah watched his back disappear into the distance did he sit back down with a heart full of helplessness.

It seemed Garp had yet to realize that he had misjudged him. He thought Noah's mediocre performance was simply because he had not worked hard enough.

But Noah knew better than anyone just how diligent he had been since entering Marine Headquarters...

If the system had not appeared and brought a turning point in his fate, then by the time he graduated, he might really have seen nothing but deep disappointment in Garp's eyes...

He continued eating dinner, but Rosinante across from him was curious about the letter Garp had brought. He leaned over, wiggling his eyebrows as he said:

"Hey, Brother Noah, hurry up and open it. Let us see what the letter says."

Shiryu silently drank his soup beside them. He looked indifferent, but the corner of his eye kept glancing toward Noah's pocket.

"That's private, you little brat."

Noah mercilessly rapped him on the head with the back of his spoon and said irritably:

"Besides, it's a letter from my father. What is there to see?"

"Oh, cut it out."

Rosinante winced in pain but still refused to give up. Wearing an expression that said he had seen right through Noah, he smugly replied, "I saw it just now. The letter paper inside was pink! What father uses pink stationery to write to his son?"

"Hm?"

Noah froze. His attention had been on Garp just then, and he truly had not noticed.

He hurriedly pulled out the letter and examined it under the overhead lights. Sure enough, through the white envelope, he could faintly see a pale pink shade showing through.

Ah, this was bad...

He instantly understood, rubbing his brow with a headache. Because he had been training too hard lately, he had not taken the initiative to contact his childhood sweetheart back home for a long time.

—She was definitely angry now, wasn't she?

He could roughly picture it: the chestnut-haired girl, puffing out her cheeks as she wrote a letter of reproach beneath her desk lamp, then entrusting it to his father to give to Garp, so it could cross the vast seas and reach him in Marineford.

"I'm really sorry."

Filled with guilt, Noah opened the envelope and found two sheets of letter paper folded inside, each a different color.

The white one was clearly a letter from his parents, while the pink sheet naturally came from his childhood sweetheart.

[To Idiot Noah]

—Afya F. Bell-mère