Joining Forces for a Counterattack!

Under the moonlight, Noah's expression turned peculiar after hearing these words.

Cold to others? Arrogant personality?

Monica had no reason to lie to him, so, was this what Shiya was actually like on a daily basis?

But that night...

Just as confusion stirred in Noah's heart, he suddenly noticed Shiya, standing behind the two short-haired girls, staring straight at him with eyes as clear as a lake.

Seeing him look over, the blue-haired girl didn't look away; instead, she winked playfully, extended her slender hands, and silently formed a heart shape in front of her chest.

Damn!

A jolt went through Noah's heart.

It was all a facade after all; his initial judgment hadn't been wrong at all—this person was a bona fide stalker!

A normal person wouldn't spend an entire year peeping at him from the roof of the dormitory building with a telescope!

He swallowed hard and instinctively took half a step back. When Monica and Loran noticed his strange behavior, they looked back in confusion, only to see everything was normal—

Shiya had already lowered her hands, returning to her expressionless, cold demeanor.

"Why are you looking at me? Is there a flower on my face?"

"No, no..." Monica and Loran shook their heads hurriedly.

"..."

Noah watched all of this, dumbfounded.

It wasn't uncommon in this world to find people who wore two completely different faces in public and in private.

Colonel Bako, whom he had dealt with twice at the 329th Branch, was a classic example.

But this was the first time he had ever encountered someone who only showed that other face to him...

"The situation here is wrong, there are Marines!"

"Surround them!"

Just then, a massive wave of footsteps suddenly erupted from the alleyway on the other side. The group turned their heads in unison to look, only to see a large number of pirates who had discovered their fallen comrades, surging into the alley with menacing intent.

The crowd was dense, and the numbers were staggering; at a rough estimate, there were at least two or three hundred of them.

"We're in trouble..." Monica's face turned pale. "I can't believe so many of them came at once."

Shiya's expression also darkened slightly, but she didn't speak.

"Noah, what should we do?"

Loran, standing to the side, turned to ask, her expression tense. "Our stamina is almost at its limit. If we rely only on you, there's no way..."

"Who said it was only him?"

Before Noah could speak, a familiar voice suddenly came from above. The group looked up in astonishment and discovered that two figures had appeared on the roof of the four-story building at some point.

Shiryu and Rosinante.

The two were squatting on the ridge of the roof, cigarettes dangling from their lips. They looked a bit exhausted, but their mental state seemed fine, and there were no obvious wounds on their bodies.

Glancing at the large group of pirates surging from afar, the two jumped down from the roof and landed in front of the group.

"Damn, I thought you weren't going to make it."

Shiryu punched Noah hard in the chest and laughed.

"I didn't expect it, but you're quite lucky, you actually managed to catch up!"

"Haha, I've always felt my luck was pretty good."

Finally seeing his friends, Noah couldn't help but smile. After hugging them both, he asked curiously, "Why were you on the roof? When did you get here? And also..."

He looked at Rosinante strangely. "Hey, hey, hey, you guy, when did you start learning to smoke?"

Rosinante scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Just got here. I was chasing that bunch of pirates the whole way, didn't expect to run into you here."

Shiryu took out a lighter and lit another cigarette with a snap. "I shared the smoke with Rosi. The pressure has been a bit high these past two days. I saw his nerves getting tighter and tighter, so I figured I had to teach him how to relax."

"Do you want one?" He glanced at Noah, thought for a moment, and pulled a thick cigar from somewhere. "Come on, man, it's essential for relieving stress and clearing the mind."

"I don't need it."

Noah's eye twitched, and he decisively declined. He was quite averse to the smell of smoke; he couldn't stand it in his previous life or this one, let alone cigars.

In fact, Shiryu had been scolded by him more than once for making him inhale secondhand smoke.

The three of them chatted slowly, while the two short-haired girls nearby watched, stunned.

"Hey, at least have some sense of the situation when you're chatting, you idiots!"

Monica was anxious and angry, glaring fiercely at the men—excluding Noah, of course; who could get angry at a beautiful young man they had admired for so long? "The pirates have surrounded us, and you still have the mood to gossip here?"

"Don't say that, this is part of our tactical discussion," Shiryu said slowly, puffing on his cigarette.

"Oh? And the result? The encirclement is locked in now, what can we do?"

What now?

Shiryu and Noah exchanged a glance, then looked over at Rosinante.

The next moment, the three of them grinned in unison. The tacit understanding they had cultivated over a long time allowed them to draw their weapons simultaneously, step forward, and shield the three girls behind them, looking up at the swarm of pirates rushing toward them.

"What else can we do?"

Noah turned his head slightly and smiled, gripping the Wind Sword horizontally in his left hand while holding Yone's Sword in a reverse grip in his right. One red and one white, both reflected a chilling, intimidating light under the moonlight.

"If we just wipe out all these pirates, won't the problem be solved?"

"...Eh?"

Moria's attention was completely captured by Noah's profile.

By the time she snapped out of it, she was stunned to find that the three of them had already charged toward the pirates opposite them. Their speed was so fast that they left behind only blurred silhouettes lingering in her vision.

Meanwhile, at the summit of the island's northern mountain.

Amidst the whistling cold night wind, Aokiji stood quietly on a giant rock, his gaze sweeping across the landscape as he overlooked the entire island.

This was the highest point on the island, leaving almost no blind spots in his view of the town below.

Even in the dark alleys obscured by buildings, he could roughly sense the situation using his expanded Observation Haki.

A few Marine soldiers were busy in a makeshift communications command post set up behind him, and from time to time, Den Den Mushi from various instructors would ring, relaying the latest detailed intelligence on this trial.

"Mr. Kuzan."

A somewhat bald Second Lieutenant from Headquarters hung up the Den Den Mushi he had just been using, hurried behind him, saluted, and reported:

"Word just came in from Rear Admiral Gion that the previously absent recruit, Romanov Noah, has arrived on the island and is participating in this practical assessment."

"That kid, huh..."

Aokiji cast his gaze toward a certain part of the town and suddenly smiled. "I saw him a few minutes ago. Oh, right, how many recruits are still holding on exactly?"

"There were 203 recruits in this assessment. Since last night, a total of 78 have been defeated and lost their eligibility to remain on the field."

The bald Second Lieutenant took out a clipboard and answered in a methodical, detailed manner, "Adding in those who voluntarily requested rescue for various reasons, there are fewer than 80 recruits left in the city now!"