A Letter from Home Is Worth Ten Thousand Gold

"Hey, Noah, why haven't you gone back yet?"

Just then, a familiar, light voice of surprise suddenly came from the right side of the training ground.

Saved!

Noah quickly turned his head, looking at Rosinante who had appeared before him. He pretended to wipe away sweat and smiled, saying, "I'm heading back now. I still had plenty of energy today, so I put in a little extra practice."

"Oh."

Rosinante nodded blankly. He was wearing pajamas and holding a carton of milk, his eyes bleary with sleep, looking as if he were still in a dream.

Noah knew at a glance that he had just come out of the dormitory—this guy had a habit of wandering out to buy a carton of milk whenever he suffered from insomnia, drinking it before going back to sleep.

"Let's go, we might as well head back together."

He grabbed the jacket draped over the wall and, together with Rosinante—who hadn't even realized what had just happened—walked out the training ground gate, chatting as they headed toward the male soldiers' dormitory building.

He didn't look back once the entire time, afraid to glance at Shiya under the streetlamp behind him, terrified that she might stop him and trigger some cliché, soap-opera-style drama.

It wasn't until he entered the dormitory building and reached the door of his room on the fifth floor that he looked back from across the corridor railing toward the training ground.

The black streetlamp still cast a dim, faint glow into the night, but under the light, that silently weeping figure was no longer there.

It seemed Shiya had likely come to terms with it.

Noah recalled the scenes from the training ground just now, and after thinking it over seriously for a moment, he confirmed once again that he hadn't felt a single trace of romantic interest throughout the entire encounter.

Then there was no problem. Since he truly didn't like her, in his view, he should firmly and clearly reject the confession.

Treating emotions with the same caution as training was a matter of personal principle.

He stopped looking downstairs and turned to knock on the dormitory door.

A moment later, the door was pulled open from the inside, and a sour-faced Shiryu appeared before them.

"Yo, our training fanatic, you finally decided to come back?"

Shiryu was over three meters tall. He looked down at Noah, making no effort to hide his morning-after-the-night-before grumpiness from being woken up, and sneered, "Usually you're back by eight at the latest. It's nearly ten now. If you'd knocked any later, I would've thought it was already dawn and time to assemble on the field."

"And you, you idiot!"

Shiryu suddenly looked up and noticed the bleary-eyed Rosinante. Seeing the unopened milk carton in his hand, he became instantly and utterly furious. "You go out in the middle of the night to buy milk, and you don't even know enough to bring your key?"

"I... I..."

Rosinante was startled by him and instinctively took half a step back, saying weakly, "I wasn't very clear-headed. I just kept thinking about going out to buy milk to drink, and I... I forgot..."

Shiryu's gaze looked as if it wanted to eat someone, sweeping back and forth across Noah and Rosinante's faces.

"I promise, I'll definitely be back earlier next time."

Noah apologized with extreme sincerity. His expression was solemn, his right hand pressed to his chest; he was one step away from swearing to the heavens.

"Me too, I'll definitely remember to bring my key next time!" Rosinante followed suit.

"..."

Shiryu stared at the two of them in grim silence. Although his brain wasn't fully clear from just waking up, he vaguely remembered that he seemed to have heard these words many times over the past year...

A few seconds later, the two were let in, and they dutifully closed the door for Shiryu.

It was just that both of them now had a few bumps on their heads, sizzling with faint wisps of smoke under the light.

And just then, Shiryu took advantage of Rosinante being caught off guard, snatched the milk carton from his hand, and tilted his head back to drain it in one go.

He glanced at the dumbfounded blonde boy, finally feeling much better. He climbed into bed with satisfaction, let out a comfortable groan, and turned off the light to sleep.

"Noah..."

Rosinante came back to his senses and looked at Noah with a pitiful expression.

"That was just to make sure you didn't wake up needing to pee in the middle of the night. Shiryu is doing it for your own good. Go to sleep, go to sleep."

Noah replied perfunctorily, not even lifting his head.

He was at his desk, reading the family letter Garp had brought during the day by the light of his desk lamp, and had no time to be a righteous hero.

As a member of the elite camp at headquarters, the living conditions were quite good, far better than those of ordinary soldiers. Not only did most rooms house only two or three people with spacious areas, but they also came with furniture and facilities like desks, wardrobes, and refrigerators.

Noah's desk was piled with quite a few books. In addition to training materials like Summary of Six Powers Basics and Essentials of Swordsmanship, there were also thick volumes covering various subjects such as military theory, naval common knowledge, and classic battle case studies.

After all, the purpose of the elite camp was to cultivate high-level officer talent for the Navy. So-called "academic courses" didn't take up much time in daily training, but they were essential.

"As expected, still so naggy..."

After finishing the family letter, Noah scratched his head. He tucked the white stationery along with Bell-mère's pink letter into an envelope, carefully stored it in his desk drawer, and then, biting on the end of his pen, began to rack his brains over a reply.

The letter from his parents contained no surprises. It was just like before: nagging him to work hard at headquarters, not to let down Vice Admiral Garp's patronage, not to have conflicts with his colleagues, and to be mindful of maintaining good interpersonal relationships, and so on...

He could understand his parents' good intentions, and even felt that in this world, being able to have family members thinking of him from afar—just like in his previous life—was a very happy thing, no matter how naggy or long-winded they were.

However, in the past, Noah's training progress hadn't been smooth, and he always felt a bit ashamed when replying, often avoiding the topic. But starting today, everything was clearly different.

After organizing his thoughts, he finally put pen to paper and began to write his reply with a flurry of motion. The beginning was fine, responding earnestly to his parents' concerns, but as he went on, the youthful spirit took over, and it became easy to boast without boundaries.

—In the letter, he not only confidently guaranteed that when he graduated from the elite camp next year, he would be at least a headquarters Major, four ranks higher than his father, who was a branch Captain.

Furthermore, he claimed he would become a Navy Admiral in the future, own a large villa in Marineford assigned by headquarters, and by then, his father would be retired, so he could bring the whole family over to live in style, making everyone in their hometown envious.

It was already eleven o'clock at night when the letter was finished. Rosinante, lacking his milk, had eventually fallen asleep, and his snoring harmonized with Shiryu's, echoing in Noah's ears.

Noah sealed the letter, planning to send it to the East Blue via the Navy's own channels tomorrow.

He dimmed the desk lamp, stood up from behind the desk while stretching, and was just about to go take a shower and head to bed when he inadvertently glanced at his system panel.

As a result, looking at the text record in the information box, he was suddenly startled and froze in place.