Swordmaster Realm [3/5, Please Subscribe!]

Three days later, at dawn.

At the edge of the horizon, purplish-red morning light crept upward, dispersing the thin mist.

Sunlight burst forth like molten steel, gradually illuminating the entire azure sky.

Seagulls swept across the sky, curiously looking down at a massive Marine Headquarters warship as it slowly sailed out of Marineford Harbor, setting off for the other branches along the Grand Line.

Aboard were, naturally, the Marine Headquarters elite recruits of Noah's class.

Accompanying them, in addition to more than a dozen instructors responsible for observation and assessment, was former Marine Admiral Zephyr himself.

His students were leaving headquarters to be assigned to the major branches for internships. For such an important matter, Zephyr could not simply stay behind at headquarters. He had to personally oversee the journey until every student had safely arrived at their destination before he could rest easy.

Of course.

That was all Zephyr could do. After delivering the last recruit to their assigned branch, he would return to headquarters with the warship and would not come to collect his students until three months later.

By then, there would inevitably be scenes of life and death.

After all, internships differed from combat assessments. Each branch could only send one instructor to supervise them, so there would inevitably be times when they could not keep a close enough watch.

Thus, just as in every previous class, when each internship period ended, a small number of people would have died on the battlefield, never able to return to headquarters.

Zephyr did not want to see that happen.

But what could he do?

Having lived through the old era and fought countless great pirates, Zephyr understood the cruelty of the battlefield better than anyone.

If these students wished to become qualified elite Marine officers in the future,