Hina

Dawn didn't like the unknown; he preferred to prepare for the worst.

Even if it felt a bit like paranoia, that didn't stop him from following through with it.

Besides, even if it weren't for that goal, Dawn still needed companions to sail the seas together.

After finishing navigation class and a quick lunch at noon, Dawn returned to his assigned dormitory. He took a stroll around the nearby rooms and found that most of them were empty, completely unoccupied.

It was clear that the number of people living in the training grounds was far less than the number of rooms.

"Is it just that this class has fewer people?" Dawn muttered, rubbing his chin.

From not far away, a female voice answered Dawn's question.

"Of course not! That's because this is the training camp with the highest elimination rate and the strictest standards. If you can't keep up with the group, you get eliminated.

People are constantly being weeded out, and new ones keep joining, so the rooms here are never fully filled."

Hearing the answer, Dawn instinctively turned his head toward the owner of the voice.

He saw that the one answering his question was a little girl with pink hair.

"Hina is curious. You're really impressive—physical training seems to hold no difficulty for you. Where did you come from?" Hina looked at Dawn with big, adorable eyes full of curiosity.

At that moment, Dawn finally had a chance to take a good look at Hina.

At this age, Hina wasn't yet the cool, cigarette-smoking, domineering older woman; she was just an adorable little girl.

Her light pink hair and delicate, doll-like cheeks were soft and tender, giving off a squishy vibe that made you want to pinch them.

Thanks to the training, her spirit and energy made her look lively, with a hint of sharpness in her eyes.

"Oh, I was brought back from Stomach Baron. I was stranded on a deserted island before, so it's normal you've never seen me."

Dawn spoke with a kind smile, striking up a conversation with the curious little girl Hina, who was clearly intrigued by his words.

Children in this world, perhaps because of the harsh environment, tended to mature mentally at a young age.

But no matter how mature, they were still children at heart.

Curiosity was a trait shared by all children, and it was also the most terrifying thing.

One "why" could make your scalp tingle and your head ache.

And you couldn't just smack them like a brat when they were genuinely seeking knowledge.

Hina clearly had that age-appropriate curiosity. As Dawn narrated, a wondrous island slowly unfolded before the little girl's eyes.

"How wonderful! The whole island is covered in food—doesn't that mean there's tons of delicious stuff?" Hina listened to Dawn's story, her face full of longing for the island's beautiful side.

"Don't forget, if you eat too much, you'll get fat, and then the Stomach Baron will turn you into a meatball and eat you."

Dawn subconsciously ruffled her head, casually cutting off her fantasy like he was scaring a child.

"Hina is very angry."

The little girl Hina, whether snapped back to reality by Dawn's words or annoyed at having her head ruffled, puffed up her cheeks in displeasure.

"Uh... sorry." Dawn rubbed his nose, a bit awkward.

After all, he was an adult at heart, and talking to kids made him instinctively use the head-pat move, forgetting that he was now a good-looking little boy himself.

But children's anger came and went quickly. Soon, Dawn used his well-structured island story to draw Hina's attention back, and their relationship improved quite a bit.

The days that followed flew by. With Hina, who had already become Dawn's friend, acting as a bridge, Dawn quickly integrated into the class.

Coupled with Dawn's mature adult mindset and his formidable strength, he attracted quite a few little admirers in class.

Kids, after all, fantasized about mature things, and Dawn's maturity wasn't an act—it came from a psychological level.

Over time, though, Dawn was labeled in class as "mature," "powerful," and... "pretty boy."

As for that last label, it naturally came from Dawn's handsome looks, which meant he had slightly more female Navy friends than male ones...

So, amid the envy and jealousy of the other boys, that nickname stuck.

Outside of daily life, Dawn's strength also made solid progress.

With constant practice and guidance from the instructors, Dawn could now use "Shave" from the Marine Six Powers.

Thanks to the foundation he'd built through relentless training on the island, and after the instructors corrected his power output and stance, Dawn could now grasp "Shave."

But using it in combat was still a bit difficult.

As for "Kami-e" and "Tekkai," he'd only completed the prerequisite training foundations. Mastering them was still a long way off, let alone applying them in battle.

Still, he'd made decent progress in evasion and defense.

As for the other three techniques of the Six Powers, Dawn only understood the concepts; he couldn't claim to have mastered them.

"Dawn, you're amazing! You'll be able to master another 'Six Powers' technique soon, right?"

Hina, watching Dawn come out of the advanced training grounds, waved at him with an envious expression on her face.

Dawn smiled at Hina and said, "You've been working hard too, Hina. Didn't the instructor say you'd be learning the Six Powers soon?"

"But you're about the same age as me! And you've already entered the advanced training grounds early. You know, even Admiral Zephyr comes to give personal guidance from time to time."

Hina's face lit up with longing as she said this—after all, that was an Admiral.

"Hina is very unhappy. Apart from our daily cultural and sailing lessons together, training is always separate." As she spoke, Hina puffed out her cheeks, her face full of displeasure.

But she looked absolutely adorable~

"That's only because I practiced while stranded on the Boin Archipelago, so I was able to advance this far ahead of time."

Dawn looked at Hina and comforted her: "Don't rush. Look, we're still this young—there's plenty of time ahead."

Speaking of age, Dawn thought of the nameplate hanging around his neck and couldn't help but smirk inwardly. "Come to think of it, I might even be a year younger than Hina."

He knew Hina was born in 1488, while the nameplate around his neck—the one recording his name—was engraved with 1489/3/1.

That nameplate was very simple. Besides "Abraham Dawn" written in English on the first line, the second line bore the text "Abraham Dawn" in Chinese characters.

So, based on this sole piece of identification on his person, Dawn might actually be a year younger than Hina.

However, perhaps because the food on the island was too nutritious and particularly easy for the body to absorb, combined with Dawn's relentless training, he had grown quite a bit taller than others his age.

Coupled with his mature mindset, no one had ever suspected that he might be younger than Hina.

Even if he said it outright, Hina probably wouldn't believe that he could be a year younger than her.

After all, in this world, far too many people didn't know their own birth dates, leaving only rough estimates to go by.

From this small detail, one could glimpse the harsh reality of this world.

And this cruelty, revealed in the mundane and the everyday, made Dawn dare not relax even for a moment.

Day after day, he persisted, growing stronger without cease.

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