Daily (1)

On a table made of ordinary wood.

A little pink head drooped down every so often, hanging limp as though she would collapse onto the table the next moment.

Beside her, a black-haired boy listened to the lesson attentively, his hand continuously jotting down key points.

When the class ended, Dawn handed his notes containing the key points to Hina.

Seeing little Hina finally defeated by drowsiness, her eyes hazy with sleep, Dawn could not help shaking his head helplessly.

Perhaps the weather was simply too nice today. The gentle breeze and bright sun made people pleasantly sleepy, and Hina had directly surrendered to her drowsiness. At least she had listened a little before.

Dawn was dressed in a simple white training uniform. The earnest expression on his clean, delicate face made him look less like a warrior and more like a scholarly student.

Paired with that plain white training uniform, he had a distinctly clean and refreshing air about him.

There were no disruptions in the academic classes; everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.

As for training, besides continuing to master the Six Powers, Dawn had not relaxed in developing his Devil Fruit at all.

And because of his Devil Fruit's unique support ability, Dawn had, as expected, become popular with everyone.

After all, Dawn under the enhancement of his aura could utterly crush himself without its buff.

Who would not like such a powerful support ability?

Yet Dawn did not slack off because of everyone's praise. He tirelessly trained, fought, studied Navigation, and developed his Devil Fruit.

Because Dawn knew that this world would soon enter an era of madness.

Everyone without strength would be swallowed whole by the violent tide sweeping across the world.

Every bit of strength Dawn gained gave him a better chance of protecting himself and resisting the... tiny splashes that might come when the tidal wave of that era arrived...

Yes, at his current level, Dawn could only passively fend off the occasional tiny splash that might hit him by accident.

Even setting aside his personal inclination toward the side of good, joining the Marines was still the best choice.

If he acted like the protagonists in other fanfics, refusing to join the Marines and becoming a pirate instead, he would probably die in this era before he even grew up and became strong.

Even if he chose to lie low until he had grown stronger because of his age, then set sail once he was older, such a hiding plan was unlikely to succeed.

Because this was the starting point of the era's madness, while Dawn... was merely a child now. Even if he was stronger than ordinary people, the seas would become far too dangerous afterward.

When the Great Pirate Era arrived, nowhere would truly be safe.

Even the Holy Land Mary Geoise, where the Celestial Dragons lived, was later scaled by Fisher Tiger with his bare hands up the Red Line, where he freed the slaves.

In an era like this, unless you had some absurdly powerful cheat that let you rival an obscure renowned pirate at five, contend with a Shichibukai at ten, crush a Four Emperors' Vice Captain at fifteen, and beat the Four Emperors while kicking Admirals around at twenty, joining the Marines was absolutely a wise choice.

In this world, strength was very important, but before you had fully developed, having backing was even more important.

If you became a pirate, you would be a wanted criminal with no background. The more monstrously talented you appeared, the more seriously the Marines would take you. It was entirely possible that they would specifically send an Admiral to harvest you.

If you somehow escaped, then congratulations—their attention would only increase. With such high potential, could you be the next Four Emperor?

The three Admirals would come serve you!

Aokiji would control the field, Akainu would deal damage, and Kizaru would roam around to keep you from escaping. There would be no way you survived.

The Marines would not play any nonsense about one-on-one duels with you. They would simply swarm you!

Being a Marine was different. You were a monster? Resources! Training methods! Teachers! Whatever you wanted, you got!

What? You were too talented, attracting trouble, and someone wanted to kill you? They wanted to harm the next generation of the Marines?

Was Garp's iron fist not hard enough? Or was the three Admirals' ice-fire-light combo not tasty enough?

They would make sure you died.

So if one day you ended up in the world of One Piece, joining the Marines first for the sake of your life would definitely be a much better start than becoming a pirate.

After class.

Dawn woke the drowsy Hina and said, "Hina, you actually fell asleep in class today. Navigation is very important, so you should study it seriously."

"Hina is very unhappy. Navigation should be left to professionals." Being lectured by her deskmate the moment she woke up left Hina looking quite displeased.

"Don't think you do not need to learn Navigation just because you can leave it to a professional navigator later."

Dawn said sternly, "You need to understand that in a world filled with oceans, ships are the only means of transportation. As long as you possess even reasonably decent Navigation skills, they will definitely come in handy."

Dawn looked seriously at Hina and began giving examples of the importance of Navigation, trying to make her take the class seriously.

Previously, Hina had only listened casually during Navigation class, and it had not done much good.

Even though he always lent her his organized notes, that still could not achieve much.

Although, just like in his previous life, the ocean covered most of the world's surface, this world did not have continents connected together like the world of his previous life.

The land here consisted of islands of all sizes.

Each island had a distinct ecological environment based on its location and local weather, and they were generally divided into four types: spring, summer, autumn, and winter islands.

In a world like this, the difference between someone who understood Navigation and someone who did not was like the difference between a scientific researcher and an ordinary person in his previous life.

After thinking for a moment, Dawn looked at Hina and posed a question. "Tell me, aside from the captain, who has the most say on a pirate ship?"

Seeing Hina's indifferent expression in the face of his persuasion, Dawn decided to take a roundabout approach.

"The Vice Captain!" Hina answered without hesitation. With an expression that said, Do you think I am stupid?, she replied irritably, "That is common sense, okay?"

"What if I said that was not the answer?" Seeing that Hina had indeed been drawn in by the question, Dawn chuckled to himself and silently praised his own cleverness.

"How is that possible? On a pirate ship, aside from the captain, does the Vice Captain not have the most authority?" Hina argued unwillingly.

"Wrong. The answer is the navigator."

Dawn shook a finger. "That is how important a navigator is. Even if you are a slave who was captured and brought aboard, if you are a navigator—

—you might not only keep your life, but even become the pirates' companion. In this world full of oceans, that is how important navigators are."

"How could something like that happen? I think you just want to trick Hina into studying properly. Hina is very unhappy."

Hearing that, Hina looked suspicious, feeling that Dawn seemed to be trying to fool her.

Dawn merely smiled. "I am not lying to you. When I was captured..."