Yesterday, after testing their fighting skills, Carl had been very satisfied.
It seemed Clay had been putting his whole heart into teaching them.
Every child had made clear progress.
Afterward, Carl taught them a simplified version of the Golden Light Incantation.
It was simplified because he had held something back. He still needed to judge each child's character, and would only consider teaching them the complete version after they had passed his test.
After teaching them the Golden Light Incantation, Carl began leading them in their morning training every day, guiding them as they practiced.
The children ranged in age. The oldest were eleven or twelve, while the youngest were only five or six.
Fortunately, they learned quickly. In just fifteen days, they had grasped the basics. From then on, the rest was up to their own efforts.
After all, as the saying went, a teacher could show you the door, but what you did after that was up to you. They weren't the only ones who had to work hard; Carl needed to train diligently, too.
He still had to keep honing his Haki. But every night these past few days, he had gone to see Charlotte Linlin. It was like punching in for his daily shift. Honestly, he was starting to enjoy it.
One morning, deep in the woods.
"Bang!"
"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"
All the birds in the forest had already fled.
After that exchange, Carl and Newgate stopped attacking.
"Gurararara!"
"Carl, you've gotten stronger pretty quickly."
"You can already project your Armament Haki."
Whenever Newgate spent time with Carl, Carl managed to astonish him. He couldn't believe that in just a little over ten days, Carl had learned to project his Armament Haki.
But after recovering from his surprise, Newgate thought that Carl really was a monster. His body had grown at an incredible rate lately, and he was already nearing six meters tall.
"I have you to thank for that, Big Brother Newgate."
"Otherwise, I couldn't have improved so quickly."
After teaching the children the Golden Light Incantation, Carl had asked Newgate to help him practice Armament Haki.
Every time he sparred with Newgate, he could clearly sense that his bloodline had been awakened a little further. The increase was small each time, but it had added up, making him grow taller and taller.
Even so, he felt that his physique was still nowhere near its limit.
"All right. Now that you've learned to project your Armament Haki, we can put this training on hold for a while. You need to get some proper rest, too. Keeping your mind constantly on edge isn't good for you."
In Newgate's view, there were no shortcuts to mastering Haki. After reaching each new stage, you had to calm down and properly understand what it felt like.
Otherwise, the road ahead would be even harder. It was like building a house: without a solid foundation, the whole thing would be a castle in the air.
"I heard that you and Linlin have been..."
Newgate wore a gossipy grin as he asked Carl, curiosity written all over his face. As the saying went, gossip was the end of the universe. No one could resist the urge.
"Big Brother Newgate, who told you that?"
Carl didn't let Newgate finish. He cut him off and hurriedly asked, his face full of confusion. He'd thought he'd kept things well hidden. How had Big Brother Newgate found out?
Had something gone wrong? He remembered being careful every time.
"Don't worry about that."
Newgate had actually discovered it by chance. One night, bored, he'd been drinking by the sea when he happened to sense Carl heading toward Charlotte Linlin's room.
Afterward, he'd heard pirates under Charlotte Linlin say that strange sounds had been coming from her room every night for the past few days.
They all thought Charlotte Linlin had found herself another man, but Newgate had immediately thought of Carl.
"Just tell me if it's true."
Seeing that he couldn't keep it from Newgate, Carl told him about the arrangement between himself and Charlotte Linlin.
He also made Newgate promise to keep it secret. Newgate wasn't the sort to blab.
"Heh, I knew it!"
Seeing that Carl hadn't hidden the truth from him, Newgate was secretly pleased. Carl really did trust him.
At the same time, he was itching to hear more about what was going on between the two of them. But this wasn't the time to talk about it. He suddenly remembered there was something important they still had to do.
"Right, we've got something to take care of today. The attack on the Tyr Kingdom is about to begin."
"That soon? I thought word had leaked last time, so we weren't going to attack after all."
Carl picked up a change of clothes and put them on. His outfit had been reduced to tatters during their fight.
"I hear the new intelligence chief, Shakky, is very capable."
If I remembered right, Shakky was the Dark King Rayleigh's old flame.
"All right, let's go."
"Yeah, let's go."
With that, the two of them headed for Rocks's bedroom.
"Gyahahaha!"
"We've finally made some progress!"
Golden Lion laughed excitedly, his face animated. The Tyr Kingdom had secretly seized a shipment of his cargo, and he'd been looking for a chance to get even. They'd had an opportunity to attack last time, but one thing after another had delayed them. He hadn't expected they'd get to move forward with it now.
So apart from Rocks, he was the most excited person there.
"This is Shakky. From now on, she'll officially serve as the intelligence chief of the Rocks Pirates."
"Mamamama!"
"Why hasn't Carl gotten here yet?"
Speak of the devil—Carl had actually just heard Golden Lion's boastful speech.
"Everyone's here."
"Gurarara!"
"Sorry for the wait."
Newgate didn't bother with formalities. He pushed open the door, announced himself with an imposing air, then found a seat wherever he pleased.
Carl followed right behind him and sat beside Newgate. As soon as he sat down, he saw Charlotte Linlin wink at him. He quickly shot her a look in return. Their relationship wasn't ready to be exposed yet.
It lasted only a moment, but it seemed Rocks noticed something. His eyes swept over them.
"Shakky, brief them on the situation in the Tyr Kingdom."
Rocks immediately turned the conversation toward the Tyr Kingdom.
"Hello, everyone. The Tyr Kingdom is one of the New World's leading powers. Please look here; this is its main harbor."
As she spoke, Shakky spread a huge map across the wall behind her.
The map of the Tyr Kingdom looked somewhat like an irregular rhombus.
"According to our intelligence agents, the Tyr Kingdom currently has an army of five hundred thousand. A small number of them can use Armament Haki."
The Tyr Kingdom? How come I'd never heard of it? It was this powerful?
Carl frowned, wondering whether his arrival in the Pirate World had caused some changes.
"There are three people on the island we need to watch out for: King Tyr, the strategist Cthulhu, and the general Giles."
"Our agents report that all three of them have the strength of an Admiral."
"Gyahahaha!"
"I'll take the king, Tyr. I've never cut down a king that powerful before."
Golden Lion had never encountered a king with such strength. His hands were already itching, so he promptly asked Rocks for permission.
"No problem. Golden Lion, he's yours."
Rocks had no reason to refuse.
"Reliable sources have also confirmed that the Marine Admiral Snow Lion arrived in the Tyr Kingdom two days ago."
"As for whether there's an ambush, we don't know yet. But one thing is certain..."
Shakky hadn't finished speaking, but Rocks immediately understood what she meant. Someone on their side had leaked their plans, even though he hadn't told anyone about them.
It seemed they could only turn the situation to their advantage.
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