Identity Confirmed (Please Bookmark and Recommend)

News of Garp taking Zhong Hao as his disciple quickly spread through Foosha Village. Whenever the villagers saw him, they would cheer him on loudly.

Over the previous three months, Zhong Hao had often received daily necessities from villagers, and he would return the favor with meat from his hunts.

More than once, he had remarked that the people of this world were far more forthright and cheerful than those in Naruto. Comparing the two, he undoubtedly preferred this world. If he wished, he could remain here forever and never return, but Naruto held more of his ties and attachments. He could not let them go.

Garp left soon afterward. In an extremely unreliable move, he tossed his newly accepted disciple to his adjutant and ran off to find his grandson.

The adjutant was named Bogart. He had appeared a few times in the original story, and all Zhong Hao knew was that he was a swordsman. His true strength had never been revealed, so Zhong Hao had no idea how powerful he was. Still, anyone who could serve as Garp's adjutant could not possibly be weak.

Near noon, Bogart called Zhong Hao alone into a room.

Once they were seated, Bogart took out a Den Den Mushi and placed it on the table. He picked up the receiver and set it aside, then said, "As Vice Admiral Garp's adjutant, I need to create a file for you. Please answer my questions truthfully and seriously."

Zhong Hao's heart tightened, but he nodded without the slightest change in expression.

Bogart raised his head slightly. His eyes, hidden beneath the brim of his hat all this time, were finally revealed—sharp as blades. "Where is your hometown? Who was in your family? Why were you alone at sea?"

The atmosphere grew somewhat heavy. Even with his head lowered, Zhong Hao could feel Bogart's piercing gaze. Observation Haki had likely locked onto him as well.

Zhong Hao understood perfectly that under Observation Haki, there was no possibility of deceiving Bogart with lies. Fortunately, he had prepared for this long ago and had no intention of fabricating anything.

"I don't know where my hometown is. I was born into an ordinary family. When I was four, my father abandoned my mother and me and ran away. He never came back. After that, I lived with my mother."

Zhong Hao spoke without any emotional fluctuation, recounting the circumstances of his life on Earth.

"Half a year later, on my fifth birthday, my mother made a huge table full of food, along with a big cake."

"The next day, my mother disappeared and never returned. Later, I learned that she had married another man. That man was unwilling to raise a child unrelated to him by blood. Between him and me, my mother chose him. I was completely abandoned. After that, I began wandering until I met Uncle Qiao Si and came to Foosha Village."

Zhong Hao was vague about certain details, but Bogart did not press him further. A six-year-old child could not possibly deceive him under Observation Haki.

At that moment, his gaze softened. He said gently, "Many people die in this world every day, and countless tragic things happen every day. You are fortunate because you met Vice Admiral Garp. That's enough. Go eat."

Zhong Hao nodded, left the room, and headed toward the dining hall.

"Well, well! I never expected you to tell him about your past life's background." Zhong Yunxi's teasing voice rang out in his mind.

"True teachings are not passed on lightly. No power can be obtained so casually, and even if it can, hidden dangers will surely come with it. Besides, my past life is my past life. It has already passed. What I care about is this life, the present, and the future."

"So, do you think you've passed the Marines' test?"

"More or less. What I said just now can earn me a little sympathy. Besides, I only look like a six-year-old child, and I'm highly moldable. Even if there are problems, they can be forcibly corrected. Most importantly, Garp has already acknowledged me. Didn't you see that Bogart only dared question me while my teacher wasn't around? If he dared ask those questions in front of my teacher, he'd get beaten so hard he'd shit himself."

"True. Judging by his temperament, Garp is absolutely an elderly version of Luffy. His protectiveness goes all the way into his intestines."

"You little brat, could you not be so disgusting? Intestines are full of shit, okay? I'm about to eat."

"Hehe—you're the one he'll protect all the way into his intestines. Hahaha..."

Inside the room, after Zhong Hao left, Bogart picked up the receiver and said, "Fleet Admiral, that's everything."

A voice came through the receiver. "There are still some things he didn't explain clearly, Bogart. Keep an eye on him. Children with backgrounds like his tend to have somewhat dark personalities. Guide him carefully. There absolutely cannot be any stain on the hero of the Marines."

"Yes." Bogart immediately stood straight and gave the Den Den Mushi a military salute.

Bogart remained in the room for a while longer before rising. He pulled his hat brim lower, opened the door, and walked out.

When he reached the dining hall, he found every Marine gathered in a circle, mouths hanging open as they stared at something. Following their gazes, the corner of his mouth twitched.

At the center of the crowd, fifteen stacks of plates, each two meters high, had piled up on the table. Plate after plate of food went into Zhong Hao's stomach, rapidly forming the sixteenth stack.

In truth, although Zhong Hao ate quickly, he was never wolfing his food down. His manner of eating was completely normal: bite, chew, swallow, smooth and unhurried. He never crammed his mouth full, yet the food covering the table was vanishing at an incredible speed, making the sight especially bizarre.

The soldiers carrying plates were practically in tears. They had lost count of how many trips they had made, and their legs no longer felt like their own.

The cooks wanted to cry even more. Two cooks had already collapsed from exhaustion in the kitchen and been carried aside. Those still able to move mechanically prepared food with vacant expressions. Only after every last ingredient had been used up did the cooks collapse onto the floor, their faces filled with the relief of survivors after a disaster.

"It has been a long time since I ate this comfortably. Marine food is genuinely great. It would be nice if every meal were like this." After setting down the final plate, Zhong Hao rubbed his flat stomach, let out a breath, and stretched lazily in satisfaction.

He did not know how much food it would take to fill the deficiency in his body, but after this meal, he felt his strength increase another fraction.

When Bogart heard Zhong Hao's words, a bead of cold sweat slid down the back of his head. He considered whether he should apply to Marine Headquarters for the logistics unit assigned to a giant Vice Admiral.

In reality, maintaining his body's daily needs did not require him to eat so much. But if his body was to grow normally, even this was far from enough. After all, his body was not ordinary.

The body from his previous life had long dissolved within endless time and space, condensing into a drop of essence blood. Washed by the energies of endless time and space, that essence blood had long since transformed as well. According to Zhong Yunxi, from the moment he was reborn in Naruto, he had become a Child of Time and Space, permanently immune to the powers of time and space. Once he reached 0 years old, he would no longer age, and this was also why his physical body could cross endless time and space to travel between worlds.

A soldier walked up to Bogart's side, glanced fearfully at Zhong Hao, and said in a low voice, "Major General Bogart, all the food in storage has been eaten by him. And the cooks are protesting."

Bogart waved a hand. "Don't worry about the food. Have logistics purchase supplies from the village. If that isn't enough, go hunting. If even that isn't enough, throw him into the sea and let him hunt sea beasts himself."

The soldier wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Then what about the cooks' protest?"

Bogart snorted. "They can't handle making this little food? Their training is clearly insufficient. Tell them they can either increase their training by tenfold or stop whining. Let them choose."

"Yes, sir." The soldier gave a military salute and ran off to deliver the message with barely concealed delight. He could not wait to see the cooks' expressions when they received the order.

Bogart did not dislike Zhong Hao's enormous appetite in the slightest. On the contrary, he greatly appreciated it. Eating was a good thing. Energy was conserved—where could all that food have gone? It could not simply vanish. Without question, it had all gone toward strengthening his physical body.

Watching Zhong Hao practice swordsmanship without the slightest discomfort after eating so much, Bogart thought to himself, What extraordinary talent. This kid will definitely become a monster in the future.