Achieving the Rank of Marine Headquarters Colonel

Red Dog stood where he was like an insurmountable mountain of steel.

He slowly withdrew his right fist, wrapped in a layer of jet-black armor that seemed almost tangible. His stern gaze was like that of a teacher looking at a disappointing student.

"Your physical combat techniques have indeed reached the absolute limit of the flesh!"

"But in the New World, if you cannot master the power known as 'Haki,' then when you encounter real monsters, your body will be no more than a sheet of thin paper before them!"

"Haki is not brute force. It is the tangible extension of your own will and life force!"

Faced with the Admiral's terrifying pressure, Rochi did not lose heart in the slightest. Instead, his dark eyes turned an eerie crimson, the single tomoe within them spinning wildly.

The moment Red Dog threw that punch.

Rochi's Sharingan had already activated at full power!

Rather than resist, he stared fixedly at the path of that invisible energy flowing over Red Dog's fist, engraving it deeply into his mind!

"The tangible extension of life force..."

Rochi slowly rose to his feet, closed his Sharingan, and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He calmed his mind and focused his breath, following the method Red Dog had taught him and the force-generation model his Sharingan had just captured, trying to draw out the latent power deep within his body.

One second.

Two seconds.

Suddenly, the surface of Rochi's arm muscles trembled ever so slightly. Then, an extremely faint layer of black keratin, so subtle it would be impossible to notice without close inspection, covered his knuckles!

It was only a thin layer, and he even had difficulty maintaining it.

Yet Red Dog, who had been watching Rochi closely, had his pupils suddenly contract. He nearly bit through the cigar clenched between his teeth.

"This brat..."

A storm raged in Red Dog's heart. On his very first practical guidance session with Haki, he found the threshold of Armament Haki Hardening after just one strike?!

"He is a monstrous genius born for battle!"

Naturally, Rochi had no intention of explaining that he possessed the Sharingan as a cheat.

With the Sharingan analyzing his opponent's attack trajectories, coupled with the life-and-death pressure of real combat, his growth rate simply could not be measured by common sense.

"Again!" Rochi's eyes burned with fervor as he lunged at Red Dog once more.

"Good brat. Then let me see just how hard your bones are!"

Time slipped away like fine sand through one's fingers, quietly passing amid the ocean's waves and endless slaughter.

One year, two years, three years.

Three years were enough for a sapling to grow, and enough for a genius to complete a transformation from cocoon to butterfly.

Over those three years, Red Dog had held nothing back in training Rochi.

In every encounter, Rochi was always thrown into the most dangerous heaps of corpses.

From ordinary pirate grunts to members of the Worst Generation with bounties exceeding a hundred million, they all became stepping stones for Rochi to sharpen his fangs.

With the experience points he gained from frantically grinding enemies, along with the Sharingan's assistance.

Rochi's strength underwent an explosive surge!

Marineford, outside the highest conference room of Marine Headquarters.

A young man over two meters and ten centimeters tall stood quietly before a corridor window, dressed in a crisp officer's suit with a Justice coat draped over his shoulders.

Eighteen-year-old Rochi.

By then, he had long shed the youthfulness and arrogance he had possessed at fifteen. Like a divine weapon returned to its sheath, his aura was as deep and unfathomable as a bottomless abyss.

Rochi glanced at the system panel that only he could see:

[Host: Rochi]

[Current Level: Level 40 (Peak Colonel Level)]

[Experience Points: 180/2000]

[Physical Combat Level: Advanced Physical Combat Mastery]

[Haki Level: Armament Haki (Intermediate), Observation Haki (Advanced)]

[Special Ability: Sharingan (Three-Tomoe State)]

Three years of frenzied slaughter had pushed his level to the terrifying height of 40!

Now, even without using a Devil Fruit, with only his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Advanced Observation Haki, and Intermediate Armament Haki capable of withstanding cannon fire, even an ordinary Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral would be no match for him.

But troubles came along with it.

The higher his level became, the more terrifying the experience required to level up became.

He now needed a full 2,000 experience points for a single level!

That meant he had to kill two hundred pirates comparable to Marine Headquarters junior officers, or two monsters with bounties exceeding a hundred million, just to rise one level!

Although following Red Dog was safe, his chances to strike were ultimately limited.

Most fleets encountered during an Admiral's patrol could not even withstand a single Great Eruption from Red Dog. Rochi could barely snatch any experience at all.

Just as Rochi was considering how to break through this bottleneck.

Bang!

The door to the highest conference room was pushed open.

Red Dog strode out with a grim expression, scorching heat waves radiating uncontrollably from his body.

Behind him followed Sengoku's personal adjutant, carrying a document stamped with the Marines' highest-authority seal.

"Rochi!"

Red Dog stopped before Rochi, his teeth grinding loudly. "Fleet Admiral Sengoku has completely lost his mind!"

Rochi raised an eyebrow, his gaze calm. "Admiral, what happened?"

The adjutant hurried forward. Enduring Red Dog's terrifying pressure, he swallowed and read aloud:

"Lieutenant Colonel Rochi, in recognition of your outstanding military achievements and strength assessment over the past three years, the highest decision of Marine Headquarters is to exceptionally promote you to Navy Colonel!"

A promotion?

Rochi was not surprised. The heads he had taken over the past three years were enough to pile into a mountain.

However, the adjutant's next words seemed to lower the temperature of the entire corridor to freezing point.

"At the same time, effective immediately, you are relieved of your post under the Admiral."

"You are assigned to the first half of the Grand Line as the commanding officer of the G-8 Branch! Depart at once. No delays are permitted!"

The moment those words fell.

Red Dog spun around and glared at the adjutant. Violent magma dripped from the corner of his mouth, burning through the floor.

"I spent three years training this peerless monster without holding anything back!"

"And now that old bastard wants to send him to the first half of the Grand Line to become some branch base commander sitting in an office?!"

Red Dog was furious. His original plan had been to forge Rochi into the sharpest spear under his command, then charge directly into the New World and slaughter every pirate with the bloodiest methods possible!

"A-Admiral, please calm down!"

The adjutant was so frightened that he nearly dropped to his knees. He stammered as he explained:

"The Fleet Admiral is also considering Navy Colonel Rochi's future!"

"Navy Colonel Rochi's combat power is beyond question."

"But the Marines need more than killers. They need capable commanders who can oversee the bigger picture and stand on their own!"

"To become a flag officer, or even an Admiral, he must have experience managing a base and commanding large-scale battles."

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku saw Navy Colonel Rochi's potential. He wants him to temper his character and learn the way of command. He is paving the way for Rochi to take over in the future!"