Sengoku's Secret Orders

Hearing the adjutant's explanation, the fury surging in Red Dog's eyes subsided slightly.

He might have been extreme, but he was by no means foolish.

He knew full well that within the Navy's vast bureaucratic system, a soldier who only knew how to kill could rise no higher than vice admiral. To climb further, experience commanding a region was unavoidable.

Red Dog took a deep drag from his cigar, withdrew the magma covering his body, and turned to Rochi.

"What do you think?" Red Dog asked coldly.

Rochi accepted the letter of appointment from the adjutant.

He was being sent to command a branch base?

He would be free from an admiral's protection—and restraints?

That meant that once he arrived at that base, he would be the unquestioned local king!

Every pirate in the surrounding waters, every experience pack, would be his to slaughter and claim alone! He would no longer have to worry about Red Dog stealing his kills with some ultimate move!

"Sir."

Rochi lowered his head. Within those pitch-black eyes hidden in shadow flashed an anticipation as crazed and bloodthirsty as a hellish asura.

He gave a flawless military salute.

"I accept the transfer order."

"In the first half of the Grand Line, I will show every pirate what true cruelty means."

Seeing the ambition burning in Rochi's eyes, Red Dog finally curled his lips into a proud, cold smile.

"Go."

"Do as you please. Pull the trash from those waters out by the roots!"

"Yes, sir!"

Over the next two days, Marine Headquarters' administrative department operated with remarkable efficiency.

According to Headquarters regulations, Rochi was granted two days of rest.

At the same time, to support this newly promoted Navy Colonel known for his decisive slaughter and overwhelming strength, Fleet Admiral Sengoku had specially selected a meticulous and capable female officer from the administrative system to serve as Rochi's adjutant.

Inside the Marine Headquarters officer training room.

Boom!

Boom!

The dull, rhythmic crashes of steel colliding echoed ceaselessly through the sealed training room like muffled summer thunder.

Rochi was bare-chested, sweat streaming wildly down the perfect, marble-sculpted contours of his explosively powerful muscles.

It finally struck the alloy floor, which had long since been soaked through with sweat.

Two custom Marine Headquarters gravity machines, each weighing several tons, rested on his shoulders as he performed extreme squats that would leave ordinary people breathless just from watching!

With every rise and fall, his entire skeleton let out a series of crackling explosions, like an ancient beast struggling free from its shackles.

Just then.

With a click, the training room's heavy alloy door was pushed open from outside.

A cold, beautiful female officer strode into the room, dressed in a fitted, immaculate Navy women's suit. She had sharp golden short hair, gold-rimmed glasses, and a thick stack of documents in hand.

Her name was Lace, a Marine Headquarters major and the adjutant who had just been assigned exclusively to Rochi.

However.

The moment Lace stepped through the training room door and witnessed the visually overwhelming sight before her—

Her military boots froze in place, and her beautiful eyes behind those lenses abruptly shrank to pinpoints!

"Th-This is what level of weight training?!"

Lace sucked in a sharp breath, her red lips trembling slightly.

As a veteran Headquarters officer, she had seen countless monsters hailed as geniuses.

Yet those monsters either relied on Devil Fruits or had mastered the Six Powers. Very few had pushed their raw bodies to such an appallingly monstrous extreme!

Especially since the young man before her... was only eighteen years old!

"No wonder Admiral Sakazuki valued him so highly. Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku was willing to use the position of base commander to temper him."

Watching the blazing white steam rising from Rochi's body, Lace felt the resistance and contempt she had harbored toward being assigned to babysit some "green kid" instantly crushed to pieces. In its place came deep awe!

"Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-eight... nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine... ten thousand!"

With a final low roar, Rochi suddenly exerted himself and smashed the several-ton machines from his shoulders onto the floor!

Boom! The entire training room shook violently.

Rochi slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, took the towel hanging beside him, and casually wiped the sweat from his face. Then his dark, unfathomable eyes, still and deep as stagnant water, gradually turned toward Lace at the door.

It was merely a calm glance, yet Lace felt an indescribable pressure bearing down on her.

It was as though some predator at the top of the food chain had fixed its gaze upon her!

"Sir!"

Lace did not dare show the slightest negligence. She immediately stood at attention and gave a flawless standard military salute, her voice crisp and resolute.

"Marine Headquarters Major Lace reporting for duty!"

"Beginning today, I will serve as your adjutant and assist you in taking over and managing all military affairs of the G-8 Branch!"

Rochi sized her up from head to toe.

Capable, calm, and lacking that irritating ornamental air. She would make a decent tool.

"Understood." Rochi nodded, his tone indifferent. "Give me ten minutes."

Ten minutes later.

After showering, Rochi changed into the custom-made Navy Colonel uniform that symbolized the authority of the Navy's upper ranks.

The white suit was impeccably tailored, perfectly accentuating his tall, straight figure.

Draped over his shoulders was a broad officer's cape bearing the word "Justice" across its back, snapping loudly in the sea breeze!

The immaturity and madness of a recruit had faded away.

At this moment, Rochi radiated an authority that sent chills down one's spine!

At the naval harbor pier.

An elite warship equipped with the newest cannons was already prepared to depart.

On deck, five hundred veteran Marines carefully selected from Headquarters stood tall, their gazes feverish as they watched their new commanding officer.

Rochi stepped onto the deck, and Lace immediately stepped forward, presenting the sealed document in her hands to him with both hands.

"Colonel, this is a classified document that Fleet Admiral Sengoku personally instructed me to deliver to you before our departure."

Lace lowered her voice, her expression somewhat grave.

Rochi raised an eyebrow, accepted the document, and tore open the seal with one hand.

There was not much written in the document, yet every line carried a suffocating stench of blood.

Its meaning was roughly this:

The G-8 Branch he was being sent to take over stood in a key sea area in the first half of the Grand Line. Over the years, it had been permeated by the local warlord mentality; internal corruption was severe, and it had even colluded with certain underground forces.

The place had become so rotten that it was a cancer within the Navy!

Fleet Admiral Sengoku knew that sending an ordinary commander there would only drag them into endless power struggles and assassination attempts.

So he had sent Rochi, his sharpest butcher's blade.

The final line stated Sengoku's demand in unmistakable terms:

"You are permitted to use any extraordinary means necessary! If needed, you may kill a batch of Marines rotten to the core to cleanse the place! I want only one result... Give me a clean and orderly G-8 Navy Branch!"