Garp: Come with Me, and I'll Make You a Rear Admiral

Mu Chen knew that whenever Garp got serious, something major was bound to happen—and it was never anything good. Even Pirate King Roger had been executed, and Garp had already retired after achieving glory!

Mu Chen knew that Garp had refused the position of admiral because he did not want to cater to the Celestial Dragons. Mu Chen greatly admired Garp for that. But at this point in time, if his memory was correct, nothing major should have happened yet. Ohara's Buster Call was still two years away, Luffy's birth was five years away, and the Marineford War, that world-shaking battle, was even further off. Mu Chen was utterly baffled.

"Hahaha, Mu Chen, don't be nervous. Say, do you want to go to Marine Headquarters?"

After Garp's burst of laughter, he returned to his usual grinning expression.

Garp understood that keeping talent like Mu Chen in a tiny place like the East Blue was a waste. With colonel-level strength, Mu Chen could have become the commander of a base in the East Blue.

Yet Mu Chen was only a major, neither high nor low in rank. Wasn't it just because he was lazy?

Once he got to Marine Headquarters, let's see how he could keep slacking. They would train him to death.

"Marine Headquarters? No."

Mu Chen refused without hesitation. Everyone knew that the East Blue was the safest place in the entire Pirate World. After spending so many years as a corporate slave in his previous life, why would he go to Marine Headquarters, where monsters gathered? Just thinking about it made him give up on the idea.

At this point in time, as far as Mu Chen knew, Sakazuki and Borsalino had not yet been promoted to admirals. Still, they seemed to have already been hailed as the most monstrous Marine rookies in history.

The two of them probably were not much older than Mu Chen either. They should both already have been vice admiral level. Kuzan seemed to have been a little later than those two.

Whatever. Who knew how old they were? Mu Chen had no desire to get involved with them. Besides, he worked purely to slack off. His daily check-in required no less than sixty minutes of slacking, and he had already completed fifty-one minutes and forty-eight seconds.

Mu Chen looked at his system interface. He only needed another nine minutes to complete today's check-in slacking task. But that was not his goal. His goal was three hours, or one hundred and eighty minutes. The fixed daily sixty minutes only gave him the basic sixty Slacking Points, but once he exceeded three hours, the points would triple. That meant he could earn five hundred and forty Slacking Points. Slacking Points were extremely valuable.

"What do you mean, no?"

"Major Mu Chen, you're joking, right?"

At that moment, not only was the previously confident Garp stunned, but even the Marine soldiers nearby were dumbfounded. That was Marine Headquarters, the place every Marine dreamed of! Yet Mu Chen was refusing to go?

Garp knew Mu Chen was lazy, but this was Marine Headquarters. Mu Chen had rejected him without even thinking. Still, Garp was not about to give up so easily and continued tempting Mu Chen.

"Mu Chen, you answered far too quickly. Let me tell you about the benefits. As long as you go, I'll get you into the Elite Training Camp. Your rank will immediately be raised to colonel, and once you graduate, you'll directly become a brigadier general."

Mu Chen had no reaction at all to the benefits Garp mentioned, but the Marine soldiers beside him were so shocked their jaws dropped. Put simply, if he went, he would become a colonel, rising two ranks at once. If he graduated, he would become a brigadier general.

"Colonel Mu Chen, hurry up and agree!"

The Marine soldiers were getting anxious on Mu Chen's behalf, like eunuchs worrying while the emperor remained calm. Yet Mu Chen stayed as steady as a rock. A Marine training camp? Forget it. When he had first transmigrated, he had endured endless training. He had already had more than enough. An Elite Training Camp would only be even more unbearable.

"No."

Mu Chen still refused decisively, and he did not forget to take a sip from the coconut in his hand.

Seeing Mu Chen refuse again, then casually take a sip of coconut without a care in the world, Garp's eyes widened like a pair of light bulbs.

Garp refused to believe it. "What?"

"You brat, why don't you have any ambition at all?"

"Let me tell you, the benefits aren't limited to what I just mentioned. You should know that not just anyone can enter the Marine Elite Training Camp. And the instructor is Black Arm Zefa."

Garp spoke with great confidence. That was Zefa, after all!

The half-retired Marine admiral. Having someone like that as an instructor was every Marine's dream. But upon hearing the name Black Arm Zefa, Mu Chen revealed a sorrowful expression.

Black Arm Zefa's life was simply too tragic. Known as the Admiral Who Did Not Kill, he was tolerant toward everyone and had never killed a single pirate. In the end, the pirates he had spared killed his wife and children.

But it got even worse. As an instructor, he was an excellent teacher who treated every student as his own child. Yet during one training expedition with new recruits, they were attacked by pirates again, and nearly all his students were killed, leaving only two. The two consecutive blows made him hate pirates to the bone. But not long afterward, the World Government actually planned to establish the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Just like that, pirates were legalized.

In the end, the poor old man defected from the Marines and was driven to his death by his own students, Sakazuki and the others. One word: tragic!

In this Pirate World, repaying hatred with kindness was impossible. Huh? Why was this kid making that expression?

Garp saw the thoughtful Mu Chen and could not understand what Mu Chen found so pitiful or tragic.

But broad-minded Garp did not dwell on it. He continued trying to entice Mu Chen. "So, Mu Chen, aren't you tempted yet?"

Mu Chen rejected him again without hesitation, making Garp feel as though he could no longer save face.

Neither rank nor a famous teacher could move Mu Chen. Those were the very things every Marine dreamed of.

What was going on? Was it really this difficult for him to promote someone?