Exploiting Loopholes

Ain hesitated for a moment, blinking her beautiful red eyes. "All right, I promise."

"Thank you!"

Carmen beamed and threw her arms around her in a big hug.

Feeling the other woman's full, ample bosom, Ain suddenly regretted it. Had she let a wolf into the house? Better be careful.

"Colonel, rest assured and leave Tereina to me. From today onward, I'll record her every move and report it to you," Carmen promised.

Tereina, who was busily preparing breakfast for the major general in the kitchen, had no idea that a spy had just been planted beside her...

Ain smiled. "There's no need to go that far. You're making me sound like some terrible officer who won't allow her subordinates any privacy. Just tell me anything related to Noki."

"Then I'll go back and wait for your good news." Carmen knew how important Ain was to Noki. If she spoke up, it was basically a sure thing.

"Mm." Ain nodded.

Not long after Carmen left, a marine came to Noki's door and nervously handed the tray in his hands to Ain. "Colonel, this is breakfast for you and the major general."

The two breakfasts on the tray stood in stark contrast. One was especially exquisite: a sandwich, a Swiss roll, and a latte. The other was simply a few slices of bread and a glass of milk.

Ain could tell at a glance that Tereina had made them this way on purpose to provoke her.

Heh heh, little girl, you're too green...

Ain returned to the room, patted Noki's back a few times, and woke him gently. "Time to get up and eat breakfast. You can go back to sleep after you finish."

Back at headquarters, Noki often overslept and forgot breakfast. Ain would usually wake him up, have him eat, and then let him continue sleeping.

"Mm..."

Noki sat up groggily.

Ain picked up the sandwich and personally held it to Noki's mouth.

Noki wolfed it down in a few bites.

Seeing crumbs at the corner of Noki's mouth, Ain picked up a tissue and gently wiped them away. Then she picked up another piece of cake and fed it into the man's mouth one bite at a time.

After Noki quickly finished eating, he flopped back down to continue sleeping. Ain cupped his face and let him rest his head on her lap, then lowered her vivid red lips to kiss his brow.

By noon, Noki was fully awake. He got up and stretched lazily. He vaguely remembered what had happened that morning, and he had to admit that Ain's attentive care had felt very comfortable.

However, Ain was no longer in the room.

Remembering that Arlong and his crew's corpses were still stored in the dark space, Noki prepared to go out and find Dadi. He would hand the bodies over to him and let him claim the bounties.

Although all the marines in Loguetown knew Arlong had been defeated by him, Dadi was the one who would sign and approve the capture documents. Pulling a few strings now and then wasn't really a problem.

This shouldn't count as embezzlement...

A gentleman loved wealth but acquired it properly. He was merely using a different method to collect the reward. If Arlong and his crew were reported directly to headquarters through official Marine channels, he would receive only around one million Beli. If he claimed it through Dadi, the amount would be at least five times greater.

With that in mind, Noki threw on his Marine coat and headed out.

As he passed the training ground, Noki heard the marines training hard.

To his surprise, Tashigi and Dezaya were not training with everyone else as usual. Instead, Ain was personally instructing them.

Ain caught sight of Noki from the corner of her eye and ran over with a smile. "You're awake?"

Tashigi and Dezaya also came over to greet Noki. "Master! Major General!"

"Mm." Noki reached out and patted Ain's shoulder, then smiled at his two disciples. "This is my former teacher. I learned many of the essentials of swordsmanship and martial arts from her. You should cherish the chance to receive her guidance."

Ain blushed and said coyly, "Don't flatter me. Back then, you only trained under me for a month before I was no longer your match. What essentials could I possibly have taught you?"

"How could there be none? If you hadn't trained with me day and night, how could I have improved so quickly?"

These were Noki's heartfelt words. The reason he had been able to stand out among so many marines was inseparable from Ain's help.

Noki continued, "Besides, Ain is a professional assistant instructor. She spent years following former Marine Admiral and current Marine Headquarters chief instructor Zephyr in teaching new recruits at headquarters. Her teaching experience far surpasses mine."

"Sister Ain, is what the major general said true?"

Tashigi and Dezaya both looked at her with admiration.

"It's true."

Ain felt a little proud under the two women's gazes. "At your current level, the results of training under me really will be a little better than training under Noki. But once you reach a higher level, it's still better for Noki to teach you personally. After all, I've only just reached that level myself."

Dezaya hugged Ain from behind, pressing her chest against Ain's back as she giggled. "Mistress, then we'll be relying on you for the next few days."

"Sister Ain, please take care of us," Tashigi added.

"You two keep training. I have something to take care of outside." Noki turned to leave.

"Hey, wait."

Ain stretched out a fair little hand and pulled him aside. "Noki, Carmen came looking for you this morning."

"Carmen?"

The name sounded familiar to Noki, but he could not remember where he had heard it.

"She's the woman who lost to Tereina in that cooking contest," Ain reminded him.

"Oh, why did she come to the Marine base looking for me?"

"She joined the Marines to learn your cooking. This morning, she wanted to take you as her teacher. You were asleep, so I had her go back first."

"Another disciple?"

Noki felt a little overwhelmed. Two disciples already felt troublesome enough. Adding another might exhaust him, so he said, "Forget it. I'm not Teacher Zephyr. How could I have the energy to train so many disciples?"

Ain took Noki's hand and swayed his arm coquettishly. "I'll arrange Tashigi and Dezaya's training for the next few days. Just teach her whenever you have some free time. Cooking isn't like fighting, and Carmen already has a solid foundation. It won't take long."

Noki looked at her strangely. "You're acting very unusual today. Why are you speaking up for someone else?"

Ain did not want to hide anything from her man, so she told him every condition Carmen had offered. Her pretty face was flushed red, and her watery eyes darted at him as she muttered softly, "Isn't it all for your sake?"

"Oh, so that's what it was."

Noki laughed. "All right. Since my Ain is asking me, I'll agree. Go tell her to wait for me in the kitchen after dinner tonight."

"Mm-hm!" Ain hugged him and kissed him. Noki's cheeks were bouncy and glowing, making even her, a woman, feel envious.

Although Ain was also a naturally beautiful woman, she had spent so long in the military camp that she rarely had time for skincare. Still, what girl did not love beauty? She used some skincare products here and there.

Even so, she was still slightly inferior to Noki, who never cared for his skin at all.

Ain sighed. If her man had been born a woman, he would probably have been a beauty capable of toppling nations.

Pah, pah, pah!

Why was I even thinking about that?

Wasn't my Noki manly enough already?!

Noki left the Marine base and began searching the streets for Dadi. As far as he knew, Dadi should be hunting pirates around town at this hour.

Sure enough!

Noki eventually found Dadi in an alley.

Dadi had just dealt with a group of pirates. He slung the corpse of a wanted criminal over his back and was about to head to the Marine base to claim the reward. "Huh, Noki, you're back so soon?"

"Yeah. I came to give you the bodies of Arlong's crew. You can go to the Marine base and claim the bounties later."

As he spoke, clumps of solidified black smoke flew out from behind Noki. The corpses of a group of fish-men rolled out amid a foul stench.

Dadi pinched his nose. "Everyone knows Arlong was defeated by you. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to claim money with the bodies?"

"Don't worry, no one will care about those details. More than ten million Beli is just pocket change to headquarters, and even if they investigate, I'm not afraid.

"The rules for claiming bounties say that as long as you bring a live criminal or a criminal's corpse to a Marine base, and their identity is confirmed, you get paid.

"There are so many bounty hunters in the world. Who can guarantee every criminal was killed by the bounty hunter personally? There will inevitably be people picking up leftovers, so at most you're just picking up leftovers. It doesn't count as concealing anything."

"You have a point." Dadi nodded. Since Noki had said so, why would he refuse free money?

"There's one more thing," Noki said.

Dadi smiled. "I knew you wouldn't let me take advantage so easily. Go on, what is it?"

"I want you to keep an eye out for someone. He'll probably arrive in Loguetown within a month."

"Oh?"

"He's a seventeen-year-old boy with freckles on both cheeks and an orange cowboy hat. If you see him in town, make sure to notify me at the Marine base immediately."

"I'll keep an eye out." Dadi nodded in agreement.

"Mm, let's head back to base together." Noki turned to leave.

Dadi looked at the stinking corpses and frowned. "Can you put them away first and take them out again when we're near the base? The smell is too strong."

Noki broke into a smile. "Sure."

Outside the base.

Dadi dragged Arlong and several other Fish-Man Pirates officers over to claim the bounties.

Although the marines had their doubts, they saw Noki standing nearby and did not dare say anything more.

After Dadi collected the bounties and left.

Ain pushed open the door and entered the room. Looking at the stacks of Beli on the table, she asked worriedly, "Noki, isn't this a little inappropriate?"

Noki asked in return, "Ain, do you remember the Marine regulation regarding bounty hunters claiming rewards?"

"Whether to issue a bounty is determined based on the evidence?"

Ain repeated it to herself, then suddenly understood. She gave Noki a helpless look. "Noki never passed Marine regulations class, yet he has studied these loophole-ridden rules so thoroughly."

Noki brushed aside the cyan hair blocking his vision and chuckled. "I only figured it out recently."

Ain sat beside Noki and carefully arranged the hair behind his head. "Why do you need so much money? Our life is already very good."

"There will always be things we want to buy. It's never wrong to keep some money on hand, so we won't have to worry about being unable to afford something when we want it later."

"That makes sense. But don't let Admiral Sakazuki find out about this."

A helpless expression appeared on Noki's ethereal, exquisitely handsome face. "If Uncle Sakazuki finds out, he won't care whether I broke any rules. He'll beat me until I'm black and blue."

Ain gazed tenderly at the man's profile with her sparkling eyes and smiled softly. "If Noki gets beaten into a cripple, I'll take care of you for the rest of my life."

"Even though I'm touched, could you at least wish me well?" Noki complained.

"Mm... Then I believe Noki will become strong enough that he won't need to fear Admiral Sakazuki anymore. Strong enough to marry me openly and properly."

"Now that's more like it."

Noki was thoroughly satisfied.

That afternoon, Ain went to train Tashigi and Dezaya again.

Noki took a short afternoon nap and slept straight through dinner. It was impressive that he could still fall asleep so soon after waking up.

In the kitchen.

Carmen was overjoyed when she learned the message Noki had asked Ain to pass on. She happily changed into her chef's uniform and waited.

When Tereina heard that Carmen had truly convinced Ain and Noki, she refused to believe it and insisted on staying to see for herself.

"Sorry, I'm late."

Noki arrived at a leisurely pace.

"Major General, you really came?" Tereina's eyes widened.

"Oh, Tereina is here too."

Carmen picked up a spatula and smacked Tereina on the head. "Now you should give up, you brat. I'm better than you."

"You... you... you!" Tereina stomped her feet, her face flushed red with frustration.

"What about me? The major general only said he'd teach me. Hurry back to your dormitory. Don't stay here and steal lessons."

Carmen proudly thrust out her bosom, which seemed capable of embracing everything.

Tereina bit her lip, her eyes seeming ready to overflow with tears as she looked pitifully at Noki.

Noki's heart softened. "Fine, one more observer won't hurt. Your name is Carmen, right? The dish I'll teach you today is called Ants Climbing a Tree. The ingredients are common and the kitchen has all of them. Watch carefully how I season each ingredient..."

Carmen was quickly drawn in by Noki's cooking, and Tereina watched with complete concentration as well.

Before long.

An exquisite dish emerged from the stove.

The dish featured bright red minced meat clinging to crystal-clear vermicelli, looking delicate and beautiful.

Carmen and Tereina each took a bite. The flavor was light, yet smooth and delicious, possessing a distinctive charm.

After teaching them the dish, Noki left. He gave them an ingredient list so they could prepare in advance, then told them they would continue tomorrow.

Carmen was fiercely competitive and did not want Tereina learning cooking alongside her, so the next day, she went to complain to Ain.

After listening, Ain had no choice. Tereina was merely learning to cook. As long as she did not make any moves to seduce Noki, Ain could not simply punish her. Otherwise, if word got out, would people not say that she, as an officer, had abused her authority to bully a subordinate?