Out to Sea and the Mission

On the day the commendation ceremony ended, the 15th Branch held a welcoming ceremony for the new recruits.

The banquet was lively and lasted until late at night.

Then, early the next morning, Colonel Whiteman received orders from his superiors.

Upon receiving the orders, Colonel Whiteman immediately assembled the team. With over a hundred Marines in tow, he hurried aboard a warship. Xia Luo was among them—and the only new recruit.

"Wooo—"

Amid a low hum, the warship slowly sailed away from the harbor.

In the blink of an eye,

it was the third day of their voyage at sea.

The past few days had been calm and uneventful.

Gazing at the boundless blue sea, Xia Luo felt exceptionally calm as he silently consumed the energy within his body to strengthen his physique.

A year and two months had passed since the God Valley incident. Xia Luo's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds; his physique alone had improved by more than a hundred times.

However, since he had never gone all out against anyone, Xia Luo did not know what level his current strength belonged to.

Still, based on his observations, with his current physical strength, no one in the entire 15th Branch was stronger than him except Colonel Whiteman.

Of course, the quality of Marines in naval branches varied greatly, and most were generally weak. Comparing them to Xia Luo was indeed a little unfair.

Colonel Whiteman was an exception. In the 15th Branch, his strength stood in a league of its own. He seemed to have mastered some form of the Six Powers; even several lieutenant colonels and majors combined were no match for him.

Xia Luo estimated that Colonel Whiteman's Doriki Value was at least three thousand, likely no weaker than an ordinary rear admiral.

As for Xia Luo himself, in human form, he might not even possess half of Colonel Whiteman's strength. He was not particularly strong, but in the West Blue, he was more than capable of handling most enemies.

Of course, Doriki Value could not fully represent a person's combat strength.

Take Xia Luo, for example. He was a Devil Fruit user, and a Mythical Zoan user at that. The boosts it provided in every aspect were absurdly high.

In his human-beast form or beast form, he could command wind and rain, summon lightning and flames, dive into the sea and soar through the sky, ride clouds and mist. His vitality, endurance, and recovery were all maxed out. If they truly fought, even an ordinary Marine vice admiral might not be his match.

"Panel."

He called out silently in his heart.

A translucent panel quietly appeared.

[Host: Nico Xia Luo]

[Age: 12]

[Height: 192 cm]

[Skills and Talents: Six Treasury Immortal Thief LV2 (29%), Mythical Zoan · Fish-Fish Fruit · Azure Dragon Form LV1 (58%), Martial Arts LV1 (7%), Staffsmanship LV1 (2%)]

[Main Quest One...]

During the months since joining the Marines, Xia Luo had rarely had opportunities to develop his Devil Fruit abilities, so their progress had been limited—only 8%.

The Six Treasury Immortal Thief, on the other hand, had steadily improved because he used it every day. Its experience increased at an average rate of 1% every ten days.

It was worth mentioning that Xia Luo's martial arts and staffsmanship had successfully reached the entry level and gained recognition from the system panel.

Unfortunately, Xia Luo's system was not some "grind king" system. It merely displayed data and could not grind experience for him.

Only the Six Treasury Immortal Thief, perhaps because it was produced by the system, seemed to have no bottlenecks when improving. It could truly be "grinded."

As long as he used it every day, he could gain corresponding improvements. Its growth rate was very stable: at Level 1, it increased by 1% every five days; at Level 2, that became 1% every ten days.

Devil Fruit abilities and skills such as staffsmanship were different. They had bottlenecks. Only because their current levels were so low did they improve relatively quickly. As long as he put in the effort, reaching LV2 would not be difficult. But advancing to LV3 or above would become extremely challenging.

"Trash system!"

Xia Luo had developed a habit of cursing the system. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would curse it a little, or else he would feel uncomfortable all over.

It could even get the coordinates of the world he had transmigrated to wrong, then issue idiotic quests. What else could it be but trash?

"Feels great!"

After cursing it, Xia Luo immediately felt refreshed, and his mood improved considerably.

Suddenly, a shout came from the lookout platform. "Report, Colonel! Enemy sighted to the southeast! Confirmed to be the Blood Axe Pirates, approximately eleven nautical miles away!"

On the deck, Colonel Whiteman abruptly opened his eyes. He rose sharply to his feet, pulled out a telescope, and looked toward the southeast.

"It really is them."

Colonel Whiteman shouted, "All hands, take your positions! Full speed ahead! Catch them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the warship suddenly accelerated and charged toward the Blood Axe Pirates.

From Colonel Whiteman's reaction, the Marines suddenly realized something...

"It's actually them. Could our mission target this time be... the extermination of the Blood Axe Pirates?"

"The Blood Axe Pirates' captain is named Vidal, known as 'Blood Axe.' He's vicious. When he first went to sea, his bounty was only five million, but in less than half a year, it soared to thirty-one million!"

"Gasp! That high?!"

"Yes. I heard he never leaves survivors, and he likes splitting people in half from head to toe! He's powerful, a troublesome opponent, and not easy to deal with."

"Heh, it's just Blood Axe. With the colonel here, I'm not afraid."

"Don't let your guard down!"

A burst of discussion reached Xia Luo's ears, and he listened carefully.

Then Colonel Whiteman's voice reached him. "Xia Luo, are you afraid? Listen to me. Don't rush into fighting later. Wait until I deal with Blood Axe, then make your move. I'll cover you."

A fierce light flashed in Xia Luo's eyes as he gritted his teeth. "I'm not afraid. I want to take them down. Pirates deserve to die!"

Colonel Whiteman fell silent at the sight.

After a long while, he sighed. His tone was filled with helplessness. "All right. Then find some small fry to test yourself against first. Remember, don't force yourself. Get used to it first. It's your first time on a battlefield, so it's only natural to be nervous. There's no shame in that."

Over the past few months, Colonel Whiteman had seen Xia Luo's potential, so he had taken especially good care of him.

He would never have said those words to anyone else.

He was also afraid that such a promising seedling would perish under his command. That would be a loss for the Marines.

"Mm-hmm."

Xia Luo nodded, his gaze fixed on the distance ahead. In truth, this was not his first battle, nor was it his first time killing someone.

Afraid? Not a chance.

They were just a bunch of scum. Killing them was no big deal.

Besides, the pirates on Harlan Island had been personally killed by him, and he had sent both them and their ship to the bottom of the sea.

As for the village on Harlan Island that had been brutally slaughtered, it had nothing to do with Xia Luo.

That day, he had happened to head out to sea to hunt Sea Kings when he encountered those pirates. They had just finished massacring the village and set sail with a ship full of supplies, holding a feast aboard their vessel.

Since he had run into such scum, it was fate. Naturally, Xia Luo would not let them go. He also took the opportunity to disguise himself as the village's sole survivor, forge an identity, and join the Marines.