"Justice" Marines

Without the gorillas as sparring partners, Xia Luo had no choice but to practice alone.

Strangely enough, after being provoked by the Poop-Throwing Gorilla just now, Xia Luo discovered that the progress bar for Soru on his panel had somehow shot up by 5%!

He did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Does this count as unlocking my potential? That's way too unconventional, isn't it?!"

Forget it. Unconventional was unconventional. At the very least, he had achieved his original goal, even if not in the way he had imagined.

After practicing Soru for a while longer, Xia Luo began his martial arts training and staff practice.

Time gradually passed.

Meanwhile, when the Marines arrived at the training grounds for their group training, they were stunned by the sight before them.

"My god! What happened here? Did moles come through the training grounds?"

"What kind of mole digs craters like that? Those were obviously made by bombs!"

"...Speechless."

"Xia Luo was right. Where there's a crouching dragon, there's always a fledgling phoenix. You two really are a pair of geniuses! How did you even come up with that?"

"That sounds absurd even to me."

"It looks like someone deliberately damaged the place, but what would be the point? Don't tell me they thought they could skip group training by wrecking the training grounds?"

"Still doesn't sound very reliable, but at least it's a tiny bit more plausible than those two geniuses' guesses."

Lieutenant Colonel Kana really could not listen anymore. He cut off the discussion among the "detectives" and shouted:

"Enough talking. Besides your usual training, you have one additional task today: repair the training grounds."

"As for who damaged them, I'll send someone to investigate."

Lieutenant Colonel Kana said only that he would investigate, not what would happen once the culprit was found, because he already had a vague idea of who had created this "masterpiece."

If nothing unexpected had happened, Xia Luo was the one responsible. The colonel had only said yesterday that he would teach him the Six Powers, and today the training grounds had turned into this mess. The culprit was obvious.

But so what if he knew? Xia Luo was someone the colonel favored, and with the talent Xia Luo had displayed, it was only a matter of time before he rose through the ranks, perhaps even soared to great heights.

He had no time to curry favor with someone like that, much less offend him, let alone punish him.

It was just a training ground. They could simply repair it. There was no need to offend anyone over it.

Lieutenant Colonel Kana made up his mind that this matter could only be handled quietly. It should not be blown out of proportion.

At that moment, Lieutenant Colonel Kana understood the situation perfectly clearly.

After all, having struggled through so many years in the Marines, he had long mastered the art of officialdom. When it was time to turn a blind eye, he turned a blind eye. Sometimes, it was best to play dumb. He could not go wrong with that.

It was worth mentioning that

after recruit training ended, Lieutenant Colonel Kana had taken over as an instructor, leading the Marines through their daily training.

The entire West Blue 15th Branch base had just over three hundred Marines. Including logistics personnel and clerks, there were fewer than five hundred people in total. Add the Marines' families, and the island's population was around two thousand.

Of the three hundred-plus Marines, after excluding those assigned to sea patrols, duty shifts, and guard posts each day, only a little over one hundred and fifty attended group training daily.

Colonel Whiteman was a responsible, honest, and upright officer. Under his leadership, the 15th Branch had steadily grown stronger, and the overall strength of its Marines had consistently ranked among the best of the many Marine Branches in West Blue.

Most Marine Branches were nothing like the 15th Branch. Not only did they not train every day or patrol the seas daily, they also had plenty of opportunities to line their pockets.

Many Marine Branches were like the East Blue 16th Branch commanded by Colonel Nezumi in the original story. They deceived those above and below them, tyrannized the locals, extorted money, embezzled funds, abetted evil, even colluded with pirates and the mafia, nurtured bandits for personal gain, and killed innocents to claim credit. Their crimes were countless and beyond all telling!

Pirates all over the world had not appeared out of thin air. Aside from the oppression of the Celestial Dragons and the inhuman kings, nobles, and landlords of various nations, the "just" Marines had also contributed their share!

Night fell, and a bright moon hung high in the sky.

The mountain behind the base.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With a massive boulder weighing over a ton on his shoulder, Xia Luo sprinted and leaped through the forest, making the ground tremble without pause.

"Here it goes!"

A few minutes later, Xia Luo lifted the boulder overhead. Muscles bulged all over his body, his ten fingers sank into the stone's surface, and he assumed a throwing stance before hurling it with all his strength toward another mountaintop.

The boulder shot through the air like a cannonball, crashing straight toward the mountain opposite him.

Boom!

Amid the thunderous blast, birds and beasts scattered in panic and fled.

"That felt great!"

Xia Luo threw back his head and let out a long roar.

Just then,

a familiar voice drifted eerily from behind him. "After wrecking the training grounds, you've come to wreck the mountain behind the base too. At this rate, the whole island may not escape your clutches, Xia Luo."

Turning around, Xia Luo scratched his head awkwardly. "Colonel, why are you here so late?"

Colonel Whiteman resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "With that much noise, how could I not come take a look? What if pirates had invaded? Don't you think?"

"What pirate would dare attack a Marine base? Are they tired of living?" Xia Luo put on an exaggerated expression.

Colonel Whiteman snorted. "Hmph. That just means you've seen too little. You'll get the chance to see it someday."

He really wanted to tell Xia Luo that in the New World, pirates attacking Marines and storming Marine bases were everyday occurrences, nothing unusual at all.

But after thinking it over, he worried that such things would affect Xia Luo's image of the Marines, so he decided not to mention them yet.

"All right, hurry back and rest. You're making such a racket. Even if you don't want to sleep, other people do!"

"Okay, right away!"

With that, Colonel Whiteman waved a hand and left directly.

Not long afterward, Xia Luo also returned to his quarters, took a shower, and went to sleep.

A few days later.

Keeping his promise, Colonel Whiteman told Xia Luo how to train Shigan and demonstrated it personally.

As always, Xia Luo learned extremely quickly. In less than half a day, he had mastered the techniques for using Shigan.

A few more days passed, and Colonel Whiteman taught Xia Luo how to train Tekkai. Xia Luo still mastered it with ease.

This worried Colonel Whiteman terribly. In less than half a month, Xia Luo had learned Soru, Shigan, and Tekkai, while he himself was still struggling with Rankyaku and making slow progress. As for Geppo and Kami-e, he had not even had time to learn them!

If only I'd studied properly back at headquarters. At least there would have been someone to guide me. Now I can only train by myself.

Whiteman was filled with regret.

What was he supposed to do now?

Should he just tell Xia Luo that he had not learned the other Six Powers yet, then give him the training methods and let him study them himself?

Where would that leave his old face?

The key point was that he had bragged earlier about learning Soru in just a few days...

With no other choice, Colonel Whiteman could only resort to stalling. On one hand, he told Xia Luo to first become proficient in Soru, Shigan, and Tekkai. On the other, he secretly practiced Rankyaku, Geppo, and Kami-e like mad.

Late one night, Whiteman dragged his utterly exhausted body home once again, only to find his wife sitting on the sofa, looking at him through tear-filled eyes as she demanded:

"Tell me, do you have someone else outside? You come home looking like this every day. Did someone drain you dry?"

"Huh?"

Whiteman's eyes widened like saucers.