"Justice" Marines

Without the apes to spar with, Xia Luo had no choice but to practice alone.

Strangely enough, after being provoked by that "damn ape" just now, Xia Luo discovered that the progress bar for Soru on the panel had jumped by a full 5%!

He did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Does this count as a burst of potential? That's way too unconventional, isn't it?!"

Forget it. Unconventional or not, at least he had achieved his initial goal, though not in the way he had imagined.

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

Time gradually passed.

Meanwhile, when the marines arrived at the training ground for their group training, they were dumbfounded by the sight before them.

"Good heavens! What happened here? Did moles raid the training ground?"

"Do moles in your house dig craters? Those were obviously made by bombs!"

"...Speechless."

"Xia Luo was right. Where there's a Wolong, there's a Fengchu. You two are truly geniuses! How did you even come up with that?"

"Even I think that sounds ridiculous."

"It looks like someone deliberately wrecked the place, but what would be the point? Don't tell me they thought that if they destroyed the training ground, they could rest and skip group training?"

"Still sounds unreliable, but at least it's a little more reliable than the guesses from those two geniuses earlier."

Lieutenant Colonel Kana truly could not listen to them any longer. He interrupted the discussion among the "detectives" and shouted:

"Enough, stop talking. In addition to your usual training, you have one extra task today: repair the training ground."

"As for who damaged the training ground, I'll send someone to investigate."

Lieutenant Colonel Kana only said he would investigate, but did not mention what would happen after the culprit was found, because he had already vaguely guessed who had created the "masterpiece" before him.

If nothing unexpected had happened, it was Xia Luo. The colonel had only said yesterday that he would teach him the Six Powers, and today the training ground had turned into this hellish state. The culprit was obvious.

But so what if he had guessed it? 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—or even soared to great heights.

He still needed to curry favor with someone like that. There was no way he could afford to offend him, much less punish him.

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

Lieutenant Colonel Kana made up his mind that this matter could only be quietly smoothed over. It was not suitable to make a big issue out of it.

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

After all, having spent so many years clawing his way through the Navy, he had long mastered the art of being an official. When it was time to turn a blind eye, he turned a blind eye. Sometimes, it was best to be foolish; he could not go wrong that way.

It was worth mentioning that

after rookie training ended, Lieutenant Colonel Kana had taken over as instructor, leading the marines through their daily training every day.

The entire West Blue 15th Branch base had a little over three hundred marines. Including logistics personnel, clerks, and the like, there were fewer than five hundred people in total. Adding the marines' families, the island's population was roughly two thousand.

Of the three hundred-odd marines, after excluding those assigned to sea patrols, sentry duty, and other tasks each day, only a little over one hundred and fifty attended group training daily.

Colonel Whiteman was the sort of officer who was responsible, incorruptible, and upright. Under his leadership, the 15th Branch had steadily grown stronger, and the marines' overall strength had consistently ranked among the best of the many Navy branches in West Blue.

Most Navy branches were not like the 15th Branch, where they trained every day, went out on patrol daily, and had no easy profits to pocket.

Many Navy branches were just like the East Blue 16th Branch where Colonel Nezumi had been in the original story. They deceived their superiors and subordinates alike, bullied the populace, extorted money, embezzled funds, aided evildoers, and even colluded with pirates and the mafia, nurturing bandits to bolster their own importance and slaughtering innocents to claim military merit. Their crimes were too numerous to record!

Pirates all over the world had not appeared out of thin air. Apart from the oppression of the Celestial Dragons, inhuman kings, nobles, and landlords of various countries, the "just" Navy had contributed its share as well!

Night fell, and the bright moon hung high overhead.

The mountain behind the base.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With a boulder weighing over a ton on his shoulder, Xia Luo sprinted and leaped through the forest, making the ground tremble continuously.

"Off you go!"

A few minutes later, Xia Luo raised the boulder high above his head. The muscles across his body bulged as all ten fingers sank into the rock's surface. Taking a throwing stance, he hurled it with all his strength toward another mountaintop.

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

Boom!

Amid the deafening explosion, birds and beasts scattered in panic and fled.

"That felt great!"

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

Just then,

a familiar voice drifted faintly from behind him. "You just finished wrecking the training ground, and now you've come to wreck the back mountain. At this rate, I'm afraid the whole island won't escape your clutches, Xia Luo."

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

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

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

Colonel Whiteman snorted. "Hmph, that's only because you haven't seen enough. You'll encounter it someday."

He really wanted to tell Xia Luo that in the New World, pirates attacking the Navy and raiding Navy bases were everyday occurrences. It was nothing remarkable.

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

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

"Got it, right away!"

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

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

A few days later.

Colonel Whiteman kept his promise and taught Xia Luo the training method for Shigan, personally demonstrating it for him as well.

As always, Xia Luo learned 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 the training method for Tekkai. Xia Luo still mastered it with ease.

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

If only he had studied properly back at headquarters. At least there had been people there to guide him. Now, he could only practice by himself.

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 learn them himself?

Where would that leave his old face?

The key 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 once again dragged his exhausted body home, 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 squeeze you dry?!"

"Huh?"

Whiteman's eyes widened like bells.