Mutual Wager, Roya Takes the Field

Roya did not take Akainu's words to heart at all.

After all, Akainu was nothing more than a defeated opponent.

If Akainu found out that the person he had just looked down on was the mysterious man who had defeated him in a single move, what would he think?

With that thought, Roya brushed aside his messy black bangs and returned to his room.

In the blink of an eye, the first day of the promotion tournament arrived.

Roya had slept fairly well the night before. When he walked out of his room, he saw that the main training ground was already packed with people!

"Hey, don't you know where you're supposed to stand?"

Kalifa's voice came from behind Roya.

Roya looked at Kalifa. Kalifa seemed somewhat different today.

But Roya could not tell where exactly that change was.

"Mm. They only arranged lodging for me. They didn't tell me anything else."

"Then stand beside me. But don't get any ideas—I definitely haven't forgotten how you toyed with me yesterday. If I get the chance, I'll make sure you see what I'm capable of!"

Yet for some reason, Kalifa's gaze wandered as she said those words.

When Roya followed behind Kalifa and arrived before a formation,

he saw Sengoku and Garp standing one behind the other at the highest point of Marineford!

They looked down on the Marines below. After spouting a long string of meaningless nonsense, they finally announced the start of the promotion tournament.

As Sengoku turned to leave, he glanced at Roya below.

Roya was the only one not wearing a Marine uniform, making him exceptionally conspicuous.

Garp noticed Sengoku's gaze and followed it, also spotting Roya standing beside Kalifa.

Garp teased, "Being young is great. That kid is so handsome—no wonder he's so popular with girls."

Expressionless, Sengoku said to Garp, "Garp, what level do you think this guy can reach?"

"I saw his match with Kalifa yesterday afternoon too. Although his Fruit ability is pretty strange, it doesn't boost his combat power much. At most, he should be at Vice Admiral level."

Sengoku nodded, then shook his head. "I think he can take Admiral."

Upon hearing Sengoku's words, Garp repeated them instinctively, then said in shock, "What?! Admiral?! You think far too highly of him!"

"Want to make a bet? If you lose, you can never steal my rice crackers again! And you can't slack off!"

After thinking for a moment, Garp said, "Fine. But if you lose, all your rice crackers will be mine from now on!"

"Deal!"

After seeing Garp agree, Sengoku's lips curled up imperceptibly.

What Garp did not know was that among Roya's bounties was Avery's head—the Brute-Force Fruit user!

That proved Roya certainly possessed some other exceptionally powerful means.

Moreover, Sengoku had taken a liking to Roya's talent. If possible, he wanted to recruit Roya into the Dove Faction.

The Dove Faction was one of the Marine factions. Opposing it were the Hawk Faction led by Akainu and the Neutral Faction led by Kizaru, commonly known as the Slacker Faction.

As its name implied, the Dove Faction was relatively moderate. Its methods were not overly ruthless, and everyone had their own justice in their hearts.

The Hawk Faction believed that Marines were justice and pirates were evil. To achieve their goals, they would stop at nothing.

The Neutral Faction stayed out of both sides. They worked when there was work, with salary as king.

Naturally, there were also slight individual differences among them.

At the main training ground, Roya received the order in which he would participate.

He had drawn a bye, meaning he could advance directly to the next round without fighting.

Kalifa, standing beside him, smiled. "Not bad luck. But that's fine too—the later you lose, the better."

"Because the later I lose, the stronger I'll seem. Then it won't look so bad that you lost to me before, right?"

Seeing Roya unhesitatingly speak the thought in her heart aloud, Kalifa felt both embarrassed and angry!

"You look so gentle and handsome, so why is your mouth so venomous? Hmph, I'm never talking to you again!"

As she spoke, Kalifa walked away without looking back, wearing an expression that practically said, Come comfort me already.

However, Roya did not pay any more attention to Kalifa and instead went back to sleep.

That made Kalifa even more furious!

Over the next several days, Roya kept receiving byes, making him feel as though an unseen hand was manipulating everything from behind the scenes.

But Roya did not care about that. If anything, he was happy to take it easy.

Every day, he either slept or watched others compete, and he quite enjoyed himself.

Finally, on his sixth day at Marineford, Roya faced his first opponent: a Captain named Smoker!

The outskirts of the training ground were packed with people.

By now, many Marine soldiers had learned of Roya's existence.

But many of them had only heard about him and had never seen him fight.

Thus, this match drew a great number of soldiers to watch, surrounding the place in layer upon layer until not even a drop of water could pass through!

At this moment, Kalifa appeared from who knew where.

She reminded Roya, "Roya, Smoker is a Logia user with the Smoke-Smoke Fruit. He's been winning for six days straight, and he's very strong!"

"Mm."

Kalifa had kindly reminded Roya, yet not only did he fail to thank her, his reaction was so indifferent. That made her feel a little upset.

"Hmph, fine if you don't believe me. I'd like to see how Smoker defeats you!"

Of course, she only said that aloud.

Without even realizing it, Kalifa had begun paying increasingly close attention to Roya's every move!

In truth, even Roya had not expected Smoker to become his first opponent at Marineford.

Smoker had been winning for six straight days. With the power of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, he could be said to utterly dominate opponents of the same rank.

But would that really work against Roya?

Roya slowly walked into the training ground.

Looking at Smoker before him, holding a Sea-Prism Stone jitte, a cigar clamped between his lips and his white hair slicked back, he said calmly, "Please go easy on me!"

"Please go easy on me!"

At that moment, Smoker's friend Hina shouted encouragement for him from within the training ground. "Hina is cheering for you! Don't lose!"

Following the voice, Roya looked toward the pink-haired girl. But at that very moment, Smoker turned into smoke and rushed toward him!

"Losing focus in battle is a grave mistake!"

As his words fell, Smoker raised the Sea-Prism Stone jitte in his hand high and thrust it at Roya...