Despicable Marines

The Hunting Knife Pirates pushed forward against the fierce artillery fire toward the training ship, their hull already teetering on the verge of collapse.

"Despicable Marines, do you not even dare to fight a boarding action?"

With his eyes split and veins bulging, Zacur stared at the incoming cannonballs. If he knew Geppo, he would have dashed straight onto the training ship, but unfortunately, he did not.

Even worse, as a swordsman, he had not yet reached the level where he could casually slash flying slashes through the air.

Therefore, facing the artillery fire from the training ship, he could only take his first mate and capable subordinates to the bow to hack apart the cannonballs, minimizing the damage to the hull as much as possible.

"Can we go any faster! If we don't slaughter this group of despicable Marines today, I, Zacur, swear I am no man!"

"Captain, if we go any faster, it will be too late to stop the ship, and we'll crash right into the warship!"

A fierce glint flashed in Zacur's eyes, and he shouted viciously, "Then crash into it! At worst, we'll lose the ship, but either way, these Marines won't get to capture us easily!"

On the training ship.

Ain looked worriedly at the rapidly advancing "suicide ship" and turned to say to Carl, "It seems they are accelerating again. If this keeps up, their ship is going to crash directly into ours."

"Heh, naive. Did they really think I wouldn't see through such a small trick?"

Afterwards, Carl began to issue commands. The training ship quickly swirled around the pirate ship while pouring down artillery fire, taking advantage of the training ship's superior performance to bully them.

Zephyr, who was watching from the side, nodded repeatedly. True to his reputation as a veteran of ten years, Carl was extremely skilled in naval warfare and possessed quite a bit of the demeanor of a renowned general.

Before long, he would probably get to see Carl rise step by step, and becoming an Admiral was just around the corner.

In fact, Zephyr felt that with Carl's ability, becoming Fleet Admiral was his ultimate destination. After all, the Holy Light, which could directly enhance strength and heal injuries, was far more practical than Sengoku standing there shouting chicken soup for the soul.

"Carl, are we just going to defeat them with artillery fire like this? Isn't this..."

If Ainz were a native of Blue Star, he definitely would have said that striking pirates like this had no soul, but he was not; he just always felt like something was missing.

After all, the Holy Light had already blessed them, yet they were just standing on the ship firing cannons?

"Yeah~ Carl, how about letting us have a real fight with this group of pirates? They made us search all over the place for them!"

Watching the increasingly weak resistance of the Hunting Knife Pirates, the recruits felt as though their hearts were being scratched by a cat, and they were dying to go up and have a massive brawl with the pirates.

Instead of blowing up the enemy ship like this and fishing pirates out of the sea one by one.

"Are you guys serious?"

Carl was stunned. Clearly defeating the pirates with ease and comfort, yet they still wanted to risk their lives to engage in a real-person PK with others—did they have the system or did he?

"Mm-hmm, please, Carl, just this once, let us try! This is our only internship mission after all!"

Are you teaching me how to do my job?

Carl frowned slightly, a trace of dissatisfaction rising in his heart. These recruits seemed a bit full of themselves. Even though he also felt that this group of pirates posed no real threat and letting the recruits fight them wouldn't cause any major issues, this kind of mindset was not a good omen.

Especially since he didn't know when that fellow Weevil might pop out; if they still had this attitude by then, they would definitely suffer a huge loss.

At that moment, Zephyr walked over with his hands behind his back and a cold gaze. He had seen everything that just happened, and his blood pressure had been soaring straight up.

"What are you all doing? Carl is the commander, are you questioning his orders?"

"There are so many pirates all over the world, go kill them! Do you even have the ability? Look at you all, your tails are sticking straight up in the air!"

"...Carl's approach is the correct one, the rational one, and what a commander should do."

After scolding the recruits into lowering their heads, Zephyr suddenly pointed at Carl. Carl's eyes widened. This can ricochet back to me too? No way, right?

"You all know Carl's strength. He alone could annihilate this entire pirate crew. Why was he able to hold back his urge to strike and let you face the pirates together?"

"Is this not also his only internship mission?"

Zephyr's words left the recruits speechless and dejected. In their hearts, they couldn't help harboring a bit of resentment toward Carl, but upon second thought...

Teacher Zephyr was right! Carl was clearly capable of wiping out all the pirates directly, yet he deliberately chose to buff them and hand the battle entirely over to them, thereby giving them a full sense of participation. He truly... cried to death.

Sacrificing his own mission experience to fulfill those of them whose strength was inferior to his—what kind of spirit was this?

Selflessness! That must be what Carl was all about!

Coming to their senses, the recruits looked at Carl with gazes tinged with emotion, and those with rich feelings even had tears shimmering in their eyes.

Carl: What on earth happened?

He had a vague feeling that their gazes were a bit strange, as if he had done something incredible, but upon reflection, he still felt it was impossible.

Throughout this internship mission, he had slacked off from start to finish—even his bathroom breaks took longer than the time spent fighting pirates. How could he possibly have moved these recruits?

"Hmph, as long as you know!"

Seeing that the recruits finally understood the sacrifice Carl had made for this mission, Zephyr nodded, walked up to Carl, and said, "Grant them their wish! This group of pirates has already lost their fighting spirit."

To deal a blow and then offer a sweet date—Zephyr still understood this logic.

The purpose of doing this was to pave the way for Carl. Just look at those recruits' gazes! When the time came later for Carl to compete for Vice Admiral or even Admiral, would they not be Carl's loyal supporters?

Carl now understood Zephyr's intentions as well, and Zephyr's image in his heart instantly grew tall and stalwart.

"All hands! Prepare for boarding!"

The recruits present froze for a moment, and then burst into fanatical cheers!

"Ohhhhh! Long live Carl!" "Long live Carl!!!"

"Bang, bang, bang~"

The grappling hooks bit firmly into the battered hull of the Hunting Knife Pirates, and the Marines surged aboard the pirate ship along the sturdy ropes.

"Go to hell, pirates!" "The Marines will prevail!"

A chaotic melee instantly erupted on the deck of the Hunting Knife Pirates. Having long been driven to a state of complete helplessness by Carl's torment, the members of the Hunting Knife Pirates were pushed back step by step. Some died, some were injured, and some surrendered; it seemed the battle would soon be over.

Zephyr and Carl stood side by side on the training ship, crossing their arms to observe the combat situation.

"Heh-heh-heh~ These little fellows certainly have plenty of energy!"

Carl shook his head helplessly. "The bounty of the captain of the Hunting Knife Pirates is only a little over 20 million. Placed in the Four Blues, that's just how it is, and in the Grand Line, they don't even rank at all."

"That's true, but after all, this is just an internship mission. Old man, there's no way I could let you all go hunt down pirate crews with bounties in the hundreds of millions, right?"

"Teacher Zephyr, do you take us for the students of the first training camp?"

Zephyr was startled, then he and Carl exchanged a smile. Everything went without saying.