Internship's End

As the flames swallowed the pirate ship, Carl let out a quiet sigh.

"It's finally over..."

Zephyr hadn't lost any students or his arm, and Weevil hadn't had the chance to become a Shichibukai. In that case, Teacher Zephyr probably wouldn't end up dying at the hands of the Marines, right?

As for her disappointment in the Marines, Carl didn't think it mattered much. As long as she didn't place any expectations on the Marines, she wouldn't be disappointed.

She had been like this ever since joining the Marines. She hadn't never thought about changing the status quo, but with her low status and little influence, no matter how much she said, it would all be useless.

She still had the ability to change the Marines' current situation, but Carl believed that day wouldn't come too late. She was still very young—only twenty-four.

A few Marine warships slowly approached from the nearby sea, transferring everyone from the Training Ship onto the warships. This officially marked the end of their internship.

After returning to Marine Headquarters, they would officially take up their posts and dedicate themselves to the Marines.

Two days later, Marineford.

Zephyr sat calmly before Sengoku and handed him the report on this internship mission.

"This is the summary report for the twenty-fourth Recruit Training Camp's internship mission. Take a look, Sengoku."

Sengoku accepted it and opened it, quietly flipping through the pages. Zephyr said nothing either, leaving only the sound of pages turning in the office.

When he saw the records of Carl leading the recruits to wipe out the Musket Pirates and the Hunting Knife Pirates, as well as assisting Zephyr in defeating Edward Weevil, he couldn't help revealing a faint smile.

"Hahahaha, Zephyr, you've taught another excellent student! This Carl is truly a talent."

"She has extensive combat experience, commands in an orderly manner, and is even exceptionally powerful. Wait, she awakened Two-Color Haki during the battle!"

Sengoku looked at Zephyr in disbelief. He really couldn't believe that a Marine during her internship could awaken Two-Color Haki so quickly. Even Akainu and the others had only awakened Haki one after another through countless subsequent battles, soaring to prominence from then on.

Yet Carl had awakened Two-Color Haki simultaneously in a single battle. What kind of genius was she?

The only thing he couldn't understand was how such a talent had remained unknown all this time.

Hearing Sengoku praise Carl, a proud smile appeared on Zephyr's face.

"Actually, she had already shown signs of awakening before this. She was only lacking a little pressure. Weevil happened to give her enough, so she awakened. If you ask me, it's perfectly normal."

"If she still couldn't awaken under the pressure of life and death, I wouldn't even know how she could awaken at all."

Sengoku nodded in satisfaction. The new generation of Marines had finally produced a genius. Carl's abilities could also help strengthen the Marines' top combat power. Once she matured, the Marines' strength would rise to another level.

A talent like this deserved better treatment and a faster promotion. After pondering for a while, Sengoku made up his mind.

"Zephyr, how about this? I'll first grant Carl the rank of HQ Lieutenant Commander. After she spends some time honing herself under Kizaru and accumulates military merits and seniority, we'll have her lead a team independently and build up her reputation."

"That way, Carl's future promotions will be accepted by everyone and won't invite criticism. What do you think?"

Zephyr nodded. Sengoku was right. Within the Marines, promotions depended first on strength, second on military merit, and third on seniority. Only by satisfying all three conditions could one advance further.

For Carl, becoming an HQ Lieutenant Commander wasn't an overnight rise to the heavens, nor would it invite criticism. After all, she had previously been a Lieutenant, so she had only risen one rank.

No matter how strong Carl was, she still had to advance step by step. It wasn't as if someone could jump directly from Lieutenant to Commodore, right?

Carl thought, Oh? You'll see it in the future. I'll even go straight from a civilian to Admiral.

"You're the Fleet Admiral, so it's your call. As long as you know what you're doing, I'm leaving."

Ding~ [Career Mission—Training Camp Turmoil] has officially ended. Calculating rewards...

The host's accumulated slacking time totals 732 hours. Mission completed with excess progress. Drawing a random reward... Congratulations, you have obtained the Devil Fruit—Bird-Bird Fruit: Raven Model.

[Career Mission—King of Slacking] has been activated. Mission requirements: Accumulated slacking time must reach 500/1,000/2,000/3,500/5,000 hours.

Rewards: Based on the amount of time spent slacking off, receive the corresponding milestone rewards: an Advanced Attribute Enhancement Card and a random rare reward.

The host's current rank has been detected as HQ Lieutenant Commander. Daily mission rewards have been upgraded to 3 Designated Attribute Enhancement Cards + 3 random rewards. The probability of obtaining rare items from random rewards has also increased to 3%.

Carl, who had been reading the newspaper, was stunned by the system's incessant notifications and couldn't help blurting out, "Fuck!"

"Five thousand hours? If I slack off for eight hours every day, five thousand hours is 625 days! That's not even two years. Easy!"

After doing a quick calculation, Carl tossed it to the back of her mind. There was no point rushing this; she could only accumulate it slowly. What she cared about more was the improved daily rewards. That was where the real value lay.

"Oh, right. I seem to have gotten another Devil Fruit just now."

Carl checked the system space. Inside was a round, purple-black Devil Fruit. But when she saw that it was merely an ordinary Zoan, she lost interest.

"Right now, I have ten Advanced Attribute Enhancement Cards and eight Ordinary Attribute Enhancement Cards. System, use them all. Enhance my physique!"

Her physique was already at C+. These should be enough to push it to B. After the enhancement was complete, Carl's attributes were as follows.

Host: Carl

Age: 24

Physique: B-

Perception: D

Willpower: C-

Haki: Armament Haki Lv. 1, Observation Haki Lv. 1

Special Abilities: [Still as a Virgin] [Quick as a Rabbit]

Holy Light Fruit: 13.6% (Awakening Progress)

Active Skill: Frailty (Available)

Her physique was now far ahead of her other attributes—or more accurately, far ahead of her perception. Her willpower would automatically increase along with her strength, so she didn't need to invest many Attribute Enhancement Cards into it.

Therefore, Carl's next strategy was to focus exclusively on perception. Perception affected her reaction speed and insight, and provided a huge boost to Observation Haki. In short, Carl's goal was to become a well-rounded fighter.

"Hey, Smoker, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"I'm an HQ Lieutenant Commander now! By the way, I also aw—"

"Click~"

Smoker decisively hung up the phone. He knew Carl too well. Wasn't she calling just to mock him? Did she want to flaunt her superiority in front of Smoker? Impossible!

That night, Smoker stood by the window as smoke filled the room, three cigars clenched between his teeth.

He spent the entire night unable to figure out how he had only been an Ensign when he graduated, while Carl, that bastard, had suddenly become his equal in rank.