Small Talk

Bathroom.

Carl casually tossed the newspaper aside, eagerly chanting internally, System, use all Attribute Enhancement Cards, enhance perception, and use all Haki Enhancement Cards as well!

Once the enhancement finished, Carl instantly felt his mind clear up significantly and his perception of the outside world became much sharper, though his perception rank still did not upgrade.

The only pleasant surprise was that both Armament Haki and Observation Haki had leveled up, both reaching lv2.

To test the effect of lv2, Carl extended his right hand and used Armament Haki for hardening.

His arm instantly turned as pitch-black as ink, even reflecting a sheen under the light, and then Carl pressed his hand against the washbasin, the pristine white porcelain washbasin instantly getting coated in a layer of black.

Hehe, not bad, the strength has improved quite a bit, though it still cannot be coated, I'll have to keep upgrading.

As for Observation Haki, the change was not obvious, and he estimated the difference would only show in combat states.

Not bad, not bad.

After a while, Carl walked out of the bathroom looking refreshed, dropped heavily onto the seat opposite Kizaru, crossed his legs, and lit a cigar.

"Puff~ Kizaru, Ad—" "Bang, bang, bang!"

Kizaru glanced at Carl, leaving Carl with no choice but to get up and open the door.

"Ain? Why are you here? Oh right right right, I almost forgot, your internship ended and you went to Staff Officer Tsuru's side, come, come, sit."

Upon seeing Kizaru reading the newspaper inside the room, Ain hurriedly waved her hands. "No, no need, Carl, could you step outside for a moment."

"Uh, fine!"

Carl had no choice but to follow Ain out, pulling the door shut behind him.

"What's wrong?"

Ain't expression turned stern, and she stared straight into Carl's eyes as she said, "Carl, do you know what you've done?"

"???"

Carl wore a face full of question marks; he had only just arrived today! What could he possibly have done?

"Sigh! How would I know! If you have something to say, just say it, I don't like playing guessing games!"

Ain put her hands on her hips and sighed helplessly. "Just now, several older sisters came to ask me about you, wanting to know if you can help them get rid of their scars—ah, I mean, use Holy Light to heal them!"

"Oh, hmm? Get rid of scars? Wait, I get it!"

Carl remembered that shortly after using his ability on Gion, her tattoo had vanished, and later on, word must have gotten out—after all, Staff Officer Tsuru's unit was entirely made up of female soldiers.

Women, after all! Caring about appearance was completely normal, especially for these female marines who frequently fought pirates and inevitably ended up with scars of all sizes. Seeing that Gion's tattoo could be erased, they naturally set their sights on him.

"Ahem, Ain, you go back and tell them there will be a chance in the future, but not right now."

"Beasts Kaido is approaching soon, and as a righteous marine, I cannot waste my stamina on such trivial matters."

Ain looked at Carl, who was speaking with righteous indignation while still holding a cigar in his right hand. It wasn't that she didn't trust Carl, but Carl had too many past offenses for anyone to truly believe him.

"Uh, I suppose so. I'll help you turn them down this time, but next time..."

Carl patted his chest loudly until it went thud. "Rest assured!"

Who knew when the next meeting would even be, unless Staff Officer Tsuru could snatch him away from Ape-guy, though Carl probably wouldn't agree to that either.

Jumping into twenty-seven or twenty-eight older women? That sounded like being torn apart alive for this tender young piece of meat!

Ain left in doubt and, remembering the previous pleas from the older sisters, let out a silent sigh.

Wano Country, Onigashima.

"Damn marines, they actually captured my beloved subordinate. No way, I have to go save him!"

Queen blew out a ring of smoke and said indifferently, "Boss, letting that brat Jack suffer a bit is for the best. No need to rush to save him, I seriously suspect this is a marine conspiracy."

King at the side nodded. "Boss, think twice before acting!"

Kaido slammed the table into smithereens with a loud bang, glaring at the two of them with wide eyes. "I am Beasts Kaido! Even if the marines have some kind of scheme, could they possibly kill me?"

"Boss!"

"King, say no more. Jack is my subordinate, and I certainly cannot sit back and watch the marines take him away."

With a wave of his massive hand, Kaido strode out of the great hall and transformed into an azure dragon, soaring straight into the sky.

"Hmph, that brat Jack is truly useless. Even if I got captured, I wouldn't need the boss to save me!"

King glanced indifferently at Queen. "Jack is still young, once he grows up he'll be fine. Look at you, eating until you look like a pig—I seriously find it hard to believe you could escape from the hands of the marines!"

"Stupid King! I'm not fat, it's muscle, do you understand muscle?"

"Heh~"

G-2 Branch.

Carl comfortably flipped over in bed; he had slept very soundly last night.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Carl, time to prepare for the meeting! Remember to come over, okay!"

"Got it!"

This was the one good thing about Kizaru—he didn't care about sleeping in or drinking afternoon tea. After all, the pot shouldn't call the kettle black, and if it were Akainu, he probably would have kicked the door straight down!

Carl quickly crawled out of bed, simply washed up, put on his uniform, and leisurely strolled toward the conference room. Fortunately, he wasn't late.

After a moment, Staff Officer Tsuru walked into the conference room with a solemn expression, holding a stack of documents.

"We received intelligence from the intelligence department. The bad news is that Kaido has left Onigashima and is currently heading toward the G-2 base. The good news is that he is coming alone."

"According to my estimation, Kaido will arrive at the G-2 branch by tonight at the latest, so everyone pull yourselves together and be ready to engage Kaido at any moment."

Carl glanced around the room: Kizaru, Aokiji, Gion, Chaton, Momonga, Onigumo—two admirals, two vice admiral candidates, and two vice admirals.

As for Staff Officer Tsuru, she would presumably command and not participate in combat. This setup could be considered the utmost respect for Kaido, though it was unclear how long he would hold out.

In this kind of high-end match, Carl could only play a support role. If Kaido were actually forced to fight Carl head-on, Carl reckoned he would be beaten until his eyes rolled all the way back.

After the meeting ended, Kizaru and Aokiji were called away alone by Staff Officer Tsuru, leaving Carl to slack off by himself. Who could possibly understand this kind of loneliness?

Gion smiled warmly as she teased Carl. "Little Carl, Sister is going to have to count on you today, you know!"

"Sister Gion jokes. I can only provide a tiny bit of insignificant help; in the end, it all depends on you guys!"

"Hehe~ That's not necessarily true! This guy Kaido is not so easy to deal with."

Carl smiled noncommittally, his peripheral vision catching sight of Kompira at Gion's waist, and his eyes lit up.

"Is that sword Kompira?"

Gion immediately drew Kompira for Carl to admire, smiling as she said, "I never expected Little Carl to have such a discerning eye! Kompira is a famous blade among the 21 Great Wazamono, you know! It has been with Sister for over twenty years, you know!"

Carl wasn't surprised that Kompira was a Great Wazamono; what surprised him was that Gion was actually this old.

40? 50? Carl didn't even dare to think too deeply about it.