Chapter 4

Half a year passed quietly, bringing them to the end of Sea Circle Calendar 1495.

CP9 training was grueling and complicated, with a minor test every week, a midterm every two weeks, and a major exam every month. If the exams hadn't been "fighting" instead of "answering questions," Adrian might have thought he was back in the easy days of school.

Compared with six months ago, Adrian had grown considerably stronger.

To keep up with the increasingly difficult daily training—and gradually show some "progress"—Adrian spent his accumulated experience raising Apprentice Swordsman to LV10, bringing his overall level to LV10 as well. He also unlocked two Secondary Professions, Agent and Cook, and his attributes shot up.

[You have acquired the new profession [Agent]. Your Stamina has increased, Strength +1, Agility +1. You have gained 2 Free Attribute Points and 1 Skill Point!]

[You have acquired the new profession [Cook]. Your Stamina has increased, Strength +1, Endurance +1. You have gained 2 Free Attribute Points and 1 Skill Point!]

Beyond the attribute gains from leveling up, Adrian discovered that training and sparring could improve his attributes and skills too. Six months of brutal training had earned him Strength +2, Agility +1, and Endurance +3.

Best of all, Adrian had grown taller!

By over twenty centimeters!

Well, he had gone from a meter and a half of hopelessly short to a meter seventy of merely short...

It annoyed Adrian every time he thought about it. Who knew how people in the world of One Piece grew so tall? Anyone under two meters could barely show their face in public. Marine Admirals averaged three meters, and certain strange species could even reach a hundred meters. It was ridiculous...

Back to the point.

On a winter morning, the air was crisp and a thin layer of snow covered every inch of the island. At the training ground in the base at its center, the atmosphere was anything but cold.

Combat power, third stage—

Sorry, wrong story. Let's try that again.

"Doriki, 30!"

Doriki was a unit used to measure combat strength in the world of One Piece. A typical well-trained armed soldier had a Doriki Value of 10; anyone whose value exceeded 500 could be called superhuman.

As a measure of combat strength (that the author had since abandoned), Doriki Values were particularly important to Cipher Pol agents. Rank within the organization was largely determined by comparing them.

Of course, anyone who disagreed could settle it with a fight. Fists still had the final say.

As CP9 candidates, trainees whose Doriki Value surpassed 500 could become full CP9 members by completing a Field Assignment. No one in the training squad had managed that yet.

One day, CP9 would welcome Rob Lucci, the "strongest in eight hundred years." That Monster had surpassed 500 Doriki at just thirteen. He had single-handedly defeated Pirates attacking a kingdom and killed five hundred captive royal soldiers while he was at it, suffering only minor injuries himself.

Adrian's 30 Doriki put him far above an ordinary Marine soldier, but only in the lower-middle ranks of the training squad. Given his usual performance, the result seemed fitting, and no one around him found it strange.

"Next, Dawson!"

The tester called the next name without a flicker of emotion. The crowd stirred, and Adrian glanced over.

Dawson was the name of the "Muscle Boy" who had once been Adrian's sparring partner. Apart from the first few days after training resumed, Dawson had never faced Adrian in hand-to-hand combat training again.

They simply weren't on the same level. For Dawson, it wasn't sparring. It was beating up a little kid.

"Wonder how strong the little Muscle Boy is now..."

Adrian lowered his gaze slightly and discreetly used Scan on Dawson.

[Based on your level and attributes, you have obtained the following information.]

[Dawson] (Yellow Name)

[Level: LV25]

[Attributes: Strength 30, Agility 18, Endurance 30, Intelligence 4, Charm 3, Luck 1]

[Abilities: [Intermediate Hand-to-Hand Combat], [Basic Marksmanship], ?]

[Danger Level: High]

With Adrian's current attributes, the information he received was more complete than before.

"Tch. Those levels and attributes have climbed fast. He'd count as a decent fighter in the Four Blues now, wouldn't he?"

Adrian muttered to himself as he slipped back into the crowd.

"His Strength is almost twice mine, while his Agility is only a little lower. And there's no need to mention his Endurance. His danger level is as high as ever... He must be nearly four meters tall now, like a little giant. I hate people taller than me, especially when they're still kids!"

Dawson stepped up to the Doriki testing machine and slammed a fist into it. The machine creaked under the blow.

"Doriki, 115!"

The tester shouted the result with delight. He showed different degrees of enthusiasm for children with different levels of potential.

"115 Doriki. That's among the best of us..."

"That's Dawson for you. At this rate, he'll probably become a full CP9 member in three years at most, right?"

Despite the envious voices in the crowd, Dawson kept his usual cold, unapproachable expression.

As he left the testing machine, Dawson's gaze suddenly passed through the crowd and settled on someone who seemed oddly out of place amid the bustle.

"Strange guy," Dawson muttered. "There's no way he only has 30 Doriki..."

Adrian had no idea the "Muscle Boy" remembered him so clearly. He was busy thinking about his plans for the coming year.

Over the past six months, Adrian had accumulated a great deal of experience through Swordplay practice. He could max out Apprentice Swordsman whenever he wanted, but an opportunity to leave still hadn't come.

He could now move freely through the Safe Zone outside the training base. Most of his activity was in the Danger Zone, though he occasionally ventured into the Deadly Zone to challenge himself.

There was no doubt he could keep growing if he stayed at the training base. But what transmigrator didn't have an itch for adventure?

In short, Adrian wanted to get off the island as soon as possible and stir things up!

Unfortunately, he had no chance to leave without orders from the base. Even if he risked escaping and made it safely through the beasts' territory, he still had no way across the vast sea.

He couldn't copy Luffy and stuff himself into a barrel to drift with the waves, could he?

This wasn't the calm East Blue! Doing that on the Grand Line would get him killed!

He would have to bide his time.

What Adrian hadn't expected was that another year and a half would pass while he waited.

In the blink of an eye, Adrian had spent two years on the training island.

It was now mid-1497. If he remembered correctly, the Roger Pirates would complete their Grand Line adventure this year. They would reach Laugh Tale and make Roger the Pirate King, an achievement for the ages!

That made Adrian even more desperate to leave.

That day, on the base training ground—

"Finger Pistol: Fist Cannon!"

Dawson roared and drove his massive fist toward Adrian with the force of a cannonball. The air cracked and popped in its wake.

"Kami-e."

Adrian calmly used Kami-e. Kumadori Yamamba had taught the Six Powers to the candidates the previous year, and he had taken the opportunity to see that her level was LV43.

Kami-e made Adrian's body as light and thin as paper. With effortless control over every part of it, he dodged all of Dawson's attacks by what looked like the narrowest of margins.

In fact, Adrian was still only level 10, with around 50 Doriki.

Dawson, meanwhile, had surpassed 450 Doriki in the test at the end of the previous year. His level had now reached 33!

The fight proved a point Adrian had long believed: levels weren't everything. Far too many things could affect a person's actual combat strength.

Skills like the Six Powers, for instance!

[Six Powers: Kami-e LV5 (40536/300000): A defensive technique. By relaxing the entire body and sensing changes in airflow caused by an opponent's movements, you can make your body as light and thin as paper, control it with ease, and dodge incoming attacks at the last possible moment.]

The Six Powers were highly advanced physical techniques that surpassed the limits of the human body. Ordinarily, mastering them required rigorous training. But for Adrian, who had a progress panel, they were simple skills he could learn with enough time—though they demanded a great deal of experience.

Kami-e was the skill Adrian used most in training. Besides his LV5 Kami-e, he had also mastered LV2 Soru and Geppo, along with LV1 Tekkai, Shigan, and Rankyaku.

Adrian had also spent two Skill Points to learn an advanced Six Powers skill ahead of time: Life Return.

[Six Powers: Life Return LV3 (1024/200000): Freely control your body, hair, and internal organs. By focusing your consciousness on them, you can control any part of your body.]

In some respects, Life Return resembled Kami-e: both involved precise control over parts of the body. But Life Return also extended to internal structures, while Kami-e worked only on the body's exterior.

His experience with Kami-e had helped him raise Life Return several levels.

Adrian's Kami-e was outstanding even among the candidates. Few could surpass him at it.

After punching empty air for a while, Dawson finally stopped. Adrian was clearly no match for him, but he couldn't do anything about Adrian's Kami-e either. If they insisted on fighting it out, they would have to see whose time and stamina ran out first. There was no fun in that.

Seeing Dawson stop, Adrian asked curiously, "Dawson, why did you suddenly ask me to spar today?"

Dawson had always been unapproachable at the training base and rarely dealt with anyone else. Adrian was one of the few people there who could talk to him.

Adrian didn't know why Dawson treated him differently, but he was glad to have someone to chat with now and then.

"Your strength goes well beyond what you've shown." Dawson glared at Adrian with eyes like brass bells, his tone displeased.

Adrian said nothing. He had deliberately held back, making himself utterly unremarkable among the candidates. But apart from Dawson, no one had ever confronted him about it.

Dawson hadn't expected an answer. Adrian had never answered that question before.

After a moment of silence, Dawson said, "My Doriki Value passed 500. To become a full CP9 member, I need to complete a test."

"Oh, congratulations." Adrian's reply was pure perfunctory politeness.

"Instructor Kumadori Yamamba assigned me a Field Assignment."

"Oh." This time Adrian felt a pang of envy.

"She assigned me a support person too. You."

"Oh... Huh?"

Adrian's eyes widened. A message suddenly appeared on his panel.

[You have triggered the D-rank mission [Field Assignment]. Accept/Decline?]

Adrian's gaze shifted. This was the first mission he had triggered in three years. He had begun to think the system's mission function was broken!

There was nothing to hesitate over. This was a Field Assignment!

The Field Assignment he had been longing for!

Accept!

[Mission hint: Ask the target for details.]

Damn it!

What kind of lousy mission system was this?

Adrian's breath caught.

"What's wrong?" Dawson asked, confused.

"N-nothing." Adrian took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Why did Instructor Kumadori Yamamba assign me as your support?"

"I don't know," Dawson replied in his deep, muffled voice. "You could ask her yourself."

I'm not asking that old woman with the awful voice!

Adrian rolled his eyes.

Despite looking every inch a hulking, muscle-bound man, Dawson was actually only fourteen, a year younger than Adrian. Apart from his occasional uncanny intuition and exceptionally developed limbs, he was still a child.

Even if that child was nearly five meters tall...

Adrian, who dreamed of reaching two meters, swallowed his bitterness and asked, "When do we leave?"

"Eight tomorrow morning," Dawson answered. "Instructor Kumadori Yamamba will meet us at the base entrance, then we'll head to the coast and board a ship."

"Will Instructor Kumadori Yamamba be going with us?" Adrian asked casually.

Dawson replied, "She said she'd be on the ship with us."

"Where's the mission?" Adrian asked. "Some country in Paradise?"

"No, it's in the West Blue." Dawson's answer was nothing like Adrian had expected. "The Ilusia Kingdom in the West Blue."

"The Ilusia Kingdom? Sounds like some little country I've never heard of... But why the West Blue?" Adrian was baffled. "Our island should be on the Grand Line, right? How are we supposed to get from the Grand Line back to one of the Four Blues? An airship? A submarine? A sailing ship couldn't even get past Reverse Mountain. Are we going through the Calm Belt? Does that technology exist already?"

Dawson looked even more baffled than Adrian. He understood none of it. He had failed every subject except combat, without even mastering the basics of navigation.

If his physical talent hadn't been so exceptional, the base commanders would probably have given up on him long ago.

Looking at Dawson's blank expression, Adrian thought he understood what that old woman Kumadori Yamamba had in mind.

Adrian the Navigator, the Cook, the strategist, the errand boy... anything but a fighter!

Well!