The Mole and the Navy's Assault

Tap!

A longsword pressed against Jamila's shoulder, making him swallow all the words that had been about to leave his mouth.

A string of urging voices came from the miniature Den Den Mushi, only to fall silent a few breaths later. Clearly, the person on the other end had realized that Jamila might have been exposed.

Gawain glanced at the Den Den Mushi in Jamila's hand and said coldly,

"Have I treated you poorly?"

As if he had resigned himself to his fate, Jamila set down the Den Den Mushi and lowered his eyes.

"The captain has treated me very well."

"But what you're doing now disappoints me greatly."

"Captain, do you know how many people die because of pirates every year?"

"So have I ever attacked ordinary people?"

"But you're a pirate!"

"So?"

Gawain let out a cold laugh.

"Even if you haven't been with me for long, you should know that aside from Lancer and those prisoners who surrendered, nearly everyone on this ship is a commoner forced to go to sea because they couldn't pay their taxes."

"Do they deserve to die?"

"I..."

Jamila was left speechless, a flicker of regret passing through his eyes.

But Gawain gave him no opportunity. With a single slash, he severed Jamila's head.

Thud!

The headless corpse slowly collapsed to the ground. Blood gushed from the severed artery in his neck, quickly pooling on the ground.

Gawain looked at the corpse before him without the slightest wavering in his heart.

Jamila might have had his own hardships, but the moment he betrayed him, he had already made his choice.

After finishing all this,

Gawain was about to turn and leave when a deep, hoarse voice suddenly came from the miniature Den Den Mushi on the ground.

"Even without Jamila's information, I know where you are. I'll crush your bones one piece at a time."

The newcomer's voice brimmed with absolute confidence, as though he were merely stating a fact.

Gawain recognized it. The voice belonged to Morgans, the Navy Lieutenant Commander who had gravely injured the original owner of this body and who was now relentlessly pursuing Gawain.

If the original Gawain had been here, he would probably have already begun planning his escape. But the current Gawain was no longer the man once known as the Knight.

He looked at the bloodstained sword in his hand, a savage gleam flashing through his eyes.

"Then I'll be waiting for you... right here!"

With that, Gawain stomped the Den Den Mushi to pieces. Warm blood splattered across the ground, staining everything around it.

Early the next morning,

Jamila's corpse was discovered by the crew, and word gradually spread that he had been a Navy spy.

Panic spread through the pirate crew.

Only then did they suddenly realize that while they had been training hard and had indeed grown tremendously compared to before,

there was still an insurmountable gap between them and the Navy's elite, let alone Morgans.

Moreover, the Navy possessed equipment far superior to theirs. There was no way they could fight this battle.

In just a few minutes, someone had already suffered a mental breakdown and burst into tears on the beach.

"Is the Navy coming?"

"Damn it!"

One terrified pirate cursed and looked toward the shore, but all he saw was a stranded ship.

The hull was covered in scars, while the Jolly Roger still fluttered in the wind from the broken mast.

Several scavenging vultures circled high overhead, their sharp eyes searching all around. At last, they slowly descended beside Jamila's corpse, greedily thrusting their heads into his abdominal cavity to peck at the soft organs within.

The horrifying sight nearly drove the pirates who had gathered there mad.

"The mast is broken, and the keel is practically split apart. This ship can't sail at all anymore. Is there really nothing left for us but death?!"

"No!"

"There's still time to build a ship! As long as we can reach a nearby island..."

"The nearest island is hundreds of nautical miles away. Even if the ship's structure can withstand the wind and waves, you won't be able to fend off those bloodthirsty Sea Kings."

Without hesitation, Gawain shattered their last shred of hope, drawing all their attention toward himself.

Gawain, who had slain Lancer with one sword strike and displayed an unprecedentedly forceful bearing, had once given them hope. Yet now, they felt nothing but helplessness.

During this time, Gawain had devoted himself to teaching his subordinates Swordsmanship. With his injuries only barely healed, everyone thought it would already be good enough if he could maintain his former combat strength.

But even Gawain at his original peak would have had only one outcome against Morgans: death.

Now, he was even less of a match.

"Even you, Captain, can't stand against Morgans..."

A pirate shook his head in disappointment, and everyone else wore the same expression.

Gawain said nothing. He merely walked silently to the Pirate Ship, the longsword at his waist instantly drawing a streak of cold light through the air.

Boom!

After a piercing roar, smoke and dust billowed across the beach.

Gawain's voice emerged unhurriedly from within the dust.

"Leave Morgans to me."

"You only need to train with everything you have before they arrive and improve your chances of survival as much as possible."

"This isn't for me. It's for yourselves!"

As his words fell,

the smoke and dust gradually dispersed.

Everyone saw the distant scene clearly, yet every one of them was so shocked that they could not speak.

The Pirate Ship, dozens of meters long, had been cleanly split into two from the middle. Everything inside, including the keel, had been completely severed.

Splitting a ship with one sword strike?

In their understanding, only those monsters active on the Grand Line could accomplish such a feat. At the very least, the original Gawain absolutely could not have done this.

"Is the captain really this strong?"

"No! The captain couldn't do something like this before. He must have grown stronger again during this time!"

"We were all wrong. He must have been working hard where no one could see him!"

"He's the hardest-working person in the pirate crew!"

Gawain was slightly stunned when he heard that. His old face reddened, but he did not explain. After all, the system was his greatest secret. Their assumptions actually spared him a great deal of trouble.

The surrounding pirates gradually became excited.

"With Swordsmanship like that, he has a chance against Morgans!"

The pirate who had just shouted about building a ship to escape looked at the severed Pirate Ship, his eyes lighting up once more.

The crowd that had gradually begun to stir fell silent, looking at Gawain with hope in their hearts.

"Go back and train."

"Yes!"

At that moment, Gawain's prestige in everyone's hearts rose once more, reaching an almost unassailable height.

They picked up their swords and blades, returning to the diligent training they had practiced before. Their bodies instinctively rehearsed every move and stance they had learned from Gawain.

Some even exchanged their weapons for wooden sticks and began sparring in pairs.

As Gawain watched everyone before him reclaim their faith, a sudden realization rose in his heart.

Moria's path in the original story, trying to become the Pirate King by relying on the strength of his companions, had been completely wrong.

He had put the cart before the horse.

Only when the captain himself was powerful enough to repel every invading enemy could he unite the hearts of the pirate crew and forge an undefeated pirate crew!

Night soon fell.

The familiar system notification sounded in Gawain's mind once more:

Swordsmanship - LV-5: 11/1600 --> Swordsmanship - LV-5: 58/1600

Physique - LV-4: 366/800 --> Physique - LV-4: 418/800

Compared to before, the Swordsmanship and Physique Experience Gawain gained that day had directly doubled.

Over the following days, the experience provided by these pirates, who trained like madmen, remained roughly at this level.

Physique was now less than a hundred experience points away from leveling up.

Several days later.

Late at night.

A bright moon hung high in the sky, stars filled the heavens, and the salty sea breeze carried a faint chill.

The people who had finished training were preparing to return to the mountains to rest when they looked up and saw crimson fireballs filling the sky, illuminating the entire night. Countless cannonballs fell upon the Deserted Island like meteors.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

After a series of explosions, a raging fire erupted in the forest.

Heat waves rolled across the island. The once-cool sea breeze now felt like a burning blade licking at their skin.

"The Navy is here!"

Beneath the night sky,

a massive Warship stood silently upon the sea like a beast spreading its claws.

A burly man stood at the bow, gripping a battle axe.

Who else could it be but Morgans?