Reg could not figure it out, so he asked Nos: “How does delaying Pons’s bounty payment have anything to do with the Glide Pirates?” “As I said, it’s not that I’m delaying…
we truly cannot pay it out…” Nos let out a light sigh.
“To prevent the Glide Pirates from continuing to plague the Romon Sea, Marine Headquarters dispatched a formidable fighter.
In the end, the Glide Pirates were thoroughly routed by that fighter’s forces, and Robert was severely wounded.” Upon hearing this, Reg was taken aback.
“What kind of powerhouse could be so powerful as to inflict such a defeat on that Robert?” Though Reg had never dealt with Robert personally, pirates with bounties over twenty million were already more than he could handle.
And Robert’s bounty was as high as fifty-five million…
he was surely no ordinary opponent.
For such a great pirate to be so soundly beaten showed that the expert sent by Headquarters was certainly extraordinary.
Nos said: “Headquarters sent a captain named X.
Drake.
He’s from the North Blue as well, and is said to be an Ancient Zoan-type user.
His strength is considerable…
he’s considered one of the rising stars among the younger generation of Marines.
I’ve heard that Vice Admiral Tsuru and Fleet Admiral Sengoku hold him in high regard.
In the future… perhaps not an Admiral, but certainly a Vice Admiral, I’d wager.” Reg’s N-23 Branch was located in such a remote area that their intelligence on internal Marine affairs was rather delayed.
After hearing Nos’s introduction of Drake, Reg could not help but be impressed.
“Setting aside the matter of Drake for now…” Nos continued.
“After Robert was wounded, he could no longer threaten the Romon Sea.
However, he led his entire crew and fled to our waters.
Not long after the Glide Pirates arrived in this sea, they launched an attack on the Kingdom of Dolts.” “Though I led my troops to stop them promptly, I was no match for them.
We lost over thirty sailors, and I was wounded by Fogg.
Frankly, it’s quite embarrassing… Their captain, Robert, was still recovering from his injuries and did not even participate.
Just the two first mates with a band of pirates were enough to defeat us soundly.” “The port city of the Kingdom of Dolts was severely damaged, around six hundred civilians were killed, and at least forty million Berry’ worth of wealth was looted.
Including property damage, the total losses exceeded one hundred million Berry.
Afterward, the king of Dolts was furious and blamed the Marines, accusing us of incompetence and demanding that we compensate for the losses…” Reg listened in stunned disbelief.
“So, you used that bounty fund to compensate the Kingdom of Dolts for their losses?” As a World Government’s member nation, if the king of Dolts applied pressure on the Marines, Nos…
as the branch commander…
would indeed feel tremendous pressure.
But at the end of the day, it was just pressure.
The Marines were not governed by any single nation.
If Nos ignored the king’s reproaches, the king could not actually do anything to him.
As for using the bounty fund to compensate the kingdom’s losses…
at least from the higher-ups’ perspective, that would certainly not be considered appropriate conduct.
There would inevitably be reprimands afterward.
And for a Marine Lieutenant Commander, the pressure from higher-ups’ reprimands would be far greater than the difficulty posed by a foreign king’s complaints.
Nos said: “It wasn’t merely because the king pressured me.
The Kingdom of Dolts truly suffered significant losses…
many residents of that port city were left homeless.
I couldn’t bear to see those people remain in such pitiable, displaced circumstances, so I agreed to provide funds to help with the reconstruction.” Nos’s explanation sounded quite reasonable, but Reg could not shake the feeling that something was off.
Was Nos really such a noble person?
From what he knew, that did not seem to be the case.
However, Reg’s knowledge of Nos was based only on a few past encounters, and their relationship was not especially deep.
Perhaps he had simply misjudged Nos’s character?
After half a day of rest for Reg and his men, they set sail back to the N-23 Branch in the evening.
Pons, however, remained at the N-6 Branch.
Nos had specially arranged a small private room for him to stay in.
Once the funds were approved, he could collect his bounty directly.
As for when the funds would be approved, Nos said five to seven days.
Though Pons was not entirely sure if it would be that punctual, for the time being, he could only settle in and stay at this Marine base.
Despite being inside a Marine base, his living conditions were actually more comfortable than his home on Riman Island.
Though the room assigned to him was only a small single-occupancy unit, it was fully furnished with daily necessities.
Nos had even prepared two sets of spare clothes for him.
Though the style was plain, the fabric was far superior to his old clothes.
Overall, he was quite comfortable staying there.
Nos also allowed Pons to eat at the base cafeteria free of charge and use the public baths.
This was remarkably generous treatment…
in fact, it was so warm and welcoming that Pons almost felt a bit embarrassed.
As the saying goes, when someone is overly attentive for no apparent reason, their motives are likely not pure.
Though that expression might be too harsh when applied to Nos, Pons did have a faint, nagging feeling that Nos’s enthusiasm was somewhat excessive and that something might be amiss.
Pons even considered the possibility that Nos might try to embezzle his bounty.
But upon further reflection, if Nos truly had ill intentions toward him, he was already inside the Marine base…
Nos could have made his move long ago.
Why would he go to such lengths to treat Pons so well?
Well, since he was already here, he might as well make the best of it.
And if Nos was being so generous, perhaps Pons could take advantage of the opportunity to make a few additional requests.
Not that Pons intended to become overly demanding, but he did have his own needs.
Most importantly, there was the matter of his training.
Over the past two years, besides hunting boars, Pons had never slackened in his self-conditioning.
He had noticed that whenever his physical condition improved, the power of the skills he used in his Gengar form seemed to increase slightly as well.
Though this was merely Pons’s subjective impression and had not been empirically proven, maintaining a certain level of physical conditioning was never a bad idea.
On Riman Island, conditions had been limited, and he could only engage in relatively simple self-training.
But this was a large Marine branch…
surely they had plenty of equipment and facilities that would allow him to train more thoroughly.
On the second day after checking into the base, Pons approached Nos and requested permission to use the base’s training ground for his exercises.
Nos readily agreed to this request.
Nos explained that the sailors of the N-6 Branch had two scheduled drills each day…
from 7:30 to 9:00 in the morning, and from 1:00 to 2:30 in the afternoon…
during which the sailors would train under his guidance.
At other times, some sailors would also practice independently in the training ground.
Aside from the scheduled drill periods, Pons was welcome to use the training ground at any time.
Pons was quite pleased with this arrangement.
After expressing his gratitude, he was led to the training ground by a Marine sailor.
The training ground covered approximately two thousand five hundred square meters…
quite spacious indeed, capable of accommodating a large number of Marines training simultaneously.
However, the facilities were not as extensive as Pons had expected.
There were some punching bags for boxing, a few dumbbells, and some multi-purpose training machines…
but little else.
Pons entered the training ground at ten in the morning.
At that time, about twenty or thirty sailors were already there, engaged in their own independent practice.
When they saw Pons enter, several sailors looked at him with curiosity.
After all, everyone knew that this young man was the skilled fighter who had earned Lieutenant Commander Nos’s favor by defeating Zodyl and Narut.
Surely such a formidable fighter would be training with intense rigor…
they wondered whether their training ground could meet his needs.
However, when Pons began his workout, the sailors could not help but feel somewhat disappointed.
Pons was simply performing rather ordinary dumbbell exercises.
From what they could observe, he seemed like a moderately fit ordinary person…
there was nothing particularly impressive about him.
‘Could this young man really have defeated Zodyl and Narut?’ Quite a few sailors began to doubt.
Nos also appeared at the edge of the training ground.
He too was curious about Pons, but after watching for a while, he too felt let down.
Based on the physical qualities Pons displayed during his workout, it seemed impossible that he could have defeated two pirates with bounties over twenty million.
Even a somewhat skilled Marine sailor could likely defeat him one-on-one.
Though Reg had said he was a Devil Fruit user, even a fruit user needed a solid physical foundation to combine with their abilities to defeat strong opponents…
unless they possessed an extraordinarily exceptional fruit.
Nos could not help but grow uneasy, ‘Reg would not lie to him, would he?
If this Pons was not as powerful as I had expected, then the entire plan would fall through…’ Nos signaled to one of the nearby sailors with a look, indicating that he should test Pons’s mettle.
The sailor understood and walked over to Pons.
When he reached Pons’s side, the sailor spoke up: “My name is Holt.
I recently made the rank of petty officer first class.
So you’re the rumored expert who defeated Zodyl and Narut?
You don’t look all that impressive.
You’re not here to scam a bounty, are you?
How about we have a sparring match?” Pons turned to look at Holt.
The man was about the same height as him, perhaps slightly better-looking, but carried an air of flippancy.
He was now looking at Pons with a challenging expression.
Pons considered whether he should accept this man’s challenge.
Pons glanced around and saw that the other sailors were also watching the situation closely.
If he refused, he would be seen as cowardly, and it would also reinforce Holt’s earlier suggestion that he was a bounty fraud.
Fine.
He would fight…
it would be an easy victory anyway.
So Pons said to Holt: “Alright, let’s have a spar.
But I should warn you, I may not look like much in my current form, but I’m a Devil Fruit user.
Once I use my fruit ability, I become quite formidable.” Holt was unconcerned.
He was merely following Nos’s orders to test Pons.
Win or lose, it would give Nos a measure of Pons’s true ability.
He said to Pons: “Then let’s prepare to begin.”