Three days passed quickly.
The combat examination had finally come to an end.
The Marines’ assembly signal rang out across the island, and the recruits stopped what they were doing and began making their way out of the forest.
In fact, by the second day, the number of Ferocious Beasts in the forest had already decreased dramatically.
By the final day, there were hardly any Ferocious Beasts left to be seen.
Even Level One Ferocious Beasts had been hunted down by groups of recruits working together.
As they left the forest, many recruits passed through an area that had been burned completely black, resembling a scene from hell.
Looking at the devastation, they couldn’t help feeling shaken.
“Good thing I stayed far away and didn’t get caught up in it.”
“Everything here has been burned to a crisp.
That was one terrifying forest fire.
But… how did it even start?”
“Who knows?”
The recruits passed by in groups of two or three, staring at the area with strange expressions as they discussed it among themselves.
In reality, although no one had been caught in the sea of flames on the first day, the fire had affected all the Ferocious Beasts throughout the forest.
The beasts had fallen into panic and frenzy, practically forming a stampede, which had greatly increased the difficulty of the combat examination.
At this moment, outside the forest.
Roya was the first person to emerge.
If he had occasionally hunted a few Ferocious Beasts on the second day, then by the third day, there were practically no Ferocious Beasts left to hunt.
So Roya had arrived at the edge of the forest early and simply waited there.
Hina was no longer with Roya.
After Roya extinguished the forest fire, she had left on her own.
After all, she was a strong-willed person who didn’t particularly like relying on others.
Outside the forest, Garp had also been waiting there for quite some time.
When he saw Roya emerge, Garp immediately walked over and gave him a heavy slap on the shoulder.
“Brat, you sure know how to stir things up!
But… nice work!”
Although Roya had caused quite a commotion and had even affected the entire combat examination, Garp himself was an unconventional man who disliked being constrained by rules.
Instead, the enormous disturbance Roya had caused was right up his alley.
It even reminded Garp of himself when he was young.
Several Marine officers nearby also looked at Roya with strange expressions.
Roya had been born with sword intent, and it was even flame-type sword intent.
As long as he didn’t die prematurely, surpassing them was only a matter of time.
At the very least, he had the potential to become a Marine Vice Admiral.
Naturally, their attitude toward Roya had changed completely.
They no longer looked at him purely as an ordinary recruit.
However—
Garp’s slap made Roya grimace inwardly.
That old man really didn’t hold back at all.
If Roya’s physique hadn’t improved considerably over the past few days, that one slap might genuinely have left him feeling as though his bones had been scattered.
The corner of Roya’s mouth twitched as he looked at Garp unhappily.
“Does your hand hurt?”
“Uh… hahaha.”
Garp initially looked awkward, but he had long since become accustomed to Roya’s way of speaking.
He lifted the large hand that had been resting on Roya’s shoulder, scratched the back of his head, and let out another couple of dry laughs.
Roya helplessly sighed and walked away, rubbing his shoulder with a gloomy expression.
Gradually, the recruits began emerging from the forest one after another.
Most of them looked rather battered, with varying degrees of evidence from their battles covering their bodies.
Besides the recruits who had participated in the combat examination, a dedicated rescue team established specifically for the examination had also been moving constantly through the forest.
After all, it was a forest, and getting lost was perfectly normal.
Not everyone could find their way back to the starting point.
Fortunately, monitoring equipment had been installed throughout the forest, so it only took half a day for the rescue team to thoroughly search the entire area.
There had inevitably been casualties.
Most of them had only suffered injuries, however.
There had been just two deaths.
That was far better than fighting actual pirates.
If fighting pirates had been used directly as the combat examination, the casualties would probably have been at least ten times greater.
Aside from recruits whose injuries were too severe, those with minor injuries or no injuries at all were given half a day to rest.
That half-day was also used by the examination committee to compile the results.
At the same time, it was the time required for the warship to return to Marine Headquarters.
Soon, half a day passed, and the warship finally returned to Marine Headquarters.
At a plaza within Marine Headquarters, all the recruits had gathered.
Roya was absent because he was with Garp, while some recruits with serious injuries were unable to attend the assembly.
The remaining recruits had all finished getting themselves in order and were gathered at the plaza.
Since the Marine officers responsible for announcing the results had yet to appear, the recruits began whispering among themselves.
Many of them were visibly excited.
“How many did you hunt?”
“Heh, I hunted at least three Level Three Ferocious Beasts.
As for the Level Four and Level Five ones, there were too many to keep track of,” one recruit said with obvious pride.
“Tch.
I hunted a Level Two Ferocious Beast!”
Another recruit spoke dismissively.
The difficulty between each level of Ferocious Beast differed by several times, and the points awarded likewise differed by at least several times.
Those words immediately caused the surrounding recruits to look over in astonishment.
Quite a few even showed traces of envy.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t encountered Level Two Ferocious Beasts.
It was just that whenever they did, they were completely incapable of killing them and could only flee in embarrassment.
“By the way, who do you think will take first place this time?”
“It has to be Drake.
I heard he hunted a Level One Ferocious Beast all by himself.”
The moment those words were spoken, the surrounding recruits couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath.
They had already heard about the strength of Level One Ferocious Beasts before the examination.
Even a recruit from the Elite Camp wasn’t necessarily guaranteed to defeat a Level One Ferocious Beast one-on-one.
Yet Drake had actually managed to hunt one by himself.
His strength was clearly far beyond that of the other recruits.
Based on that alone, he was more than qualified to enter the Elite Camp!
Many recruits couldn’t help looking toward Drake in the crowd, their eyes filled with awe.
At that moment, footsteps finally came from the front of the plaza.
The recruits immediately stopped talking.
They all straightened their backs and looked toward the front.
“At ease!
Attention!”
“The scores have been tallied.
These are the results of your combat examination, and they will now be announced.”
The Marine Rear Admiral standing at the front spoke solemnly.
Several Marine officers beside him then pulled up a large screen and used Projection Den Den Mushi to project a ranking onto it.
All the Marine recruits stared intently at the screen.
First, they searched for their own names.
After seeing their scores, some breathed sighs of relief, some showed unwilling expressions, while others looked absolutely delighted.
After checking their own results, many recruits began looking higher up the list.
Yet they couldn’t find the names they were looking for.
Just as the recruits were becoming confused, a voice rang out.
“The results for the top ten are not displayed here.
I will announce them personally.”
The Marine Rear Admiral standing at the front spoke with a solemn expression.
He then had the officers put away the screen and Projection Den Den Mushi before picking up a list.
Only then did the recruits understand.
The Marine Rear Admiral began calling out one familiar name after another.
“Tenth place, Saul!”
“Ninth place, Huen!”
“…”
Several names were announced in succession.
The recruits below showed no particular surprise.
The results were more or less what they had expected, with perhaps only a few positions being shifted around.
“Fourth place, Hughes!”
As the rankings climbed higher, the Marine Rear Admiral’s tone gradually slowed.
When announcing each ranking from fifth place onward, he would pause briefly after reading the name.
When the name Hughes was announced, quite a few recruits below began to lose their composure.
They exchanged glances and started whispering among themselves.
“Hughes is extremely strong.
I thought he would make the top three.
I didn’t expect him to be pushed down to fourth.”
“That is a little strange.”
The Marine Rear Admiral ignored the recruits’ discussion.
He swept his gaze across the recruits standing before him and continued.
“Third place, Drake!”
The instant that name was announced, the entire plaza fell silent.
It wasn’t just Drake himself.
Every recruit present wore a stunned expression, unable to conceal their disbelief.
Drake… was only third?!