“Are there…
pirates on this island?!”
The recruits looked toward the island.
Hearing the roars of beasts that occasionally echoed from within, they couldn’t help but show signs of unease.
The Marine Rear Admiral gave a cold laugh.
“Fight pirates?
You’re still far too green for that!
Fighting pirates is an extremely brutal affair.
Compared to that, this place is much more suitable as the site for your practical combat assessment!”
“Your mission is to enter this island and hunt every living creature you encounter.
There are no restrictions on weapons, but as far as firearms are concerned, you may only carry muskets.”
“Every creature you hunt will earn you points.
Stronger creatures and weaker creatures will be worth different amounts of points.
You may hunt multiple creatures, and your points will accumulate.
Teaming up is permitted, but any points earned through a joint hunt will be divided equally among the members of the team.”
At this point, the Marine Rear Admiral’s expression suddenly became even more solemn, causing the atmosphere to fall into an eerie silence.
Although none of the recruits from the Marine Headquarters recruit camp were ordinary people, even they couldn’t help but feel a chill run down their spines upon hearing this.
Only a handful of people, such as Drake, remained completely unfazed.
Roya, however, showed a trace of surprise.
“So the practical combat assessment isn’t actually about fighting pirates.
It’s about hunting monsters?”
Garp should have known about these arrangements, but Roya had never asked him, and Garp had never told him.
Whether Garp had forgotten or deliberately kept it from him, Roya suspected the latter was more likely.
The Marine Rear Admiral seemed satisfied with the expressions on the recruits’ faces.
After pausing for a moment, he continued,
“This island is covered with surveillance devices.
There are even some in the sky.”
“Besides recording every creature you hunt and calculating your scores, these surveillance devices also have a protective function.
If they detect that you’ve fallen into an irreversible crisis, a Marine officer will be dispatched to rescue you.”
“But your score will be reset to zero!”
“However…” The Marine Rear Admiral spoke with a solemn expression.
“This does not guarantee everyone’s safety!
If you encounter one of the strongest monsters on the island, you could be torn to pieces in an instant!”
“The assessment will last three days.
So, for the next three days, I wish you all good luck.”
After saying this, the Marine Rear Admiral’s expression returned to normal.
He then began distributing two days’ worth of rations to all the recruits.
Ordinary Marines naturally could not undergo an assessment like this.
But for the recruits of Marine Headquarters—the future elite of the Marines—such an assessment was a necessary baptism.
Without experiencing blood and fire, one could never become a true elite.
Soon, all the recruits entered the island.
Most of them carried firearms.
Only a small number went without guns, including Drake and Roya.
Drake carried only a sword and an axe, while Roya brought nothing except his katana, Engetsu.
The few recruits who had not brought firearms naturally attracted quite a bit of attention.
Most people looked at Drake with admiration and awe.
Drake’s strength was universally acknowledged as formidable.
In their eyes, going without a firearm was a sign of tremendous confidence.
Moreover, given Drake’s strength, ordinary firearms were indeed of little use to him.
At that moment, Roya also stepped off the warship.
Quite a few recruits casually glanced at him before suddenly revealing looks of astonishment.
Roya wasn’t carrying a firearm either.
He had brought only a sword!
When different people made the same choice, however, others perceived it completely differently.
In many people’s eyes, Drake’s decision represented confidence.
Roya’s…
Was arrogance.
Did he not realize how dangerous this practical combat assessment was?
People could die!
Many of the recruits looked at Roya strangely.
Some even looked at him as though they were staring at an idiot.
“Hey, are you planning to get yourself killed?”
Hina had also noticed this.
Unable to bear watching him throw his life away, she couldn’t help speaking up as she passed by Roya.
“Hina recommends that you take a firearm with you.
This is a practical combat assessment.
People could die.”
Hina’s sudden warning caused Roya to take another look at her.
He felt that she looked somewhat familiar.
Then he remembered who she was.
Wasn’t she Hina, the Marine officer who would eventually become the user of the Cage-Cage Fruit in the original story?
It seemed that she hadn’t eaten a Devil Fruit yet.
“Sorry, but I don’t have any use for those.”
Roya casually shrugged at Hina.
Although there were many top-tier powerhouses in this world who used firearms, Roya clearly wasn’t planning to follow that path.
Besides, with his current strength, ordinary firearms really weren’t of much use to him.
“You!”
Roya was simply telling the truth, but to Hina’s ears, his words made him seem incredibly foolish.
She couldn’t be bothered to say anything more.
She snorted and walked into the forest.
Roya rolled his eyes at Hina’s reaction and revealed a helpless expression.
What is she getting angry about?
I was only telling the truth.
Shaking his head helplessly, Roya also walked directly into the forest.
…
Aboard the Warship
There was an extremely spacious room inside the warship.
Projected images filled the room, along with numerous screens displaying live footage.
They were monitoring every part of the archipelago.
More than twenty Marine officers were gathered inside, watching the various screens.
Essentially, all the officers in charge were present.
While recording the recruits’ scores, they were also prepared to head to the island at any moment to conduct a rescue.
Former Marine Admiral and Chief Instructor of the recruit camp, Zephyr, stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze constantly sweeping across the surveillance screens.
Garp, meanwhile, was eating senbei while watching the footage.
“That’s your nephew Roya, isn’t it, Garp?”
At that moment, Zephyr casually pointed toward the figure displayed on one of the screens.
“That’s right.”
Garp answered indistinctly.
He appeared unconcerned, but in reality, he was paying closer attention to Roya than anyone else.
“I heard you’ve trained him quite well over the past month.
But he used to be the weakest recruit by far.
From the looks of things, it should still be very difficult for him to enter the Elite Camp.”
Zephyr looked at Roya moving through the forest on the screen and shook his head.
One month was simply too short a period of time in Zephyr’s opinion.
Roya had been far too weak before this, and even with a month of special training under Garp, he probably hadn’t become overwhelmingly strong.
However…
Since Roya was Garp’s nephew, as long as his final results were decent, Zephyr wouldn’t mind taking Roya into the Elite Camp and personally teaching him for a while.
After all, he and Garp had been friends for decades.
“Gyahahahaha!
Zephyr, that kid is definitely much stronger than you think.”
Hearing Zephyr’s assessment, Garp swallowed the senbei in his mouth and burst into loud laughter.
“Oh?
Then I’ll look forward to seeing what he can do.”
Zephyr smiled slightly at Garp’s words.
He didn’t argue with Garp.
He merely continued watching the surveillance screens with a calm expression.