"Only a third of them are left…"
When Aokiji heard the number, his eyes flickered slightly. Still, he didn't seem too surprised.
"Mm. To have this many recruits still holding out under the sudden pressure of enemy reinforcements… that's honestly impressive."
These were all rookies who had been at Marine Headquarters for less than a year.
No wonder—they were personally trained by Zephyr-sensei, after all.
As for those two thousand pirates... where had they even come from?
At first glance, it was indeed suspicious.
But from Aokiji's position, he didn't even need to descend the mountain himself. A few subordinates sent to capture and interrogate some pirates would easily get the answer—
"A Door-Door Fruit user."
When Nao raised the question, Shiryu took a drag of his cigarette and slowly replied.
The alley they stood in was littered with pirates, knocked out and sprawled all over the ground.
Of the three who had taken them down, only Nao still looked fresh.
Shiryu and Rosinante were both slumped against the wall, clearly exhausted, but Shiryu still mustered the strength to answer.
Two hours earlier, in a western district, he had ambushed and killed a pirate officer.
Before finishing the guy off, he'd used a few interrogation tricks—and got a lot of useful intel.
Including answers to the very questions Nao had been trying to figure out.
According to the officer, the more than two thousand pirates were all part of an organization in the West Blue known as the Underground Alliance.
This group was made up of over a dozen pirate crews.
One of its central figures was none other than Capone Bege, a mafia-style pirate captain with a growing reputation.
When Bege heard that his base was under attack by Marines, he was furious and wanted to rush over himself.
But unfortunately, he was already caught up in a turf war with another crime family and couldn't break away.
Left with no choice, he paid a huge sum of money to call in reinforcements—pirate groups he had long-standing ties with.
These two thousand pirates belonged to four separate crews.
Each was led by a veteran pirate captain who had roamed the West Blue for years—and all of them were close to Capone Bege.
One of those captains was the leader of the Black-Brim Pirates, a man known as "Big Black Hat" Ron.
His bounty was only 28 million Berries, the lowest among the four.
But the guy was a rare Devil Fruit user—he had eaten the Door-Door Fruit (Doa Doa no Mi) over ten years ago.
As they neared Sillest Island, Ron had suggested using his fruit powers to avoid the Marines stationed at the harbor.
Instead of docking, he directly teleported all the pirates into the city itself, hoping to catch the Marines completely off guard.
The other three captains agreed. And sure enough, it worked.
The elite Marine training unit was completely thrown off, despite having the upper hand earlier.
Even Aokiji, who was observing the island from the mountain summit, was momentarily caught by surprise.
Otherwise, he never would've let such a sudden and chaotic situation play out.
"So that empty ship I ran into at sea… it belonged to them?"
Nao flicked the black pirate flag in his hand and clicked his tongue.
"'Big Black Hat'... so that was Captain Ron's ship. How the hell did it drift so far out?"
"Probably some idiot on his crew messed up while dropping anchor," Shiryu muttered, exhaling smoke.
"You only ran into one abandoned ship. The other vessels likely made it ashore just fine."
"Yeah… that figures." Nao shrugged. "What rotten luck."
Whether he meant Captain Ron or the entire pirate alliance was unclear.
One thing was obvious: despite all his years running the underworld in the West Blue, Capone Bege's intelligence network still had gaps.
If he had known that the Marines attacking his base weren't a full fleet, but a group of HQ recruits here for a final exam...
He would've cut his losses immediately. He wouldn't have sent backup, let alone drawn attention to himself.
Sure, a group of rookie recruits might not seem threatening.
But if there are students... then there are definitely teachers watching.
Bege may have avoided direct danger for now, but those reinforcements he sent?
Their fate was sealed the moment they arrived.
"The Door-Door Fruit, huh…"
Nao casually tossed aside the pirate flag, eyes distant in thought.
He honestly hadn't expected that.
Originally, he thought the mysterious pirates had been smuggled onto the island by Capone Bege himself, using the Castle-Castle Fruit (Shiro Shiro no Mi).
But now, it seemed like he had jumped to conclusions.
Even if the Capone family name was famous in the West Blue, that didn't mean this situation involved Bege directly.
Plus, when he thought about it—Capone Bege should still be in his early twenties right now, just starting to rise as a mafia pirate.
Whether or not he'd even eaten a Devil Fruit yet was unclear.
"So—what now?"
Nao snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Shiryu and Rosinante.
"I'm thinking of trying my luck. Maybe I'll run into one of those captains and boost my exam rank. You guys in?"
"Eh?"
Monica, who had been silently listening nearby, suddenly looked up in shock.
"Wait, Nao? You're serious?"
From her perspective, Nao had definitely grown stronger—way more than a month ago when the exam started.
But going after pirate captains? That sounded way too ambitious.
They were just recruits, not even enlisted for a full year!
Even the lowest-ranked captain, Big Black Hat Ron, had a bounty close to 30 million!
"Why even ask? Of course we're going."
To her surprise, Shiryu crushed his cigarette and stood up without hesitation.
Rosinante also rose immediately, without saying a word.
The three of them had always been on the same page.
"Tch, lame." Nao rolled his eyes.
"I thought you guys were too beat to move. I was hoping to take all the credit."
"Pfft. Dream on."
Shiryu snorted.
"Try going alone and you'll get swarmed and die in ten seconds. I don't care how tired I am—I'm coming. Four captains? I'm calling dibs on two."
"I-I think I can take two as well," Rosinante said, not wanting to fall behind.
"You're all full of crap. I can practically see cows flying through the sky."
Nao gave them a deadpan stare.
"Fine. Every man for himself. Just don't push yourself if you're about to drop. Step back and watch me carry the show, got it?"
The three of them walked off together, their usual banter echoing through the alley.
"You should be watching me, Nao. I'm flipping that line right back at you!"
"Nice try! Rebound canceled!"
"Shut up! You two are so damn childish!"
Behind them, the girls who had been ignored could only stare at their backs as they disappeared.
"Ugh! Those jerks weren't planning to bring us at all…"
Monica stomped her foot, frustrated.
"Hey, Shia—what now? Should we follow them, or go after some smaller pirate groups?"
She'd mostly recovered her strength and could fight again, but she left the decision to Sia, the strongest of their group.
But after a long pause, she heard nothing.
"Huh? Shia?"
The blue-haired girl had been silently staring in the direction the trio left.
Finally, she blinked, turned toward Monica, and said:
"Hm?"
Her expression was blank.
Tilting her head slightly, her clear, ocean-blue eyes shimmered with a rare flicker of confusion.
"Did you say something just now?"
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin