For several months now, Nao had been buried in hard training at Headquarters, followed by a series of major battles. It had been a long time since he'd paid attention to his stat panel.
Compared to more than half a year ago—
All of his attributes had clearly improved, especially his Stamina, which had risen by three full points. The growth rate far outstripped the other two stats, leaving Nao with no choice but to admit that this was truly where his talent shone the brightest.
One notable point was—
Among all his combat skills, his Close-Quarters Combat ability was the first to break through to Master level.
There were no shortcuts for improving this skill. Nao had built it up step by step through grueling training and harsh battles.
It wasn't until after the protracted battle with Kaido that he finally broke through the cocoon and emerged as a butterfly, reaching the world's absolute peak level.
"I wonder when my Armament Haki and Observation Haki will also break through to Master level…"
Nao's eyes flickered with anticipation.
After the Hall Island incident, rumors went wild across the seas that he had fought Kaido to a draw, shaking the world. But the truth was—he had been under pressure the entire fight. Without Akainu's timely arrival, defeat was inevitable.
Even so, that battle had given him a far clearer understanding of his current strength.
With his world-class stamina, an arsenal of damage-reduction passives, and the high-speed teleportation of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—
He could now face any top-tier powerhouse head-on, and hold them to a standstill for at least a short time.
Even Whitebeard, hailed as the Strongest Man in the World—taking him down completely without spending days and nights would be nothing but a dream.
Within the Marines, compared to his peers—
His current strength placed him far ahead of the younger generation. Even veterans like Akainu and Kizaru, more than a decade older, would find themselves edged out by him.
"The Admiral position… should be locked in, right?"
Nao rubbed his chin with interest, suddenly thinking of another issue.
"But the structure only allows for three Admiral slots…"
His promotion was all but certain, yet with him suddenly rising to the forefront, one of the current three Admirals would inevitably be pushed out.
Which unlucky one would it be?
Hard to guess… Nao shook his head. Forget it—that was a problem for the higher-ups to struggle with. He figured they'd be wracking their brains over it for quite some time.
As for him—
His focus remained on further strengthening himself. Besides refining his two-sword style, which was already nearing a breakthrough, he needed to push both Armament and Observation Haki to Master level as soon as possible.
The day when his swordsmanship and both forms of Haki all reached Master level—
Would also be the day the gap between him and monsters like Kaido would vanish completely. He would become a true all-rounded warrior, stepping firmly into the ranks of the world's absolute top fighters!
...
The Thunder Hawk continued sailing through the New World for several more days.
During this time, Nao eagerly resumed a relentless, round-the-clock training regimen, often leaving the warship to test large-scale lightning techniques in the surrounding seas.
This often resulted in dark clouds gathering in the sky, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. The Marine soldiers on deck on duty looked up at the astounding celestial phenomenon in awe.
This made Aokiji, who had planned to slack off and take a little vacation, feel restless and uncomfortable. Eventually, he couldn't stand sitting under the parasol anymore—he tossed aside his manga and was forced to join the grueling training as well.
And this atmosphere was like a virus, quickly spreading to everyone aboard the two warships.
From ordinary soldiers to commanding officers, one after another joined in.
Especially Nao's two deputies—Rear Admiral Onigumo and Commodore Onigumo.
During the battle at Hall Island, even when they teamed up, the two of them hadn't been able to hold back the one-armed Sena. They'd been beaten half to death and left unconscious.
If Sena hadn't been in a hurry to rush over and help Queen besiege Aokiji, their lives might have ended right there.
By contrast—
Their boss Nao had been strong enough to fight Kaido to a standstill, yet he still worked so hard… Compared to that, the two of them felt utterly ashamed. So the moment their wounds were barely healed—bandages still wrapped around them—they huffed and puffed and forced themselves to join the grueling training as well.
To be honest—
This left Nao a little dumbfounded. This kind of scene reminded him of his training camp days. He just liked the feeling of burying himself in hard training… Since when did he become a walking "competition-trigger machine"?
...
And so—
In the heat and passion of this all-hands training craze, the two warships sailed on for another two days through the New World, until at last the outline of the Red Line came into view.
A shirtless, sweat-soaked Aokiji stepped out from the training room, wiping himself with a towel as he looked at the towering mountains shrouded in clouds on the horizon.
"By tomorrow night, we'll be back at headquarters."
He wiped his forehead, then seemed to recall something. Turning his head toward Nao, who was lounging on the deck:
"Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, you've already been married a year, huh…" Aokiji waggled his brows mischievously. "Hey, hey, hey—how come there's still no sign of anything? I was looking forward to drinking at your baby's celebration banquet."
"About that…"
Nao flipped a 100-Berry coin between his fingers and smiled:
"At the end of last year, we already talked it over. Belle-mère doesn't plan to have more children. As for Gion and Shia, they're waiting until Nami and Nojiko are a little older."
"Eh?" Aokiji scratched his head in confusion and muttered, "I don't really get you guys… wouldn't it be livelier if each of them had one? The kids could all grow up together in a pack."
"Like you'd understand, you thirty-year-old lifelong bachelor."
Nao rolled his eyes, crossing his legs. "Three kids in a row? What am I, a breeding machine? The house is already lively enough. Have any more and we'd be overwhelmed. Things like children—you've gotta stagger them out properly."
Ugh… You could've just answered normally. Why did you have to bring up me being single again?
Isn't it perfectly normal to be in your thirties and never dated?
Damn it, it's not like any girls are chasing me anyway…
Aokiji raised his head toward the sky at a 45-degree angle, full of sorrow.
Just then, from under the parasol behind him, a Den Den Mushi suddenly burst into loud sobs. Tears the size of beans rolled down its face as it wailed "buru-buru," immediately drawing everyone's attention on deck.
"What's going on here?"
Nao frowned at the crying Den Den Mushi.
"Does it think it's going to be alone forever too, so it can't stop crying?"
What do you mean "too"?!
Aokiji twitched at the corner of his eye, walked over to the parasol, and examined the bawling Den Den Mushi on the table.
"This kind of situation isn't common, but back when I followed Garp-san, I did encounter something similar once. If I recall correctly, it happens when someone nearby is sending out an emergency distress signal—that's what makes the Den Den Mushi react like this."
Is that so?
Nao furrowed his brows, stopped flipping the coin in his hand, and shot a look at Onigumo, who was closest to the Den Den Mushi.
Onigumo understood at once. He grabbed the receiver and asked in a stern voice:
"Hello, who is this? What happened?"
"Ah! Finally someone answers!... Thank goodness!"
A young girl's voice came from the other end, faintly carrying a hint of tears:
"We're a merchant caravan from the Kingdom of Prodence. We just returned from the first half of the Grand Line, but after entering the New World, we accidentally hit a reef. The hull's taking on water and the ship's about to sink. Please, you must save us!"
"A caravan?"
Onigumo was surprised. "Shouldn't you have several ships together? Don't tell me they all sank?"
On the other end, the girl's voice fell silent, with faint whispers of hurried discussion.
A few seconds later, she came back crying harder:
"It's like this—we got separated on the way back, so there's only one ship here… Sir, whoever you are, I beg you, there are over two hundred people aboard! Please come save us, please! If you can just get here in time and rescue the cargo, we're willing to give you twenty percent—no, thirty percent—of the profits from this trade caravan as payment… I beg you!"
"Hold on a moment."
Onigumo covered the receiver and turned to Nao, asking quietly:
"Vice Admiral, what should we do? Should we change course immediately to rescue them?"
"Honestly, it's way too fake."
Nao looked up at the sky and sighed.
"Yeah, I don't think it's real either. No girl in that situation would be able to speak so clearly. Nine times out of ten, it's a baited trap." Doberman added.
"Ah-la-la, I was thinking the same thing," Aokiji said with a grin. "I've heard of pirates pulling stunts like this—waiting for some hotheaded fool, eager to play hero and rescue the damsel, to walk right into their arms."
The other marines on deck nodded in agreement, clearly reaching the same conclusion.
"Huh? A trap?"
Onigumo was dumbfounded. He looked at the Den Den Mushi, then at his comrades' dismissive expressions. Damn it… don't tell me I'm the only one who took this seriously?
"So, Vice Admiral, we're just going to ignore it?"
He turned back to Nao.
"No, we're still going."
Nao started flipping the coin in his hand again, smiling lazily:
"We're the Marine. How could we ignore pirates when we stumble across them? Tell her yes, and ask for her exact location and any landmarks."
"But isn't she trying to bait us?"
Without looking back at Onigumo, Nao flicked the coin with his finger. It shot forward like a cannonball as he spoke casually:
"Then we'll bite. The only question is—can they swallow a great white shark like me?"
Zzzzt!
A streak of azure lightning burst from his fingertip, blasting the coin into dust mid-flight. The sea below split apart in a terrifying trench dozens of meters wide, stretching out of sight toward the distant horizon…
Holy crap, that's terrifying…
The people around all gasped sharply, their scalps tingling. Just a flick of his finger produced such power—Vice Admiral Nao's abilities seemed to have advanced yet again. At this level, it was practically beyond human.
Aokiji, however, wore a strange expression. He shot Nao a sidelong glance.
Why does this scene feel like something I've seen before… in that other set of manga I "borrowed" from him?
Are you cosplaying right now?
Of course, he didn't dare say it aloud. Admitting he'd been sneaking that manga would be way more embarrassing than confessing he read Bleach.
…
About an hour later.
Following the coordinates gFollowing the coordinates provided by the girl over the Den Den Mushi, the Thunder Hawk quickly arrived at the sea area mentioned in the distress signal.
This area lay northeast, close to the Calm Belt, with a towering boulder as the landmark.
It was over a hundred meters tall, clearly visible even from several nautical miles away. Its surface was covered in cracks and moss, seeming quite old, yet it still stood firm.
"I see the ship, Vice Admiral!"
A lookout in the watchtower shouted, telescope in hand:
"There really is a ship behind that giant rock! It's already half-sunk, but... I don't see anyone on it."
"No one?"
Nao raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at Little Luo perched on his shoulder.
The small creature immediately understood, flapping its wings and streaking off like a bolt of white lightning toward the giant rock.
A minute later, the white hawk returned in haste. Meeting Nao's eyes, it shook its head lightly, then morphed back into a plump pigeon, nestling against his shoulder and dozing off. Clearly, it too had found no one aboard the sinking ship.
Strange…
Nao pulled his gaze away from the sinking ship. Now he was truly puzzled. No sign of a trap, no trace of survivors.
Could it be that someone else arrived in this area first and took the people from the ship away?
Just as he was considering whether to leave, Nao suddenly noticed a small black dot appearing faintly on the distant horizon.
He immediately picked up a monocular telescope and looked towards it.
Aokiji, Momonga, and the others also noticed the black dot shortly after and raised their telescopes to look.
"It's a pirate ship."
Onigumo snorted after seeing what the black dot was. He put down his telescope and sneered, his eyes full of killing intent: "So it really was a trap! I don't know which crew this is, but they must have nerves of steel to try fishing for us."
Nao said nothing, still watching through his telescope.
A moment later, he frowned slightly.
"Not them. They look like they were lured here too… and now they're being hunted down by the ships behind them."
"Huh?"
At those words, Onigumo, Momonga, and the others froze. They quickly raised their telescopes again.
After searching carefully for a while, they indeed saw several ships following unhurriedly behind the pirate ship on the far horizon.
"Those are…"
As the distance closed and the outlines grew clearer, everyone went stiff with surprise:
"Marine warships?"
That fleet of ships had pure white sails with blue seagull patterns. The number of cannon ports on their sides was several times more than ordinary ships. Were they not standard Marine warships?
"The main ship at the back has a number on its sail..."
Aokiji squinted, his tone carrying a hint of disbelief:
"That seems to be... a ship from G-5 Branch?"