Some time later—
It had already been three months since Yuno arrived at the training camp.
Today, everyone in the elite camp was on edge.
They were about to embark on a special mission—
real combat training!
Every six months, the members of the elite camp, under Zephyr's leadership, would head to the Four Seas to carry out missions.
The reason for choosing the Four Seas was simple: criminals there were generally weaker, and they would rarely encounter pirates with bounties exceeding 50 million berries.
This greatly reduced the risk of casualties among the recruits.
Although Zephyr was strict, he valued his students' lives. He would not allow them to die needlessly.
"Everyone, assemble! Board the warship!"
At Zephyr's command, the recruits quickly formed ranks and marched aboard the warship in perfect order.
Moments later, the vessel set sail.
Thanks to the Gates of Justice and the Navy's controlled ocean currents, their warships could travel with incredible speed.
This time, the destination was the North Blue!
Where exactly in the North Blue? Only Zephyr knew.
Yuno was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected to return to the North Blue so soon.
If there's a chance… I could go back to Donzik Island to check on Xena. I wonder if my Kido can heal her arm. The scar on her face should be fine, but that arm… I'll have to try again later.
As he mulled over these thoughts, the warship gradually approached its destination—
Swallow Island.
Yuno's mouth twitched.
What a coincidence… again?
After the Quincy incident on Swallow Island, the Navy had visited multiple times but never managed to uncover solid information.
Now, Zephyr was leading the team personally, as a new force had drawn the Navy's attention: the Divination Club.
After the Dia Mafia was wiped out, the Divination Club had risen as the island's dominant faction.
At first, they kept a low profile, avoiding unnecessary conflicts with the Navy.
But recently, their influence expanded rapidly.
The Navy's spies stationed on the island had reported back, and this caught Zephyr's eye.
Since the elite camp's real combat training coincided with this, Zephyr decided to investigate personally—particularly whether the Divination Club had ties to the mysterious Quincy.
Upon hearing this, Yuno could only sigh and observe a moment of silence for Basil Hawkins.
Now that Zephyr had locked onto him, escape would be near impossible.
News of the Navy's arrival spread from the harbor in an instant, sweeping across the island.
Almost every wanted man turned pale.
"Damn it! Didn't the Navy already leave? Why are they back again!?"
"It's all that bastard Quincy's fault! He stirred up the island, and now we're the Navy's target!"
"This place was perfect… now it's practically a Marine base!"
The criminals cursed bitterly, but that was all they could do.
Seeing Marines march through the streets, they scattered into hiding faster than anyone.
But these were just small-time thugs—not worth worrying about.
Meanwhile, inside the Divination Club's dimly lit chamber, Hawkins sat in silence, brows furrowed.
Why had the Marines returned?
And this divination…
The results pointed directly at him.
His expression darkened.
After a moment's thought, his eyes flashed. Entering the hall, he ordered his men:
"Everyone, prepare to meet the Navy's attack!"
With a clatter, the crew quickly assembled.
Hawkins naturally wouldn't abandon his legacy, so he chose to meet the enemy head-on!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island,
a pirate ship had dropped anchor.
It was the "Kama Pirates," with a combined bounty exceeding 180 million berries.
Their captain, Peter "Kamaitachi," held a bounty of over 100 million berries.
Although publicly known as a pirate crew, Peter was secretly the governor of the "Deep Current," overseeing operations across the Four Seas.
Within that underworld organization, his authority ranked even above Simon Sandi's.
This time, he had come under direct orders from the Shipping King Umit, who had sensed something suspicious and dispatched him to investigate Swallow Island.
During this period, Umit's forces had already begun clashing with Donquixote Doflamingo's.
The entire Underworld turned its attention to this struggle—even the Great Pirates were watching closely.
Both factions were giants of the Dark World, their influence vast and powerful. The battle between them was fierce, leaving both sides with losses.
However, it was Umit who suffered the most.
After all, Doflamingo occupied a special position: he straddled both legal trade and the criminal underworld, enjoying an endless supply of resources far beyond Umit's reach.
Frustrated and desperate, Umit sought to negotiate peace.
But Doflamingo was not the type to be dismissed so easily. Could Umit fight him when he wished and then ask for peace when convenient?
Knowing this, Umit swiftly dispatched his forces to Swallow Island.
Their mission was twofold:
To uncover the truth—if the matter turned out to be a misunderstanding, they could retreat without losing face, blaming it on false intelligence from subordinates.
To search for the mysterious Quincy rumored to have defeated Doflamingo—if they could recruit him, they would gain the strength to oppose the Donquixote Family head-on.
And so, the "Kama Pirates" under Peter's command arrived on Swallow Island.
At that moment, a subordinate rushed out of the forest, shouting urgently:
"Boss, bad news! The Navy has landed—I think they're coming for us!"
A young man of average build with short red hair lifted his gaze sharply, his voice calm as he asked:
"Don't panic. What happened?"
The subordinate quickly recounted the situation.
"A navy soldier without epaulettes?"
Peter muttered, then suddenly thought of something and asked in a deep voice:
"Did you see what the leading officer looked like?"
The younger man shook his head.
"I only saw the warship and rushed to inform you, Boss."
Peter frowned.
"No shoulder insignia… so they must be new recruits. Could this be one of the Navy's field training exercises?"
As the overseer of the Four Seas, Peter had access to intelligence from all regions and knew about the Navy's practice of sending new recruits on training expeditions.
The recruits themselves weren't dangerous.
But the veterans who led them were terrifying.
After all, only officers of Major General rank or higher were entrusted with leading such missions.
After a pause, Peter gave his order:
"Tell everyone to hide—avoid direct conflict with the Navy!"
"Yes!" his men shouted.
Then, another pirate, still pale and sweating, spoke up nervously:
"Boss… the second-in-command just went into town."
This referred to Peter's younger brother—the crew's second strongest fighter, with a bounty of over 50 million berries.
Arrogant, ruthless, and utterly merciless, he was a man who could kill without so much as a blink.
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