Aside from Roya and Hina's individual rankings, there was something extremely strange about the overall camp rankings.
That was the fact that the top three members of Roya's Fifth Squad were exactly the top three in the entire camp. However, the fourth-ranked member of the Fifth Squad suddenly dropped to beyond fiftieth place in the overall camp rankings.
And the further down the list, the worse it became.
Other than Roya, Hina, and Drake, almost everyone else in the Fifth Squad ranked abnormally low in the overall standings.
"I didn't expect my overall camp ranking to be this low."
"Same here. Looks like that forest fire during the combat assessment really interfered with us badly."
"Luckily the fire didn't keep spreading. It was probably discovered and extinguished by the instructors quickly, or things would have been much worse."
"I still don't know how that fire even started."
When the forest fire from the previous combat assessment was mentioned, many of the Fifth Squad recruits showed lingering fear.
Even recruits from other squads had heard about the incident. After noticing the Fifth Squad's overall results, they could not help but show strange expressions and whisper among themselves.
Within the crowd.
Roya looked at the overall camp rankings and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"So it seems part of my score was split with Hina?"
"But I didn't expect Drake to still rank third in the entire camp under those circumstances. As expected of someone who'll become one of the Eleven Supernovas alongside Luffy—he's no ordinary character."
Despite Roya's overwhelming slaughter of ferocious beasts, Drake's score still trailed only Roya and Hina, maintaining a leading position in the camp. This made Roya glance at him with mild interest, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
It seemed the upcoming combat assessment would not be boring after all.
---
"The total rankings of the last combat assessment have now been announced. Therefore—based on these results—the camp-wide combat assessment officially begins!"
Zephyr's voice pulled the recruits' attention away from the rankings once again.
Almost the instant Zephyr announced the start of the combat assessment, a voice rang out loudly.
"I, Mozu, challenge Roya!"
Someone rushed to issue a challenge?!
Many recruits froze when they heard this.
Since there was no limit on the number of challenges, and challenges could not be refused or avoided, it was clearly advantageous to wait until others had already fought several matches before issuing a challenge. That way, one would have a significant advantage in stamina and condition.
Launching a challenge immediately after the assessment began was rare.
What was more shocking was that the target was the first-ranked recruit in the entire camp.
That made the situation even stranger. After checking Mozu's ranking, people discovered he was ranked beyond two hundred. A recruit ranked over two hundred challenging the number one—what kind of joke was this?!
Although it defied common sense, the challenge fully complied with the assessment rules. After a brief pause, the supervising Marine vice admiral spoke directly.
"First match: Mozu vs Roya!"
The crowd parted, and Mozu—somewhat stocky in build—walked out.
Mozu had been obsessed with exposing Roya. When Zephyr announced the start of the combat assessment, he instinctively shouted Roya's name.
In fact, he regretted it slightly afterward. Even if he defeated Roya, he would never hold onto the top rank—someone else would knock him down sooner or later.
But since things had already come to this, there was no turning back.
As long as he could expose Roya's true colors, that would be enough.
Mozu was in the same squad as Roya. He knew very well that Roya had ranked near last—or even failed—in nearly every physical assessment.
"First match already?"
On the opposite side of the crowd, Roya stretched lazily and curled his lips slightly. He was not surprised at all. The reason Mozu challenged him was obvious.
In that case… it was time to raise his profile a bit.
Roya stepped forward into the roughly twenty-meter-wide open arena and stopped opposite Mozu.
"A recruit ranked over two hundred challenging first place—can someone explain why?"
Some recruits watching the scene wore extremely odd expressions. No matter how they looked at it, something felt wrong, and they could not help asking those nearby.
"You don't know?"
"Know what?!"
"Well, you see, this Roya who's ranked first…"
There were quite a few recruits from Roya's squad present. Several of them, who had always looked down on Roya, could not resist spreading details of Roya's "background" to others. The information quickly spread through the crowd, causing many recruits to show shocked, enlightened expressions.
No wonder such a strange situation had occurred!
So Roya's ranking was obtained through connections and internal manipulation?!
Even Admiral Zephyr had ignored it. But thinking carefully, perhaps Zephyr had turned a blind eye due to his decades-long friendship with Vice Admiral Garp?
Regardless, Roya's actions were truly despicable.
As rumors about Roya spread, most recruits remained skeptical, but some believed them. Their gazes toward Roya became noticeably strange.
In the arena.
Mozu's impression of Roya was still stuck in the past—when Roya could not even keep up during weighted runs.
Staring at Roya, Mozu spoke in a low voice, "I'll give you some advice—just admit defeat now. Otherwise…"
Roya was not angry. Instead, he looked at the first challenger with a faint, amused smile.
"Otherwise what?"
"Hmph!"
Mozu snorted coldly. "Otherwise, don't expect me to go easy on you."
Once the supervising instructor announced the start, Mozu immediately charged toward Roya.
Whoosh!!
Mozu wielded a standard Marine longsword. Holding it with both hands, he rushed up to Roya and slashed fiercely, the blade cutting through the air with a sharp whistling sound, as if intending to cut Roya down in a single strike.
However, facing Mozu's aggressive opening attack, Roya did not move at all.
He neither advanced nor retreated. He merely placed one hand lightly on the hilt of Engetsu.
Silently.
In the next instant, countless spectators felt their vision blur. A crimson line suddenly appeared in Roya's hand, drifting lightly through the air as it collided with Mozu's sword.
That crimson line was Engetsu, freshly drawn.
Roya held the sword with one hand. Aside from a simple arm movement, no other part of his body moved. The strike looked casual—almost like an idle wave.
Chi!!
The blade swept from left to right, tracing a perfect semicircle. Even when it met Mozu's sword midair, Engetsu encountered no resistance at all, as if it truly were an intangible thread, slicing cleanly through.
Clang!!
With a crisp metallic sound, half of the Marine longsword suddenly flew into the air, arced briefly, and then clattered onto the ground in the distance.
Mozu's sword had been cleanly cut in two!
Aside from the sound of the broken blade hitting the ground, the arena fell into dead silence.
"Using one of the 21 Great Grade Blades against a standard Marine steel sword… isn't that a bit unfair?"
Roya glanced sideways at the broken sword fragment and chuckled inwardly. In truth, even if he were using an ordinary Marine sword, he could have achieved the same result.
At this moment, Mozu was completely stunned.
Staring at the broken half of his sword, he had never imagined such an outcome. For a moment, his mind went blank.
Outside the arena, the watching recruits were equally stunned, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
What… just happened?!