The harbor of the West Blue First Branch base.
Squads of Marines were unloading weapons and ammunition from a warship. The warship carrying Roya also had a logistics transport mission. Pirates captured along the way had basically all been handed over to Marine bases encountered en route.
The Marines worked busily, and only after two Marine soldiers carried the last crate of weapons ashore did they finally stop and report to the group of Commanders and Captains nearby.
"Report, all cargo has been unloaded."
"Good. Inventory it, then move it into the base."
A Captain from the First Branch base nodded to the two Marines, then turned to look at the Commander on the warship and several Lieutenant Commanders, saying, "You've all worked hard."
"You're too kind. This was a Headquarters transport mission, and with Rear Admiral Roya present, we hardly had anything to do."
The Commander on the warship replied with a smile.
"Rear Admiral Roya…"
The Captains and Commanders of the First Branch base all showed subtle changes in their expressions when they heard Roya mentioned.
After a brief pause, one Captain could not help but ask with some doubt, "That young Rear Admiral Roya… is he very strong?"
Roya's identity was Garp's nephew, and on this sea, there were simply too many pirates who had been beaten down by Garp, people like Chinjao, who harbored deep hatred toward Garp and his relatives.
Once the news that Roya was Garp's relative leaked out, it would definitely cause a major stir. For this reason, Marine Headquarters had always kept Roya's information classified, in order to protect Roya, who was considered "not yet fully grown."
"Very strong."
The Commander on the warship revealed a deeply respectful expression and said with utmost seriousness, "Never judge Rear Admiral Roya's strength by his age."
Seeing how serious the Commander was, many of the Captains and Commanders below eased their worries, which had stemmed from Roya's extreme youth.
However, some still remained skeptical. After all, Roya's build was average and not particularly tall. He looked like an ordinary person, and his appearance was extremely young. No matter how one looked at him, he did not seem especially powerful.
After delivering Roya to the West Blue First Branch base and handing over the weapons transported from Headquarters, the warship replenished enough fresh water and supplies, then sailed away from the base and disappeared into the vast sea.
---
The top floor of the West Sea First Branch base.
Roya and the only branch rear admiral of this base, Tika, were walking along the top-floor corridor and soon arrived in front of a door.
"This is the base commander's office. My office is directly across from it. If you need anything, you can come find me at any time."
Tika's attitude toward Roya was neither warm nor cold. It was not exactly indifferent, but certainly not enthusiastic either. Roya was simply too young, which made him hard to fully trust. The fact that Tika could calmly guide Roya through an inspection of the First Branch base, speaking neither obsequiously nor arrogantly, was already a fairly good attitude.
"Understood. You may go."
Roya did not particularly mind Tika's attitude. After all, he currently had no reputation whatsoever on this sea. Expecting awe and reverence everywhere he went was unrealistic.
Pushing open the door to the base commander's office, Roya walked inside.
The office was spotlessly clean. Although the space was not very large, it had sofas and all the necessary furnishings. There was also a small balcony outside with good sunlight. Overall, the environment was far better than the cabins on a warship.
After seeing Roya enter the office, Rear Admiral Tika calmly turned around and returned to his own office.
Within this branch base, only Roya and Tika had their own individual offices. The six Captains below them shared offices two per room, and the Commanders did not even need mentioning.
Roya settled down at the West Blue First Branch base.
Half a month passed quickly.
During this period, most of what happened were trivial matters. Roya disliked handling all kinds of complicated administrative details, so he tossed these matters to Rear Admiral Tika and the Captains to deal with.
This was a sign that he did not particularly like managing affairs.
Tika was actually quite happy to see this situation. If Roya did not concern himself much with administration, then within this branch base, although Roya was the base commander in name, the real power would be in Tika's hands.
Even so, there were still occasional matters that required Roya's personal handling. This sometimes made Roya think of Robin, whom he had encountered earlier.
Roya mused that perhaps he should not have let Robin go. If he could have brought her over to serve as his secretary, handing tasks to a secretary would have been ideal.
Cough.
That thought seemed somewhat inappropriate.
Aside from the above, after arriving at the West Blue First Branch base, Roya naturally did not neglect his training. Acquiring enhancement energy, and continuing to strengthen the Soul Sword, were the real priorities.
This branch base did have a training ground, but the equipment was extremely rudimentary and could not compare at all with the training facilities at Marine Headquarters.
Fortunately.
During the time Roya spent traveling by warship to the West Blue base, he had continuously trained in Haki and contemplated swordsmanship aboard the ship.
He discovered that even training in Haki and contemplating swordsmanship could also increase enhancement energy, and the increase was not much lower than that gained from his hellish training methods.
Perhaps at his current level, it was already very difficult to carry out any true hellish training. His physical strength had reached a certain threshold, and from here on, the focus of his training needed to gradually shift away from pure fundamentals.
After arriving at the West Blue base for half a month.
Roya's Soul Sword was finally strengthened to the final level of the third stage.
[Third Stage: Agile Soul Sword +10
Attributes: Attack Power +300, Strength +100, Agility +100
Special Attribute: All Things in the Universe, turn to ashes: Sword attacks can freely add fire damage
(evolution conditions not yet met)
Special Attribute: Getsuga Tenshō: Sword attacks can release a crescent-shaped blade wave
Enhancement Energy: 18/220]
"As long as I fill the enhancement energy to the maximum, barring any accidents, the next enhancement should raise it to the fourth stage."
After glancing at the status panel, Roya willed it away, then drew his Engetsu and carefully examined the blade, frowning slightly.
"The damage to Engetsu is getting more and more severe. I urgently need a new famous sword to replace it. Even if I can't find one of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades for now, I at least need to find one of the 21 Great Grade Blades. A 50 Skillful Grade Blane probably won't be able to withstand the Zanpakutō abilities developed by the Soul Sword."
Just as Roya was staring at the blade edge and thinking.
Knock knock knock.
A sudden knock sounded at the door.
"Come in."
Roya sheathed Engetsu and spoke calmly.
A Marine Captain walked into Roya's room with an extremely grave expression and reported to him.
"Report, traces of the Gecko Pirates have just been discovered!"
"The Gecko Pirates…"
Roya felt it sounded somewhat familiar, then immediately remembered. Weren't they the pirate crew that had previously taken down the former base commander? It seemed that because of this, the captain's bounty had risen to seventy million Beli. Adding in the bounties of the other crew members, the entire pirate crew's total bounty had already exceeded one hundred million Beli.