The reason Reno deliberately gave so many flawed explanations earlier, full of holes yet impossible to verify, was simple. He wanted Sengoku to grow suspicious. As long as Sengoku suspected him, staying here would naturally follow.
With so many doubts thrown out, given Sengoku's scheming personality, there was no way he would let Reno leave.
From what Sengoku said earlier, Reno could already tell that he intended to use "luck" as an excuse to keep him here.
Although Reno didn't yet know how long he would be allowed to stay, it definitely wouldn't be a short time.
Reno only waited for a short while before he saw a Marine soldier walking toward him. He immediately guessed: this guy is probably here to arrange my stay.
And he guessed right.
The soldier had been sent by Sengoku to arrange a place for him to live. Not only that, Sengoku had also assigned him a "bodyguard," or rather, a watcher.
Reno didn't know about the guard yet, but even if he did, he wouldn't care. He was only here to complete his check-in task. At most, he might take an interest in the treasury. Besides, who could really keep an eye on someone who had spatial coordinates?
The Marine soldier quickly walked up to him, looked him over, and said directly,
"Vice Admiral Sengoku asked me to arrange a place for you to stay. Come with me."
After speaking, he turned around and led the way toward the residential area behind Marineford.
Hearing this, Reno was overjoyed, but he didn't show it. Without wasting any time, he followed right behind.
As they walked, the Marine soldier said,
"There are many restricted areas in Marine Headquarters. Don't wander around. If something happens, no one will be able to save you. Just stay where you're assigned."
Reno rolled his eyes at the constant lecturing and replied casually,
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Marineford is a military zone. I won't run around. Don't worry so much."
That's what he said out loud, but inside he was thinking:
Since I finally made it to Marine Headquarters, and Sengoku practically invited me, wouldn't it be disrespectful if I didn't visit their treasury?
With how wealthy the Marines are, they must have more than one or two treasuries. I'll just empty one or two. They shouldn't mind, right?
If Sengoku knew what Reno was thinking, he would probably come over and fight him on the spot.
After all, only those who manage finances know how hard money is to come by. Just the losses from the operation against Roger's crew two years ago had nearly emptied the Marine treasury. It took two full years to recover.
If something like that happened again, the Marines might as well declare bankruptcy.
The Marine soldier kept talking while leading Reno along. Soon, they arrived at the residential area.
Not long after, Reno was brought to a small house. It was empty, and there were no other people living nearby. It was clearly meant for guests.
Reno observed the surroundings carefully and noticed that within a hundred meters, there wasn't a single person.
After a moment of thought, he understood.
These houses were probably meant for guests. Anyone qualified to visit Marine Headquarters would either be wealthy or influential.
The Marines likely wanted to avoid disturbances and also protect the families living in Marineford.
Since most residents here were Marine family members, guests like Reno, especially someone under watch, were kept separate.
After opening the door, the Marine soldier turned to Reno and said,
"This will be your residence for the time being. Meals will be delivered daily. I've already told you what you need to be careful about. If there's nothing else, you can go in."
Reno smiled and suddenly asked,
"Hey, do you Marines have any cute girls around here?"
The soldier stared at the six or seven-year-old kid making such a lewd expression and couldn't help twitching.
What kind of kid is this? Could he be some kind of pervert in disguise?
With a dark expression, the soldier replied,
"Of course there are plenty of beautiful women in the Marines. But don't you think it's a bit early for you to be thinking about that?"
Reno wasn't offended at all. Instead, he puffed up proudly and said,
"Hah, just from what you said, I can tell you're single. I already have three little wives. How does that feel?"
The Marine soldier almost coughed up blood.
He was actually being mocked by a kid?
Then he remembered that he really was single, and his confidence instantly collapsed.
After a moment, he glared at Reno and said,
"So what if I'm single? Am I eating your food or something?"
"If there's nothing else, I'm leaving!"
Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and walked off quickly, as if something terrifying was chasing him.
Reno had clearly dealt him a heavy blow.
A grown man in his thirties with no wife, while a kid claimed to have three. Anyone would feel defeated hearing that.
Watching the soldier flee, Reno smirked.
"These Marines have terrible mental fortitude. I didn't even use my strongest move, and he already ran away."
With that, Reno happily walked into the small house.
As he entered, he said,
"System, start check-in."
"Ding! Day 1 check-in at Marine Headquarters successful. 29 days remaining. Please keep it up."
Reno sat down on a chair and continued,
"System, open my status panel."
It had been a long time since his last draw, and his body had already adapted. It was time to do another round.
[Host Status Panel]
Name: Afaku Reno
Age: 7
Body: 180 to 1000
Strength: 70 to 1000
Speed: 75 to 1000
Spirit: Infinite
Skills: Observation Haki, Max-Level Swordsmanship 1590 to 1000
Weapon: One Fine Grade Sword
Abilities: Telekinesis 340 to 1000, Spatial Coordinates
Beli: 4.68 billion
System Shop: Activated
Draw Function: 100 million Beli per draw
Task: Stay at Marine Headquarters for one month 1 out of 30
Looking at his status panel, Reno felt a bit disappointed.
Over the past year, he had trained, but his improvements were barely noticeable.
He wondered if it was because his body was still too young, or if he simply lacked talent.
In reality, it wasn't that he lacked talent.
He had simply fallen into a misunderstanding.
He had never experienced starting from nothing, so he didn't understand how slow real training was.
Compared to the system, which gave him huge stat boosts at once, normal training improved stats little by little.
No matter how fast he trained, it could never compare to instant system gains.
He would only realize this later, when he saw others training or taught his wives himself.
Reno didn't stay discouraged for long. He quickly adjusted his mindset. With the system by his side, whether he had talent for cultivation or not didn't really matter. As long as he completed system tasks, his strength would keep rising rapidly.
Thinking this, Reno immediately ordered, "System, I want to draw. Start with a ten-draw!"
[Alright, host!]
[Deducting 1 billion Beli. Drawing ten times!]
[Drawing in progress, please wait…]
Hearing that the draw had started, Reno showed an excited expression. Last time, he had drawn a top-tier Devil Fruit and 200 attribute points. He wondered what good things he would get this time.
[Ding! Thank you for participating]
[Ding! Thank you for participating]
[Ding! Ding!]
Reno's excited face instantly darkened when he heard a string of "thank you for participating." This was all money he had worked hard to earn!
[Congratulations, host, you obtained: 100 attribute points]
[Congratulations, host, you obtained: Low-level Body Enhancement Potion]
Only after finally getting something did Reno's expression improve slightly. One body enhancement potion and 100 attribute points, not amazing, but not bad either.
Thinking this, Reno said, "System, show me the description of this body enhancement potion."
[Low-level Body Enhancement Potion description: This is a potion from an unknown world. Drinking one will increase all four attributes by 20 points each. Each person can only use one in their lifetime. A second one will have no effect. The four attributes include: physique, strength, speed, and spirit.]
Seeing that it only added 20 points to each stat, Reno immediately lost interest. He took the potion out and drank it in one gulp. It tasted like fruit, actually pretty good.
After drinking it, he carefully felt his body. The change didn't seem very obvious, but since it only added 20 points to each stat, that was understandable.
After confirming there wasn't much noticeable change, Reno stopped paying attention and said, "System, add attribute points. Add 25 to physique, 25 to swordsmanship, and put the rest into telekinesis."
[Adding attribute points…]
[Congratulations, host, attribute points successfully added]
As soon as the system confirmed it, Reno felt the changes in his body. It was a bit more noticeable than before, though not by much. His attributes were already high, so adding dozens of points didn't feel as dramatic as it used to, but the improvement was still there.
After finishing everything, Reno walked into the small house. He hadn't rested properly for the past few days, so he needed some sleep. After all, he was still growing, and lack of sleep wouldn't do.
[Marine Headquarters — Sengoku's Office]
Sengoku sat at his desk, repeatedly reading the report in front of him. It contained Reno's background, but all of it was from over two years ago.
Since Reno's shipwreck, there was only one record from Alabasta. Everything else was blank. No matter how hard they investigated, they couldn't find out where Reno had been or what he had done over the past two years.
It was normal that the Marines couldn't track him. Reno had deliberately kept a low profile. Whether on islands or aboard pirate crews, he rarely interacted with strangers.
Aside from Roger and the Whitebeard Pirates, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had almost no contact with anyone else. If the Marines could still find something under those conditions, that would be truly strange.
Bang!
"Sengoku, I'm back!"
Just as Sengoku frowned over the report, the office door was suddenly kicked open from outside. A loud, energetic voice followed.
The broken door creaked and rattled, looking like it could collapse at any moment.
Sengoku looked up, his face instantly darkening. He shouted angrily, "You bastard Garp! You broke my office door again. If you don't fix it today, don't even think about leaving alive!"
"Hahahaha!"
Monkey D. Garp walked in, laughing loudly. Not only was he not afraid, he looked completely carefree.
Seeing Garp laugh so recklessly, Sengoku's face darkened even more.
"Damn it, Garp! If you don't give me a proper explanation today, I won't let this go!"
But Garp didn't care at all. He walked over to the sofa and plopped down, then said with a grin, "I heard the people of Ohara were rescued, so I came back just to see you make a fool of yourself… hahaha…"
He laughed again without giving Sengoku any face. In the Marines, the only one who dared openly mock Sengoku like this was the so-called Hero of the Marines.
Back when Sengoku made the decision regarding Ohara, Garp had tried to stop him. But under pressure from the World Government, Sengoku still carried it out.
Not wanting to witness it, Garp had left to sea, choosing to ignore it. Only after hearing that Ohara's people had been saved did he return, just to mock Sengoku.
Sengoku had been scowling ever since Garp arrived. Seeing him finally stop laughing, he immediately snapped, "If you're done laughing, get out!"
But Garp had no intention of leaving. Ever since Roger died, teasing Sengoku had become one of his few pleasures.
Crunch… crunch…
Garp casually pulled out a bag of donuts and started eating right there in the office, watching Sengoku with a grin.
Sengoku was almost driven mad by this. If he didn't do something, he wouldn't get any work done today.
Since Kuzan wouldn't return for a few days, he might as well make use of this idle troublemaker.
"Then go to the guest area and watch that kid staying there. Stop disturbing my work. Now get out!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sengoku rushed forward and kicked Garp squarely in the jaw.
Bang!
Boom!
Garp was sent flying straight out the door, crashing outside with a loud rumble.
After kicking him, Sengoku finally felt refreshed. He thought to himself that when angry, finding something to vent on was indeed the simplest and most effective method.
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