"I didn't expect Vice Admiral Borsalino to wait for us on that couch for so long—just to greet us personally."
"Well, he's giving face to Zephyr-sensei, right? After all, he used to be one of his students—technically, our senior."
"Yeah, but he seems like a nice guy—friendly and easygoing, not the least bit arrogant. If we're interning under him for the next three months, things might be pretty chill…"
…
As dusk settled, the group, led by Brandon, made their way to the G2 Branch's assigned housing area, chatting excitedly about the meeting they'd just had.
Vice Admiral Kizaru had only stayed with them for about half an hour—delivering a few standard welcome remarks and exchanging some small talk with Brandon before leaving.
Still, he left a great impression.
Everyone agreed:
For someone as high-ranking as Vice Admiral Borsalino, in charge of tens of thousands of Marines, to personally take the time to welcome a group of no-name recruits—that showed rare humility and charisma.
Everyone except Nao.
He scoffed at the idea.
Didn't he know exactly what Kizaru was like?
Easygoing? Friendly? What a load of crap.
That guy had clearly been loafing around waiting for the end of his shift, using their arrival as a convenient excuse to kick back in the reception room and zone out.
Of course, this kind of thing was better left unspoken.
Roughly thirty minutes later, they arrived at their quarters.
The accommodations weren't quite on par with the Elite Training Camp at HQ, but they were clean and tidy, and most importantly—everyone had their own room.
After the long journey and the day's excitement, everyone was already worn out. Waving goodbye to Brandon, they all turned in to wash up and rest.
Everyone except Nao.
He'd just slept six days ago—now he was fully charged, brimming with energy. Not even Shia pinning him to the bed could have forced him to fall asleep.
So—
He zipped off straight toward the fortress building, following the directional signs until he found the operations office on the second floor, east wing.
Kizaru had mentioned earlier that he'd instructed his staff officers to fully cooperate with the HQ Elite Camp recruits.
Not only would they assign them to anti-pirate missions, but recruits could also volunteer to join operations during their downtime.
Since it was already late, the operations office was nearly empty—just three or four officers still buried in paperwork.
"Something you need?"
A woman stationed near the door, clearly engrossed in her work, didn't even lift her head as she asked casually.
"Hello, Commander."
Nao glanced at the insignia on her shoulder, confirmed her rank, and concisely explained his purpose for being there.
"You want to join a combat mission?"
The woman, in her early thirties, finally looked up in surprise. "Didn't you HQ recruits just settle in? Don't you need to res—"
She stopped mid-sentence as her eyes focused on Nao's face. Her pen froze, cheeks flushed, and for a long moment she completely forgot what she was going to say.
Nao frowned.
Ugh. Being this handsome is such a nuisance.
Ahem…
He cleared his throat politely, snapping her out of it. "It's fine, ma'am. I'm feeling great. I'm ready for active duty whenever."
"Well… alright then."
Composing herself, she quickly tore her gaze from his face, pulling a file from a drawer and flipping through it carefully.
A moment later—
She shook her head regretfully. "Sorry, there are some missions available tonight, but the ships assigned to them have already departed. If you want to participate, you'll need to wait until tomorrow morning."
"Ah?" Nao blinked, then asked quickly, "That's fine—what's the earliest departure?"
"Five-thirty AM."
She glanced back down at the file and then looked up at Nao, speaking softly. "It's a mission headed to the Jars Sea. The target is the Hawkeye Pirates. The ship is commanded by Rear Admiral Buma… but I don't recommend that one for you. There's another mission at 8:00 AM that's a better fit."
"Why?" Nao asked, confused.
"Because it's too dangerous. The captain of the Hawkeye Pirates has a bounty of 93 million Berries. His crew's full of vicious, battle-hardened thugs."
She stopped herself from saying "I don't want you to get hurt," swallowing the words before continuing more neutrally. "Also… there's Rear Admiral Buma's personal attitude to consider."
"She… doesn't think highly of HQ elites coming here for 'training'—because of certain past experiences. That's why I suggest you avoid her ship and instead join the 8:00 AM operation—"
"What's the bounty target for that one?" Nao cut her off.
"Just over 30 million Berries." She didn't seem to mind the interruption and smiled gently. "That's probably a more suitable level for you, so—"
"Then I'll take the earlier one."
Nao decided on the spot. "Please inform Rear Admiral Buma to expect me… actually, never mind. Five-thirty's nothing—I'll be there before then."
You've got to be kidding. Take the easier one?
Two or three months ago, he'd already taken down the 50-million-Berry bounty bear pirate Sano in a one-on-one fight. Now that his strength had doubled, he'd be crazy not to take the higher-reward job and rack up battle merit!
"But—" she hesitated.
Nao simply thanked her politely and left before she could argue again.
Was it really okay?
She watched his back recede into the hallway, uncertain and worried.
If it were any other recruit, she wouldn't have cared much—maybe a quick warning at best.
But this boy…
Her cheeks still tingled with that stunned, fluttery feeling from earlier. She spaced out for a while, lost in thought.
Until a fellow officer, passing by with a glass of water, noticed something was off and knocked on her desk. She snapped back to reality and hurriedly buried herself back in the stack of files.
No choice.
With a commander as hands-off as theirs, staff officers like her had way more on their plates than their counterparts at other bases. It was practically punishment disguised as a posting.
…
Nao, of course, had no idea the staff officer was wrestling with her feelings.
He was in great spirits—getting the chance to join a hunt for a pirate with nearly a 100-million bounty right off the bat? Fantastic. Humming cheerfully, he made his way to the nearby training field.
The G2 training grounds didn't quite measure up to those at the Elite Camp, but they were enclosed with reinforced steel panels—more than enough for swordsmanship and Haki drills.
One noteworthy thing:
Nao's body had grown so absurdly strong that the old gravity-training threshold no longer worked for him. So earlier that day, he'd cranked the gravity up to nine times normal.
The result?
Immediate and obvious.
His mind quickly sank into the bliss of intense training, fully absorbed, time melting away.
Before he knew it—it was already 2 AM.
A little thirsty, he took a brief break, opening his system panel to check the weekly shop refresh out of habit.
Due to the laws of karmic balance, the past few weeks had offered nothing but junk. Not even a basic Physical Training Acceleration card had shown up.
Zero desire to buy anything.
But—
Misfortune turns to fortune. As he casually scanned this week's listings, something actually caught his eye.
[Abnormal Titan Transformation Card – 5,000 points]
[Unlimited Finger-Lickin' Fried Chicken – 9,000 points]
[Moonwalk: Advanced Skill Scroll – 10,000 points]
[Height Enhancement Supplement – 3,000 points]
[Full Set of Boruto Manga – 1,000 points]
[Evasion Elixir– 20,000 points]
—