The Golden Heart

"Captain Adkin, Captain Adkin..." a marine lieutenant rushed to the assembly room door to report.

The marine captain who was currently sitting alone at the table, staring at the maps on the table with a stern face, slowly looked up: " Lieutenant Fellman, please always pay attention to your words and actions, as a marine lieutenant, I hope that you are always displayed in the eyes of the people with a calm and composed manner!"

"Yes!" Fellman saluted with an ashamed face, and then said respectfully, " Captain Adekin, we have spotted the Giant Rhino Pirates on the shore of the island ahead of us, and all of their ships are docked along the coastline."

"Are there people living on the island?"

"There's a town called Falling Leaves located on that island."

Captain Adkin's complexion instantly became severe and asked in a stern voice, "Can you see fire or...smoke coming from the sea breeze on the island now?"

Surprised by Captain Adkin's stern words, Fillman swallowed and said, "No...we didn't find anything."

"Giant Rhino Alex is cruel and paranoid. If the slaughter is complete, he will not stay on the island, plus the fact that you did not see any gunfire suggests that he probably landed shortly after as well... or held the island's inhabitants hostage in preparation for negotiations with us."

Captain Adkin relaxed slightly, "Either outcome is far better than him making another tragedy."

"Lieutenant Fellman..."

"Yes!"

"Pass on my orders at once, raise the sails and rush to that island as fast as you can!"

...

In the town, where many of the townspeople were sending home the " prisoners " of the sea battle in waves, suddenly some snotty little children came running on their short legs, screaming as they ran:

"No good, no good, the sea... many big ships are coming over again!"

The crowd instantly became agitated as the words fell out.

"What? Did the pirates attack again?"

"Shit! Could it be that those pirates are targeting our war trophy?"

"Damn it, fight them, we now have a musket in our hands and have even dismantled a couple of cannons from the ship, so even the pirates won't be able to take advantage of us without paying a huge price."

Because of the experience of fighting off pirates several times over the past three years, the town's inhabitants weren't as fearful of pirates as they were from ordinary cities, and as long as they weren't a large and notorious group like the Giant Rhino Bandits, they dared to fight one.

...

"What did you say? The entire Giant Rhino Pirates were wiped out, and even the Giant Rhino Alex died in your hands?" Captain Adekin widened his eyes, almost suspecting that the kindly older man in front of him was a spy sent by Alex to confuse them.

The group of naval officers who were following behind Adekin was also stunned. The Giant Rhino Pirates who had repeatedly escaped from them were wiped out in an ordinary town. Such words sounded even more strange than a fairy tale.

"Huh? No, you misunderstand!" The mayor was the first time he had ever seen such a senior officer as a marine captain. For a moment, he looked helpless, anxiously explaining, "To be able to defeat the Giant Rhino Pirates is mainly due to Longinus, we..."

"Ahhhh! Damn pirates, I'll fight you..."

As they talked, a large group of townspeople rushed out from the town with their muskets lifted high, and were also a bit confused upon seeing this coordinated scene. The uniforms those people were wearing seemed to be from the Marine.

"Damn pirates, let go of the grandpa mayor..." a few kids who hadn't understood what was going on rushed up with a few strange shouts.

"You misinformed little bastards, that's not a pirate...it's the Marine!" Some quick-eyed townspeople grabbed them by the hand and explained awkwardly.

"Eh? Is that the Marine that Longinus nii-san went to sea to join? So they're one of us then?"

Right after that, the little kid said in the complaint, "And, what we said before was obvious that many big ships were coming, and you were the ones who said there were pirates..."

A few people thought, and it seemed to be accurate, and their faces fell to the ground a bit, and they slapped some of the little kids on the butts in annoyance, "Kids don't talk nonsense."

"Longinus nii-san said that violence will not solve the problem and that justice will stand in the end..."

The uprising of a few small children was enthusiastic and finally met with violent repression.

SMACK!

"Justice will ultimately be on the side of the dictator..." muttered a couple of little kids rubbing their butts.

Captain Adkin looked at the scene in front of him with a smile on his face, but he was interested in the Longinus that they repeatedly talked about, a young man who could defeat the Giant Rhinoceros Alex a heart for justice was scarce.

"The one who defeated the Giant Rhinoceros Alex is the one you've been talking about as Longinus? Can you tell me something about him?"

Hearing Adkin mention Longinus, the surrounding scouts instantly felt less intimidated by the majestic Marine and contended to speak up.

"I'll go first, I'll go first, Longinus nii-san came to our town three years ago because of a shipwreck, and because of that, Longinus nii-san has helped us fend off dozens of pirate invasions, large and small, in those three years."

"Well, Nah, even that fierce big bald guy from yesterday is no match for Longinus nii-san, and he is the protector of our town of Falling Leaves!"

Seeing that everyone was saying the same thing, Adkin was impressed. But he also forced himself to accept the seemingly absurd conclusion that the Giant Rhino Pirates, who had repeatedly escaped the Marine's pursuit, had finally perished at the hands of a teenager who had yet to set foot on the sea.

"Longinus … Is he a Devil Fruit Ability User?"

The townspeople looked at each other, not sure of the meaning of Adkin's words.

Seeing this, Adkin had it in his mind that it was normal not to know the rumors of the Devil's Fruit on such a remote island with no accessibility, so he asked instead, " Longinus... can he swim in the sea?"

"Absolutely!" The townsman looked at Adkin with an odd look in mind, mocking how many seamen could not swim.

This Marine is no fool!

The younger teenagers were even more up in arms, "Longinus nii-san will dive into the deep sea every day to exercise and catch a sea king class for everyone to feel better!"

"Going along to catch a sea king type?" The Marine Lieutenant who was following behind Adkin, twitched his lips. It would be fine if he were swimming on the sea's surface, but to kill a sea king class in the deep sea is not even a Commodore can do it, right?

Seeing that the town's inhabitants were all looking bright red and fit, a group of marine officers felt hidden envy in their hearts.

You know, as the sea king of the sea, the meat is not only delicious but also rich in life energy, long-term consumption can fundamentally enhance the physique, is the top of the sea ingredients.

Even Captain Adkin, the highest-ranking of them all, only got to eat it once or twice when he returned to the Marine Headquarters for his debriefing. Still, from what these townspeople were saying, they seemed to be getting fresh sea kings every day, and it was driving them insanely jealous.

"The meat of the sea king type is indeed delicious, but unfortunately, after three years of continuous eating, no matter how delicious the food is, I'm a little tired of it." Some townspeople said with a sigh.

"Yeah, well, with Longinus nii-san gone, we can finally get a change of venue," Baki said, ignoring the marines' murderous stares, muddled as he was.

Trying to calm his aching heart, Captain Adkin asked without shouting, "From what you're saying, he's off to join the Marines?"

"Yeah, from what Brother Longinus said, it looks like he's off to the Marine 'Chicken' branch for the world conscription."

"It's the G2 branch of the Marine." Adkin corrected the other party's statement before muttering to himself, "Relying on the pure physique to defeat the Giant Rhino Alex, he's as strong as an ordinary school officer. If he can further his studies at the headquarters, he might become something big on the level of Rear Admiral or even Vice Admiral. No, I have to quickly rush back to the G2 branch and gather him up before someone else does."

Seeing that Adkin seemed intent on leaving, the mayor quickly spoke up, "This... sir, can you exchange the head of the Giant Rhino Alex for a bounty for us?"

Adkin was again impressed, "That boy... left you the head of 37 million berries worth?"

"Well, Nah, Longinus nii-sama said he wasn't interested in money, he never touched it."

"Eh! This young man named Longinus...truly has a golden heart!"

Published in Qidian, February 14, 2019