Boot Camp

Longinus was clueless about future developments, but he could roughly guess that there would be some people dissatisfied with his sudden entrance.

He didn't much care, however, but instead took some interest in what the Captain Adkin was up.

It didn't take Longinus to meet Captain Adkin, who was carefully reviewing official documents, in a strict and straightforward meeting room.

"Report!"

"Come in."

"Yes!"

The soldier led Longinus in and reported, " Captain, new enlisted Longinus has been brought in for your instructions."

How does Longinus look clueless and feel like he's about to be arrested for a crime?

Captain Adkin looked up suddenly, a hint of emotion appearing on his angular face, "It is as young as Rear Admiral Johnson said it was!"

"Well, you are dismissed." Captain Adkin signaled to the soldier who was leading the way.

"Yes!"

Only after they were alone in the room did Captain Adkin pull out a smile and say, "You sit down first! I suppose there is some doubt in your mind now, more or less, and you probably think that what you've done shouldn't be enough to make a Marine captain go to so much trouble, right?"

"Indeed, Rear Admiral Johnson has shown his willingness to do so, and that should be my greatest reward," Longinus said.

"I'm looking for you both for public and private reasons, right!" Captain Adkin said without missing a beat.

"Because of my incompetence, I allowed the Giant Rhino Alex to repeatedly escape from the marines, resulting in several villages' extermination. Every second of every day, I was suffering inside, and at one point, I even wanted to take off this uniform and assassinate him as an adventurer."

Captain Adkin clenched his fists and said, "So, after knowing that you killed Alex, my aching heart was finally comforted, which is why I wished to meet you in private to express my deepest gratitude."

Longinus shook his head, the Kind Personality saying impassionedly, "A ruthless criminal like the Giant Rhino Alex would not be spared by any person who had a good conscience or ability."

"I knew you'd say that, worthy of being praised by Rear Admiral-sama, as a rising star of the Marine." Captain Adkin said with admiration on his face.

"The next thing I'm going to talk to you about is your future."

"My future..." and Longinus's mind faltered, his face showing his confusion at just the right time.

"Marine boot camp, don't be fooled by the plain name, it's where all marines are considered to be cradles of the military academy. All big names who have been promoted to Rear Admiral in recent years to the rank of Vice-Admiral with great momentum are from there."

Captain Adkin took a deep breath and said with respect, "Because, that Chief Instructor of the Marine Recruit Battalion is a former Marine Admiral who has captured countless important pirates. He is known as the Hero ''Black Fist'' Zephyr along with Vice Admiral Garp alongside the Admiral Sengoku!"

"Admiral...Black Wrist Zephyr..." mused Longinus, knowing from the memory of the foreign soul that he was a pure tragedy figure.

"It's been eight years since Admiral Zephyr retired, and it's normal for you newcomers not to know. You need to understand that as long as you can successfully graduate from that boot camp, you'll come out at least starting as a Lieutenant Commander. With your talent, it's not out of the question that you'll even make it to Lieutenant Commander, and in three years you'll be able to go through most of the Marine's lifetime."

Longinus nodded, showing his confusion at the right time, "Captain Adkin, your purpose in bringing this up is..."

"In private and in public, I was hoping to be able to recommend you for that boot camp, and now that I've found you, I want to know what you think."

"A stronger power can better guard justice. Naturally, I wish to forge my dedication to justice better, but it's just that a training camp at this level shouldn't be easy to get into, right!" Longinus is "yearning for the future," he said.

"Of course, I'm just a marine captain, and I'm just an insignificant person, so where can I get you into the headquarters at once?"

"We have 100 recommendations every year, and only after two years of inspection can we decide on nine places to send to the headquarters boot camp for further training."

"On the part, because it takes us two years to clear out any possible threats, and I'm not afraid to make jokes, there have been times when pirate forces have infiltrated the high level of the Marine and caused a great deal of damage to certain Marine operations."

"On the other hand, because the boot camp has not been up a long time, too many people have their eyes on this untouched place. Just like the pioneers who have made great contributions to the Marines who have died tragically, and their descendants must be a priority."

"Two years? Two years later, I'm only 14. I can afford to wait this little bit of time." Longinus wasn't surprised, like the first camp's Akainu and Kizaru, who were 23 and 26 years old, respectively, and even the third year's Aokiji was 19 years old, so it was odd for someone as young as him to be instead.

Moreover, after waiting two years, he would be recognized as a loyal member of the Marines' genuine lineage, which was completely different from the future kind of recruits who were brought in during the middle.

In short, it's the difference between a regular member of staff and a contract worker.

Captain Adkin was relieved to see no resistance or hesitation from Longinus, who was still worried that Longinus would be naive and angry and think the assessment was a sign of mistrust of him.

He was optimistic about Longinus and thought that all future Vice Admirals might have a place for Longinus, so he had to pick things up at the beginning with Longinus.

"There's the Government in this..." said Captain Adkin, looking stiff and waving his hand, "...ahem, you should have something else to do... Right, I'll let the others take you to familiarize yourself with the barracks next."

After Longinus walked out of the meeting room, he said in his mind, "Is it because the marine side has produced three mighty monsters in a row, making the government somehow restless?"

"Perhaps after some top-level maneuvers, the Marine's higher-ups decided to concede two years to the government, which explicitly and implicitly gave the major bases two years to assess the situation."

"However, those at the top of the government may have underestimated their personnel's lower rankings. And didn't realize what kind of crap they'd go to the trouble of mixing in with the boot camp, so much so that there was a huge gap in the boot camp's earlier and middle sessions."

"In other words, in two years, the session will probably be another great burst in the Marine after several years of silence, so hopefully I'll meet some characters that intrigue on me a bit."

Published in Qidian, February 19, 2019