Chapter 8: Renji and the Navy

Time flies.

In a quaint little villa.

"Big brother, I've finished all my tasks for today. (Though it only took me 30 minutes.)"

A red-haired boy walked briskly toward Renji, who was resting on a rocking chair.

"Shanks, you're here." Renji stopped rocking and handed over a reward from beside him. "Here, your favorite BC calcium milk."

Since Iva left four years ago, the system had issued a few more tasks.

Compared to the first task, these were trivial and easily completed.

However, the rewards were meager—just a few formulas, one of which was the BC calcium milk.

Still, thanks to these things, the four of them lived quite comfortably, even accidentally becoming the wealthiest in the Sorbet Kingdom.

Improving their lives was secondary; the main goal was to accumulate funds.

The Navy in this world is powerful, right? Yet, they still have to obediently follow the orders of the World Government.

The root cause of this situation is simply a lack of money.

Most of the world is covered in water, making agriculture a dead end. As for commerce, pirates are everywhere, making it nearly impossible to conduct business. When people run out of money, what can they do? They either become pirates or starve.

This creates a vicious cycle, leading to the world's current distorted state.

So, Renji decided to focus on making money first, though he absolutely avoided the black market.

Of course, physical training wasn't neglected either.

Renji glanced at his status panel.

[Host: Renji]

[Physique: 79]

[Mental Strength: 59]

[Swordsmanship: 79 (Swordsman-level)] (80-89: Master, 100: Grandmaster)

[Soru: 79 (Can stomp the ground dozens of times in 0.2 seconds)]

[Shigan: 79 (Finger strength can pierce through multiple layers of steel)]

[Armament Haki: 59 (Not awakened)]

[Observation Haki: 59 (Not awakened)]

[Conqueror's Haki: 0 (Not awakened)]

[Remaining Points: 1000]

[Points can be obtained by collecting emotions or completing system tasks. Points can be used to unlock training spaces or shop purchases.]

(In the training space, time flows at a 1:50 ratio. Training results affect the main body. The stronger the data, the harder it is to improve.)

Renji had a lot of complaints but didn't know where to start. None of his stats were even passing, and one was a flat zero.

The last time he used a time-limited card, he realized that 80 was a major threshold. But after four years of training, he was now stuck at the 60 threshold.

"This useless system is completely pointless!" Renji muttered, feeling like he had never encountered such a lame system before.

If the system could talk, it would probably say, "If it weren't for this status panel, I wouldn't even be able to prove my worth."

...

"Big brother, the lessons at school today were so boring. I almost died of boredom," Shanks said, sipping his BC calcium milk while chattering nonstop.

Renji rolled his eyes, feeling somewhat helpless but unable to say much.

After all, this little guy had already mastered most of the curriculum by the age of three—a true child prodigy.

"Can't I just skip ahead and go to the university you built?" Shanks asked eagerly, trying to use his charm to get his way.

Renji shook his head. "You should do things that match your age. I wish I could go back to elementary school myself."

"But elementary school is so boring," Shanks pouted.

"..."

"Tell me what you learned in school today," Renji said, patting Shanks' head and letting him lie down beside him.

Shanks counted on his fingers. "Enlightenment studies (a mix of texts like the Three Character Classic, mainly teaching morals), natural studies, and then the five arts (without charioteering)."

"But the university courses are so much more interesting—medicine, law, economics... I'm really interested in those."

"Too bad there's no meteorology or astronomy."

Renji looked up at the sky, not responding. He didn't want to admit that the system hadn't rewarded him with knowledge systems for astronomy or meteorology yet.

"We'll talk about it later."

"..."

"I have something to take care of. If you're bored, you can go find your big brother Bear or sister Ginny."

Renji walked to the coat rack, put on his Navy-issued coat, and slowly headed out.

He had joined the Navy three and a half years ago. Under the system's guidance, he had killed countless pirates to barely reach the rank of lieutenant commander, tasked with guarding the Sorbet Kingdom.

He thought that once he became the highest-ranking officer in the area, he could slack off.

But instead, he ended up with even more work.

He needed to keep climbing the ranks. He refused to believe that once he reached the top, there would still be tasks waiting for him.

...

Sorbet Kingdom Navy Base.

Renji walked through the main entrance of the building and entered his office.

The base originally had fewer than 1,000 personnel, but after his renovations and improvements to the infrastructure, it had expanded to over 2,000 people.

And these people were absolutely loyal to him. After all, who could resist a boss who never delayed salaries, offered bonuses, and even gave year-end rewards?

He had just sat down in his office chair when he casually flipped through the stack of files on his desk. They were all trivial matters.

Looking at these files, Renji stroked his chin. It seemed he needed to hire a secretary. If he handed all these tasks to a secretary, he could finally take a break.

After years of clearing out pirates, there were fewer and fewer in the area.

Those who passed through were easily handled by his subordinates, so he rarely had to intervene. This had led to a good relationship with the current king, Becori.

During a casual conversation, the king mentioned that if Renji hadn't appeared, the kingdom might have been forced to split in a few years due to the pressure of the Heavenly Tribute.

This method would reduce the amount of tribute paid, with one half under the kingdom's protection and the other becoming lawless territory.

This alone showed just how extreme the Celestial Dragons' exploitation of the world was.

At that moment, a man with curly hair, wearing a Navy uniform, knocked on the door and entered.

Seeing Renji resting in his chair, a look of admiration flashed in his eyes, but he quickly adjusted his expression, remembering his mission. "Sir, I have a report."

Renji straightened up slightly, becoming a bit more serious as he looked at the boy who, at 15, was already as tall as him.

"It's you, Kuzan. What's the matter?"

The Navy officer was Kuzan, the future Admiral Aokiji. When Renji had just become a lieutenant, Kuzan had specifically requested to join his unit. With his strength, character, and potential, Kuzan had become one of Renji's right-hand men.

"Lieutenant Commander Renji..."

Kuzan's expression was grave, and he hesitated slightly before speaking in a low voice.

"At noon today, we received an urgent report. A group of pirates is approaching a small island north of the Sorbet Kingdom. They're expected to arrive this afternoon."

Kuzan recalled the arrangements he had made before coming here and spoke anxiously.

"I've already sent scouts, but they haven't returned yet. I'm worried..."

"However, I've also sent a team to the island to protect the civilians."

"But I'm still uneasy and want to go check it out myself."

The scouts he had sent were among the best, skilled at hiding their tracks. If something had happened to them, the enemy must be formidable.

[Ding! Investigate and resolve the incident at St. Andrew.]

[Reward: 2000 points, 1 hour of training space time.]

2000 points? Even a dog would scoff at that. Converted into training time, it's just two hours. As for the shop, forget about it—you can't even buy a single course with that.

And not even a single skill point? Useless system.

"Next time, just call me with the Den Den Mushi. Don't waste time waiting for me to get to the office."

Renji put on his coat, grabbed his sword, and walked out the door.

"Time is of the essence. Come with me and guide the way."

Even a mosquito's worth of meat is still meat...