Chapter 15

After the "Sea Competition," Karl and his colleagues had three days of rest. But even during holidays, there was no time to relax. Karl complained that it annoyed him, but there was nothing he could do about it. Rest was allowed only on weekdays, and during holidays, you had to engage in absolutely everything and anything!

"Ah! It's already eight o'clock! No, I'm going to be late! Karl, stop it!"

Monica jumped out of bed and pushed away Karl's playful hands. It was all Karl's fault; he had been tossing and turning in his sleep all night, and she hadn't gotten any rest.

"Well, go on! I'm going to sleep a little longer."

A soft snore was heard in the room. Monica quickly got ready and left the room.

An hour later...

"Boom-boom-boom!"

"Who's there?" — It's me, Smoker. I know you're home. Open the door! —

Smoker? What does he need from me? It can't be. If he's standing at my door, then Karl will have to get out of bed.

— Why did you come to see me? Hey! Why is there a woman here? —

The woman, of course, was Hina. She had long pink hair, was dressed in a dark red suit, had a cold expression on her face, and, like Smoker, a cigarette dangled from the corner of her mouth.

Although Karl knew her name, they weren't acquainted in person, so he pretended not to know her.

— Oh, this is Hina. We attend the same training camp; she's my friend! —

Hearing "friend," Hina's face darkened:

— Hina is very disappointed. We've known each other for so many years, and you only call me a "friend"?

— Uhh, fine, fine, you're my friend, okay! Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with you about this. Karl, come on, let's head to the training ground!

Karl brushed off Smoker's hand with a look that said, "Hey, what are you doing?"

— Are you kidding? I finally have a day off! I'm not going to the training ground!

Smoker scoffed disdainfully:

— Don't think I don't know. Mr. Zephyr told me everything, don't act like a fool.

— We didn't determine a winner yesterday! Let's fight again today!

— No, I admit defeat, alright!

Karl refused without a second thought. As a naturalist, he couldn't allow himself to fight with someone who didn't even know about Armament Haki!

— Hey! In the worst case, we can just not use elementalization! How about fighting with real swords and guns? —

Karl looked at Smoker suspiciously, suspecting that he just wanted to get back at him and teach him a lesson.

— Come on, Karl! You can't stay at home all three days, right? Maybe if we fight, we'll suddenly awaken our Haki? —

Hey, don't say, there's some logic in that. Zephyr had already told him that the probability of awakening Haki is higher in battle.

But both he and Charles could easily control Karl and couldn't exert any pressure on him, as they couldn't defeat him.

Therefore, Smoker, an opponent equal in strength, was the perfect "trainer."

— Alright! Wait while I get changed! —

A quarter of an hour later, Karl and Smoker stood on opposite sides of the training ground, with Hina acting as the referee.

— Are you ready? —

Karl directed the Sacred Light into his body, and his strength sharply increased. His physical training on the panel also temporarily changed from a C to a C+. If converted into enhancement cards, it would take about 50 cards to increase physical training from C to C+.

— Let's go! —

Shaving!

The two were on the verge of fighting, and they battled fiercely.

…

For the next two days of rest, Karl essentially spent sparring with Smoker and Hina.

Now, without elementalization, Smoker wasn't a match for Karl.

As long as he had enough strength, everything was fine, but as soon as he lost energy and showed weakness, Karl, who still had reserves, would immediately seize him.

Simply put, the healing from the Sacred Light plus the halving of energy consumption provided by Move Like a Rabbit significantly enhanced Karl's physical strength compared to Smoker and Tina.

In particular, his recovery ability was stronger than that of Zoan-type users.

Of course, if Smoker activated his elementalization, it would be very difficult for Karl to defeat him.

Besides Smoker, Hina also sparred with Karl several times. Hina's ability was Cage Cage Fruit, which gave her a very strong control ability. Once she caught Karl, it was very hard for him to break free. They were evenly matched in strength.

As they say, you don't truly know someone until you fight them. Soon, Karl became friends with these two young Navy members who were close to him in age.

— Hm~ Thank you, Karl, your ability is really amazing; no wonder you have such high combat capability! —

Hina closed her eyes and delighted in the warm flow of energy within her body. The wounds she had sustained in sparring with Karl healed instantly, and even her physical strength was significantly restored.

Even though she had been healed like this many times before, she couldn't help but sigh.

— It's true! Catching pirates with Karl would be so easy, and I wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt. Otherwise, why wouldn't all three admirals wouldn't want Karl to become their adjutant! —

Having experienced Karl's ability, Smoker often lamented about why he ate the Smoke Fruit and still couldn't accomplish anything, ultimately having to rely only on physical skills.

— Ha-ha-ha, look at what you're saying, we're all part of the Marines, and we'll definitely have the chance to fight side by side in the future. —

Smoker nodded:

— Yes, by the way, are you going pirate hunting tomorrow?

— Yes, I'm leaving in the morning.

For Karl, it didn't matter whether he had a day off or not. Most of the time, he spent fishing anyway. Besides, he didn't have daily tasks during his rest time.

— I wish you a successful practice. I'm leaving tomorrow. What about you, Hina? — Hina will leave for the New World tomorrow with Chief of Staff Crane. Recently, the Beasts Pirates have a newcomer named Jack, who is too arrogant. Chief of Staff Crane is planning a mission to capture him, so he asked Tina to help. —

Karl's heart skipped a beat. He thought they wouldn't see each other for a long time and considered suggesting they have a meal together, but then changed his mind. They all had their own missions.

— In that case, goodbye! We must meet up and have a good time soon! —

— Agreed! — Tina agreed! —

The next day.

— Monica, I have to go on a mission this month. Wait for me, okay? —

Monica wrapped her arms around Karl's neck, inhaling his scent deeply, and said reluctantly:

— Alright, I'll wait for you. "You must come back safe and sound!"

"Of course, I'm off!"

Under Monica's tender gaze, Karl boarded the training ship and waved to her from the deck. Only when the training ship left Crescent Bay did Monica reluctantly return to the hospital, patiently waiting for the day Karl would return.

The training ship sailed, and many recruits were excited. After two months, they could finally step onto a naval vessel and fight for justice.

"Ahem! Everyone gather around!"

Zephyr held a loudspeaker and gathered the recruits to explain who they would be hunting this time.

"According to information provided by the Marines Intelligence, the Pirate Group 'Hunting Knife' with a total bounty of 47.45 million Berries is wandering around the vicinity of Autumn Island. Your task is to defeat them and send everyone to Impel Down. Are you confident in your abilities?"

"Yes!!!"

"Great, I believe in your abilities. I've said everything I wanted to say." Now, let's set sail! —

— Yes-yes-yes-yes!!! —

Karl took a deep breath and felt a slight pressure. Primarily, it came from the monster that could appear at any moment—Whitebeard II, Weevill.

But since he is here, he will never allow the tragedy from his memory to repeat in reality