Several days later, Gern’s Marine ship completely sailed out of the 133rd Main Branch’s range in the West Blue…

On the Marine ship, Gern stood at the stern, his fingertips unconsciously caressing the hilt of black blade eight desolations.

“Rear Admiral Gern,” the Sergeant quickly walked over, holding a nautical chart.

“We have now left the West Blue Marine patrol area.

Next, we should take the special current for Marine routes, but the route you marked…”

“I’m going to detour through the Calm Belt,” Gern’s fingertip drew an arc on the map.

“We won’t take the Marine route; we’ll take the pirate’s path.

It’s also a chance for our ‘new recruit’ to get accustomed.”

“This…” The Sergeant wasn’t a fool, so he looked at Tesoro, who was retching at the edge of the deck, and hesitated to speak.

The man, who had only worn a uniform for a few days, was now clutching the ship’s rail tightly, his face paler than sea fog.

“Ugh!” Another wave of nausea, Tesoro’s golden rings glinted comically in the sunlight.

“Hey! Don’t vomit your rings away! Those are some of the few gold items you have!” Gern suddenly appeared behind him, lifting him by the collar.

“I didn’t expect you to get such severe seasickness. Have you never been on a ship before?”

“Sorry… Rear Admiral Gern… Ugh!” Tesoro wiped his mouth.

“I’ve indeed never been on a ship. I didn’t expect this to be ten times worse than a casino hangover…”

“Just get used to it! There will be pirates for you to deal with soon.” Gern released his grip and turned to the Sergeant.

“Tell the kitchen to make some ginger soup. After all, he can’t slack off tonight either.

Otherwise, if I hand you over to Teacher Zephyr and he finds you lacking, that won’t be good.”

After all, Tesoro wasn’t Libo.

Moreover, Gern didn’t have time to train Tesoro step by step, so handing him over to Zephyr was the best option.

As the saying goes, if you give Zephyr a good sapling, Zephyr will return a good shaker!

“Yes!” The Sergeant nodded understandingly.

Ever since Stella was settled in the officer’s family cabin, Tesoro’s nightly Devil Fruit ability training would cause small commotions, especially the gold…

In the dead of night, the Marine ship was like a floating island, Moonlight spreading a silvery path across the deck.

When Gern pushed open the iron door of the training cabin, Tesoro was panting heavily at a target, solidified golden arrows scattered around.

“Your stamina drains too quickly. There’s no way you can continuously display your Gold-Gold Fruit ability like this.” Gern kicked aside a gold nugget at his feet.

“I can’t help it. I didn’t expect using a Devil Fruit ability to consume so much stamina…” Tesoro’s bangs were matted to his forehead with sweat as he replied, panting.

“Then stop Devil Fruit development for now. Start training your physical combat basics too. The rest will grow directly in real combat.

After all, that’s the only way to grow quickly!”

So, in the following days, whenever Gern encountered small pirate crews, he would have Tesoro handle them alone.

And Tesoro went from initial panic to gradually adapting, even slowly becoming familiar with his Marine identity.

Gern’s delayed itinerary also led to his ship’s course slowly overlapping with another group of pirates returning from the New World, eventually becoming unavoidable…

.........

In the first half of the Grand Line, on the azure sea, the Oro Jackson cut through the waves.

On the deck, the Roger Pirates crew were enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

Buggy and Shanks were chasing and playing at the bow, Buggy waving an orange he had stolen from somewhere, shouting triumphantly,

“Come on, Buggy the Red-Nose! If you can catch me, you win!”

“Hey! Shanks.” A vein throbbed on Buggy’s forehead: “Who’s Red-Nose?!”

Rayleigh leaned against the ship’s rail, holding a cup of rum, shaking his head helplessly.

Jabba, with a cigarette in his mouth, grinned, “Young people certainly have a lot of energy.”

The other members were also enjoying themselves until Rayleigh, leaning against the railing, suddenly focused his gaze, looking towards the distant horizon.

“Hmm?” He frowned slightly, “A Marine ship?”

“Is it the Marine?” Jabba looked in the direction of his gaze.

Indeed, a Marine ship flying the Marine flag was approaching from an irregular route.

“It really is the Marine?! It couldn’t be Garp and Sengoku again, could it? That would be very troublesome!” Jabba said with a look of disdain.

Clearly, everyone in the Roger Pirates believed that the only troublesome Marine presences were Garp and Sengoku acting together.

“Impossible, Garp isn’t in the Grand Line.”

“A Marine branch patrol ship? Or heading to the New World…”

“No!” Rayleigh stroked his chin, “Why would a normal Marine take this route?

This is a common route for pirates going to Sabaody Archipelago. Don’t the Marine have their own special current route?”

Jabba, however, grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth: “Who cares? Maybe they’re full of confidence, ready to gamble on catching the Captain?!”

Jabba and Rayleigh’s words quickly caught the attention of Buggy and Shanks, who immediately came over.

“A Marine ship?!” Buggy’s eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands excitedly.

“Hey, hey, it couldn’t be that ‘Heaven Tremor’ Gern again, could it?

Last time I heard about the Celestial Dragons disappearance incident in the West Blue, he was handling it!”

Shanks pressed down his large red Captain’s hat and narrowed his eyes: “If it’s him, that would be truly interesting.”

“You two…” Rayleigh sighed helplessly: “Don’t always think about fighting.”

However, Roger had already strode over, a characteristic hearty smile on his face.

“Oh? The Marine? Perfect! Let’s see who’s coming to play with us this time!”

Jabba laughed heartily: “Captain, you didn’t say that last time when Sengoku and Garp were chasing you!”

Roger put his hands on his hips and laughed: “That’s different! Those two guys are too serious, no fun at all!”

After speaking, he turned and looked at Crocus, winking, “Crocus, no problem, right!?”

Looking at Roger’s expectant gaze, Crocus pushed up his glasses and said expressionlessly,

“A fight? Heh heh. Compared to that, if you could drink less, my job would obviously be much easier.”

…

At the same time, on Gern’s Marine ship, from the crow’s nest, if Rayleigh could see the Marine ship, the Marine soldiers could naturally see the pirate ship!

“Ship spotted 45 degrees to port!” The observer’s hoarse voice boomed through the speaking tube in the command room.

“It’s… it’s the Oro Jackson!!!”

The glass slipped from the Sergeant’s hand, shattering on the teak floor.

The entire Marine ship instantly fell silent, as if even the steam turbine had stopped running.

“C-confirmed?” The Sergeant’s voice changed pitch, like a rooster with its neck squeezed.

The soldier in the crow’s nest had already collapsed in the basket, his binoculars rolling onto the deck.

“Two mermaids supporting the figurehead… red sails… and that flag, absolutely no mistake!”

“The Roger Pirates?!!!”

In an instant, the deck erupted in chaos, the sound of frantic footsteps echoing across the deck.

“Silence!” Seeing this, Gern snapped coldly, his released pressure freezing everyone in place.

He then unhurriedly fastened his cloak buckle, black blade eight desolations at his waist: “Now, I want to hear a standard combat report.”

“Reporting, Rear Admiral Gern!” The observer’s teeth chattered, “Enemy ship five nautical miles away, no cannons deployed, appears to be… appears to be holding a banquet…”

“Is that so!” Gern suddenly smiled.

This smile sent shivers down Tesoro’s spine. The current Gern was like a casino dealer’s expression when flipping over the hole card.

A crazy lunatic!!!

“No need to retreat, maintain course, all hands—forward!!!”