One Piece : From Slave to Fleet Admiral

Holy Light enveloped Smoker's swollen face as Jake's apologetic voice sounded.

"Sorry, I might have gone a little too hard. Your movements were so fast, it made me nervous."

Hearing Jake's obvious attempt to give him an out, Smoker bluntly called him out.

"You don't need to say those comforting words. You probably didn't expect me to be this weak."

"No, no, that's not the case at all."

Watching Jake continue to deny it, Smoker found himself at a loss for words.

No matter how carefree he was, constantly admitting his inferiority to others still didn't sit well with him.

Hina, who had known Smoker for a long time, immediately saw through his thoughts and said bluntly.

"Stop dwelling on useless things Smoker. Focus on your treatment. Hina is very dissatisfied with you."

"Tch, you should work on dropping that weird speech habit first."

Monet sat beside Jake, smiling slightly as she watched the two bicker.

Nearly twelve hours had passed since the morning sparring session.

Now was rest time after the first day of training.

The group wasn't in their respective dormitories but aboard a Marine warship.

To prepare for the World Government's request for a demonstration match and with Jake's exceptional medical skills available, Zephyr decided to take a slight risk by altering the original training plan.

Originally, the first month of training was supposed to consist of long, tedious physical conditioning.

Only after weeding out trainees who couldn't keep up would they proceed to actual combat training for further improvement.

But clearly, with the demonstration match scheduled in a month, Zephyr didn't have that luxury of time.

So he moved up the practical combat missions originally planned for later stages.

Their destination was the North Blue, Sakazuki's homeland and the region where Flevance was located.

Their mission was simple: to take down the Black Hawk Pirates with a total bounty of 90 million Berries.

Unlike the inflated bounties of the pirates in the future, bounties at this time held real weight.

What made it more unsettling was that this pirate crew was reportedly connected to the Yonko's Beast Pirates.

Their captain, Boars was an Ancient Zoan-type user model : Black Giant Eagle with a staggering 50 million Berry bounty.

Zephyr had his own reasons for choosing this pirate crew as their primary target.

During their time together, Zephyr knew Jake planned to become the base commander of Flevance's Marine branch after graduating.

Aware of how dangerous that region was, Zephyr wanted Jake to make a name for himself in the North Blue before assuming command, to facilitate his future operations.

Moreover, among the Black Hawk Pirates, there was a pirate Zephyr had personally arrested before.

According to his intelligence, this pirate might have been one of those who went after his family for revenge years ago.

These were the reasons why the Marine Headquarters' elite training program chose the Black Hawk Pirates as their target.

Seeing that Smoker's wounds had nearly healed, Jake stopped channeling the Holy Light.

Touching the wound on his face that should have hurt for days, Smoker was surprised to find not only was there no pain, but the treated skin felt smoother and softer than before.

"Your ability is really convenient. This way, you can save a lot on medical expenses, right?"

Smoker's angle in the conversation was odd, but Jake smiled and nodded before steering the topic where he wanted.

"Pretty much. At least I don't need to go to the hospital when I'm sick. By the way, does anyone know anything about the pirate crew we're targeting this time?"

Hina was the first to respond to Jake's question.

"Hina knows a bit. Those guys are currently in the North Blue's Prince Kingdom. Rumor has it they're staying there to obtain something. The nearby Marine bases have searched for them several times but never found the Black Hawk Pirates' location. Yet, cases of murdered civilians keep piling up. There's even talk that the Black Hawk Pirates want to seize the throne."

"That's also why the Prince Kingdom requested protection from Marine Headquarters. Our mission here is partly for training and partly in response to their plea for aid. Hina is happy to share this information with you."

Listening to this, Smoker's face showed a hint of impatience.

"Went several times but found no trace of the enemy? How can a pirate ship that big just disappear? I bet the branch Marines got scared after seeing the crew's bounty and made up excuses."

Jake, however, countered Smoker's view.

"No, it's probably not what you think. The Black Hawk Pirates' total bounty is as high as 90 million berries and not all their members are fully documented. It's not impossible for them to have one or two Devil Fruit users who can hide their ship.

Besides, if the branch Marines were truly afraid of facing the Black Hawk Pirates, they could've just requested backup from HQ instead of continuing patrols and increasing the chances of running into them."

Hearing Jake's words, Smoker didn't agree but simply exhaled two slow puffs of smoke.

Binz then shared what he'd heard before.

"The Prince Kingdom is one of the World Government's affiliated nations. They're famous for a plant called Hero. If crushed and swallowed directly, it induces intense hallucinations and euphoria—highly addictive too. Over 70% of the country's population has tried it."

"But the plant has strict growing conditions. Despite high yields, demand still outstrips supply. The Prince Kingdom sells Hero externally at 10,000 berries per gram. Thanks to this, the country is incredibly wealthy—one of the richest in the North Blue. If the Black Hawk Pirates want to take over the kingdom, I doubt it's possible."

Ain promptly added.

"Binz and I have been there before. Though the country is rich, most of the wealth is held by royalty and nobles. The commoners don't even have proper housing. Whatever they earn from daily labor, they spend on Hero at night, leaving the whole nation looking utterly rundown."

------------------------------

I upload a new fanfic, Fairy tail : You call this celestial Magic ? Please go read it!

Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.

patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator