Chapter 129: The Flow of Time, You Should Call Me Grandmother
At this moment, Dragon felt that the aura surrounding Zephyr seemed to have changed.
It was an attitude of having shed his confusion and becoming more serious about the future.
He couldn't exactly say why, but at this moment, Dragon felt Zephyr possessed more dignity than ever before.
Although Zephyr made a choice similar to Garp's, unlike Garp—who was still willing to believe in the Marines—Zephyr already harbored a sense of alienation toward them.
It was true that he remained in the Marines, but he now carried some special purposes.
Moreover, he didn't completely reject Dragon; he simply turned him down temporarily on the grounds that the timing wasn't right.
Zephyr didn't linger here for long and quickly departed. Afterward, Sebastian also engaged in a brief exchange of blows with Dragon.
After confirming Dragon's strength, he left both the ship and the men to Dragon, then dove into the sea and returned to Fish-man Island alone.
Even though he received some supplementation in manpower, Dragon didn't launch any operations with great fanfare.
Although these pirate slaves used to be captains sailing the Grand Line and were more than capable of handling various situations in a place like the East Blue, the royal armies of the Four Blues were never their true enemies.
Let alone the Celestial Dragons' Holy Knights, the Marines of the Grand Line were enough to deal with them. Accumulating strength and developing slowly was what they truly needed.
And those who were moving forward and developing were far more than just them.
Every so often, the Marines would launch new conscription efforts to replenish their military strength, while the sea would always produce new pirates for various reasons.
Some had to set out to sea simply to survive, while others made similar choices driven by ambition.
Those pirates who once belonged to the Rocks Pirates were also gradually emerging into prominence.
As time flowed by, when people mentioned them, they no longer thought of Rocks, but of the individuals themselves.
Relying on their own strength, they also became legends of the sea. The names of Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Big Mom gradually grew louder, and the pressure on the Marines seemed to become even greater.
Just like this, three years passed, arriving at the Sea Circle Calendar Year 1508.
During this year, on the Grand Line, a terrifying legend was gradually brewing.
"I swear everything I'm saying is true! We were just sailing through the fog when we encountered a pirate raid..."
"And then? How did you get away?"
"There's a monster in the dense fog! Once he saw it was a pirate ship, he attacked without a word!"
On an island in the first half of the Grand Line, Morgans, despite being the President, was still working on the front lines as a journalist. He was currently investigating related matters.
And the one doing this was none other than Harald, who was silently doing illegal labor. As more and more pirates set out to sea, the number of pirates passing through the Florian Triangle also increased.
Although Harald attacked indiscriminately, destroying every pirate ship he saw, there would always be some survivors, allowing this terrifying legend to gradually become known to more people.
Even within the great underwater prison, Impel Down, which housed pirates, some pirates were telling other inmates about what they had seen.
Rumor had it that a demon specifically hunting pirates was operating there. However, some grapevine news claimed that the one doing this was actually the King of the Ryugu Kingdom.
In order to prevent those evil pirates from threatening the safety of his citizens, he would go hunt pirates from time to time.
Some eyewitnesses stated that the attacker was a massive giant and definitely not Nereus. But the reason a rumor is called a rumor is exactly because no one knows what it will eventually morph into.
Meanwhile, on Fish-man Island, Nereus—one of the subjects of the rumor—didn't care about this at all. How pirates viewed him wasn't important; as long as the passing pirates behaved themselves, everyone could live in peace.
In three years, Fish-man Island's Neptune Army had completed a major reshuffle. The very first batch to join had become grassroots officers in the Neptune Army, leading more recruits and executing the mission of protecting Fish-man Island.
The original First Legion had also expanded its scale to 10,000 personnel. Serving as Fish-man Island's special forces legion, its members not only had higher physical requirements but even specific fish species requirements.
For example, the First Company was currently led by Rachel, and all the troops under her command were electric eels, rays, and other Fish-men or Merfolk capable of discharging electricity.
Coupled with the Second Company—composed of venomous members like lionfish, pufferfish, and blue-ringed octopuses—and the Third Assassination Company—composed of stonefish, wobbegong sharks, and others capable of changing color or turning invisible, excelling in stealth attacks—they jointly formed the First Legion.
The total number of legions had also expanded to three. The requirements for the Second and Third Legions weren't as high; they could only be considered conventional combat troops. Currently, the standing army was maintained at 50,000 personnel, while more recruits were still in training.
As for the Royal Guard selected by Nereus, they hadn't graduated yet.
After three years of hellish training, they were capable enough to be called the cream of the crop in any ordinary legion. But here, they could only be considered to have just laid a solid foundation.
Currently, Sebastian, under Nereus's instructions, was teaching them the Rokushiki (Six Powers).
The training methods for Rokushiki were procured by Nereus. After all, he had killed an unknown number of CP9 and CP0 agents; he could always extract something from those undead.
Although it was something circulated internally within the World Government, Rokushiki was qualified as a combat technique.
It was just that it had certain requirements for physical fitness. Those capable of training in it were inherently elites. For widespread dissemination, it still wasn't as practical as skills like Fish-man Karate, so it was considered extra training material specifically required for elites.
"I say, Alber, this stuff is pretty useless for you, isn't it? Tekkai (Iron Body) isn't as good as your innate defense, Soru (Shave) can't compare to your speed form, and as for Geppo (Moonwalk), you already know how to fly."
Nanamo was leaning against Hermes, who had transformed into a sofa. During the theoretical class on Rokushiki just now, Alber had listened very attentively, but Nanamo always felt that Rokushiki was a very lackluster skill.
To her, only the Seimei Kikan (Life Return) technique was somewhat useful, but Seimei Kikan wasn't strictly part of the Rokushiki.
"It's the customary toolkit of the Cipher Pol agencies; it's necessary to understand it somewhat. Those guys are the World Government's most loyal hunting dogs.
However, Miss Nanamo, with all due respect, you are somewhat slack. Even if your talent is strong enough, you should train harder."
"..."
"Do you think my days are easy?! I just survived my old man's hellish training, okay... And you're clearly three years younger than me; could you not speak so maturely!
If we go by generational seniority, you might have to call me 'Grandmother' in the future."
Alber, who was doing weight training, had his hand slip and almost threw the giant dumbbell away. Over these three years, he and Nanamo had become very familiar, but he still hadn't figured out how this generational seniority was calculated.
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