Just like that, several days passed.
Aiden's cave gradually evolved from a quiet camp into a "Pirate Acquisition Station" and a "Central Kitchen."
The first trade was completed on the evening of the third day.
Hina's team kept their word. They appeared outside the waterfall, dragging two pirates who had their legs broken and were tied up tightly.
Aiden calmly confirmed the quality of the "goods."
Then, he handed them three portions of sizzling, oily roasted meat wrapped in large tree leaves.
After experiencing two days of hunger, Hina and her teammates ate with tears in their eyes.
This news spread like a virus among the recruits.
They were all starving until their eyes turned green, living with insects and half-raw roasted meat every day.
"Have you heard? There's a cafeteria at the waterfall cave. The food they make is incredibly delicious!"
"You can exchange pirates for food there! It's real roasted meat! The kind with spices!"
"How many portions can you get for one pirate?"
As a result, from the fourth day onward, more and more teams began to show up at his door.
They dragged all kinds of half-dead pirates and lined up outside the cave.
They looked like laborers waiting for their boss to pay their wages.
Aiden became the man at the top of the food chain on this deserted island.
He even created a clear exchange rate—different amounts of roasted meat could be traded depending on the pirate's strength.
The entire ecosystem of the wilderness survival training was completely changed by him alone.
As "pirate currency" became harder to find, conflicts even broke out between the recruits.
Deep in the jungle, two different teams discovered a small pirate group of only three people at the same time.
Before the pirates could even react, the two groups of Marine recruits started fighting each other to claim the "mobile dinners"!
"We saw them first! These three portions of roasted meat are ours!"
"Bullshit! We were the ones who surrounded them! Don't even think about stealing our meat!"
The few small-time pirates squatted on the spot, looking completely confused.
They watched the two groups of Marines beating each other bloody over them. Their understanding of the world completely collapsed.
"Are Marines this competitive nowadays? This isn't how you compete for a performance record, is it?"
Aiden watched this drama from a distance. A playful curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Tch, a perfect market economy model. When a resource becomes scarce, its value rises infinitely, even causing toxic competition."
"If Chief Instructor Zephyr knew I turned his survival training into an economics practice class, I wonder if he'd be so mad he'd jump out of his shoes."
On the evening of the twelfth day, a long line had formed in front of Aiden's cave as usual.
Recruits from various paths threw tightly bound pirates onto the ground like they were turning in homework, waiting for the cafeteria to open.
Aiden looked at the long list of C-rank and B-rank judgment records in his system panel. He let out a bored yawn.
"They're all small fry. Their crime indexes aren't low, but they don't provide anything valuable."
"This training is too easy. Did the instructors clear out all the real dangers?"
Just as he was thinking that, his Observation Haki—which had already become a natural instinct—suddenly caught a completely different signal.
A burst of aura filled with pure killing intent and the smell of blood appeared.
Like a lighthouse in the dark night, it appeared very abruptly at the other end of the island.
That was definitely not a "training gear" level pirate that these recruits usually dealt with.
Aiden's movement as he handed out the roasted meat paused for a split second, though it was hard to notice.
He slowly raised his head and looked deep into the dark jungle. A hint of confusion appeared on his face.
"What's the situation? A pirate of this strength... putting them on the island seems like a bit much for these recruits, doesn't it?"
"Or is there an instructor following them in the shadows, waiting for the recruits to improve while standing on the line between life and death?"
In the Grand Line, across a patch of unknown sea covered in thick fog.
A Marine warship was cutting through the waves.
The deck was full of Marine soldiers on high alert. The air was thick with a grim atmosphere.
Gion was standing at the bow of the ship.
The sea breeze moved her black hair. A few strands of hair stuck to her cheeks.
She wore a pure white Justice coat over her shoulders.
Underneath, she didn't wear a standard Marine uniform.
Instead, she wore a well-tailored light pink shirt and pure white trousers.
The outfit fit her well.
By her side was her beloved sword—"Konpira."
Her expression was serious.
An adjutant with blood still on his face stepped forward quickly.
He gave a standard Marine salute. His voice was full of deep respect.
"Reporting to Commodore Gion! The target, the Skull Crusher Pirates' ship, used the thick fog this morning to flee to the northwest..."
"Currently, their location is unknown. We have lost them."
"Tch, a pack of cunning rats." Gion's brows furrowed slightly.
She reached out her slender fingers and gently tapped the cold railing of the ship.
Even though they hadn't seen the enemy ship since this morning, confirming that they had completely lost the target still made her feel frustrated.
The adjutant looked at the young officer in front of him with awe.
She was only twenty-five years old this year, yet she was already one of the youngest Commodores at Headquarters.
In the fierce battle yesterday, Commodore Gion had almost single-handedly beaten the enemy until they couldn't even raise their heads.
Against "Skull Crusher" Coste, who had a bounty of 90 million Berries, she only needed ten moves to cut him and his sword apart.
If they hadn't run into this fog, that group of pirates—who were quite famous in the Grand Line—would have been wiped out already.
"Commodore, look." The adjutant opened a sea chart and pointed to a blank area.
"There are no islands for supplies in this area. The nearest port is a thousand miles away."
"The only place the pirates can stop is that uninhabited island near Marineford—'Gigantea.' If they flee there, they won't be able to repair their damaged ship. They'll be trapped like rats in a jar."
"Gigantea..."
Gion nodded and was about to give an order. However, that name suddenly made her remember something.
"Wait." She stopped the adjutant, her tone becoming serious. "Connect to the emergency communication line at Marineford immediately!"
A few minutes later, after learning that the elite training camp was conducting survival training on Gigantea, Gion's expression changed.
"This is not good!"
She immediately issued the most urgent command: "Full speed ahead! Target: Gigantea!"
Meanwhile, inside the waterfall cave on the deserted island.
Aiden stopped distributing the roasted meat.
He carefully sensed that powerful aura that had suddenly appeared, filled with pure killing intent and the scent of blood.
Fortunately, because it was dinner time, most of the recruits on the island were gathered at his location.
So, that group of uninvited guests probably hadn't noticed that people were on the island yet.
Aiden picked up a cup of hot tea and took a sip to moisten his throat.
Then, he handed the task of distributing food to Rosinante, who was responsible for counting the recruits.
"Take over for me," Aiden said in a very low voice. "Hand it out based on their contribution. Don't get it wrong."
Under everyone's confused gazes, he used a lame excuse. "I need to go to the bathroom."
With a flash of his figure, he disappeared silently into the shadows of the jungle.
Aiden's figure moved through the jungle covered in night like a ghost.
He moved at high speed. Weeds and leaves brushed against his body, but he didn't make a single sound.
Soon, he reached a cliff overlooking the pirates' landing point.
He pulled a pair of high-powered binoculars from his ring.
Through the binoculars, he saw a scene that made his brow furrow tightly.