The temporary office was simply furnished, permeated with the dry ink smell unique to old wood and archival paper.
Vice Admiral Tsuru sat behind the only large desk, flipping through a document.
The afterglow of the setting sun squeezed through the gaps in the blinds like molten gold, plating a warm edge onto her silver-white hair and deep profile, yet it did not soften the aura about her—calm as an abyss and wise as the sea.
Those eyes seemed to have already seen through all the vanities of the world.
"Reporting! private first class Seraphilia reporting as ordered!" Seraphilia stood at attention and saluted at the door, her voice clear and loud, trying her best to suppress the wild rabbit of a heart thumping in her chest from nervousness.
Tsuru looked up from the document, her gaze calm and waveless, yet it fell on her like a searchlight, leaving her with nowhere to hide.
She pointed to the chair in front of the desk.
"Sit."
Seraphilia sat down as told, her back as straight as a javelin, hands placed neatly on her knees, her knuckles—covered in thin calluses from years of training—slightly tensed.
She raised her head, her ice-blue eyes meeting Tsuru's scrutiny without flinching.
"How have you been feeling these past few days?" Tsuru closed the document, her fingertips tapping lightly on the cover with a dull thud.
Her tone was like casual small talk, but her gaze was as sharp as a scalpel, as if she wanted to dissect her soul.
Seraphilia knew exactly what she was asking.
"I have benefited greatly, Vice Admiral Tsuru. Your guidance, those notes, and the tactical drills... they have shown me how crude my use of my abilities was and clarified my future direction," she answered honestly and cautiously.
Tsuru nodded slightly, the corners of her lips curling into an extremely faint arc.
"Good perception, and you're willing to put in the work. I've been observing you for a while, Seraphilia," she said slowly, her voice not high, yet every word carried a thousand pounds of weight. "In the Black Iron Town suppression battle, you used 'Cloud Mist' to disrupt the enemy's vision, then used 'Cloud Needles' for indiscriminate suppression, and finally protected the civilians' evacuation with 'Condensed Cloud Shield.' The entire tactical sequence was seamless; you didn't look like a recruit, but more like a battle-hardened field officer. Your Fruit ability has great potential, and not just on a combat level."
Seraphilia held her breath, listening quietly.
"Tactical reconnaissance, intelligence transmission, environmental control, even strategic deception... if the characteristics of clouds are developed properly, the ceiling will be astonishingly high." Tsuru shifted the topic, her tone still flat but carrying an unquestionable weight. "However, the 73rd Branch of Black Iron Town cannot give you the platform and guidance you need. The training system, vision, and resources here are too limited. Your physical technique foundation, Haki awareness, and strategic vision can only be groped for by yourself here, yielding half the result with twice the effort."
She looked into Seraphilia's eyes and said word by word, "Your talent should not be buried here. Wasting talent is being irresponsible to yourself, and also... a huge loss for Marine justice."
Seraphilia's heart was gripped tightly by these words.
She had a premonition of what she was about to hear—a future she had never dared to hope for, yet had rehearsed countless times in her dreams.
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