Starting with Kengan beating up the Pirate King

Chapter 29 Team Leader Long Qi!

"Is 19 billion the least important link?"

Guan Yixin said that it was very important, and if you think it's not important, I can take it away.

"It's a bit messy here, please sit anywhere."

Long Qi pointed to several boxes, but instead of explaining directly, he said to Guan Yi, "Before we talk about anything else, Guan Yi, I think it's necessary for me to reintroduce myself to you formally."

"My name is Long Qi, I am 24 years old, and I graduated from the National University of Defense Technology with a major in Secret Realm Management and Ecology."

Guan Yi paused, and Long Qi smiled and said, "Yes, if you hadn't chosen to sign up as a volunteer explorer for the secret realm, I would probably be your senior. Maybe I would even teach you a couple of classes when I occasionally come back to school."

Three years ago, I graduated from school and joined the military's 'Secret Realm Management Department'. Not counting this time, I have participated in three secret realm explorations and made contributions during the explorations. Currently, I hold the rank of major and have successfully become a two-striped warrior.

This is my second time leading a secret realm exploration, and I do lack experience, but I don't think I've made any major mistakes.

After all, my first exploration of a secret realm ended in a brush with death, and I'll never forget the lesson it taught me. Want to know what we went through?

Guan Yi sat down and looked at Long Qi, who was squatting on the box next to him. He was genuinely curious about the situation in the other secret realms: "Can I tell you? And since you came to the military from the National University of Defense Technology, the first secret realm you entered should have been a simple or normal difficulty one, right? Did something happen?"

Did the military's assessment of the secret realm's level go wrong again?

"Yes, it's a secret realm with a combined level between simple and ordinary. The background is modern society, and the strategy is to join a battle of wits and win. Although there are supernatural powers inside, they can generally only take lives if they know the name, and we happen to be using aliases."

Huh? You can only kill someone if you know their name?
It feels kind of familiar.

"We all know that intellectual battles, detective work, and puzzle-solving in these kinds of secret realms are child's play for us explorers. Because apart from the first round of exploration, we basically solve puzzles with the answers already in hand. When a secret realm resets, the people in the secret realm lose all their memories, but we are different!"

So when we entered the secret realm, our group of explorers was full of confidence. We knew that the guy who called himself a god, who called himself Kira, and who killed people with a notebook was named Light Yagami, and we also knew Light Yagami's rival, the world's greatest detective L, and his every move.

Light Yagami? L?!
Guan Yi was startled.

Holy crap, is this the Death Note?!

That's right, if there's One Piece, how could there not be other anime secret realms?

Unaware of Guan Yi's unusual behavior, Long Qi continued, "The result of our overconfidence was that out of the 20 of us who entered the secret realm, 14 died in what could be considered a simple secret realm."

Do you know how they died? Haha, we actually... got exposed by L!
I've never seen an example like that in school textbooks. A mysterious being, someone who only existed for a year before the secret realm was conquered, actually uncovered the truth that we came from 'alien' planets, causing us... to be punished by heaven and die!"

He clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly. Even now, when he mentions this matter, he still seems unable to calm down.

Guan Yi was slightly shocked, but not incredulous. L's intelligence was indeed terrifying; the Death Note was known as the pinnacle of intellectual combat.

After a long pause, Long Qi finally relaxed and continued, "I was spared. L realized that we would die if we exposed our identities, so he didn't continue. Instead, he used us to defeat Light Yagami and capture Kira."

I also received a blessing from the secret realm for this, becoming a one-mark martial artist and being promoted by the military, but to be honest, I only felt ashamed.

After recounting the past, he let out a soft sigh and said, "Having had that experience, how could I possibly underestimate the wisdom of the people in the secret realm?"

“It will definitely be exposed!” His expression and tone became more forceful: “From the moment I had Jiang Xue write the letter of denunciation, I knew that the Navy would find out! Perhaps it was Colonel Smoker in Loguetown, or perhaps it was the higher-ups at the Navy Headquarters, who would definitely notice the ‘hidden hand’ behind it all.”

"At this point, my plan will be half successful. It would be best to seize the 19 billion treasure, but it doesn't matter if we are caught on the spot. Whether it's Deputy Team Leader Zhou who evades the investigation, or Deputy Team Leader Guo who has been hiding himself and only contacting me through Deputy Team Leader Zhou, they both have a chance to rescue the explorers."

The only thing I didn't expect was that the new Navy Captain Smoker in Loguetown would be so powerful, but thankfully, we had the pleasant surprise of having you among us, which led to a great victory."

Long Qi said confidently, "Now we just need to wait quietly. If they don't disappoint me, someone at the Navy Headquarters should soon be able to tell that both Jiang Xue and Deputy Team Leader Zhou joined the Navy about a year ago."

Extending this line of thought, they discovered that similar individuals were present in more than a dozen naval branches in the East China Sea affected by the rat eradication operation!
They joined the Navy a year ago, their origins unclear, but all possessed considerable talent. They generally completed basic training within three months and rose to the rank of junior officer within a year, becoming the backbone of their local naval branches. This is the characteristic of our explorers; joining the Navy is the safest and most stable choice in the early stages of exploration. There are 16 such explorers in total!

……

Navy Headquarters.

Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Navy's chief of staff, sat in her office, scrutinizing the intelligence reports on Jiang Xue and Zhou Yingxiong on her desk. The two appeared completely different on the surface, but with her intelligence, she quickly discovered some commonalities. "Did they start planning this a year ago? Which side is involved—pirates, the World Government, or even the Revolutionary Army?" she frowned.

Soon, she retrieved the naval branch files affected by the rat incident, focusing on reviewing the files of new recruits who joined the navy around the same time as Jiang Xue and Zhou Yingxiong, but in different locations, and circled them with a pen, eventually marking 39 people.

"What...what's the purpose of these guys?"

……

“Among our 16 explorers, there must be other people from the secret realm mixed in, which will make the investigation more difficult.” In the warehouse, Long Qi said calmly, “The only flaw is that they have all corresponded with Rogue Town, but before the operation, I made different arrangements and solutions for this, and even directly cut off contact with them.”

They were too far away for the navy to find anything, so they only had one best option.

……

"Escarle, go and relay the order: transfer all 39 outstanding naval officers from the East China Sea to the Naval Headquarters for elite training," Vice Admiral Tsuru instructed his adjutant.

After the adjutant left, Tsuru closed his eyes and pondered for a while. If there were any problems among these guys, they would definitely not be able to hide it from me at headquarters.

But something still feels... off.

If this is indeed a mysterious enemy who has been deliberately infiltrating various naval branches in the East China Sea for a year, it would be very satisfying if they were exposed.

……

"They will be transferred to Marine Headquarters, or assigned to a Marine branch closer to headquarters, located in the Grand Line! They won't have real power, but their lives won't be in danger either!"

Long Qi spoke calmly, revealing his true purpose: "They will be observed, but as long as they don't make any big mistakes, there's no need to worry about being exposed."

Because they weren't carrying any missions! They only needed to listen, observe, experience, and grow! Once the secret realm cycle ended and they returned to Fog Star, they could simply summarize and report everything they had experienced and seen, and that would be enough!
This is our greatest and sharpest weapon as explorers. Once the eight-year exploration period is over, no matter where we are, even if we're in prison, we'll be instantly ejected from the Navy's pirate secret realm!

So that's how it is. We'll use the explorer's unique characteristics to complete the plan?
Upon hearing this, Guan Yi couldn't help but secretly admire Long Qi's plan; it was indeed very likely to succeed.

Yes, unlike the exploration volunteers who signed up on their own, the guys chosen by the military to be team leaders must have some skills.
Seeing Guan Yi nod slightly, Long Qi smiled and said, "With this step, we can complete this exploration of the secret realm and the Navy's entire plan. Now we just need to wait for the intelligence we get."

Regarding the pirate route, I didn't have a good plan before. The original plan was simply to have Vice-Leader Zhou lead a few outstanding explorers gathered this time to try their luck and see if they could make something of themselves. But now that Guan Yi is here, we have a better option.”

He looked at Guan Yi expectantly.

"The team leader has a keen eye for opportunity and exceptional wisdom."

Guan Yi then praised him, before suddenly asking, "But I seem to remember that when the volunteers were exploring the secret realm, the team leader was only responsible for contacting the volunteers and gathering intelligence, and couldn't actively interfere with the explorers' choices. Did those 16 explorers know what they would experience before you 'arranged' them to go to the Navy Headquarters?"

Long Qi hesitated for a moment because of this. That's why he explained the whole plan to Guan Yi, fearing that Guan Yi would not be willing to follow his instructions and would develop it on his own.

It's such a shame that such a powerful force like Guan Yi can't be used!

"So during the last exploration, which was the second exploration of this pirate secret realm, we achieved almost nothing beyond what we had achieved during the first exploration, and we didn't even manage to enter the Grand Line."

There's very little that volunteers can accomplish on their own. I admit my plan was somewhat risky, but Guan Yi, you may not know this, but our relationship with the demons hasn't been as peaceful as it appears for centuries. Accelerating the conquest of each secret realm is meaningful!

I know.

My dad is a demon, how could I not know?
However, aside from soldiers, ordinary people are unlikely to entrust matters of life and death to others for command. Now, Guan Yi is actually glad that when he first entered the secret realm, he did not report his true information to Long Qi, and everything was delayed to some extent.

An ambitious and intelligent person can often cause more trouble than a fool. Moreover, Long Qi has a fatal flaw!

"Team leader, let's go for a walk together."

“…Go for a stroll?” Long Qi paused, thinking that this was a rather abrupt way of changing the subject.

Guan Yi nodded: "Yes, or more accurately, you should come with me... to broaden your horizons!"

(End of this chapter)