One Piece: Starting as a Marine Lieutenant, I Slack Off and Get Stronger

Zhan Guo grinned, stroking his beard in surprise: "Oh? You know a lot about tea?"

Karl smiled without saying a word. "You're kidding," he thought. "I've drunk more tea than you've pissed. Nobody knows more about tea than me."

"I know a little bit. By the way, Marshal Zhan Guo, I was doing just fine at the G10 base, why are you suddenly asking me to work on some kind of general candidate?"

"Actually, I intended to make you a candidate for general three years ago, but Staff Officer He felt you were still young and needed more time to mature, so..."

Carl quickly replied, "But I'm still very young! I'm only 28 years old. There's no lieutenant general in headquarters younger than me! How can I be qualified to be a candidate for general? Marshal Sengoku, why don't you let me guard the G10 branch instead!"

Sengoku's expression changed, and he said irritably, "Don't pretend with me. Do you think I don't know what you do at the base every day? Goodness, you're living a better life than me, cough cough."

"In short, it's a waste for you to stay at the G10 base. Regardless of whether you can become a general candidate, I want you to take action, exert your strength, and uphold justice!"

Carl casually scratched his nose to hide his embarrassment.

"You'll stay at Marine Headquarters for the next few days. Aokiji, Kizaru, Akainu, and the others will be coming over in a few days to test your strength. Be prepared."

"What? Becoming a general candidate is this complicated? You have to fight all three generals?"

Sengoku shook his head: "No, they're mainly here to serve as witnesses, to prove that you do indeed have the ability to become a candidate for general. You can fight whomever you want!"

Carlton breathed a sigh of relief; he was terrified.

With three generals attacking from the same direction, who could withstand that?

Chapter 141 General Candidate

"but..."

Karl looked up at Sengoku and thought to himself, "Can you finish what you're saying at once?"

"Before you fight the generals, you must first fight Gion and Kakei."

Karl frowned: "Is this also a condition for becoming a candidate for general?"

Sengoku shook his head: "No, but those two have been candidates for general for a long time. After them, you are the third. In any case, you will still have to fight."

"That way, there won't be any conflicts in the future."

Karl remained silent for a long time. The future conflict would refer to who would become the general first.

"Marshal Sengoku, I understand. In that case, when will Vice Admiral Momousagi and Vice Admiral Chaton return?"

"They've been waiting for you for a long time; they're right here at the training ground."

"Karl, you two shouldn't have any grudges against each other, right?"

Carl raised an eyebrow: "How could that be? Gion-nee has taken good care of me. Although I'm not familiar with Lieutenant General Kake, I've never had any conflicts with him."

"That's good. We're all in the navy, so we need to be careful with our actions. You know that yourself."

Carl nodded and stood up, seemingly unharmed.

"Wait a moment."

Karl turned to Sengoku: "Marshal, is there anything else?"

Zhan Guo's expression turned serious as he took out a wanted poster from the drawer, which featured a youthful face.

"Fire Fist Ace, a pirate from the East Blue, recently arrived on the Grand Line. He is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user with the Flame-Flame Fruit, captain of the Spade Pirates, and has a bounty of 350 million Berries."

You should know him, right?

Karl nodded: "I met him once. He was just a kid back then. Sure enough! He ended up becoming a pirate."

"Marshal Sengoku, you wouldn't ask me to get rid of him, would you?"

Sengoku shook his head slightly: "No, I'm just confirming with you, after all, he is that bastard Garp's grandson."

"What did Lieutenant General Garp say? 'Sacrifice family for the greater good'?"

"It's hard to say. Based on my understanding of Garp, it's unlikely. The reason I'm telling you this is so that you can invite him to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

Karl was taken aback: "The Seven Warlords of the Sea? Aren't they full?"

"Hmph~ The World Government is very dissatisfied with Gecko Moria recently. If Ace is willing to become a Shichibukai, Moria will be removed from the Shichibukai."

"If he's unwilling... then capture Ace and send him to Impel Down."

Carl took a deep breath: "Understood."

After handing the bounty and related intelligence to Karl, Sengoku took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Alright, this mission isn't urgent. You should take care of the general candidate matter first."

After leaving the headquarters building, Carl headed straight for Crescent Bay.

"Here!" Ian stood on the warship and waved to Karl with a smile. Karl leaped up and came to Ian's warship.

It's a very ordinary standard warship, the only special feature being its hull and propulsion system, which gives it the ability to traverse calm seas and quickly reach any sea.

"From now on, you'll be a naval admiral, Ain. Don't be reckless. If you can't win, run. If you can't run, call for backup. As long as you're alive, you'll never lack a chance to get revenge."

Ain clung to Karl's arm and said coquettishly, "Oh, I know, I've been with you for so long, even if I haven't eaten pork, I've seen pigs run, right?"

"I'm serious. From now on, I won't be by your side, and you'll have to rely on yourself for everything. I don't want to rush over only to find your corpse."

Ain knew Karl was concerned about her, so she kissed him on the cheek with satisfaction and asked curiously, "What if you can't escape and the reinforcements haven't arrived?"

"I will avenge you..."

Ayn was stunned for a moment, then pinched Karl in annoyance. She was dead; Hancock would probably laugh herself to death.

"Alright, stop fooling around. I'm going to the training ground now to have a match with Gion-nee and Lieutenant General Kake. Do you want to come and watch?"

"Of course we'll go. We can also visit Professor Zephyr together. I heard he's training new recruits right now! I can also look for an adjutant in advance."

Upon arriving at the training ground, Zephyr was talking to Gion Kake, while Shuzo was instructing the new recruits on physical training. When Zephyr saw Karl-Ain approaching, he smiled.

"Hahaha, Karl, you're finally back! That's great! Your strength has improved a lot!"

"Isn't this all thanks to your excellent teaching?"

Zephyr chuckled and patted Karl on the shoulder: "You're here to challenge Gion and Kake to a fight, aren't you? I'll be the referee, so you won't go too far."

"That's great, thank you so much, Professor Zephyr."

Gion walked up to Karl with a smile: "Wow, time flies! When I first met you, you were just a major, and now you're on equal footing with my sister. You truly deserve to be the strongest new generation of naval officer."

Seeing how well Gion treated Karl, Kaji felt a little resentful, as Gion had never treated him like this before.

"Karl, I won't hold back. General candidates are all about ability. If you can't even get past us..."

Carl glanced at Jiaji indifferently and interrupted with a smile, "Tea Pig Candidate, please don't hold back, or don't blame me if you get hurt."

"you!"

Zefa frowned and shouted, "Enough! Stop with this nonsense in front of me. Let strength decide everything."

"Shuzo, suspend training. Have the new recruits stand aside and watch, let them see how the strong fight."

"Gion, Kakei, who wants to go first?"

Kaji said impatiently, "Zeffe-sensei, let me go first! Lest Karl hurt Gion because he might not be careful enough."

After saying that, Kaji gave Gion what he thought was a cool smile. Gion pursed her lips helplessly and looked at Karl with innocent eyes.

......

"My God! It's Lieutenant General Bai Ya! Is he going to become a general candidate so soon? He's only 28 years old, isn't he?"

"So what if he's 28? Vice Admiral White Raven is a man who can easily defeat pirates with bounties of over a billion. If you ask me, he should have become an admiral candidate long ago."

A bespectacled girl among the recruits looked at Karl with curiosity, her eyes full of longing—longing for the two knives hanging at Karl's waist.

"The Black Sword Autumn Water, one of the Twenty-One Great Swords, and the Demon Sword Thunderstorm, I really want to see them!"

"Hey, Tashigi, stop standing there! Get out of the way or you'll get hurt!"

Tashigi quickly replied, "Oh, oh! I understand!"

The training ground had been cleared away, leaving only Karl and Gaji. The new recruits watched from a distance to avoid being accidentally injured by the aftershocks of the battle.

"Jiaji, Karl, you are all colleagues. This is just a competition. I don't want to see any accidents happen. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, Professor Zephyr, you know me well. I'm very careful with my actions!"

Chapter 142 Crush

Jiaji frowned slightly upon seeing this, but he dared not underestimate Karl in the slightest.

After all, he is a well-known figure. He has fought against Whitebeard, Big Mom, Shanks, and Kaido. Apart from his initial defeat, even the Four Emperors could not defeat him in subsequent battles.

A person's reputation is well-deserved!

Gage didn't underestimate Karl just because he was young. Besides, the three generals weren't much older than him, but they had been generals for over a decade, while he had been a general candidate for over a decade. That was the difference.

Zephyr stood between the two, reiterated the battle order, and said in a deep voice, "3, 2, 1, begin!!!"

Zefa immediately retreated to avoid being caught in the aftermath of the battle; he was too old to withstand any further turmoil.

Jiaji's expression turned serious, no longer displaying his usual playful demeanor. He even took off his cloak of justice to avoid affecting the operation.

"Take this! Tempest Kick - Wind Slash!!!"

He added a backflip and kicked out, sending a white slashing wave swiftly through the air, kicking up a cloud of dust.