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

"Or you can silently control the smoke to seep into the enemy's body, thereby suffocating them, which is equivalent to an advanced move that covers a large area with smoke."

"Either way, you can quickly eliminate the enemy, rendering them incapable of fighting and leaving them at your mercy, unless they can hold their breath and fight you the whole time!"

Smoker clenched his fist, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. Yes, yes, that's right, bro!

At this moment, he felt more and more that this was exactly how the Smoke-Smoke Fruit should be used!

"The third method is more difficult, which is to create a smoke clone."

"Smoke clone?"

Smoker held out his hand, and a small figure of smoke appeared in his palm, making various gestures: "Is that so?"

Karl shook his head: "Almost, but not enough. The so-called clone is meant to operate independently of you, to scout, contain, and fight."

"However, it's best to study using clones in combat after you awaken Armament Haki, otherwise the effect will be very poor, since the nature of smoke is what it is."

That's all for now. I can't think of any other development directions at the moment.

Karl scratched his head and continued, "If you can achieve the effect I just described, you can easily take down pirates with bounties around one billion."

Smoker grinned from ear to ear: "That's enough, that's enough! I can't wait to try it!"

After saying that, Smoker immediately ran to a corner and released a lot of smoke to start his own experiment.

As he experimented, he discovered that the Seastone on top of the Jitte affected the speed of elementalization. Smoker was so angry that he threw the Jitte into the sea on the spot, vowing never to use that thing again.

Carl chuckled at the sight; he had finally gotten rid of that piece of junk.

To be honest, Karl's Holy Light Fruit was actually quite well developed, but he just didn't have many opportunities to use it.

Currently, his Holy Light can be cast on a single target or in groups, providing healing and physical enhancement effects. The effect of casting Holy Light on a single target is about 1/2 stronger than that on a group.

Then there's the enhancement of healing effects. At this stage, his Holy Light can already raise Karl's physique by two stages, but that only applies to him, the owner of the Holy Light Fruit.

Others' effects are only half of his, and the Holy Light effect released by everyone is only a quarter of his.

The weaker the strength, the stronger the effect of the Holy Light, and vice versa.

The duration has also been increased from one hour to three hours. Of course, this is only the standby time; once a battle begins, the duration will depend on the situation.

Unless one day Carl develops something like an aura that provides a continuous effect.

As for combat development, it is still limited. Currently, there is only one move, "Fleeting Brilliance," which releases a strong flash of light to interfere with the enemy's vision, making it rather useless.

After all, the Holy Light Fruit is a purely support-type Devil Fruit with virtually no offensive capabilities, and it can only be used on allies; using it on enemies is simply an act of folly.

At this moment, Ain walked over, looked at Karl, and said, "Hmph! You're biased! Why don't you ever guide me in developing my abilities?"

Seeing Ain's "I'm angry" expression, Carl couldn't help but smile wryly.

"It's not that I don't want to guide you, but your abilities are actually quite similar to mine. Strictly speaking, we both have support-type Devil Fruits, and our development directions are very clear."

Ain pouted her cherry-like lips and muttered, "How is it clear? I didn't know that?"

Karl exhaled a smoke ring and looked at Ain, saying, "Think about it, your Rewind Fruit is already very powerful as long as you can keep increasing its effects!"

"Whether it's instantly reducing an enemy's age or restoring an elderly person to their normal condition, it's very useful. The only weakness is that it can only be used at close range."

"If you could develop an effect that can be released on a group, just like me, you would be invincible!"

Karl wasn't joking; once Ain's Rewind Fruit awakens, it might actually achieve that effect.

The Holy Light Fruit enhances the entire group, while the Regression Fruit degrades it. It's a scary thought.

Ain smiled. Karl's words made sense, but she hadn't even developed a remote release, so how could she talk about a group release?

However, Carl's attitude pleased her. Once that wretched woman Hancock leaves, hehehehe...

"Yeah, I'll try my best!"

Chapter 74: Shocking and enlightening

On the deck, several handymen hurriedly crawled out of the smoke, their faces flushed red.

"Whew~ Finally, I can breathe some fresh air!"

"Yes! Major Smoker's abilities are terrifying! I thought I was going to suffocate just now."

The miscellaneous soldier nodded in agreement: "That's too cruel. They're in trouble if they run into Major Smoker's pirates!"

"cruel?"

Karl, standing behind the miscellaneous armored soldiers, frowned slightly. How could the Navy treat pirates so cruelly?

This young man has some kind of problem with his thinking!

The two errand boys turned around, swallowed hard, and said, "Ka, Major General Karl."

Carl glanced at them and said coldly, "Nelson, notify all naval personnel to assemble. I have something to say!"

Nelson behind him shouted, "Yes, sir!"

Ten minutes later, Karl sat on the bench, with Smoker and Ian standing on either side of him, like his two guardians.

Nelson: In the end, it was all for naught.

"Just now, when Major Smoker was experimenting with his abilities, I actually heard someone say that dealing with pirates like this is too cruel? That's the biggest joke I've ever heard in my life!"

"You, let me ask you, what is a pirate?"

The artilleryman pointed at by Karl shuddered and said tremblingly, "Evil man, murderer, arsonist, robber, he does all sorts of evil."

"That's right, that's what pirates are, so it's not wrong for our navy to treat them in any way we want."

"Do you know how I rose from a menial soldier to a branch captain before I obtained a Devil Fruit?"

The soldiers shook their heads. Even Ian and Smoker were intrigued; they really didn't know much about Karl's past.

"There's only one answer: tons of military merits! And how are military merits earned? By killing pirates!"

"But do you know how I deal with pirates?"

The naval officers looked at each other, and tentatively asked, "With guns?"

"With a knife?" "Bullshit, with Major General Karl's physical skills, it's definitely his fists!"

Karl refuted each of their points, saying loudly, "What you say makes sense, but that's just a method. If we really want to deal with pirates, we have to fight like pirates!"

"If you can launch a sneak attack from behind, don't engage in a head-on confrontation!"

"If you can cheat and plot against someone, you don't need to be honest and upright!"

"When you can attack someone together, never fight alone!"

"If you have a gun, shoot; never use a melee weapon!"

"If you can use a melee weapon, don't fight with your bare hands!"

"If you're allowed to kill, don't just stun or cripple them!"

"If you can knock them unconscious or cripple them, don't just inflict serious injuries!"

"If you can inflict serious injury, don't just cause minor injury!"

......

Of course, what Karl said only applies to ordinary pirates; at least the third point doesn't really apply to true powerhouses.

However, they were all ordinary marines with mediocre strength. The fact that they could remember what Karl said was enough for them to deal with most of the small-time pirate crews.

"In short, we must attack and destroy the enemy by any means necessary, focusing solely on results and disregarding consequences, so that they 'came standing and left being carried away!'"

"To pity the enemy will only cause one to bleed!"

Upon hearing this, Ain nodded thoughtfully, while Smoker discovered a new world once again, and the confusion in his heart was instantly dispelled.

Yeah, do we need to talk about morality and righteousness when dealing with pirates? No, dead pirates are the best pirates!

"The Major General is right!" "That's right, that's how pirates treat us, so why can't we treat pirates the same way?"

The naval officers and soldiers seemed to have been freed from some kind of shackles, and they couldn't wait to kill a few pirates to add to the excitement.

At this moment, they also recalled the scene of Karl dealing with the pirates, which could no longer be called cruel, but simply brutal.

Encountering Major General Karl means either being cut in half at the waist or losing an arm or a leg. Those who lose an arm or a leg are also ability users; otherwise, simply surviving is a luxury.

Seeing this, Carl nodded with satisfaction, realizing that his words had probably had some effect after all.

"Remember what I'm saying today: you are the Marines, and kindness and mercy are never reserved for pirates! Do you understand?"

"understand!"

"Okay, disband!"

The naval officers and men left in groups or individually, but the discussion lingered for a long time.

"That's absolutely right, Karl! That's how you deal with pirates! I'm finding you to be more and more to my liking, hahaha!"

Smoker excitedly patted Carl on the shoulder, wishing he could become sworn brothers with him on the spot.

"Stop filming! Go develop your abilities! Otherwise, you'll never be able to beat me!"

Smoker sneered and quickly walked to a secluded spot to begin experimenting with the newly developed smoke-based strangulation array.

"Aien, there's something I need to tell you."