One Piece: My code name is Green Bull

As the scholars were escorted away by the soldiers, each one walked with the demeanor of someone ready to face death. Jon shook his head repeatedly.

These people embodied two distinct qualities:

First—"if you don't seek death, you won't die."

Second—for their ideals and goals, they would rather die than live in regret.

Jon didn't feel either disdain or admiration; he simply couldn't agree with their thoughts and actions.

In his view, before gaining strength, the most important thing was to keep your head down and survive. Once you had enough power, then you could talk about ideals, goals, and dreams.

But that's how humans were—everyone thought differently and chose their own paths.

To Jon, they were being reckless. But to them, perhaps Jon seemed pitiful. Standing at different perspectives, people saw different truths.

Jon sighed softly. He felt that he had had more emotional reflections today than in the past few years combined.

Pemberton took the scholars to hand them over to CP9, but Jon didn't go with him—he already knew what their fate would be. He didn't feel guilt, but he didn't want to witness it firsthand.

When everything was handled and Pemberton returned, he spoke to Jon with frustration:

"Jon, it looks like we're stuck on this island for two more days."

"Why?" Jon asked, puzzled.

"Some of the archaeologists escaped by ship. Vice Admiral Noville took most of the forces to pursue them. The remaining personnel told us that they've notified the surrounding naval branches, and a warship will be sent to pick us up and take us back to headquarters."

"I see."

Jon wasn't surprised. Many of the scholars were smart—it made sense that some of them managed to escape. The fact that Vice Admiral Noville didn't wait for them and chased after the archaeologists right away was probably due to Spandine pressuring him.

But that was fine. They only needed to wait for a warship to arrive in two days, and they could ride it back to headquarters—pretty convenient, really.

"Alright, let's wait then."

Two days turned into three. With nothing to do, Jon and Pemberton spent their time wandering around the towns on the island.

Even though the Navy had just conducted a major arrest of scholars, it didn't seem to affect the island's residents. They carried on with their daily lives as usual.

On the third day at dusk, Jon and his group finally saw the warship from the G6 Navy branch approaching.

Interestingly, even though five naval squads were sent out to pursue the archaeologists, only Jon's team had successfully captured their targets. The other teams either let their prey escape or returned empty-handed.

This left Jon's team as the only ones remaining on the island, while the others either pursued the archaeologists by warship or chased them in other vessels.

"Ensign Jon, greetings. I'm Major Matt from the G6 branch. While patrolling, we received orders from headquarters to bring your team back."

The ship was a G6 patrol ship, dispatched because it was the closest vessel to their location.

"Major Matt."

Jon and his men saluted respectfully. Navy branches with "G" designations along the Grand Line followed the same rank structure as headquarters. As a major, Matt outranked Jon by several ranks, so saluting was mandatory.

"At ease, Ensign Jon. I've been briefed on your situation. From here, it'll take about four days to reach headquarters. However, Vice Admiral Noville mentioned that you're not under orders to return immediately. Our patrol ship still has a few more days of missions left. How would you like to proceed?"

Despite his higher rank, Major Matt was courteous and considerate.

He wasn't blind—he was over 30 years old and still a major, while Jon, though younger, was already an ensign stationed at headquarters and part of the Strategy Division. It wouldn't take long for Jon to become someone Matt would have to look up to.

Given the circumstances, Matt had no intention of pulling rank or acting arrogant toward a rising star of the Navy.

"We have no issue with that, Major Matt. Thank you for your kindness. We're grateful for the ride and are more than happy to follow your orders and assist you on your patrol mission before returning to headquarters."

To maintain peace on the Grand Line, both Navy headquarters and branch bases regularly dispatched patrol ships to patrol the seas.

These patrols protected the islands and their residents, eliminated pirate threats, and increased the Navy's presence and prestige.

After all, the Grand Line was vast. If the Navy stayed holed up in their bases, people would forget about them.

By appearing regularly in the public eye and fighting pirates in the name of justice, the Navy could earn the trust of the people and bolster their reputation.

"Thank you, Ensign Jon. Please come aboard."

Jon's team of over 50 boarded the patrol ship. Although the ship was smaller than a standard warship, it wasn't cramped enough to hinder their journey.

During the past few days, Jon had earned the respect of his 50 subordinates. Even though they hadn't done much during the mission, Jon's leadership had still resulted in a significant victory. For the lower-ranked soldiers, this could mean potential promotions when they returned.

Because of this, many of the soldiers were deeply grateful to Jon. Some even approached him privately, asking to become his personal guards in the future.

Jon could only smile wryly. To form a personal guard unit, you had to be at least at the rank of captain or commodore. As an ensign, he wasn't anywhere near that level yet.

Still, Jon didn't let his thoughts show. While the Navy wasn't overly strict about forming alliances, it was best for a low-ranking officer like him to stay low-profile for now.

Under Major Matt's command, the patrol ship set sail, cruising leisurely across the sea.

Jon soon noticed that their route was carefully planned, guided by a Log Pose as they passed from island to island, conducting investigations efficiently before moving on.

Several days later, they arrived at another island and learned some troubling news from the local residents.

A pirate crew had recently attacked the island, looting and terrorizing the residents for days. The pirates hadn't left yet.

When the residents saw the Navy's arrival, they begged them to defeat the pirates and bring peace back to the island.

It was the Navy's duty to respond to such situations, so there was no question that they would act.

Major Matt immediately decided to lead a team to find and eliminate the pirate crew.

Having spent days at sea, Jon stepped forward without hesitation and offered to join the operation.

"Thank you, Ensign Jon."

Of course, Major Matt didn't refuse. After spending several days together, he had already recognized Jon's exceptional abilities.

A top graduate of Zephyr's first batch of elite trainees, a Devil Fruit user, and a rising strategist in the Navy—while Jon's rank was still low, his strength likely surpassed Matt's.

Having such a promising "supernova" join the mission gave Matt more confidence, especially since they didn't know much about the pirate crew they were about to face.

The Navy force, now over 100 strong, quickly disembarked and headed in the direction the residents had indicated.

----------

Powerstones?

10+ Advance Chapters: patreon.com/milezen

Make Sure to give a Review!

Collections please!