At that moment, Dragon felt that something about Zephyr's aura had changed.
It was as if he had cast off his confusion and adopted a more serious attitude toward the future.
It was hard to explain why, but at this instant, Dragon felt that Zephyr possessed an even greater sense of majesty than ever before.
Although Zephyr had made a choice similar to Garp's, unlike Garp, who was still willing to believe in the Marines, Zephyr had already developed a sense of estrangement from them.
He remained within the Marines, that much was true, but he now had some additional, personal objectives.
Moreover, he hadn't completely rejected Dragon either; he had only declined for the time being, citing that the timing wasn't right.
Zephyr didn't stay long and soon left the place. Afterward, Sebastian had a brief spar with Dragon.
Once he confirmed Dragon's strength, he left both the ship and the people on it to him, then dove into the sea and returned alone to Fish-Man Island.
Even with a small reinforcement of manpower, Dragon did not launch any large-scale operations.
Although these pirate slaves had once been captains who sailed the Grand Line and were more than capable of handling situations in the Four Seas, the kingdom armies there were never their true enemies.
Not to mention the Celestial Dragons' Knights of God, even the Marines of the Grand Line were enough to deal with them. What they needed was to accumulate strength and develop slowly.
And they were far from the only ones developing.
The Marines regularly carried out new recruitment drives to replenish their forces, and the seas constantly saw the emergence of new pirates for all sorts of reasons.
Some took to the sea because they had no other way to survive, while others made similar choices driven by their desires.
Those pirates who had once belonged to the Rocks Pirates were also gradually rising to prominence.
As time passed, when people mentioned them, they no longer thought of Rocks, but of the individuals themselves.
Relying on their own strength, they too became legends of the sea—Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Big Mom—whose names grew ever more renowned, increasing the pressure on the Marines.
And so, three years passed, bringing them to the year 1508 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
In that year, a terrifying legend was beginning to spread across the Grand Line.
"I swear everything I'm saying is true! We were sailing through a fog when we ran into a pirate raid…"
"And then? How did you get away?"
"There was a monster in the fog! When it saw it was a pirate ship, it attacked without any explanation!"
On an island in the first half of the Grand Line, Morgans, despite being the president, was still working on the front lines as a reporter, investigating this very matter.
The one responsible was Harald, who had been quietly doing this "dirty work." As more and more pirates set out to sea, the number passing through the Florian Triangle continued to increase.
Although Harald attacked indiscriminately, destroying every pirate ship he encountered, there were always a few survivors, allowing this terrifying legend to spread further and further.
Even within the underwater prison Impel Down, where pirates were held, some pirates were telling other prisoners about what they had witnessed.
Rumors claimed that a demon specializing in hunting pirates was operating there, but some whispers suggested that the one responsible was actually the king of the Ryugu Kingdom.
In order to prevent those evil pirates from endangering his people, he would occasionally go out to hunt them.
Some eyewitnesses insisted that the attacker was a large figure and definitely not Nereus, but rumors are called rumors for a reason. No one really knows what they will eventually turn into.
Meanwhile, on Fish-Man Island, Nereus, one of the central figures of these rumors, didn't care about such things at all. How pirates viewed him didn't matter; as long as those passing through behaved themselves, everyone could remain at peace.
Over the past three years, the Neptune Army of Fish-Man Island had undergone a complete overhaul. The first group to join had already become junior officers, leading new recruits and carrying out the mission of protecting Fish-Man Island.
The original First Corps had expanded to ten thousand members, becoming the island's special forces. Not only were there higher requirements for physical abilities, but there were also specific Fish-Type requirements.
For instance, the First Company was led by Rachel, and those under her command were entirely composed of Fish-Men or Merfolk capable of discharging electric shocks, such as electric rays and electric eels.
Together with the Second Company—made up of poisonous species like lionfish, pufferfish, and blue-ringed octopuses—and the Third Company, an assassination unit skilled in ambush, composed of species like scorpionfish and carpet sharks capable of changing color or concealing themselves, they formed the First Corps.
The total number of corps had expanded to three. The Second and Third Corps had lower standards and were considered regular combat forces. The standing army was maintained at fifty thousand troops, with more recruits still in training.
As for the royal guards selected by Nereus, they had yet to graduate.
After three years of brutal training, they could be considered elites in any ordinary corps, but here, they had only just built a solid foundation.
Now, under Nereus's orders, Sebastian was teaching them Rokushiki.
The training methods for Rokushiki had been obtained by Nereus himself. After all, he had killed an unknown number of CP9 and CP0 agents, and it was always possible to extract something from those dead bodies.
Although it was a technique circulated within the World Government, Rokushiki was still a competent combat skill.
However, it had certain physical requirements, and those capable of learning it were already elites. It wasn't as practical for widespread use as something like Fish-Man Karate, so it was treated as additional training reserved for the best.
"I say, Alber, this stuff isn't very useful for you, right? Tekkai isn't as good as your natural defenses, Soru can't match your speed form, and as for Geppo, you can already fly."
Nanamo was lounging against Hermes turned into a sofa. During the earlier theoretical lesson on Rokushiki, Alber had listened attentively, but Nanamo had always felt that Rokushiki was rather underwhelming.
For her, only Seimei Kikan was somewhat useful, though it wasn't strictly part of Rokushiki anymore.
"It's something Cipher Pol commonly uses. It's necessary to understand it. Those people are the World Government's most loyal hounds.
But Miss Nanamo, forgive me for saying this, you've been a bit lax. Even with strong talent, you should still train harder."
"..."
"You think my life is easy? I just survived my dad's hellish training, okay… And you're clearly three years younger than me, could you not sound so old-fashioned when you talk?
If we go by seniority, you might even have to call me grandmother in the future."
In the middle of weighted training, Alber's hand slipped, and he almost threw the massive dumbbell outright. Even after three years of getting along with Nanamo, he still couldn't figure out how that seniority was calculated.
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