Chapter 35: The Regret of the Admiral

“It’s Lieutenant Hana.”

Seeing the presence of the investigative squad, Moss was relieved and put down the gun from his hand, saying: “Is the support finally here?”

As Moss and the others put down their weapons, the members of the investigation squad looked at each other in amazement, and then they all lowered their guns too.

Lieutenant Hana was relieved to see her comrades alive, then said in a harry: “Lieutenant Moss, how was the battle? Are there any survivors besides you?”

“The captain and the commander were both killed…there are probably less than a hundred people left!” Moss said slowly with a dull voice.

Although Hana expected something similar would happen, even worse, when she heard that there were less than one hundred people left, the look on her face changed a bit, went a bit pale, then said: “The loss is so heavy…What about the Krieg Pirates?”

“Well…”

Moss thought for a second then continued: “I don’t know precisely, but there should be hundreds of them remaining. You came just in time! Let’s wipe out the rest of them together!”

The investigation team was standing there stupefied, as they heard Moss’ words.

Hana was so confused. There were too many questions left unanswered. Wasn’t the marines ultimately defeated, leaving less than a hundred? How come the marine soldiers were the ones chasing the pirates and not the other way around? How! Weren’t they outnumbered…!?

The members of the investigation team were also stunned, they even questioned the sanity of the lieutenant…They thought that maybe under shock, he was living in an illusion. However, looking at him, his firm look on his eyes cast out all doubts! They really made it!

“Are you the scouts? I see, the main force hasn’t landed yet.” Moss looked at Hana and the others for a while, then she said: “Soldier Haas, you go back to report to the captain, let the support troops join us here.”

Hana stared blankly at Moss and said, “Lieutenant Moss, what actually happened…”

“Once we…”

Moss quickly explained the situation, and finally added with a heavy sigh: “it may seem unbelievable, but that what actually happened.”

Hana and the members of the investigation team were all petrified.

[Pirate Hunter?]

[One vs. two thousand?]

[Admiral Krieg was killed by one move?!]

[This… Are you sure you’re not talking nonsense]?

——————

Marine headquarters.

In a large and spacious office, rear admiral Klaus was holding his pipe, pacing in the room with a long face, then said: “Are there any updates?”

“Not yet……”

A nearby Commodore said in a deep voice: “The 170th branch should have arrived by now, but I’m afraid that even with their support…this problem won’t be solved.”

“We already have enough troubles in the Grand Line, and now things are getting out of hand in the East Blue. The captains of the two branches, the 170th and 171st, are there, but they couldn’t even handle a single group of pirates. Good-for-nothing bunch of trash!”

A vice-admiral said with an annoyed look on his face.

Klaus puffed out a cloud of smoke, but said helplessly: “We had no choice…It is true that the pirates in the four seas are weak? The area to cover is too large. We have more than 300 branches in the East Blue. We don’t have enough strong captains, to manage all the branches…to cover all the towns…”

It was true that the powerful pirates eventually leave towards the Grand Line, but there was a massive difference in the sea area.

Although the Grand Line was not that small, there are only a few routes in total. There were not many islands in the first half of the route, which made the collision of pirates and marines inevitable. Basically, there were daily clashes between the pirates and the marines.

In the waters of the four seas, it was normal for a marine branch to fail catching a group of pirates for several months. The sea area was too large that made to tricky to hunt down pirates after they escaped.

Because of this, even sending a few powerful captains from the headquarters would be useless. Finding those pirates was like fetching a needle in a haystack. It was completely a waste of time.

Fortunately, despite the fact that the East Blue marines were weak, the pirates in that region were even weaker.

At least, to some extent, the four seas were more peaceful than the grand line.

“But it became a necessity to improve the quality of our ranks a bit. At least, one out of two close branches should have a captain skilled enough to lead troops and handle problems undependably.”

Said the vice-admiral, who had spoken before, dissatisfied.

If only he could track all the East Blue pirates, he would get rid of them all himself! It would maintain peace in the East Blue waters for a while. However, It was really troublesome to be in charge of East Blue.

“It is indeed necessary to recruit some new powerful officers. Also, there should be no problem to directly promote anyone capable of catching one of the most troublesome pirates in the East Blue to the rank of captain.”

Said the rear admiral casually.

Klaus said: “Of course, there’s…”

Suddenly, Klaus’ words were interrupted by the Den Den Mushi ringtone. It was a call from the 6th branch base from East Blue.

Klaus took the snail. After a few seconds, his squinted eyes suddenly widened, and there was a trace of surprise in his face.

“Huh? Did this happen?”

“… Well, I see.”

After confirming it again, Klaus put down the Den Den Mushi, the tense expression on his face slowly vanished.

The officers beside him also heard the discussion through the Den Den Mushi, and they were all surprised. The office went silent for a while, then someone said: “This pirate hunter should be exceptional to be able to destroy the Krieg Pirates by himself.”

“Unfortunately, he has no interest in joining us…He is blinded by the money and fortune. Otherwise, he would be a great replacement for the 171st branch captain.”

Several officers spoke one after another.

Klaus smoked his cigarette and puffed out a cloud of smoke, saying. “In fact, it’s okay, even if he doesn’t want to be a marine, his existence alone serves as a good warning for the pirates in the area, as a deterrent power, but… this time, the deterrent force is a little too great, which will certainly hurt the Marine’s reputation.”

The Rear Admiral smiled bitterly and said, “It’s too late. East Blue is too far away from us. It is impossible to stop the spread of the news. As we speak now, the news may have reached all the parts of East Blue, and the government can only slightly change the content of the newspaper.”

“That’s the only way.”

Klaus smoked again and sighed: “It’s a pity that such a person isn’t in our ranks…”

In recent years, it was not like there were no excellent pirates’ hunters as Ron, such a superb pirate hunter. Still, some of them remained in their original sea area without any advancement, and some others disappeared after entering the grand line.

After all.

Pirate hunters struggle with the marines’ pursuits and the fierce conflicts with their peers over targets.

Pirate hunters often run for pleasure after getting a bounty. It is so repeated that they only experience a few battles in a year, there was no way that they would get stronger like this…

If Ron joined the Marine, with that raw talent and strength, after receiving some training, he might soon become an outstanding marine officer.

But by declining such offer, his story, like the case of most pirate hunters, would end this way.

Klaus was disappointed that such talent refused to join the marines, it was a waste…but soon he forgot about him and let the matter go…