“Knock, knock. Knock.”
Three crisp sounds were heard in Zefa's cabin, which clearly meant "good news".
Ace, Sabo and Luffy brothers had big bumps on their heads and looked at Zephyr in front of them with nervous faces.
These people were discovered too quickly. Although the warship had already set sail, it had not gone too far. If Zefa asked the crew to turn around and send them back to the naval headquarters, it would be completely possible.
I have already said a lot about the request. Now, it depends on what Zefa decides.
Ace, Sabo, and the others looked anxious but also filled with anticipation. Luffy, on the other hand, was still young and didn't have such a strong desire to go out to sea. He just wanted to be with Ace and Sabo, his two "playmates of the same age," instead of being alone at the Marine Headquarters.
Zefa stared at the three brothers standing in front of him with a serious face, pondered for a long time, and finally softened his heart in the face of their expectant gazes.
"well"
"You three, stay on the boat and behave yourself."
"When I tell you to stay in the cabin, you must stay in the cabin. Once you leave the cabin, you must stay by my side."
"If any of you three don't listen to me, I will send all three of you back to the Marine Headquarters!"
"Ace, Sabo, Luffy, the three of you, supervise each other. Don't wait until you're sent back to the Marine Headquarters to come to me and complain, saying things like 'I didn't do it, why are you sending me back?'"
"Did you hear that?"
Zefa has already done the necessary punishment. This matter can be big or small. If Zefa is the chief instructor of the Marine Headquarters, the correct approach is to send these three people back.
Although he was leading the students of the Naval Academy on sea training, there were still risks involved. Bringing three burdens with him was irresponsible to the lives of other soldiers on the ship.
But Zefa also has his own considerations, and one of the very important factors is actually the current strength of Ace and Sabo.
Although these two children are still young, as users of natural devil fruits, when they really unleash all their strength, their combat power is far beyond the reach of other young students on the ship.
The power of the natural devil fruit is so terrifying.
The power that ordinary people pursue throughout their lives may just be the starting point of those with natural abilities. In fact, the end point of ordinary people is a long way from the starting point of others.
What's more, Ace and Sabo are not just people with special abilities. After years of training, their physical abilities are also very strong.
Although their talent in this area is far from comparable to that of Yoriichi Tsugakuni back then, and far from comparable to the gifted BIG MOM in her childhood, their combat effectiveness is much stronger than many generals in the headquarters who are not known for their strength.
Based on the personal strength of Ace and Sabo, Zephyr was able to deal with them with tolerance.
As for Luffy.
If he were alone, Zephyr would be confident that he could take care of Luffy's life safety when encountering danger.
Do you understand the value of a former admiral of the Navy Headquarters? ! !
It’s just a simple sea training. Even though the destination is the New World, Zephyr still has such confidence.
“Ohhhhh~”
The three little ones got Zefa's approval and immediately cheered, and laughter filled the cabin.
Zefa looked at the cheering children and finally a faint smile appeared on his face.
The news that Ace and others had sneaked onto the ship quickly spread throughout the ship. The crew members who learned about it just treated it as a topic of conversation and did not take it seriously.
Ace and Sabo are both children "fostered" in Zephyr's family, and they often appear in the new navy's training base.
The two are quite famous in the navy. After all, they have terrifying strength at a young age and are also Zefa's disciples. They have always been the focus of attention of all forces in the headquarters.
The sun was shining brightly and the warship was not moving very fast. The sea was sparkling with golden light, like a picture scroll.
Ace was wearing a small vest, holding a fishing rod in his hand, staring at the sea intently. Beside him, Sabo was sitting cross-legged on one side, supporting his chin with one hand, yawning boredly.
“Oh—eh—oh—”
At this moment, Luffy, who was sitting on the other side of Ace, seemed to be unable to bear the boredom of waiting for the fish. He howled suddenly, and the sharp shout scared Ace and Sabo.
"Asshole, why are you yelling all of a sudden?"
"You scared the fish away!"
Sabo, who was half asleep and half awake, was awakened by Luffy's howl. He couldn't help but curse. Ace couldn't help but tremble his hands and shouted angrily.
"It's really boring and a bit uninteresting."
Children's enthusiasm for novelty always comes in waves, and this is especially true for Luffy. In his eyes, all things in this world can be simply divided into two categories - interesting and boring.
Obviously, fishing seemed to him to be a boring activity. However, most of the time when sailors were sailing, they were just calm and boring.
I'm afraid many sailors would not be able to accept some "interesting" things happening while sailing on the sea.
The current "peaceful times" are an extremely rare and precious treasure for the navy.
"What's so boring about that?!"
"Is there anything more interesting than fishing in this world?!"
Ace was irritated by Luffy's word "boring". He really liked fishing, and at such a young age, he already had the charm of a fisherman.
"You've been sitting here for almost three hours and you've only caught two pieces of kelp."
"Hey, Ace, shall we go play cards?"
Luffy's words made Ace even more angry, gritting his teeth and shouting, "I'll be able to catch a big fish soon, a fish bigger than you!"
As he said that, Ace turned his head angrily and glared at the calm sea.
Seeing the two brothers Ace and Luffy bickering, Sabo had no intention of trying to stop them. He yawned and was about to take a nap when he suddenly noticed that the float on the sea suddenly sank, and the fishing line, which was originally a little loose, was suddenly stretched straight.
"Ace!"
Seeing this, Sabo nudged Ace's shoulder and reminded him.
“We’ve got a fish!”
Ace also noticed the movement on the sea, jumped up from the ground excitedly, and quickly reeled in the line.
"Ouch, it's so heavy!"
As soon as he reeled in the line and pulled the rod, Ace's face showed a deep joy. Watching the rod head plummet downwards, Ace tightened his hands and held the rod firmly.
"Wow! I actually caught a fish?!"
When Luffy saw this scene, he grabbed the railing with both hands and looked at the sea with joy on his face.
"Bang!!!" Just as he was speaking, a muffled sound suddenly came from beside him. Luffy turned his head and found that Ace was now stuck on the railing. The giant underwater was dragging the fishing rod, causing Ace, who was not prepared for the moment, to suffer a loss.
“Help me!!”
Ace still held the fishing rod tightly, stepped on the railing and began to exert force.
Sabo on the side hurriedly helped to grab the fishing rod, and Luffy quickly hugged Ace's waist to help Ace steady his body.
The fishing rod was bent and the fishing line was pulled straight.
"Come up! My fish king!!!"
Ace was at the age of a middle school student, and while exerting force, he let out a low growl.
"Bang——"
With the three of them working together, a black shadow suddenly emerged from the sea, broke through the sea and flew towards the deck.
"Plop~" As the giant in the sea was lifted up, the three little ones suddenly lost their stability and fell directly onto the deck with their backs to the sky. Luffy, who was struggling behind Ace, suddenly became Ace's rubber mat.
The movement here also attracted the attention of other crew members on the deck. No one expected that Ace could actually catch a fish?
"Bang!"
A black shadow flew out from the sea and crashed onto the deck. The surrounding navy officers all looked sideways, and at a glance, a look of surprise appeared on their faces.
"This is..."
"Quick, go report to Chief Instructor Zefa!"
The sailors on the deck suddenly became busy, and their shouts were filled with surprise.
Ace and the others quickly got up from the ground and ran to the center of the deck to check out their spoils.
However, this sight made Ace, Sabo, and Luffy's faces turn pale.
What Ace caught was not a big fish at all, but a mermaid, a naked mermaid girl with scars all over her body.
The fish tail, which should have been brightly colored, was dull in the sunlight, and the exposed skin was completely bloodless. The wounds on the body could not be seen due to the washing of sea water. However, there were still many sharp teeth marks on the mermaid girl's body.
The internal organs in the abdomen were empty, as they had been eaten by unknown sea creatures.
The distorted expression of the mermaid girl before her death still remains on her face.
As the mermaid's body was fished onto the deck, a strong fishy smell spread over the deck.
Ace, Sabo, and the others had never seen such a horrifying scene. Ace was a big-hearted man, and after a few seconds, some color finally returned to his pale face. He trembled slightly as he reacted, and quickly hugged Luffy, whose face was pale with fear, and covered his eyes with his hands.
"What the hell is going on!!!"
Seeing this miserable scene, Sabo couldn't help but take a step back, muttering to himself. His eyes also noticed the fishhook hanging on the chin of the mermaid's corpse.
Ace's fishhook happened to be hooked on the jawbone of the corpse. The hook he was going to use to catch the "big thing" failed to catch a big fish that could be eaten, but instead caught a corpse.
This is also considered as having no air force.
Hurried footsteps came from the direction of the cockpit, and Zefa's figure appeared on the deck, hurried over.
When Ace, Sabo and the others saw Zephyr coming, they immediately found their backbone and ran to Zephyr's side. Although they had undergone a lot of training, the shock and horror brought by the mermaid's corpse still made it difficult for them to calm down for a long time.
"What's going on?!"
When Zefa saw the corpse on the deck, his pupils shrank and he asked the people around him.
The corpse of a murloc.
Creatures like mermen rarely appear in the sea. This is the first half of the Grand Line, not the nations of the New World. How could there be mermen living here?
Every mermaid that appears on the shore basically represents the dark side of this world.
This place is dozens of nautical miles away from the Sabaody Archipelago. They didn't sail for too long after leaving the Naval Headquarters, but the body of a mermaid actually appeared in this sea area.
Zefa came from the grassroots and was very experienced. With just one glance, he saw many signs of abuse on the body of the fishman. His face suddenly became gloomy.
"Teacher Zefa, I was fishing and I caught this."
"We don't know what exactly happened!"
At this time, Ace gently grabbed the corner of Zefa's clothes and spoke.
Hearing Ace's words, Zefa also noticed the hook on the fishman's chin and nodded slightly. Then, under the gaze of the students on the deck, he slowly walked to the body and squatted down, ignoring the stench.
"The body bears signs of torture and abuse, including bite marks. This must be from a fish from the sea."
"Keep her in check."
After a quick glance, Zefa stood up and gave orders to the soldiers on the ship, then waved his hand to dismiss the people who were watching the excitement around.
Just as Zefa was about to leave, a small hand suddenly grabbed the corner of Zefa's clothes.
When he turned around, he found Luffy, who was protected in Ace's arms, grabbing him.
"What's wrong, Luffy? Are you scared?"
"It doesn't matter. It's just..."
Zephyr thought Luffy was scared and tried to comfort him softly, but before he could finish his words, Luffy shook his head.
"Will it be alright if the body is collected?"
"Shouldn't we investigate?"
"Teacher Zefa, aren't we the navy?"
Luffy's words still showed the panic he felt when he first saw the corpses, but his words made the sailors on the deck shudder. Several sailors who were about to collect the corpses couldn't help but stop and turned their heads to look at Luffy and Zephyr.
Ace and Sabo also raised their heads and looked at Zephyr with bright eyes.
“.”
"On this ocean, people are dying all the time."
"As you ask me this, somewhere you don't know, there may be many corpses floating on the sea, or being thrown into the sea."
"We are the navy, but we can't handle things like this."
"I don't know where it came from. Even if I wanted to investigate, there are no clues."
"Even if there are some clues, it is almost impossible to track down the murderer."
"While we are trying so hard to investigate this matter, many living people are being killed by pirates, Luffy."
Zephyr might have been touched by Luffy's words, and he didn't know why he would explain so much to a little kid.
There are some things that Zefa doesn't want to do, but Zefa knows that even if he does them, it will be difficult to get any results.
Even in modern society with surveillance cameras everywhere, there are countless old cases that remain unsolved. On this ocean, a corpse is just too insignificant.
"There may not be any results if you check, but if you don't check, there will definitely be no results!"
"We're not completely clueless, are we?"
"Isn't this a fishman? Isn't the clue on Fishman Island?"
"Even if we can't find anything, at least we can send her home."
Although Luffy is young, he has learned a lot from Ace, Sabo and others. Although Ace blocked his eyes early on, Luffy recognized what it was.
Luffy's words echoed on the deck.
The sea breeze ruffled Zefa's hair, and the strong fishy smell dissipated a little.
Zefa looked at the three children in front of him and fell silent.
After a long while, Zefa turned around and walked towards the cabin. The words he said before leaving were heard by everyone on the deck:
"Turn, go to Shampoo Land, and after coating, go to Fishman Island!"
As Zefa left, the young sailors on the deck suddenly responded in unison: "Yes!!"
Doesn’t Zefa want to check?
If he didn't want to, he wouldn't have checked the specific condition of the body.
It's just that in recent years, his decisions have often been too rational.
This way of decision-making is neither good nor bad. But now, under Luffy's influence, Zephyr made a different decision.
"Just like Garp. A fool."
Muttering softly, a slight smile appeared on Zefa's face.
(End of this chapter)
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