Watching the silent Kai, Garp's expression grew somewhat grave, sweat beading on his forehead. Even in his past battles with Roger on the high seas, Garp had never felt this tense.
In a daze, Garp had an intuition—it seemed as if this young man's next decision would actually influence the direction of the entire world's fate!
Even Garp was startled by his own thoughts! However, past experience told him that his instincts were absolutely never wrong. At the very least, this young man before him definitely had an extraordinary background!
"Marine? Or pirate?" Kai frowned slightly, deep in thought.
It wasn't about being conflicted over the system's rewards. For Kai, whether it was Observation Haki or Armament Haki, he was confident he could master either in a short time. What Kai was considering was which of these two identities would bring him more convenience.
After a moment, Kai's brow gradually relaxed, a smile appearing on his face. Looking at the serious-faced Garp, he slowly spoke:
"Vice Admiral Garp, I choose to join the Marines."
Kai's reason for choosing the Marines was that in the One Piece world, the Marines represented the positive image. It wasn't that Kai was particularly noble or righteous—rather, a Marine identity would be more advantageous for Kai to gain Prestige Points.
Hearing Kai's answer, Garp's tense expression finally relaxed somewhat, though he was still puzzled. Looking at Kai, he asked: "Kid, how do you know who I am?"
"Marine Hero Garp, Marine Vice Admiral, the legendary Marine who repeatedly cornered Pirate King Roger, known as 'Iron Fist Garp'! How could I not know you?" Kai shrugged.
"Ahaha, it's nothing!" Garp scratched his head while laughing heartily. Then he patted Kai's shoulder and said: "Kid, don't worry. Under my training, you'll definitely become an excellent Marine!"
"What's good about being a Marine? Pirates are way better," Luffy muttered from the side.
Clang!
Garp's fist landed on Luffy's head again as he roared: "You damn brat, still talking about becoming a pirate! I'm going to throw you off a cliff a hundred times!!"
Hearing Garp's words, Luffy couldn't help but shiver all over, looking at Garp with terror.
Kai watched the grandfather-grandson pair from the side, his mouth twitching. Luffy's eventual choice to become a pirate was definitely inseparable from Garp's "loving" education.
Seeing Luffy grimacing but staying quiet, Garp nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Kai and said: "Let's head back to Windmill Village first. After staying for a while, we'll go to Marine Headquarters."
Kai nodded without saying much and followed Garp in one direction.
Windmill Village, Party's Bar.
In just a few days, Kai had become acquainted with everyone in Windmill Village. Perhaps due to the world's source influence, most people in the One Piece world were quite straightforward. Of course, there were also conspirators like Doflamingo and Blackbeard.
Luffy pouted, slapping the table in front of him and shouting loudly: "Makino, I don't want juice! I want to drink alcohol—the rum that pirates drink!"
"Ahaha! Little Luffy actually wants to drink now!"
"Makino, give little Luffy a drink, put it on my tab!"
Noisy voices filled the Party's Bar. Kai watched everything before him with interest—he quite liked Luffy's personality.
Then Kai put on a serious expression, suddenly looking at Makino and saying: "Makino, since little Luffy has said so, then give Luffy a glass of... milk!"
"Ahahaha!!"
"Right! Luffy should drink milk!!"
As Kai's words fell, the bar erupted in laughter! Luffy, who had been full of anticipation, instantly looked dejected, glaring at Kai angrily:
"Ahhh, Kai-nii, I'm a pirate! How can a pirate not drink alcohol?!"
Bang!
Before Kai could speak, the bar's door was suddenly kicked open by someone. Several drunken thugs staggered inside.
Shing!
The leader drew a sharp longsword from his waist, the gleaming blade pointing at everyone as he spoke: "Who! Who was just saying they're a pirate? Come on! Let me, the Bandit King, chop off your head!"
After a long moment with no response, this self-proclaimed Bandit King nodded in satisfaction and plopped down next to Kai, looking at Makino: "Hurry up and bring out all your alcohol, or I'll tear down your shop."
As he spoke, the bandit slammed his longsword onto the bar counter.
"I'm sorry, customer. We've sold out of alcohol—we only have juice left now," Makino said somewhat apologetically. This was indeed the truth—the last bottle of alcohol had just been poured into Kai's glass.
"Juice!?" The bandit glanced at Luffy's cup beside him, becoming even more enraged: "You're making me drink the same thing as this little brat!? None left? Then what's he drinking?"
The bandit pointed one hand at the glass in front of Kai.
"Sorry, sir, this is the last glass in our bar..."
Before Makino could finish, the bandit interrupted directly: "I don't care if this is the last glass of alcohol or not. If you can't get me a drink within one minute, then I'll tear down your entire bar!"
"Don't you dare bully Makino!" Luffy's voice suddenly rang out.
The bandit was stunned, then looked at Luffy with a vicious expression: "That voice? Kid, were you the one just now saying you're a pirate?"
"Of course! I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!" Luffy showed no sign of backing down, shouting directly.
"Pirate? Then go die!"
Without any hesitation, bandits and pirates had fundamental conflicts. The bandit grabbed the longsword from the counter and slashed directly at Luffy!
The imagined bloody scene didn't occur—the bandit's thick arm was forcibly caught mid-air by a slender hand.
"Bandit, I think the one who should die is you!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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