Under the moonlight, after hearing those words, Nao's expression turned a little odd.
Cold to others? Arrogant?
There was no reason for Monica to lie to him, so it seemed that, in daily life, Shia really was that kind of person?
But that night...
Just as this thought rose in his mind, Nao suddenly noticed Xia, standing behind the two short-haired girls, staring straight at him with clear, lake-like eyes.
When their gazes met, instead of looking away, the blue-haired girl playfully winked at him. She raised her slender hands in front of her chest and quietly formed a heart shape.
Crap!
Nao's heart skipped a beat.
It really was all an act. His initial judgment wasn't wrong at all. This girl was an absolute obsessive!
A normal person wouldn't spend a whole year secretly spying on him from the dorm rooftop with binoculars!
He swallowed hard and instinctively took half a step back. Monica and Loran, noticing his reaction, turned to look behind them, only to see everything perfectly normal—
Shia had already lowered her hands, resuming her expressionless, aloof demeanor.
"What are you looking at? Got a problem with my face?"
"N-no..." Monica and Loran quickly shook their heads.
"…"
Nao took it all in, utterly dumbfounded.
There were plenty of two-faced people in this world.
Back at the 329th Marine Branch, Captain Bako was a textbook example.
But someone who only showed their second face to him—this was the first time he'd encountered that…
"There's trouble! Marines ahead!"
"Surround them!"
Suddenly, loud footsteps echoed from the alley entrance. The group simultaneously turned to look in the direction of the commotion, seeing a large mob of pirates surging toward them.
The crowd was dense, easily numbering two or three hundred at a glance.
"This is bad…" Monica's face paled. "There's so many of them…"
Shia's face darkened slightly, though she said nothing.
"Nao, what do we do?"
Loran turned to him anxiously. "We're all exhausted, and you can't handle this many on your own…"
"Who said he was alone?"
Before Nao could answer, a familiar voice rang out from above. The group looked up in surprise and spotted two figures atop a four-story building.
It was Shiryu and Rosinante.
Both were crouched on the rooftop, cigarettes dangling from their mouths. Though they looked a bit tired, their spirits seemed intact, and they bore no obvious injuries.
Glancing at the approaching mob of pirates, the two men leapt from the roof, landing lightly in front of Nao and the others.
"Damn, I thought you wouldn't make it."
Shiryu gave Nao's chest a firm smack and laughed.
"Didn't expect it, huh? You really are one lucky guy, showing up just in time!"
"Haha, I've always thought of myself as pretty lucky."
Finally seeing his friends, Nao couldn't help but grin. After sharing a quick hug with the two, he asked curiously, "When did you get here? And…"
He shot a bemused glance at Rosinante. "Hey, hey, when did you start smoking too?"
Rosinante scratched his head sheepishly.
"We just got here, chasing those pirates. Didn't expect to run into you."
Shiryu lit another cigarette with a flick of his lighter. "The cigars are my doing. Rosinante's been tense these past couple days, so I figured he needed to learn how to unwind."
"Want one?" He offered Nao a thick cigar with a smirk. "Every man needs a way to ease stress and stay sharp."
"I'll pass."
Nao's eye twitched as he firmly refused. He hated the smell of smoke, both in his previous life and now. Cigars were out of the question.
In fact, Shiryu had earned more than a few scoldings from him in the past for blowing secondhand smoke his way.
While the three men chatted casually, Monica and Loran stared in disbelief.
"Hey! This isn't the time for chit-chat, you idiots!"
Monica, flustered and annoyed, shot them a glare—but, of course, not at Nao. Who could possibly be mad at a beautiful boy they secretly admired? "The pirates are closing in, and you're just standing around talking?"
"Don't be like that—it's all part of the strategy," Shiryu drawled lazily around his cigarette.
"Oh? And what's the plan? We're surrounded, what do we do?"
Do what?
Shiryu exchanged a glance with Nao, then looked at Rosinante.
In the next moment, the three simultaneously grinned, an unspoken understanding born of long camaraderie. They drew their weapons, stepping forward to shield the three girls, and raised their heads to face the oncoming tide of pirates.
"What else?"
Nao turned his head slightly, smiling as he raised the Wind Sword in his left hand and the Azakana Sword in his right. The red and white blades gleamed menacingly in the moonlight.
"We just cut them all down and the problem solves itself."
"…Eh?"
Monica's gaze was completely captured by Nao's side profile.
By the time she snapped out of it, the three men had already dashed into the throng of pirates at breakneck speed, leaving only blurry afterimages in their wake.
———
Meanwhile, atop the mountain at the island's north end…
In the whistling night breeze, Aokiji stood silently on a massive boulder, his gaze sweeping across the entire island below.
This was the island's highest point, offering an almost unobstructed view of the town below.
Even the dark alleys hidden behind buildings could be sensed with his expanded Observation Haki.
A few Marine soldiers busied themselves in the makeshift communications hub behind him, relaying fresh updates from various instructors scattered throughout the town via Den Den Mushi.
"Vice Admiral Kuzan."
A slightly balding Marine ensign, having just finished a Den Den Mushi call, hurried over and saluted.
"Rear Admiral General Gion just reported that the previously absent new recruit, Nao Natsuya, has arrived on the island and joined the combat exercise."
"That kid, huh…"
Aokiji's gaze shifted toward a certain part of town. He suddenly smiled. "I spotted him a few minutes ago. Oh, and how many recruits are still holding out?"
"There were originally 203 recruits in total. Since last night, 78 have been eliminated from the exercise."
The balding ensign read from his clipboard, answering meticulously. "Including those who requested rescue for various reasons, only about 80 remain active in the town."