That shower sound…
Could it be that the little rabbit came back early?
And she didn't even tell me. What, does she want to give me a surprise?
Nao immediately pushed the door open, tiptoeing to the bathroom doorway, hiding behind the corner, rubbing his hands together with a mischievous grin as he waited.
Before long—
The shower stopped, and the frosted glass door slid open. A figure, wrapped in a bath towel, stepped out.
Nao moved in like lightning, seizing the slightly shorter figure in a domineering embrace.
"Rear Admiral, you've finally…"
He grinned as he lowered his head, but the moment he saw the face in front of him, his smile froze solid.
—In his arms, Garp blinked at him, looking utterly bewildered.
"What the hell?!"
Nao shoved Garp away in an instant, veins throbbing on his forehead as he roared, "Why is it you?! Garp-san! Why are you showering in my house in the middle of the night?!"
"Because the faucet in my house was broken by that kid Ace…
Garp said innocently, "Halfway through my shower, the water just stopped. I had no choice but to come use yours. What's the problem? Just got back from Impel Down and you're already this grumpy?""
"I'm sorry, I lost my composure a bit."
Nao rubbed his temples, exhaling helplessly. "Guess I just… had my expectations crushed. But seriously, Garp-san—I don't recall giving you a key. How did you even get in?"
"Ah, that…"
Garp's old face turned red, and he stammered for a long time, unable to say a word. He subconsciously glanced at the window on his right.
Nao followed his gaze, and his eye twitched.
Oh, great. Never mind the window, half the wall has been removed.
Looking through the night, he could see that in Garp's house next door, Ace was lying on the table, seriously staring at a Den Den Mushi, playing a game of who blinks first loses.
Fortunately, the glass was still intact, and the bricks were stacked neatly.
"Don't worry, I'll put it all back later!"
Garp noticed Nao's constipated expression and immediately patted his chest, laughing loudly:
"Don't let my career as a Marine fool you; when it comes to fixing houses, I'm a professional! I'm very experienced. It won't even take an hour to restore it to its original state, you'll see!"
I believe you, alright…
Nao rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"Fine, you can get started on that later. The last battle was pretty tiring, so I'm going back to my room to rest."
He waved weakly, dragging his tired body upstairs toward the bedroom—though really, it was more emotional exhaustion from the "surprise" that never came.
Yep. Living next door to a demolition demon like Garp was definitely not a good thing. Odds were this wouldn't be the last time.
Before heading up, he glanced one last time at the neighbors.
Little Ace was about to lose, when he suddenly turned around, stuck his butt out, and let loose a loud, stinky fart, making the poor Den Den Mushi cough and snot all over.
Ace then giggled, proudly declaring his victory…
Three black lines formed on Nao's forehead.
"And that little brat too… the whole household's unreliable."
He sighed silently, "Hmm, when my precious daughters arrive, I must remind them to be wary of the brat next door. They absolutely cannot be led astray…"
...
The night passed without incident.
When he woke up, it was 5:30 in the morning again. Nao casually pressed the alarm clock that was about to go off and got out of bed.
When he went downstairs, the wall and window had indeed been restored to their original state. From every angle, he couldn't see any traces of repair, which left Nao in awe. He almost suspected that Garp was actually a secret Human-Human Fruit, Trowel-Wielding Bricklayer form user.
He went to the bathroom, put some toothpaste on his toothbrush, and began to wash up. In the hundreds of square meters of his huge home, only his reflection in the mirror was there to keep him company. As he brushed his teeth, Nao inexplicably felt a bit lonely.
It's almost New Year's, right?
He gargled and spat out the toothpaste foam, calculating the dates. Well, it seemed that before New Year's Day, neither Belle-mère, nor Gion and Shia, would be able to make it to Headquarters.
This meant…
For the first time since he was born, he would be spending the New Year alone.
Humans are social animals, after all. The invincible Lord Nao sighed softly, and then he felt ashamed of the melancholy sadness he had just shown.
Once he was done, he rubbed his face hard, straightened himself up, and put on his confident, high-spirited expression again. Throwing on his white coat, he strode out the door.
The enormous popularity he had gained from defeating the Golden Lion had not subsided after a night of fermentation. On the contrary, it had become even more intense.
He was blocked wherever he went. He tried to go for a run on the training grounds, but the empty track was instantly turned into an international marathon. When he went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and have some porridge, there were hundreds of people peeking at him through the windows.
He finally managed to get into the fortress building. In the Fleet Admiral's office, Fleet Admiral Kong looked at his dusty face and couldn't help but laugh:
"What's wrong? You've had this kind of treatment since you were in the elite camp. You should be used to it by now, right?"
"It was never this exaggerated before, sir…"
Nao rubbed his temples in frustration and sighed, "Forget it. I'll just stay in the office and approve documents for the next couple of days. I'll just wait for this frenzy to pass."
"Wait for it to pass? I think that's unlikely."
Kong laughed loudly and threw two documents to him. "Accept reality, Nao! From the moment you defeated the Golden Lion, you became the idol of the entire Marine Headquarters. In my opinion, it's only a matter of time before your fame and prestige surpass even Garp."
"Oh, no, no, you're giving me too much praise, sir."
Nao smiled, took the two documents, and opened them one by one.
The first one, as expected, was the highest commendation from Marine Headquarters. It would be announced to the entire Marine force in the future, and it had Fleet Admiral Kong's seal and signature at the bottom.
This was undoubtedly a symbol of the highest honor.
And there were tangible benefits as well.
Not only was a glorious and momentous entry added to Nao's record of achievements, but he also received a new home from Headquarters. His salary was doubled, and he was also given two months of paid vacation every year.
That's right, two months of paid vacation every year!
What did that mean?
It meant that as long as there wasn't a war or urgent mission, Nao could take two whole months each year to do whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted.
It was the pinnacle of freedom and happiness, something that would make a certain old man go mad with envy.
As for the other document…
Nao was a little surprised. When he opened it, he saw that it was also a commendation, but this one was from the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, and the seal at the bottom was from the World Government's highest ruler—the Five Elders.
"…"
Nao raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Surprised?"
Sengoku let out a hearty laugh. "Your outstanding achievements this time weren't just noticed by Headquarters; the higher-ups of the World Government were also completely shocked."
"According to my connections, many of the high-ranking officials who had a strong prejudice against you because of the William incident now see you in a new light. Even the Five Elders admire you greatly and personally signed this commendation."
The commendation from the World Government was naturally also very generous.
Not to mention the honors, the prize money alone was a whopping two hundred million Berries, which was directly transferred to Nao's account.
The Five Elders also specially offered him permanent residency in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise. As long as Nao was willing, he could choose a property in the Holy Land at any time and settle down there.
"…It is a bit surprising."
After finishing the document, Nao closed it and gave Kong a somewhat shy smile. In the depths of his eyes, however, his gaze was a little indifferent.
"It's rare to see the Five Elders pay so much attention to a young upstart. Nao, you are the only one in the entire Marine force who has this kind of favor right now."
Kong didn't notice his subtle expression. He knocked on the desk with his knuckles and smiled:
"You're the youngest Vice Admiral at Headquarters right now, and in my opinion, you're also very likely to surpass your teacher, Zephyr, and become the youngest Admiral in Marine history!"
The position of Admiral was not something that could be decided by the Fleet Admiral alone. It required the highest levels of the World Government to reach a consensus before a final decision could be made.
Clearly, in terms of the approval of the higher-ups, Nao already had an unparalleled head start.
Facing Kong's old yet comforted gaze, Nao realized for the first time with perfect clarity.
His dream of becoming an Admiral was so close for the first time, as if he could easily reach out and touch it.
He had even gradually overcome his lack of seniority on this path and had now caught up to Akainu and Kizaru…
...
After returning to his office.
Nao carefully put the Marine Headquarters commendation in the file cabinet. He then casually threw the World Government commendation aside and slowly sat down in his office chair.
With his legs crossed, he quietly looked at the harbor outside the floor-to-ceiling window, lost in thought.
"I'm already being seen as a future successor by the Five Elders…"
He looked into the distance, as if trying to see through the clouds and the top of the Red Line. "What about the person in the Room of Flowers? Has he also started to pay attention to me…"
This was an unknown answer.
Imu was simply too mysterious. So mysterious that, besides the Five Elders, few people in the outside world knew of their existence.
Nao even suspected that in the entire Marine force, besides him, the transmigrator, no one else knew anything about that name. Not even Kong, the Fleet Admiral.
But one thing was certain.
"These high-and-mighty Celestial Dragons… they have no idea…"
A faintly mocking smile tugged at his lips. "The promising young Marine you value so much… just wants to see every last one of you hanging from a lamp post."
Yes—he wanted to be an Admiral, to command the full might of Headquarters, to stand at the very pinnacle of the world…
But not to wallow with the meat-eaters.
It was to fulfill the grand ideal that had taken root in his heart since childhood and had become clearer and clearer as he grew older…
...
After a long time, his thoughts returned to reality. Nao withdrew his gaze from the window and turned to the documents piled on his desk.
"Oh, right."
Before he officially started his day's work, Nao suddenly remembered something. He opened the system panel and glanced at his points.
As expected, with the influence of the Impel Down incident spreading across the world, he had gained a massive number of points, far exceeding the previous times.
A full 500,000, and the number was still continuously rising!
His points, which had been only a little over 500,000 after his last big purchase, had directly doubled. He had once again surpassed the one million mark, reaching the impressive number of "1,035,000."
Having so many points made him want to do something with them. Nao thought for a moment and then opened the shop panel, intending to see if there were any decent items this week. If not, he would spend half of his points on a stat boost.
With a flash of blue light, the shop interface opened, and six new items appeared before him:
[100,000 Volts: 150,000 points]
[Gold Blue-Eyes White Dragon Card: 87,320,000 points]
[Takeshi Gouda's Album CD: 9,000 points]
[Meditation Incense: 100,000 points]
[Elder Soma's Kendo Notes: 210,000 points]
[Adamantine Body (Talent Skill): 200,000 points]
…
The items in the shop were always somewhere between reliable and outrageous, and their names were often quite deceptive, making it difficult to figure out their actual value.
Nao was already used to this habit, so he was straightforward and quickly began to browse the detailed descriptions in the text boxes, starting with the first item.
[100,000 Volts]
[Type: Special Skill]
[Description: A powerful skill from the Pokémon world. The player only needs to curl their tail (tailless species can curl their butt), imitate Pikachu, and make the sound "PIKA" to unleash 100,000 volts of thunder and electricity from their tail (or butt), causing massive damage to enemies.]
[Note: Each time this skill is used, it will consume ten percent of the player's maximum stamina.]
[""Go, Pikachu! Use Gomu Gomu no King Kong Gun!"]
…
"The skill's power should be pretty good…"
Nao narrowed his eyes, his face looking a bit awkward. "But the requirement to activate the skill is a bit too ridiculous, isn't it…"
Just imagine. At Marineford, facing the imposing Whitebeard Pirates, Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru all make their moves, each showing off their power.
And he, the highly respected Lord Nao Natsuya, gets up from his Admiral seat, suddenly sticks out his butt, and roars "Pika"…
The image was unbearable. A shiver ran down his spine, and he shook his head to banish the thought, instantly passing on it and moving to the next item.
…
[Gold Blue-Eyes White Dragon Card]
[Type: Permanent Item]
[Description: A limited edition card specially made to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh. Only 500 cards were sold worldwide. It is extremely valuable and has a very high collectible and commemorative value.]
[Note: It can only be collected and commemorated.]
["It's not very useful, but as a card player, who can refuse its temptation?"]