East blue Sea, Shimotsuki Village.
A green-haired child clutched two wooden practice swords and charged forward, striking the target before him until he was drenched in sweat.
"Hoho~"
"Brother Zoro! Look at the newspaper! Today's news is about the greatest swordsman in the world!"
Zoro, panting heavily, narrowed his eyes and dashed for the newspaper.
"The day before yesterday, Marine Colonel Karl and the greatest swordsman in the world, Hawk Eye Mihawk, engaged in a swordsmanship duel in the City of Seven Waters, on Shipwreck Island..."
"Although both Colonel Karl and Hawk Eye Mihawk were injured, there was no victor..."
Zoro silently read through the newspaper's content, gazing at the photographs of Karl and Mihawk, and his desire to grow stronger increased.
"Hawk Eye Mihawk, Marine Captain Karl..."
"I really want to fight them soon! Kuina..."
Unfortunately, that call will never be heard. Kuina fell down the stairs and died two years ago.
Marine Headquarters.
Sengoku frowned as he looked at the report in the newspaper. How could Mihawk, one of the Seven Warlords, attack Karl? How dare he strike at the Marines?
Reflecting on the latest information about the Seven Warlords, an idea gradually formed in Sengoku's mind.By the way, last year this group of Seven Warlords was complete. It's time for them to 'gather'!"
As soon as these words were said, Sengoku took out the Den Den Mushi, specifically designated for communication with the Five Elders, from its hidden place.
...
Last time, Karl, who made a big splash during the operation to capture Kaido, only appeared in the Marine Corps newspapers, so his influence was limited to that organization.
But now, Karl appeared for the first time on the pages of the world newspaper, which immediately caused a strong reaction.
What confuses and upsets Karl is that he became famous not because of his duel with Hawk Eye Mihawk, but because of his unique appearance.
Some even placed his photograph next to the most beautiful woman in the world, Boa Hancock, and called him the most handsome man in the world.
Now Karl is afraid to disembark on an island, otherwise he will face women whose eyes light up at the sight of him.
Karl is baffled too! In the past, if he was in the newspaper, they would just glance at him! Now they look directly and even want to undress him.
Could this be the celebrity effect?
A warship was slowly moving across the sea.
Karl wore sunglasses, was shirtless, in beach shorts, with the symbol of a true man—dragging a child behind him, comfortably settling in a chair with an umbrella beside him.
"Colonel, this is the juice brought from the kitchen."
"Oh~ah... just set it here!"
Karl stretched, yawned, and with a sleepy gaze looked at the distant sea. Such is life!
Fight pirates when they appear, and consider it a vacation when they don't. It's nice to get paid for this~
"Colonel, this is information sent from headquarters. Why does it feel like there have been more assignments lately?"
Karl naturally knew the reason but saw no point in discussing it with Nelson. He shrugged and said, "Who cares! Anyway, there are more assignments during this period."
"Alright, don't bother me if anything comes up!"
"Yes, sir."
...
Time flies, and the end of the year is approaching. Karl has been fishing for more than two months.
"Ding! The accumulated idleness time has reached 500 hours, and the first stage of [Career Mission - King of Idleness] is complete."
"Rewards: 10 high-level specified attribute enhancement cards, 1 skill card [Color of Armament·External]"
Karl smiled: "Use all enhancement cards to improve perception."
After the improvement, Karl's attributes are as follows.
Host: Karl
Age: 24 years
Physiology: B
Perception: B-
Will: B+
Haki: Color of Armament LV6 (hardening, coating, external), Color of Observation LV5
Special abilities: [Quieter than Water] [Faster than a Hare] [Son of the Sea] [Swordsmanship LV3]
Holy Fruit of Light: 23.6% (awakening progress)
Active skills: Fragile (used), Shadow Vision (used)
Karl's strength continues to grow steadily, especially in Haki and swordsmanship, where progress is swift.
"Colonel! We've arrived at Marineford, give us instructions!"
"Well then, disperse! Rest well!"
"Yes, sir!"
After two months with Karl, Nelson has learned a lot. At least he no longer asks Karl for advice on every issue.
Karl patted Nelson on the shoulder, turned, and left, heading straight to the marshal's office.
...
Knock, knock, knock~
"Come in!"
Karl entered the Fleet Admirals office, nodded and smiled upon seeing the staff near the crane, then sat aside and silently observed the life of the handsome man.
"Karl, over the past two months you've done an excellent job. You've easily dealt with four pirate groups with bounties over 100 million. Your efficiency is really high!"
Karl was taken aback. Is such efficiency considered high? How slow are the others?
After thinking it over, Karl decided that it might be because of his laziness. He steered clear of pirate groups with little information and those that were inactive, focusing instead on the more active ones. How could the efficiency not be high?
He wouldn't, like Smoker in the future, chase a Straw Hat all the way from East blue to the New World.
"All for justice!"
Sengoju and he exchanged a look and nodded. Sengoku pulled a document from his desk drawer and handed it to Karl.
With a light smile on his face, Chan Guo said, "Congratulations, Karl. From this moment, you are a Rear Admiral of the Marine Headquarters!"
"Ding! It's been detected that the master's rank has been promoted from Colonel to Rear Admiral, level pass obtained: Special Attribute Enhancement Card*3."
"Daily mission rewards changed to 7 Specified Attribute Enhancement Cards + Random Rewards*4 (stored), chance of receiving rare rewards increased to 7%."
Karl was delighted as he took the official document from Sengoku , feeling quite pleased.
"Rear admiral Karl."
"I'm here!"
Sengoku smiled and shook his head, handing the document to Karl. Upon seeing the title "Seven Warlords of the Sea," Karl frowned: "Fleet Admiral sengoku, this is...""That's right, I did not agree with it, but under the pressure of the World Government, I said little. However, their behavior lately has been too excessive, and you must understand this well."
Initially, Sengoku ignored the behavior of the Seven Warlords of the Sea as long as they were somewhat obedient and did not cross certain boundaries.
But Karl's two encounters with the Seven Warlords of the Sea alerted Sengoku. Clearly, some of the Seven Warlords did not take the Marines seriously at all.
Karl quickly nodded. Exactly! Especially that Mihawk, he was very fierce. Look at how loyal Moria was. He didn't even dare to attack me, even though I killed so many of his zombies.
"That's why I'm planning to summon all members of the Seven Warlords of the Sea for a meeting at Marineford during the World Conference , and your task is to 'invite' one of the Seven Warlords to Marineford."
Honestly, the Seven Warlords of the Sea act freely, except for the necessity to respond to mandatory summons from the World Government and contribute a certain portion of their income to the government.
Even as a Marine admiral, he cannot freely move these Seven Warlords, so Sengoku worked hard on this summons and put in a lot of effort to gain the approval of the World Government.
Karl thought it over repeatedly and nodded. Indeed, it was a challenging task.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, tell me! Whom should I invite?"
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