One Piece meme: Starting with eight extraordinary skills

Xiao Ba didn't rush to look at the flyer. He carefully picked out the cooked takoyaki one by one and put them into a paper bag, then handed it to the customer with a smile. Only then did he take the flyer with a puzzled look, saying:

"what is this?"

Xiao Ba's pupils constricted sharply as she glanced at the flyer, and she exclaimed in surprise:

"A private's annual income is as high as 400,000 Berries? Isn't that four times my annual income?"

"hiss!"

Xiao Ba gasped.

Don't doubt how low this income is; it's a common situation on Fishman Island.

Fishmen are the lowest class in the Dragon Palace Kingdom, and they have no access to high-end professions and industries. In addition, the Dragon Palace Kingdom rarely has contact with the outside world, which makes the consumption level here quite low.

Consumption levels determine industry levels, which in turn affect the salary levels of every worker, thus in turn determining consumption levels, forming a closed loop.

An annual income of 10 Berries is practically the poorest of the poor on Earth.

But Xiao Ba still found it enjoyable. It was much better than the group of unemployed people in Fishman Street. At least he had a skill and could support himself with his abilities.

But now, Xiao Ba has completely broken through her defenses!

What kind of takoyaki should I bake?

No more baking!

Hachi deftly retrieved the shop's equipment, locked it up, and declared his farewell to the takoyaki shop he had longed for. Without a second thought, he dashed off toward the address of the Navy branch listed on the flyer.

Along the way, there were quite a few fishmen traveling with Xiao Ba.

There were even a few mermaids who weren't doing so well.

Clearly, even among the so-called ruling class, not every mermaid can enjoy the demographic dividend. Some have fallen on hard times, or their own abilities are not up to par, which is why they are getting worse and worse off.

When Hachi arrived at the naval branch base, he found it already packed with people, with shirtless fishmen everywhere.

Xiao Ba looked around and found that the fishmen who came were of all kinds.

Sea bream fishman, whale shark fishman, sawtooth shark fishman, kissing fish fishman, cartilaginous fish fishman, octopus fishman, great white shark fishman, broad-striped tiger shark fishman, bullhorn fish fishman...

The fish-men are a very special race, with appearances that are half human and half fish. They breathe with lungs on land and with gills in water, and are born with a stronger physique and ten times the strength of ordinary humans.

Interestingly, there is no reproductive isolation between fish-men and humans; they can reproduce and multiply. The resulting half-human, half-fish-man hybrids possess both human appearance and fish-man organ characteristics.

There are many speculations about the origins of the fish-men.

Some suspect that fish-men are deformed products born from a scientific experiment, because when they dissected the bodies of fish-men, they found that the fish-men's blood type was the same as that of humans, and that they could receive blood transfusions from each other without any problems.

Anyone with even a little medical knowledge should know that human blood is different from the blood of other organisms.

When a person is seriously injured and needs a blood transfusion, it is usually necessary to have blood drawn from a person with the same blood type, rather than just randomly picking a cat or dog to draw blood from, otherwise it will cause viral infection in the blood and a severe rejection reaction from the body.

It is based on this premise that some people have made such a conjecture.

Unfortunately, neither Vegapunk, the most brilliant scientist of our time, nor scientists like Quinn, Judge, and Caesar showed much interest in studying fish-men, so naturally no one bothered to uncover the secrets behind them.

Or perhaps the waters behind this are too deep, and these scientists are wise enough to avoid getting involved?

All the inside stories are buried in the long river of history and cannot be told to outsiders.

As a fishman with little education, Hachi naturally wouldn't ponder philosophical questions like "Where do fishmen come from?" Instead, he filed into the naval branch base with the rest of the fishmen.

Within this naval branch base spanning hundreds of acres, dozens of arenas of equal size were erected. Colonel Ian, Lieutenant Colonel Tashigi, and others were maintaining order throughout, loudly proclaiming through megaphones:

"Due to the large number of applicants for military service and the limited number of positions in the Navy branch, we are now adopting a differentiated assessment system. The first test is a martial arts competition. Only those who can defeat ten opponents in a row on the stage will be qualified to participate in the second test. Please come in order to get your competition number."

Guided by the staff, Hachi received a number plate marked 567 from Lieutenant Colonel Tashigi. Clearly, there were already more than 500 people who had registered before, making the competition extremely fierce.

Xiao Ba stared at the number plate in his hand and realized that it seemed to be a very auspicious number. He then hung it on his slightly worn clothes.

Chapter 392 Naval Staffing in High Demand

Guided by the staff, Hachi received a number plate marked 567 from Lieutenant Colonel Tashigi. Clearly, there were already more than 500 people who had registered before, making the competition extremely fierce.

Xiao Ba stared at the number plate in his hand and realized that it seemed to be a very auspicious number. He then hung it on his slightly worn clothes.

When he was bored, Xiao Ba took out a whetstone and sharpened the eight long swords he carried to make them even sharper.

While waiting patiently, Hachi finally heard Tashigi calling from ahead:

"Number 567! Number 568! Step into the ring!"

"Finally it's me!"

Xiao Ba walked solemnly onto the arena, his eight arms outstretched, holding eight long swords, watching his opponent step onto the stage with fierce anticipation.

"I'll give it my all for a high salary!"

At Tashigi's command, the arena erupted in a flurry of swords and spears as two fish-men began a fierce battle, each giving it their all, and blood was spilled across the arena in an instant.

Lieutenant General Domino took over the position of naval branch base chief from Yang Ming and took charge of the base. The matters related to the arena were handled by Major General Ai En and other women.

Although some unexpected events may occasionally occur, such as some murlocs being unwilling to admit defeat and still trying to turn the tide even after being defeated in the arena, such murloc actions will be immediately stopped.

Fortunately, such incidents are ultimately rare.

Watching Hachi wildly slash with eight long swords on the arena, and even having the nerve to call himself the Eight-Sword Style, Tashigi was speechless, thinking to herself:

"If Colonel Kuina were in charge of this arena, she would probably want to kill this octopus-man if she saw someone disrespecting swordsmanship like this, right?"

"Ah!"

Little Ba's body trembled, and he sneezed violently, almost losing his balance.

"How strange, why did I suddenly sneeze? Could it be that Brother Ah Long is missing me?"

Shaking his head, Xiao Ba put the thought out of his mind and continued to fight hard on the ring, successfully defeating his opponent.

As required by the Navy branch, Xiao Ba becomes the ring master after defeating one person. He needs to defeat the remaining nine competitors in order to successfully enter the next stage of assessment and selection.

Despite the difficulty, it was still hard to dampen the enthusiasm of the fishmen.

A lively scene unfolded on dozens of identical arenas. After three days of selection, the arena owners, including Xiao Ba, who successfully defended their titles, emerged victorious, totaling more than three thousand people.

If these 3,000-plus people were to join the naval branch, given Vice Admiral Domino's annual salary of 300,000 for trainee naval officers, the annual salary payments would exceed 900 million Berries, enough to bankrupt this small naval branch base.

Lieutenant General Domino naturally understood this principle, so from the very beginning, he focused on building a group of elite soldiers, emphasizing their superiority over sheer numbers.

Of course, Lieutenant General Domino also understood Yang Ming's intention in appointing her as the head of the naval branch base.

Once this recruitment plan is completed, and the naval system is established as a benchmark profession, creating a strong attraction for fishmen, Vice Admiral Domino will then create another auxiliary army outside the navy. The salary is 15 per year, and the training and missions are equal to those of the regular army. Only by accumulating merits can they be granted naval status and promoted to the regular army.

These so-called auxiliary armies are essentially outsourcing companies.

This idea was inspired by Lieutenant General Domino's experience in expanding the scale of the Dinosaur Chamber of Commerce, Carrera Company, and New Hope Factory.

Even though the salary of a servant is only 15 a year, it is still a considerable job among the murlocs, and there is also the hope of being promoted to the regular army, which is enough to make many murlocs flock to it.

Soon, the second round of assessment and selection began.

This assessment focuses on physical fitness, requiring each applicant to complete specific training within a set time, such as running 30 kilometers in an hour. This will help weed out those who fail the physical fitness test.

The third round of assessment, however, is an assessment of one's mindset.

The questionnaire, personally drafted by Lieutenant General Domino, was distributed to Major General Ian and others, who acted as examiners to conduct intensive questioning of each applicant in order to determine their personality traits. Those who were inherently vicious and showed no remorse would be screened out.

Ideological assessment is the most important aspect of the three major assessments and selection processes.

A person with great strength but an empty mind is ultimately just a fool.

If such a person also harbors evil intentions, once they gain even greater power, they will not only be unruly but also bring disaster. For any large organization or power, they are an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable source of evil.

When Xiao Ba was asked a question, the clueless octopus-man was already sweating profusely and feeling somewhat uneasy.

Because his competitors who were asked questions before him were all ruthlessly eliminated. They had all gone through the first two rounds of elimination with great difficulty, but in the end they were defeated by this seemingly ridiculous question, which made these eliminated fish feel unwilling and resentful.

Tashigi opened the questionnaire, and with a few quick movements of her lips, a series of questions rattled off:

What are your views on humanity?

"If you had control of force, what would you want to do?" (Shula)

"If your boss ordered you to carry out a dangerous task, what would you do?"

"What are your thoughts when you gain merit on the battlefield, only to have it stolen by your superiors?"

Each question seemed simple, but it went straight to the heart of the matter, making Xiao Ba feel like he was sitting on pins and needles, as if a cold light was shining on his back. He stammered a lot, and later he felt like his head was a complete mess, and he couldn't even remember what he had said.

After the assessment ended, Xiao Ba breathed a sigh of relief, his calloused, rough hands rubbing his back, which was covered in cold sweat.

Just when Xiao Ba felt his future was limitless and he was afraid he would not be able to pass the test, he suddenly heard a voice as beautiful as heavenly music:

"Congratulations on passing three assessments and successfully becoming a member of the Navy."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ba burst into tears.

A trainee naval officer earns an annual salary of 30 Berries, and from then on, he went ashore!

The other fishmen who failed the test were filled with envy and jealousy when they saw that the seemingly ordinary Hachi had passed the extremely rigorous third question-and-answer test. They wished they could take Hachi's place. Some clever fishmen seemed to have already understood the purpose of the Navy's third question-and-answer test and secretly noted down the key points to pave the way for themselves.

Chapter 393 Contract Workers and Outsourced Workers

The other fishmen who failed the test were filled with envy and jealousy when they saw that the seemingly ordinary Hachi had passed the extremely rigorous third question-and-answer test. They wished they could take Hachi's place. Some clever fishmen seemed to have already understood the purpose of the Navy's third question-and-answer test and secretly noted down the key points to pave the way for themselves.

As for those who were not selected, before they even left, Major General Ain launched the auxiliary army recruitment plan that Lieutenant General Domino had prepared long ago. Although the salary was only half that of the regular army, the opportunity to be promoted into the regular army made these unsuccessful candidates flock to it.

After three rounds of selection, more than 400 people, including Xiao Ba, were successfully selected to become proud naval soldiers.

More than four hundred people is not a small number.

Generally speaking, the naval branches scattered across the four seas have between 50 and 1000 members. More than 400 people are enough to complete many daily tasks. In addition, Vice Admiral Domino has created a vassal army, recruiting more than 2,000 fishmen who failed the selection. Presumably, the number will be even greater in the future.

It has to be said that it's incredibly convenient to outsource the work of current employees.

In the days that followed, Lieutenant General Domino tasted success from it and even wrote down his thoughts, bound them into a book, and sent it to Yang Ming in an attempt to attract Yang Ming's attention.

When Yang Ming received the book titled "Two or Three Ideas on Transforming from Servant Army to Regular Army," his expression was quite interesting. He was both amused and exasperated, and he also secretly admired the abundance of talent under his command, who had managed to find such a path.

I wonder if these people, like Lieutenant General Domino, will go astray and start outsourcing all the dirty and hard work, turning the regular army into idle lords.

It is human nature to be lazy and averse to work, so this kind of thing is bound to happen.

Yang Ming could only try his best to formulate fairer rules and regulations to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the regular army would not decline, while also indirectly expanding the navy's ranks.