Starting with One Piece, a Multiverse Simulation

Wood was not interested in the task Gion mentioned at first, and even planned to refuse it without thinking.

However, upon hearing that he would be promoted directly to sergeant upon completing this mission, Wood, who was about to leave, immediately stopped.

Chapter 44: The two of them are preparing to go on a mission?

Wood had calculated that, with his current rank, if he continued working in Impel Down step by step, it would take him at least twenty years to be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander at the Navy Headquarters!

And this is assuming a positive outcome. If something goes wrong in Impel Down, or if they make a mistake in their work, the process could take even longer.

The chances of returning to Naval Headquarters are slim, and the chances of rapid promotion are even smaller.

"Whether I get promoted or not is not important. The important thing is that I am the most loyal person."

We've known each other for two years now. While our relationship isn't exactly close, as former classmates, if Gion needs help, I, Wood, will naturally do my utmost to assist!

Wood's words were so impassioned that Gion almost believed them if she hadn't already known what kind of person he was.

Naval Headquarters, Office of the Fleet Admiral

"Gion, are you sure that this mission only requires the two of you to go?"

There are still quite a few naval captains on standby at Navy Headquarters. Once I officially appoint you as squad leader, even if they are of equal rank, they will all be under your command.

Looking at the man and woman standing before him, the old man with the goatee checked with Gion again, asking if this setup was a bit too hasty in completing the mission...

Previously, after Gion accepted the mission, it took two days to make any move. Sengoku thought that Gion attached great importance to this mission and was therefore very careful in selecting personnel.

However, after two days, Gion actually picked out a "private third class" from tens of thousands of outstanding naval officers who was not even a junior officer.

"Yes, Marshal, this is a decision I made after careful consideration."

This mission doesn't require many people. Having too many people will only attract the attention of those with ulterior motives and could easily alert them.

Don't let Wood's somewhat unreliable appearance fool you; as his former classmate, I can vouch for his abilities—there will be absolutely no problem with them.

Furthermore, to protect the navy's reputation, we have requested that Fleet Admiral Sengoku allow us to conceal our naval identity.

"As far as the Celestial Dragons are concerned, they don't care who is in charge of escorting them; they only care whether the slaves can be successfully delivered to Mary Geoise."

Concealing our Navy identity has two advantages for us. Firstly, it facilitates our operations. Secondly, escorting slaves for the Celestial Dragons is hardly a righteous act, and using our Navy identity to conduct business…

Before Gion could finish speaking, Sengoku nodded knowingly, his eyes filled with admiration as he looked at her.

If Sengoku were to send someone else to make contact with the Celestial Dragons, he would have to worry about whether the dispatched Marines would clash with the Celestial Dragons.

Meanwhile, Gion has already considered the negative impact this matter will have on the Navy.

With such meticulous thinking and a smooth-talking personality, Sengoku really didn't think Gion would act rashly. So after hesitating for a moment, Sengoku finally granted Gion's requests to move around and conceal their identities.

After leaving the Marshal's office, Wood looked at Gion with considerable disdain.

"You stumbled upon a dirty deal. They were clearly planning to help the Celestial Dragons with their human trafficking, but they were afraid of tarnishing the righteous Hagoromo, so they decided to hide their identities and do it for the sake of convenience?"

I never realized before that Gion, with her delicate features, could be such a shrewd businesswoman when it comes to politics and intrigue.

Gion had previously mentioned to Wood that the mission was to escort people, but she hadn't said that the people being escorted were slaves of the Celestial Dragons.

If Wood had known it would be this kind of mission, he would never have agreed to assist Gion, even if he spent his entire life sitting on the sidelines in Impel Down.

Among all the characters in "One Piece," the ones that Wood finds most disgusting and even nauseating are the so-called Celestial Dragons, the world's nobles.

Although some pirates commit all sorts of evil deeds and burn, kill, and plunder everywhere, when it comes to their evil deeds, they are not even one ten-thousandth as bad as these so-called world nobles.

The so-called Celestial Dragons are not an exaggeration to call them the root of "evil" in this world.

Wood didn't consider himself a particularly kind guy, but he had a basic moral compass.

He couldn't bring himself to risk his life to kill the Celestial Dragons and rid the people of evil, but it was also completely impossible for him to help the Celestial Dragons do their bidding!

"Do you think I like those pig-like beings? Even if we weren't the ones carrying out this mission, Marshal Sengoku would have sent someone else to do it."

The Navy has always belonged to the World Government, and even Fleet Admiral Sengoku could not refuse this mandatory mission.

"Why can't we be the ones to go, instead of others? Maybe we can do a better job?"

Hearing Wood's sarcastic remarks, Gion was not angry, but said these words with a subtle expression.

Since it is an important mission, the more combat power the better. Why did Gion abandon so many colonels and insist that he and Wood go alone?

Was the request to the Sengoku period admiral to conceal his naval identity merely a matter of concern for the navy's reputation?

Wood wasn't stupid; after hearing Gion's pointed remark, he finally showed a relieved expression.

He didn't know Gion's specific plans, but as a private, he was powerless to disobey the orders of the Fleet Admiral and the Captain. Since he was already on the pirate ship, he had no choice but to follow the path to the bitter end.

After Gion and Wood left the room, Sengoku took out another document and started working on it, but soon he showed a melancholy expression.

"I hope that girl from Gion doesn't go too far..."

The Warring States Marshal was a man known as a "wise general." He was not only not a fool, but he also saw things more clearly than anyone else.

Even after Gion made those strange requests, he was able to roughly guess what Gion wanted to do.

Without a doubt, Gion possesses a Navy-like sense of "justice," and she is very much like Tsuru, knowing how to think things through and make arrangements before taking certain actions.

Sengoku is worried that Gion might go too far and he, the old man, will have to clean up their mess again.

Then Sengoku looked at another document on the table, which contained Wood's detailed personal information.

"Instead of going it alone, she chose a private. It seems that Gion-chan trusts this kid named Wood quite a bit."

Chapter 45 Gion: Do you even have a sense of integrity and credibility?

The Grand Line, the first half of the Red Line ends at the Sabaody Archipelago.

After Wood brought the ship ashore, he and Gion landed on island 7 of the Sabaody Archipelago.

Because only Gion and Wood were on this mission, they didn't take the main warships with them when they left the Marine Headquarters. Instead, they bought a small sailboat.

Such small sailboats can only carry a limited amount of supplies, making it clearly impossible for them to travel long distances across the ocean.

However, the Sabaody Archipelago is not actually far from the Navy Headquarters, so the small sailboat the two were on could easily complete this short voyage unless it encountered an attacking Sea King.

As for your question about how a certain great swordsman managed to travel from the New World to the East Blue on a raft, Wood actually wants to know that too.

Do so-called great swordsmen not need to eat, drink, or relieve themselves along the way?

You know, Hawkeye's ship... calling it a ship is a stretch; it's basically just a broken raft with a seat attached.

Wood threw the ship's anchor into the sea, turned to the long-legged girl in casual clothes and hot pants beside him, and said, "As far as I know, areas 1 through 29 of the Sabaody Archipelago are all illegal zones."

It's not impossible for someone to be suddenly kidnapped while walking on the street. You've stopped the boat here to make sure there's no problem.

"This ship doesn't belong to the Navy Headquarters; it's your private property, isn't it?"

The Sabaody Archipelago is actually the site of the world's largest mangrove tree, the Yarchiman mangrove. Because the roots of the tree have always been exposed above the water, it formed the archipelago we see today.

Although it is called an archipelago, the islands themselves are tree roots, so the logging pointer does not record here, but only the Fishman Island 10,000 meters below the Sabaody Archipelago.

The place where Wood and Gion landed was a lawless area of ​​the archipelago. If it were a naval warship, and it stopped there, naturally no one would dare to steal it, since the naval headquarters wasn't far away.

However, the small sailboat that Wood and his crew arrived on was entirely pink, and even had a pair of rabbit ears as decoration on the top. No matter how you look at it, such a boat could not possibly belong to the Navy Headquarters.

"It's alright, there wasn't anything valuable on the ship, so it's fine if it was stolen. The mission is more important now, and going around to the other side of the island would waste a lot of time."

Area 1 on the island is the largest slave auction house; our mission objective should be there.”

Upon hearing what Gion said, Wood was taken aback. He had grown up on Red Leaf Island and was quite knowledgeable about the timber market.

The wood used in this ship in Gion is even better than the finest mahogany. Even disregarding the shipbuilding process, it would be worth at least ten to twenty million Berries. Yet Gion was stolen just like that!

Are naval captains paid that much? Why is his monthly salary only a few hundred thousand Berries?

"Gion, may I ask if I may ask how many Berries you earn per month as a naval captain?"

The two who landed on Island 7 moved quickly toward Island 1. During this time, Gion did not understand why Wood would suddenly ask such a strange question, but she still satisfied Wood's curiosity.

"A naval captain's monthly salary isn't actually that much, maybe close to ten million Berries."

Gion has little concept of money, and unlike other ordinary women, she doesn't like many things. When she's either waiting at Marine Headquarters or on a mission, she generally doesn't have a place to spend money.

"Nearly ten million Berries... no, wait, a salary of nearly ten million Berries is quite astonishing."

But that ship was worth several months' salary, wasn't it? If it's gone just like that, don't you feel any pain?"

"What are you talking about? Although a naval captain's salary is indeed only about ten million peles."

However, while you can't receive the full bounty like a bounty hunter when hunting down or killing pirates with bounties, you can still get a cut.

Although Gion's words were not explicitly written in the Navy's welfare regulations, such an unspoken rule has always existed.

The fact that the Navy Headquarters can offer bounties of hundreds of millions of Berries to pirates proves that they are very wealthy.

Why not use a percentage of the bounty on pirates as a reward for highly regarded naval commanders? It's more cost-effective than using bounty hunters and it also motivates these naval officers to hunt down pirates.

Wood was unaware of this rule entirely because he had spent the last six months in Impel Down.

Let alone participating in the hunt for pirates, he didn't even manage to see a single pirate. The pirates he encountered were usually just there to eat in prison.

Gion's rapid rise in just six months is a testament to the fact that many pirate crews have fallen victim to her. In a sense, Gion, who is standing before Wood at this moment, is actually a truly wealthy woman!

"Gion, you should have plenty of money on hand right now. I'd like to borrow 30 million... oh no, 50 million Berries from you to use first."

Don't worry, I guarantee with my integrity that I will definitely pay you back in the future. We've known each other for so long, you should know my reputation.