Elder brother's garrison

"Get out!" the man yelled at Xiaobai.

Then, the next second, a loud slap landed on the man's face like a thunderclap.

Before the man could finish half of his "get lost" sentence, he was slapped hard across the face. The force of the slap bent him over instantly, and he almost fell to the ground.

In an instant, a burning sensation appeared on the man's face. He felt that half of his face was swollen. In disbelief, he reached out a hand to touch his face and only felt a patch of blood.

That slap drew blood from the man's nose, mouth, and even nearly ripped off his face.

The man struggled to straighten his back and stared blankly ahead.

A black-clad ship girl wearing an apron stood before him. She looked at him, her scarlet eyes showing no anger, hatred, or any other emotion, only a strange, terrifying calm.

So calm, it was as if he were watching an ant.

"Say it again?" Bismarck tilted her head.

Chapter 738 It wasn't me who did the dirty work, it was the gloves!

Bismarck's appearance was so bizarre that even now, after the man was nearly knocked to the ground by Bismarck and half his face was covered in blood, the ship girls in front of the door hadn't reacted.

One second there was nothing in front of the admiral, and the next second a living person appeared as if by teleportation.

"Ah!" The ship girls standing next to the man took a while to recover from the fact that their admiral had been beaten. They quickly looked at their admiral and stared in disbelief at the man's face, which was already swollen and turning bluish-purple.

The man was also completely bewildered. Bismarck's slap, though not using the ship girl's power, was still quite heavy. The slap had left the man's head buzzing, and his face and tongue were swollen. It didn't hurt for the time being, but half of his face was completely numb.

"You! You..." The man stared at Bismarck, his eyes filled with terror and disbelief. "You dare..."

Perhaps because half of his face was swollen, the man's voice was somewhat unclear, making him sound rather comical.

"Say it again?" Bismarck met his gaze calmly, her expression indifferent, showing no awareness that she had made the move.

The man was initially bewildered by Bismarck's words. After a moment's thought, he finally understood that Bismarck was referring to what he had just said to the white-haired admiral.

He glared fiercely at Bismarck, then his gaze shifted to Little White.

Little White is looking over here with a smile.

Seeing Xiaobai's smile, the man felt a sudden panic, and a sense of being crushed on a biological level overwhelmed him in an instant, like a vast ocean.

Out of pride as a man, he actually wanted to say something more defiantly, but Bismarck was staring at him, which made him dare not say anything harsh.

The man had a premonition that if he remained defiant, Bismarck would slap him again, perhaps swelling up the other half of his face, or even slapping his head off his neck.

The man glanced at Bismarck furtively.

Bismarck waited calmly for the man's reply.

This crazy woman is serious.

If I really don't do something, she really will slap me again and kill me.

Faced with a life-threatening situation, the man indeed chickened out. His face darkened, and he didn't dare to utter a word under Bismarck's gaze.

The ship girls behind the man also came to their senses at this moment. They made a mess in front of the door, and many of them cast puzzled glances at Bismarck.

"Sister, you..."

The ship girls were about to argue with Bismarck when, as soon as they stepped into Nia's courtyard, Bismarck, who had been staring at the man, turned her eyes and gave them a cold look.

A series of thumping footsteps followed, and the ship girls who had just stepped into Nia's courtyard retreated as if they had seen a ghost, their faces turning pale as they stared at Bismarck.

When Bismarck glared at the ship girls, they felt the temperature around them drop by more than ten degrees, and the places where she was glared at felt as if they had been stabbed several times, causing them excruciating pain.

Bismarck has experienced a full ten years of incredibly intense battles that ordinary ship girls can't even imagine. She possesses an aura honed from fighting thousands of Abyssal Fleet ships in battles of iron and blood. Although she usually keeps it stable deep within her body, making her appear harmless on the outside, once she gets slightly angry, the aura released from the depths of her blood is something these immature ship girls simply cannot withstand.

Just as the group of ship girls were trembling at the door, the man finally reacted.

The man took a deep breath, quickly concealing the resentment in his eyes. He lowered his head and bowed to Xiaobai, saying, "I'm sorry, I acted impulsively just now."

The man chose to apologize.

After the man apologized, Bismarck finally withdrew her gaze. The ship girls who had been huddled together and trembling at the gate of Nia's courtyard finally felt a sense of relief, and the feeling that it was as if a tiger with its gaping maw was pressing down on their heads finally disappeared.

Xiaobai smiled as the man apologized to her. She didn't react to the apology, but instead walked up to him with her hands clasped together: "Um...maybe I can speak now?"

"..." The man lowered his head. "Please speak."

"Then I'll get straight to the point," Xiaobai said with a smile to the man. "Royal Oak is already one of my ship girls, so it's impossible for her to go back with you."

The man looked up at Xiaobai: "Do you really want to go this far?"

"What do you mean?" Xiaobai looked at the man curiously.

"Royal Oak is a ship girl I created. She is my subordinate. I trained her, provided her with equipment, housing, and training opportunities. You think it's too much to just say she belongs to you?" The man stared intently at Xiaobai and asked her this question.

"...That's why Royal Oak is leaving you." Little White gave a bitter smile.

The man frowned: "What do you mean, sir?"

Xiaobai looked at the man and said, "Ship girls are not the admiral's tools."

The man frowned: "I have never treated Royal Oak as a tool; she is an excellent subordinate of mine."

"Really?" Xiaobai asked.

“Absolutely true.” The man raised half of his swollen face, seemingly convinced of his own words.

Xiao Bai looked at the man and nodded: "Then, Uncle, could you answer a question for me? If you can answer it, I'll have the Royal Oak talk to you again, and then you can try to persuade her like that."

A hint of impatience flashed quickly in the man's eyes. He seemed very dissatisfied with Xiaobai interfering in his family affairs, but because of the Bismarck slapping incident earlier, he was somewhat wary of Xiaobai.

"Ask whatever you want," the man said, adopting a nonchalant attitude.

Little White turned around and looked at the Royal Oak.

The Royal Oak was also watching itself.

Little White smiled at the Royal Oak, then looked at the man.

“Uncle, can you tell me?” Xiaobai asked the man slowly, “Why haven’t you mentioned even a single word about Vulta until now? She was standing right next to the Royal Oak.”

The man's gaze froze: "Is this question even relevant?"

“Yes.” Xiaobai stared at the man.

Xiaobai has finished asking her question.

The man didn't reply; he just stared at Xiaobai with a serious expression.

“I’ve lost my patience. Give me back the Royal Oak and the Vulta,” the man said to Little White.

"Um, you still haven't answered me."

"Because I've spent the most time with Royal Oak, it's natural that I'd favor her a little, so what's wrong with that?" The man was already showing signs of embarrassment and anger.

“This answer won’t do.” Xiao Bai didn’t say anything, but Luo Lian, who was standing on the other side, sighed and shook her head. “Even if you answered that you had a crush on the Royal Oak and that you couldn’t see her in your eyes in your panic, that would be fine. What kind of garbage answer is this? It’s a failure.”

After Luo Lian finished speaking, Xiao Bai smiled and looked at the man. It seemed that Luo Lian had said everything Xiao Bai wanted to say.

The man's face turned purple with embarrassment at Luo Lian's words. He gritted his teeth, looked at Xiao Bai, and said through gritted teeth, "I'll ask you one last time, are you going to pay me back or not?"

“If Royal Oak wants to go back, I will absolutely not stop her,” Little White said to the man.

"Don't forget, I am now the nominal admiral of the Royal Oak," the man said to Little White.

Little White nodded, revealing a bright smile: "I see. Then I'll take the Royal Oak."

"You're bullying me by taking advantage of your power!" the man said angrily to Xiaobai.

"Yes, this is what I'm best at." Xiaobai nodded.

"This is illegal!" the man said to Xiaobai. "I'm going to file a complaint against you!"

"Admiral's Guild, please."

Xiao Bai maintained a gentle smile throughout the man's words. Seeing Xiao Bai's unyielding attitude, the man finally gave up on arguing with her. He took a deep breath and said, "Well said. Then we'll meet at the Admiral's Guild."

After saying that, the man flicked his sleeve and finally looked at Bismarck.

"Uncle, is there anything else you need?" Xiaobai asked.

"My verbal altercation was wrong, and I apologize." The man pointed to half of his face. "And what about your ship girl hitting someone?"

“Oh, then we do need to give an explanation.” Little White nodded, looked at Bismarck, and smiled at him. “Bismarck, give the gloves to this uncle.”

Bismarck nodded, then raised the hand that had slapped the man earlier, took off the black glove on her hand, and threw it at the man's chest with a thud.

The man instinctively grabbed the glove on his chest, then looked at Bismarck with a somewhat bewildered expression.

“I didn’t lay a hand on you, it hit you.” Bismarck said seriously, pointing to the glove on the man’s chest. “It’s yours to deal with.”

The man's expression changed from purplish-blue to iron-blue, then to bright red, shifting unpredictably like a traffic light.

In the end, however, he didn't say anything. He just glared at Bismarck with resentment, then threw his gloves to the ground, turned his head away, and left as if he had come all this way.

The ship girls gathered at the entrance of Nia's courtyard took a few last glances at the Royal Oak, then hesitated and retreated like the receding tide.

Looking at the courtyard gate gradually returning to calm, Xiaobai finally breathed a sigh of relief. She patted her chest several times, revealing a look of lingering fear: "They're finally gone..."

"Admiral!" The ship girls of Xiaobai swarmed around him, surrounding him. "Admiral, are you alright? Were you scared? Admiral, you're so cool! Admiral, you're amazing! Admiral, you..."

Chapter 739: President, ship girl waitresses, you're all my people, how can you fight me?

As the current admiral of the newbie naval base, and entrusted with the future of the newbie naval base by Lexington, Shiro can no longer hide behind the ship girls forever as before.

If this had happened before Xiaobai set sail for the first sea area, when other naval bases came to demand her return, Xiaobai would never have come out to argue with them. Instead, Bismarck, Missouri, or even other ship girls would have come out to support her.

But things are different now. Lexington once said that Shiro should stand in front of the ship girls.

This refers to the physical meaning, but it also has another interpretation.

That's why, when Xiaobai was talking to that man, none of Xiaobai's ship girls spoke up to disturb her or stood in front of her to speak on her behalf.

Except for Bismarck.

While smiling and interacting with the ship girls around her, Xiaobai shyly shifted her gaze to Bismarck standing next to her.

Bismarck stood there calmly, with a poker face that was so quiet it was almost wooden, as if nothing had happened.

Little White walked up to Bismarck and looked up at her.

Bismarck, sensing Xiaobai's gaze, calmly lowered her head.

"Bismarck, thank you," Little White said with a smile to Bismarck.

Bismarck nodded at Xiaobai's smiling face. She didn't say anything, but simply stretched out her ungloved hand and gently rubbed Xiaobai's head a few times. Then she walked to the front door, bent down and picked up the glove that the man had thrown on the ground.

"I'll buy you new gloves," Little White said, moving closer to Bismarck.

“Okay.” Bismarck nodded, but still put the glove back on and dusted it off.

Bismarck never had the habit of talking to Xiaobai for too long. After taking care of his own business, Bismarck returned to his role as a chef's assistant and went back to the kitchen.

Xiaobai looked for the location of the Royal Oak and found that the Royal Oak was still standing in the same spot, holding Vulta's hand and looking down, seemingly lost in thought.

Considering that this matter was related to the Royal Oak, and that the Royal Oak's identity was rather sensitive, Xiaobai thought it best to greet the Royal Oak before returning to its side.

"Royal Oak," Little White called out to the Royal Oak.

"Yes. I'm here," Royal Oak replied, bowing its head.

"Don't feel pressured about what happened earlier. Don't worry, now that you're with me, I'll definitely protect you." Little White said to the Royal Oak, then looked at Vulta beside the Royal Oak, "And Vulta, I'll definitely protect you too."

Vulta, holding the Royal Oak's arm, looked at Little White and nodded slightly.

Seeing Vulta's trusting expression, Little White smiled at her with relief and looked up towards the Royal Oak.

The Royal Oak had raised its head and was watching Little White when he was talking to Volta.

Little White was staring at her. The Royal Oak was looking straight at her, its eyes clear and bright, like a devout and steadfast believer who was vowing to give everything for his faith.

Xiao Bai found that look in his eyes unbelievable.

"Um... Royal Oak, what's wrong with you?" Little White looked at the Royal Oak, a hint of curiosity creeping in.

"Thank you," the Royal Oak said to Little White.

"Well, you're welcome."

“…This time it’s for real,” said the Royal Oak.

"Huh? Seriously?"

Royal Oak gazed at Little White with incredibly clear eyes: "Thank you, Admiral."

Xiao Bai scratched his head a little embarrassedly.