Chapter 447: It's Like Coming Home
Not long after Zefa left, the sound of rumbling cannons was heard on the sea, and a pirate ship and two warships were firing at each other.
The coordination between the two warships seemed a bit awkward, but they still firmly suppressed the pirate ship. Zephyr was on one of the ships, using Den Den Mushi to point out where the students were not doing well.
Zhang Da was also diligently repairing the floor in the tavern. After finishing, he went to exercise with Rui Mengmeng and the others. After Ye Yan woke up, he asked him to release the flag monster and watch from afar to do a live broadcast.
By the time the few people who had gone shopping returned, the battle between the training camp trainees and the pirates had already come to an end. The pirates were clearly not strong and were being beaten back step by step. With the pirate ship about to sink and nearly half of the crew dead or wounded, the pirates finally rushed to the side of a warship and prepared to fight a desperate battle in close combat.
The marines won the first battle, their morale was high, and they had the advantage in numbers , so they were naturally not afraid of a boarding battle. The two warships approached and surrounded the pirates from two directions.
However, the new recruits suffered a great loss at the first encounter with the pirates. More than a dozen new recruits were chopped down as soon as they stepped onto the deck of the enemy ship. If they had not been well trained, they would probably have died by now.
Captain Cass of the Cass Pirates has a bounty of 38 million berries and uses a mace as his weapon. He is best at inspiring people with words, so much so that even when more than half of the crew members on the ship were killed or wounded, his men not only did not lose their fighting spirit, but became even more ferocious.
Zefa frowned but did not attack. Bleeding and getting injured were also things that the students had to go through. If you underestimate the enemy, you have to bear the consequences. As long as you are not dead, it's fine.
Fortunately, the marines reacted quickly. They formed groups of two or three and cooperated with each other to kill the pirates, making full use of their numerical advantage.
Ain and Binz cooperated and rushed towards the pirate captain Cass who kept shouting to encourage his men.
As a pirate who received a bounty of 38 million without relying on his fruit ability, Cass is quite skilled. He can at least fight on equal terms with Ain and Binz, and can even suppress them slightly.
However, he was careless and was slapped by Ain. He turned from a twenty-four or twenty-five year old young man into a child of twelve or thirteen years old. He could not hold the mace in his hand for a while and almost hit his foot.
"What kind of ability is this?"
"I'm a regressor who ate the Regression Fruit. My ability is to make anything go back 12 years." Ain introduced her ability naturally. "You're about 13 years old now. If I touch you twice more, you'll be completely gone. So, surrender!"
"Damn it! How could someone have such an ability?" Cass wouldn't give up resistance just because of a few words from her. He took two steps with his mace and swung it with all his might. "Whatever the ability is, as long as we defeat the person with the ability, that's all. Die!"
Ain flipped over and jumped up nimbly, pink flames appeared in the palms of her hands, and she slapped Cass on the head with one palm, then landed gracefully like a gymnast.
Cass's body shrank rapidly, his clothes fell loosely, and the black captain's hat was tilted on the head of the one-year-old Cass, even covering his eyes. The huge mace flew out, smashed a hole in the edge of the pirate ship and fell into the sea.
"Waaaaaah..." Little Cass sat on the deck and wanted to say something, but could only make a series of cries.
"It looks like she's less than a year old now." Binz lifted Cas up with one hand and said, "Ain, you almost went too far."
"It doesn't matter what," Ain shouted to the other pirates, "Your captain has been defeated. Give up resistance!"
Some pirates saw the battle here and immediately lost their will to fight. The opponent's abilities were too strange, and they didn't want to become like the captain.
Some people did not give up so easily, but they quickly lost their combat effectiveness under the siege of the Marines.
…
"This elder sister's ability is a bit scary." Ye Yan learned about the battle process through the flag monster and was a little afraid of Ain's ability.
"Just don't get hit by her. After getting hit, knocking her out should be enough to break the spell. You're good at that." Zhang Da also said, "If there's a battle event at the naval base later, I'll send you to deal with her."
Ye Yan's flag monsters were all at least several hundred years old, and they could easily stand there and force Ai Yin to retreat. There was also the Chaos Beast, known as the Ancient Divine Beast. Ancient... how old was it?
Ye Yan narrowed his eyes: "I think you want to trick me."
Zhang Da also flatly denied it: "That's impossible. When have I ever betrayed my own people?"
Tom, who was eating secretly in the kitchen, sneezed. He rubbed his nose and thought that he must have caught a cold from eating too many cold drinks, so he picked up another ice cream to continue to improve his resistance to the cold.
When the people who were shopping came back, Zhang Da told them about going to the naval base, and everyone packed up their things and set off together.
Shark Chili glanced at Tom, who was wrapped in a blanket, and asked, "What's wrong with Tom?"
Zhang Da also said helplessly: "When he was eating ice cream, he accidentally fell into the freezer of the refrigerator. When I found him, the whole cat had turned into ice cubes. It had just thawed not long ago."
Everyone looked at Tom with sympathy, except for Altria, whose eyes clearly said, "You cheated without even calling me."
"Ah~ A-choo~" Tom sneezed again, looking very guilty.
Zefa seemed to have greeted the soldiers , and everyone entered the naval base smoothly. The soldiers also enthusiastically pointed them in the direction of the training ground. It was obvious that they were new here. I wonder how familiar Zhang Da is with this place.
On the training ground, the trainees stood in neat rows. Many of them had bandages wrapped around their bodies. It looked like they had minor injuries that did not affect their movements.
"Your biggest problem today was underestimating the enemy!" Zefa loudly criticized the students' shortcomings. "Some say scars are a soldier's medals, but if you rashly charge forward, thinking you have the advantage in numbers, like you did today, the injuries you receive won't bring honor, but shame!"
He then gave many warnings such as the need to remain vigilant at all times on the battlefield, and the students listened attentively.
"You're here?" Seeing Zhang Daye and the others, Zefa stopped talking temporarily.
Zhang Da also said, "Excuse me, I heard that we won a great victory in this battle. Congratulations."
In fact, Zhang Da also wanted to say that these students were too wasteful. What a good pirate ship it was. If they were left to deal with it, it could be sold for at least tens of millions of Baileys. But these spendthrifts actually destroyed the ship like that.
The students looked at the sudden visitor with curiosity, and Zefa introduced them to the students one by one:
Zhang Daye, Tom, Altria, Rui Mengmeng, Shark Pepper, Ye Yan, Wendy, Xia Lulu, Jackie Chan, Perona, Weiwei, Kalu, a total of nine people, plus two cats and a running duck. Shark Pepper was classified as a human by Zephyr. Because Shark Pepper's intelligence and emotions are so similar to those of a human, Zephyr really finds it difficult to regard him as a robot.
"Starting today, the members of the Amber Tour Group will train with everyone and return to headquarters with us. They will also participate in future internship missions, which means they will be spending a lot of time with everyone. Please cherish this opportunity and ask them for advice!"
Zhang Da also said modestly: "Don't say that, we are here to learn from you, I hope you don't despise us."
The students had different expressions. Some were stunned by the beauty of Altria and Rui Mengmeng, some were attracted by the clanging sound of Shark Chili's walk, and some felt that the legendary Amber Tour Group... was just so-so.
They had just experienced a battle, and without the help of Teacher Zephyr, they easily defeated a pirate group led by a pirate with a bounty of 38 million berries. This was their first battle, and for the recruits, such a result was brilliant!
Therefore, some people will inevitably feel proud, and even think that the legendary Amber Tour Group may not be as powerful as imagined. After all, they haven't caught many decent pirates.
"The Golden Lion incident was thanks to General Borsalino."
"That incident with Crocodile was also because of the fire that burned Vice Admiral Yama."
"They were just lucky and encountered more small pirates."
A few students had this thought in their minds: if they were really that strong, why did they come to the training camp?
Despite their thoughts, the students adhered to the rules well, and no one dared to provoke them. After all, since they had joined, they would have a chance to compete sooner or later, and the truth would naturally be revealed then. Besides, they might even become comrades in the future, so there was no need to sour relations right away.
Zephyr was keenly aware of the students' expressions. He was most worried that they would lose confidence due to the difficulty of the battle, and secondly that they would become proud of their victory. Now it seemed that he needed to strike a blow against these ignorant children, just as he had struck Smoker, but now was not the time.
"Wendy, could you please go to the infirmary? Some of the students are seriously injured, and I'm worried that some of them won't be able to... hold on." Zefa kindly asked Wendy.
Wendy looked at Zhang Daye.
"Go ahead, ask Xia Lulu to accompany you." Zhang Da also secretly winked at Xia Lulu, signaling her not to let Wendy act too exaggerated.
Xia Lulu nodded to show that she understood.
"Hmm!" Wendy was a little confused as to why Zhang Da didn't come to help, but she remained silent. "Excuse me, where is the medical office?"
"Ain, take them there."
"Yes, Mr. Zefa." Ain smiled at Wendy, "Please follow me."
Ain didn't know much about Wendy. Like most people, she thought she was someone with the ability to control the wind. But from what Zefa said, could this child also be a doctor? She seemed a little too young.
After watching Wendy leave, Zhang Da did not follow to join in the fun. He had already made up his mind not to show his dragon-slaying magic in front of the navy. The same goes for special abilities like the Soul-Calming Gong. It would be troublesome to let people know that he could obtain other people's abilities.
"Alright, as punishment for making a major mistake in the first battle, you're going to run around the playground one hundred times. Start now!"
The students acted quickly. Running a hundred laps was just ordinary training under normal circumstances, but doing it after a big battle was truly a punishment.
"Should we run with them?" Zhang Da also asked a stupid question. The main reason was that usually others would watch him run, but this was the first time he watched others run. He felt uncomfortable all over, and Da was eager to run.
Zefa said, "Come with me to a place first."
Everyone followed Zefa. Along the way, Zefa originally planned to introduce the various facilities in the base, but Zhang Daye would meet acquaintances from time to time on the road, from colonels to sergeants, and even ordinary soldiers. Zhang Daye and the others would greet people with a smile.
On the contrary, not only was Zefa unable to get a word in, but Zhang Da also had to tell the Marines that Mr. Zefa was a nice person and they didn't need to be so reserved.
A question mark slowly appeared on Zefa's forehead. Is this a naval base or Zhang Daye's tavern? Why does he look like he's home, more familiar with it than I am?
"Oh, I've often come here to redeem bounties since before I went to sea. Some enthusiastic officers would occasionally take us to visit some not-so-secret places, so I'm quite familiar with this place." Zhang Da also explained, noticing Zefa's puzzled expression, "Those marines often come to my tavern on their leave. Sometimes they're forced to work overtime because of trouble, or we'll suddenly give them a bounty or something while they listen to the piano and drink. I've gotten to know quite a few people over this."
"This is really..." Zefa didn't know what to say for a moment.
However, people like Jackie Chan and Ye Yan, who come less often, are still quite curious about this place and occasionally ask some questions, but the embarrassing thing is that it is often Zhang Daye who answers the questions first. He is really more familiar with this base than Zefa.
"We're here." Zefa breathed a sigh of relief. He almost thought that Zhang Da was also a navy and he was the guest.
"What are you doing here?" Zhang Da also remembered that there was a warehouse area nearby and they were generally not allowed to get close.
"I'll give you a few sets of training uniforms and standard weapons." Zefa said, "Although you are only participating in the training temporarily, it's better for everyone to wear the same uniform."
There were more than twenty sets of clothes lined up on the table outside the warehouse. They were all the styles worn by ordinary naval soldiers. Each set consisted of a white top with a seagull logo printed on the back, a blue scarf, a military cap, dark blue trousers and a pair of brown military boots.
The sizes seemed to be similar to everyone's real sizes. The lolita's clothes were probably made temporarily. Even Tom and Xia Lulu's clothes were specially made.
As for Karu, he only had a hat with an extra seagull decoration on it. It looked like the same style as the hat from the Warring States Period. Zhang Da almost laughed out loud.
Everyone received their clothes. Ye Yan was the most active and wanted to change into them right on the spot.
Perona was a little disgusted, but she still put it away obediently, and also put away Wendy and Xia Lulu's portions.
Zefa watched them put their clothes away, and was particularly pleased to see Ye Yan's expression. He had a little idea - cultivating a sense of belonging to the navy should start with uniform clothing.
"Weapons include rifles and ordinary sabers. You can choose one if you need one. Remember to come for morning exercises tomorrow morning."
