Kenji seemed to have anticipated the situation, turning his head to his side without haste.
"You're back? Zephyr, my friend."
Behind him, Zephyr slowly withdrew his fist, his expression serious.
"I heard you went after a certain pirate, but it looks like you didn't catch her?" Kenji touched a sore spot.
"Didn't catch her, she got away!" Zephyr's tone was very displeased.
"There aren't many pirates who can escape from your grasp. Who was it?"
"..."
"Heh heh, I can guess even if you don't say it. It's your 'old flame' again, isn't it?"
"I've told you many times, she has nothing to do with me!" Zephyr gripped his fist in agitation, anger surging.
"Alright, alright, don't get so worked up. It was just a joke, don't take it so seriously." Kenji waved his hand with a smile, trying to appease Zephyr's anger.
"I know. The one you're looking for isn't that 'old flame', it's the one behind her."
Upon hearing this, Zephyr nearly jumped up in exasperation. "I told you, that woman and I..."
One was irritable, the other was laughing, creating a strong contrast in the scene.
Meanwhile, in a dilapidated tavern on Island 1, someone else was also practically hopping with anxiety.
"Boss, it won't be long before the Admiral arrives. Let's quickly tell King and run!"
A group of muscular pirates stood behind Kaido, their faces anxious, urging him repeatedly, scurrying around like ants in a hot pan.
But Kaido was already heavily drunk, deaf to his subordinates' pleas, his face flushed with intoxication.
He pointed triumphantly at the tattered tavern in front of him and roared, "Who else ~hiccup~ wants to fight me?"
"I'm going to ~hiccup~ beat all of you into submission today ~hiccup!"
In front of Kaido, figures were already sprawled crookedly on the floor.
It was clear that a pirate brawl had recently occurred here, so it was no surprise that the tavern was in such a state of disrepair.
"Boss, boss, boss!" A pirate suddenly ran over in a panic, his burly body, over three meters tall, now trembling like a child.
"This is bad, this is bad! The Admiral is here! It's the new Shirojishi Admiral!"
The other Beast Pirates present also panicked, hopping around anxiously.
"Boss, if we don't leave now, we'll all be caught!"
"That's an Admiral!"
Kaido grew impatient, slamming his spiked club forcefully onto the distant floor and roaring angrily, "A bunch of cowards! So what if it's an Admiral?!"
"What Shirojishi Admiral? He doesn't deserve to be an Admiral at all!"
"After I finish this pot of sake, I'll go beat him up!"
With that, Kaido picked up the sake pot and gulped down the sweet wine.
Just then, another pirate rushed into the tavern, shouting as soon as he entered, "Another Admiral is here! The former Marine Admiral 'Black Arm' Zephyr!"
"Quick, we should be able to leave through the back door of the tavern!"
The Beast Pirates all got up and scrambled towards the back door of the tavern, as if it were their only way out.
"Stop right there, all of you!"
Kaido roared, his eyes filled with brutality, "So what if there are two Marine Admirals? It'll be more fun to fight like this!"
"Bring me my spiked club ~hiccup~!"
.....
The battlefield outside the tavern.
Zephyr calmed down and discussed serious matters with Kenji, "I wasn't there just now. How did the students perform?"
Kenji glanced at the former Admiral, who had transitioned into an instructor, knowing that he was showing off.
He rolled his eyes and shrugged, "How else? They were alright."
"Sakazuki took care of a Supernova, and that kid Borsalino has been playing with 'Roaring Thunder' Thor until now."
Kenji had actually noticed Borsalino's slacking long ago, but he was too lazy to expose him.
Anyway, with the other party's slippery personality, even if he exposed him, he wouldn't change. His motto was 'You say what you say, I'll do what I do'.
At this moment, the only Supernova still fighting on the battlefield was King, while Sakazuki and Borsalino from the Marine side were jointly besieging him.
Sakazuki wielded a long sword, engaging in close-quarters combat, while Borsalino continuously fired laser beams from behind.
Borsalino seemed to be fighting very hard, with his laser beams almost smoking, but upon closer inspection, there were no actual results.
Not even a few laser beams landed on King.
Zephyr also noticed Borsalino's odd behavior at this point, frowning and coldly snorting, "Borsalino relies too much on his Devil Fruit ability!"
Kenji was already too lazy to complain, and his attention was not on the battlefield in front of him.
While talking to Zephyr just now, a large number of system prompts had appeared in his vision.
It was the system rewards arriving.
[You incredibly defeated the Supernova 'Roaring Thunder' Thor. The Marine officers and generals of the Headquarters are all looking at you with new eyes!]
[Mission (Side): Challenge a 'Supernova' pirate and survive! — Over-completed!]
[Reward boosted!]
[Reward has been changed to: 3 assignable upgrades!]
This time, the system did not automatically upgrade Kenji's existing traits.
Kenji found that each of his traits had a '+' sign behind it, and he could upgrade them with just a thought.
He didn't rush to upgrade them, but began to calmly consider his options.
"Self-selected upgrades, it's best to choose those that will yield the greatest benefit..." Kenji scrutinized his current traits one by one.
[Name: Kenji]
[Traits: Armament Haki (Deep Purple), Observation Haki (Deep Purple), Conqueror's Haki (White), Physique (Deep Purple), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Light Purple), Swordsmanship (Light Blue), Sea Beast Power (Super White)]
Kenji first excluded the traits with lower rarity, focusing his attention on those with at least Purple rarity.
This was a strategy to maximize his advantages.
Traits with low rarity and low power, even if upgraded 3 times, would not see a significant increase in power and would be difficult to undergo a qualitative change.
But if a Purple trait is upgraded to Gold, its power will definitely increase significantly.
One should know that even top powerhouses, such as Garp, Sengoku, and the Legendary Pirates, wouldn't possess traits above Gold level.
Gold traits are the strongest!
"3 upgrade opportunities, using them on those traits with rarity of ordinary Purple or higher, is enough to raise them to Gold." Kenji calmly thought, excluding the Hand-to-Hand Combat trait of Light Purple rarity.
The only other three traits still under consideration were:
[Armament Haki (Dark Purple), Observation Haki (Dark Purple), Physique (Dark Purple)]
"Armament Haki and Observation Haki will probably undergo some qualitative changes when promoted to Gold, but..." Kenji's gaze ultimately settled on [Physique].