One Piece: Starting as a Marine Lieutenant, I Slack Off and Get Stronger

Akainu's face darkened, feeling a loss of face. He said in an icy tone, "Karl, you'd better not regret this later..."

After saying that, Akainu snorted coldly and left. Watching Akainu's departing figure, Karl sighed deeply.

See that? Sarutobi, I even offended Akainu just to have some fun slacking off with you, old man.

Three years! If I don't get promoted to major general, don't blame me for turning my back on you!

"Hahaha, what a promising young man! He actually rejected Sakazuki without any hesitation!"

"Keep it up and keep growing! You're important to the Navy!"

Aokiji laughed and patted Karl on the shoulder in encouragement before turning and leaving, never once expressing any intention to have Karl as his subordinate.

With both rivals gone, Kizaru shrugged and spread his hands, looking like he was wondering what had happened.

"Brother Carl, this is my Den Den Mushi number. If you encounter an opponent you can't handle during your internship, just call me. Of course, you can do that after your internship."

Karl was somewhat surprised to accept the note Kizaru handed him. He wouldn't care if Aokiji or Akainu gave him their phone numbers, but who was Kizaru?

The fastest man in the world!

If he had been cornered by Whitebeard that day, one phone call would have brought Kizaru to his aid in no time. Even if they couldn't win, they could have surrendered together! At least he would have had company, right?

"Thank you, Admiral Kizaru, no, sir!"

Kizaru grinned lewdly, nodded in satisfaction, and vanished in a flash of light.

Smoker and Zeffa then walked over, Smoker's eyes full of mockery: "Didn't realize you were so popular! But that's to be expected!"

"After all, your abilities are just too useful!"

Smoker had just learned about Karl's abilities from Zephyr, and even he wished Karl would become his subordinate, but that seemed impossible.

Karl's strength and strategically significant abilities make him a highly sought-after figure in the Navy, and it's impossible for a mere lieutenant commander like him to have such a position.

Moreover, once Carl finishes his probationary period, he will at least be a major. After all, he was originally a branch captain, so it's normal for him to be promoted. Why would he follow a troublemaker like him?

"Are you still choosing to go with that guy Kizaru?" Zephyr looked at Karl with a serious expression.

"Yes, Zephyr-sensei, this was something I and Admiral Kizaru agreed to a long time ago."

Zefa sighed and said helplessly, "Since that's the case, I won't stop you, but you must remember not to waste your physical talent."

"Haha, of course! By the way, Professor Zephyr, is our internship about catching pirates?"

Zephyr nodded: "Indeed, I have already chosen my target, a pirate crew with a total bounty of around 6000 million. With your strength, you are more than capable of dealing with them. But I hope you remember one thing: the Navy is a unified whole."

A whole?

Carl's eyes lit up, meaning that letting him slack off was wrong! Give others a chance to shine! He shouldn't interfere if he can avoid it, right?

I know this very well!

Chapter 16 The Training Ship Sets Sail

After the "Naval Competition" concludes, there will be a three-day holiday.

Carl was annoyed that there were no slacking-off tasks during the holiday, but there was nothing he could do. Only weekdays count as slacking off. On holidays, you can do whatever you want!

"Oh no! It's already eight o'clock! I'm going to be late! Carl, stop messing around!"

Monica quickly got out of bed and pried Karl's mischievous hands away. It was all Karl's fault; he had kept her up all night and she hadn't gotten any rest.

"Okay, you go ahead! I'll sleep a little longer."

Then, soft snoring could be heard in the room. Monica quickly tidied up and left the room.

after an hour......

"Bang bang bang!"

"Who?"

"It's me, Smoker. I know you're home. Open the door!"

Smoker? What does this guy want with me? Well, since he's already come to my door, Carl had no choice but to get out of bed.

"What do you want from me? Wait! Why is there a woman here?!"

The woman was Tina, with long pink hair, wearing a dark red suit, and a cold, beautiful face. Like Smoker, she had a cigarette dangling from her mouth.

Although Karl knew her name, they did not know each other openly and could only pretend not to.

"Oh, this is Tina. We were in the same training camp, and she's kind of a good friend of mine!"

Upon hearing "considered," Tina's face turned cold: "Tina is disappointed. We've known each other for so many years, and we're only 'considered' friends?"

"Okay, okay, you're my friend, alright? Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with you. Karl, come on, let's go to the training ground!"

Carl, with a "Hey, what are you doing?" look on his face, pushed Smoker's hand away.

"Are you kidding me? I finally have a day off! I'm not going to the training ground!"

Smoker scoffed dismissively, "Don't think I don't know. Professor Zephyr told me everything. Don't play dumb with me."

"We didn't decide a winner yesterday! Let's have another match today!"

"I'm not going, I give up!"

Karl refused without even thinking. How could a Logia user like you have the nerve to spar with someone who doesn't even know Armament Haki?

"Hey! At worst, we won't use elemental transformation, right? How about we have a real fight, swords and spears?"

Carl glanced at Smoker suspiciously, strongly suspecting that he just wanted to get revenge and teach him a lesson.

"Come on, Karl! You can't stay home for the next three days, can you? Maybe if we spar, you'll suddenly awaken your Haki?"

Well, to be honest, there's some truth to that. Zephyr had already told him that the probability of awakening Haki is higher during battle.

But neither he nor Xiu Zuo could easily control Karl, and they couldn't put any pressure on Karl at all, since they were both no match for him.

Therefore, an opponent as evenly matched as Smoker is the best tool for him.

"Okay! Let me get ready!"

Fifteen minutes later, Carl and Smoker stood on either side of the training field, while Tina acted as the referee.

"Are you all ready?"

Karl channeled the holy light into his body, causing his power to surge. His physique on the panel temporarily changed from C to C+. If converted into enhancement cards, it would take about 50 cards to upgrade his physique from C to C+.

"bring it on!"

shave!

The two clashed immediately, and the fight became a back-and-forth battle.

......

The next two days of the holiday were basically spent sparring with Smoker and Tina.

Without using his elemental powers, Smoker is no match for Karl at all.

When they have plenty of energy, it's fine, but once they run out of energy and expose a weakness, they can be taken down in one fell swoop by Karl, who still has plenty of energy.

In short, the healing provided by the Holy Light, combined with the halved stamina consumption provided by [Swift as a Rabbit], makes Karl's stamina far surpass that of Smoker and Tina.

In particular, its recovery ability is no weaker than that of Zoan-type Devil Fruit users.

Of course, if Smoker were to activate his elemental form, it would be extremely difficult for Carl to defeat him.

Besides Smoker, Tina has also sparred with Karl a few times. Tina's ability is the Cage-Cage Fruit, which gives her extremely strong control. Once Karl is locked in place, it is very difficult for him to break free. The two are evenly matched.

As the saying goes, no friendship is formed without a fight, and Carl quickly became friends with these two young naval officers of similar age.

"Phew~ Thank you, Karl. Your abilities are truly amazing. No wonder your stamina in combat is so strong!"

Tina closed her eyes comfortably, feeling the warm energy flowing through her body. The injuries she sustained from sparring with Karl healed instantly, and even her strength was restored considerably.

Although I have been healed in this way many times, I still can't help but feel moved.

"That's true! It would be so much easier to catch pirates with Karl, and you wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt. That's why the three admirals all want Karl to be their lieutenant!"

After personally experiencing Karl's abilities, Smoker repeatedly lamented how Karl had eaten the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, becoming useless at everything and ultimately having to rely on physical skills.

"Haha, look at what you're saying. We're all in the navy, so we'll definitely have the opportunity to fight side by side in the future."

Smoker nodded: "That's true. By the way, you're going to capture pirates tomorrow, right?"

"That's right, we'll leave this morning."

Whether or not there's a holiday doesn't matter to Karl, since he spends most of his time slacking off anyway, and having a holiday would actually mean no daily tasks.

"I wish you a successful internship. I'm leaving tomorrow too. What about you, Tina?"

"Tina is going to the New World with Advisor Tsuru tomorrow. Recently, a rookie in the Beast Pirates named Jack has been too arrogant. Advisor Tsuru is planning to capture him, so he asked Tina to help."

Karl had a sudden thought, realizing that they wouldn't see each other for a long time, so maybe they could have a meal together, but then he decided against it, since they both had missions to complete.

"In that case, let's part ways here! We'll definitely have a good get-together next time we meet!"

"It's a deal!" "Tina agrees!"

The next day.

"Monica, I'm going away on a mission this month. Be a good girl and wait for me to come back, okay?"