I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

"What you want is nothing more than to break free from the constraints of the Navy and act freely."

"The old navy certainly couldn't meet your needs, but the current situation is special, and the navy is in dire need of manpower... I plan to establish a brand new independent legion with a high degree of autonomy... although it hasn't been approved by the higher-ups yet."

Sig was also taken aback.

Is Zephyr planning to establish the NEO Navy ahead of schedule? But it hasn't been approved by the higher-ups yet, so isn't this just an empty promise?

Sieg continued to shake his head in refusal.

"Don't rush to refuse," Zefa continued, patiently persuading her.

"You should have heard about Vice Admiral Garp and the Pirate King Roger, right?"

"Garp is a rather special figure in the Navy. Headquarters ordered him to focus solely on hunting down the Roger Pirates, without having to deal with other miscellaneous matters."

Zephyr paused for a moment: "In that respect, I'm actually quite envious of him. As a lieutenant general specifically tasked with hunting down Roger, he doesn't need to clean up after certain people..."

"Ahem... Never mind what happened earlier, let's get back to the main topic."

Zefa coughed lightly, pretending nothing had happened, and continued:

"The new legion has not yet been approved."

"But with my authority, I can still set up a special operations team with the goal of hunting down a certain pirate crew."

"This kind of special operations team is similar to Garp's team that hunted Roger back then. They have a high degree of freedom and can decide their own course. You can even live in this big house normally."

Upon hearing these words, Sieg was genuinely tempted.

Sailing freely with the goal of capturing a certain pirate crew, isn't that the perfect job for slacking off?

If Siegfried had the choice, he would have hunted him down for a year or two, then traveled the world, enjoying the benefits of a naval officer's five social insurances and one housing fund.

However, the thought of infiltrating the navy still made Sieg feel immense pressure.

"He seems to be hesitating..." Zephyr smiled slightly upon seeing this and continued to explain:

"If you join, I can arrange for you to be in this special squadron to hunt down certain unusual pirate crews. For example..."

"The remnants of the Sig Mountain bandits."

Sig: ......

"This... you want me to hunt down the Sig Mountain Bandits?"

Sigton felt a headache coming on; if his expressionless acting skills weren't already so superb, he would have exploded.

“You’re probably not up to par right now; your strength isn’t enough,” Zephyr said bluntly.

"The remnants of the Sig Mountain Bandits are a special case. After Sig's death, the bandits were unable to find a successor and were not very strong. However, because they are related to the billion-dollar criminal Sig, they are still one of our Navy's important targets."

"Our goal is to extract crucial information about Sig from the remnants of the Sig Mountain bandits, therefore we must capture them alive if possible..."

Sieg frowned involuntarily as he listened.

His men had already taken refuge in the Devil's Triangle area as ordered, and in theory they should be safe.

However, members like Arlong the Fishman who left the group are still active all over the world.

If the Navy wants to extract information about Sig, then Aaron and his ilk will likely be among their targets as well.

"General Zephyr, I'd like to know, what level of... strength is required to become the commander of the force hunting down the remnants of the Sig Mountain Bandits?"

Sieg couldn't help but ask.

This question made Zephyr chuckle to himself.

Although I don’t quite understand why, the hibiscus in front of me is really hesitating.

He thought about it and decided to raise his goal a little higher:

"This requires more than just strength."

"Higuma, I'll be frank. Based on your previous achievements in capturing wanted criminals, you can be promoted to captain of headquarters after returning to the Navy."

"But to become the commander of a special operations force, one must be at least a colonel, or even a brigadier general."

"Military merit, strength, and seniority are all indispensable."

After hearing these words, Sig fell silent.

If he hadn't taken on the task of hunting down the Sig Mountain bandits, other colonels, brigadiers, and so on would definitely have gone after his subordinates.

To be honest, if Sieg didn't care about the lives of his subordinates at all, he could have changed his appearance and donated money to run away as soon as he entered the Grand Line.

"My men...can't die yet. I'm counting on them to become stronger so they can protect me properly..."

Sig thought to himself.

However, when it came to actually having him join the Navy... Sieg still felt a little nervous.

"So, have you made up your mind?"

Zephyr glanced at the watch on his wrist:

"I don't have time to waste here... I'll give you half a minute. If you don't make a decision, I'm taking Ain away with me."

Sig remained standing there, without saying a word.

However, Ain walked over and looked at him with expectant eyes.

She didn't urge him, but simply looked at Sieg quietly.

"Aien, you need to learn to be independent..." Under the barrage of her gaze, Sieg was starting to feel the pressure.

"To be honest, I'm not yours..."

Ain stared at him expectantly, then blurted out, "Dad..."

Sig froze on the spot, his mouth trembled, and he was almost dumbfounded.

“Alright, thirty seconds are up.” Zephyr looked up from his watch, glanced at Sieg, and couldn’t help but smile.

"But it seems you've already made your choice."

"Warrant Lieutenant G-71 Higuma of the Grand Line Branch, welcome back to the Navy."

Zefa stared at Sieg, his gaze serious yet slightly warm.

"I will train you all to become heroes."

Chapter 367 The Battle for Marshalship

After picking up Sig and Ain from the Sabaody Archipelago, Zephyr immediately boarded a warship and headed straight for the Marine Headquarters training camp.

Zephyr is an admiral at the Navy Headquarters and also serves as the chief instructor of the Navy Training Camp. Here, he is the highest-ranking officer.

"Sun Bear, Ain, we've arrived at training camp. Go and embrace your new life."

Zefa stood on the warship, ready to watch Sig and the other man leave.

"train?"

"General Zephyr, didn't you say that I've already been promoted to captain at headquarters? Why do I still need to go to this kind of training camp?"

Sig was immediately shocked.

He was a warrant officer before, but he is now a captain.

Sig never expected that he would have to go to this kind of training camp just like Ian.

If one were to advance one rank, one would become a field officer, a core member of the naval rank system.

Unexpectedly, Zephyr's expression immediately turned cold, his previous gentle and persuasive demeanor vanishing:

"Your strength is too weak. You can't even withstand the Conqueror's Haki of the Sengoku period."

"Now that you're back in the Navy, you have to obey orders and undergo training."

Sieg, a former naval warrant officer, was considered an outsider, so Zephyr naturally treated him better.

But now that he's back in training camp, Zephyr has reverted to his former cold-faced instructor persona.

Sig's face stiffened, and he suddenly felt like he had boarded a pirate ship... no, it was more like a pirate boarding a navy ship.

"What am I even doing this for...?"

Sieg sighed inwardly.

He changed his appearance, absconded with the money, wasn't it all just to start a carefree life and enjoy life?

But now, instead of being able to receive training at the Navy's training camp, what's going on?

"No, instead of training, I'd rather become the bandit king."

Such a thought crossed Sieg's mind.

However, in this naval headquarters, he could not openly disobey Admiral Zephyr's will, so he could only follow Zephyr's instructions and head deeper into the training camp.

Near the harbor where the warships were docked, a burly, bearded officer with a ponytail and bronze skin walked over. His gaze sharpened as he watched Sieg's departing figure.

"This is the...Higuma that Professor Zephyr personally brought here?"

"They look quite convincing on the outside, but you can't seem to sense much fighting spirit?"

The burly officer frowned.

"Shuzo, while I'm away, keep a close eye on Higuma and Ain. I'll tailor a special training plan for them later," Zefa instructed as the burly officer approached.

The officer's name is Shuzo, a current captain at the Navy Headquarters and a protégé of Zephyr.

When Zefa was away, he was in charge of the training camp.

"Oh? Professor Zephyr, you value Higuma so much, aren't you planning to train him yourself?"

Xiu Zuo was somewhat surprised.

He had already heard about the Sun Bear.

As a former naval warrant officer, he managed to get two naval admirals to visit him at the same time.

Especially on the second day, Admiral Zephyr actually visited him twice, and only then was he able to persuade the lowly naval warrant officer to return to the navy.

Without a doubt, this man named Higuma must be extraordinary, otherwise it would be impossible for the two generals to attach such importance to him.

Faced with Xiu Zuo's question, Ze Fa simply chuckled and shook his head: