I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

“I remember now, I am Edward Weevil…”

He had only spoken halfway when he realized that he was holding a piece of paper in his palm.

Sun Bear knew about the side effects of hypnosis.

Therefore, he not only used his moonwalk to stay in the air in advance and woke up early, but also prepared a note explaining the hypnotic content.

When one has just entered a hypnotic state, it is very easy to be disturbed by the external environment, thus causing one to exit the hypnotic state.

Upon seeing this, Rixiong was immediately shaken, as if struck by lightning, his worldview shattered.

"The white-bearded man isn't my father? How is that possible?"

"No, I don't believe it! This is impossible!"

The sun bear was filled with excitement, and its shouts echoed through the forest.

It took him quite a while to gradually come to his senses, fully recover from the hypnotic state, and his mind gradually became clear.

"What the hell did I just say?"

With a sharp slap, Sun Bear slapped himself hard across the face, stood up from the ground, and looked at the soundly sleeping Weevil.

"Fortunately, Miss Bakkin, who claims to be Whitebeard's lover, wasn't here, otherwise the hypnosis wouldn't have gone so smoothly. If she were here, she probably wouldn't have let him act so recklessly and attack Admiral Zephyr."

Higuma pondered.

Zefa takes the new recruits out for combat training, and for safety reasons, he naturally won't go too far.

To launch a reckless attack on a naval vessel personally led by an admiral would be an extremely impulsive act.

Higuma had no idea whether Miss Bakin had encountered Whitebeard Jr. at that moment.

The specific circumstances surrounding these two individuals remain a mystery.

He didn't know whether the answer to the riddle was correct or not, nor did it matter.

He took out the standard naval seastone handcuffs from his person, put them on the sleeping Whitebeard II, and quietly waited for reinforcements.

"Uncle Sun Bear?"

"Colonel Higuma?"

When Ain and the badly wounded Zephyr led the regrouped Navy into the woods, this was the scene they witnessed.

This forest had already been ravaged by Whitebeard II; it was riddled with ravines and broken trees, a scene of utter devastation.

Covered in blood, Weevil collapsed to the ground, his eyes tightly closed, blood gushing out, his hands already handcuffed with sea stone.

Sun Bear stood beside Weevil, as steadfast as a pine tree, with no obvious injuries on his body.

"You've arrived." He glanced at the navy men, his expression remaining unchanged.

"Prepare more Seastone chains... This is a big one, we can't be careless."

The navy personnel did not act immediately, but stared blankly at the scene.

"Colonel Higuma...he single-handedly took down the great pirates who came to attack the training ship!"

"This... he doesn't seem to be injured yet?"

"Even General Zephyr was seriously injured and couldn't handle the enemy, yet Colonel Higuma won by himself? And captured him alive!"

The sailors were stunned and began to discuss the matter.

The vast majority of these people were trainee naval officers, lacking the discernment to realize that Weevil wasn't unconscious but merely asleep; they simply assumed Higuma had defeated Weevil...

"Stop with this nonsense, hurry up and get the Seastone!"

Zefa scolded:

"Bring me all the sea stone handcuffs and chains!"

After reprimanding the new recruits, Zephyr turned his gaze to Higuma, his eyes softening slightly, and strode over.

With his keen insight, he naturally discovered that Weevil was not defeated and unconscious, but rather asleep.

He didn't say anything, but walked up to Rixiong and carefully examined him for a few moments.

"You really weren't injured... It seems I really misjudged you."

Zephyr paused for a moment, then asked:

"You really haven't mastered Armament Haki?"

"No." Higuma shook his head.

"All I know is iron blocks."

Zefa's eyes lit up slightly.

"Without Armament Haki, he was able to block Weevil's attack without taking any damage simply by relying on the Iron Body technique from the Six Powers."

"It seems I really misjudged you... You're stronger than I expected, have you developed the iron block to this extent?"

Zefa gazed out to the coastline, watching the new recruits who had survived the disaster.

"Moreover, you did something I couldn't do."

Higuma's failure to master Armament Haki disappointed Zephyr, who had placed high hopes on him.

But this time, he only felt a sense of relief.

............................

Upon learning that Admiral Zephyr's training ship had been ambushed, the Navy Headquarters was greatly shocked and immediately dispatched warships to provide assistance.

In this battle, apart from the training ship being completely destroyed, only a few recruits died in the attack.

It is said that this was an extremely dangerous encounter, in which even Admiral Zephyr was severely injured and defeated by the great pirate Weevil.

At the critical moment, it was the Navy's rising star, Colonel Higuma, who made his move. He displayed a strength comparable to that of the young Zephyr, seemingly possessing extremely strong Armament Haki, and captured Weevil without sustaining any injuries.

The World Government seemed quite interested in Edward Weevil and soon dispatched Sentomaru, the captain of the Science Unit, to escort Weevil away.

Several days later.

Naval Headquarters, in Zephyr's office.

"The commendation from headquarters has been issued. From today onwards, you are a major general."

Zefa personally placed the shoulder insignia representing the rank of Major General on Higuma's shoulder, patted him on the shoulder, and smiled.

"You're 29 years old this year, right? When I was your age, I was just a junior officer in the headquarters, just starting to practice the Six Styles."

General-level officers can be considered to be in the upper echelons of the naval system.

"The next step after major general is lieutenant general. Don't be fooled by the large number of lieutenant generals in our unit; the rank of lieutenant general is actually only below that of general and marshal, which is only about five or six people."

"Garp is a vice admiral, and Momousagi, Chaton, and the other candidates who are likely to be promoted to admiral are also vice admirals."

A vice admiral in the Navy Headquarters, a true regional governor, commanding the Grand Line branch with a force ranging from several thousand to over ten thousand men, a figure of great power and influence.

The Grand Line Branch and the Four Seas Branch are completely different concepts.

"The rank of major general is just the basic requirement. There are two other things I wanted to discuss with you today."

Zefa spoke up:

"The first thing is that you're now a major general, so there are some things I can tell you."

Zephyr stood up and looked out the window toward Mary Geoise, the sacred land of the Red Line.

"During the Impel Down war three years ago, the Mountain Bandit King attacked the Holy Land Mary Geoise alone. Afterwards, he discovered a black dragon that seemed to have stepped out of mythology beneath the Holy Land and quickly flew away... It is suspected that it has been gnawing on the Sun Tree Eve beneath the Holy Land for many years."

“As for why I’m telling you this now… not long ago, the Black Flame Dragon reappeared in the New World,” Zephyr said.

"The second thing is that headquarters has an elite lieutenant general training program. Headquarters will allocate resources to train multiple elite lieutenant generals, with the ultimate goal of cultivating candidates who are capable of becoming generals."

"If someone has enough strength to pass the training program's assessment, even if they lack experience, are not an ability user, or are young, they can be promoted to Admiral like Fujitora."

Zephyr glanced meaningfully at Higuma as he finished speaking:

"I didn't tell you about how long it took you to develop Armament Haki... but now you've proven your strength."

"So, would you like to join?"

“Of course.” Higuma naturally wouldn’t refuse.

"So, starting today, you will have a new code name within headquarters."

"Black Dragon".

Major General, "Black Dragon" Higuma.

Chapter 997 Sig 3K

Naval Headquarters Training Ground.

Higuma and Zephyr stood facing each other.

Zefa spoke first: "I saw your battle that day. Without a doubt, you not only honed the Iron Block to an extraordinary level, but you also mastered the Six Styles to perfection and were able to use moves like the Six Kings Spear, which combines the essence of the Six Styles."

"But mastering the Six Styles is not the limit. If you can't master Armament Haki, there is another path you can take."

These words immediately made Higuma's eyes light up.

Zefa continued:

"The Six Powers of the Navy are techniques created to enable the Navy to deal with powerful Devil Fruit users."

"For example, there is a Devil Fruit called the Blade-Blade Fruit. The user's entire body can transform into blades, making their whole body a weapon, comparable to steel."

Higuma nodded. He also knew this person; he was Mr. 1 from the future Baroque Works.

"But once we master the six techniques, we can do similar things with our own flesh and blood."

As Zefa spoke, he unleashed a powerful kick, the resulting vacuum slash whistling past and slicing the distant iron plate in two.

"Storm Kick, allowing your legs to transform into blades, unleashing vacuum slashes."

"Iron blocks harden flesh and blood like steel... and you have gone a step further, reaching the point where you can withstand Weevil's attacks. You are no less than a master of Armament Haki, so I won't go into details."

"Finger gun, hardened fingers, possessing attack power comparable to bullets, can easily penetrate the human body."

Zefa flicked his finger, and a small crescent-shaped shockwave swept across the sky, leaving a bullet hole in the iron plate in the distance.