The natural system started off strong, but the navy finally reached its peak!

His strength is far greater than it was back then, and it's unfathomable.

And did you see that? Aside from Barrett, even a man like Hawkeye Mihawk has now voluntarily admitted to joining his ranks…”

He downed the drink in one gulp, his eyes darting around: "I really didn't realize before that this kid, besides being a good fighter and reckless,..."

And such great personal charisma... or rather, the 'charisma' that compels people to follow.

At this point, Rayleigh put down his empty glass, turned his gaze to Shakky who was cleaning the bar, and his tone became serious: "He was alone with you for a while just now. Whose information did he take?"

Shakky paused in her wiping motion, without looking up, and simply uttered a name and location: "North Sea, Dias Island, the Donquixote Family, Doflamingo."

Rayleigh's brow furrowed instantly: "'Joker'? That fallen Celestial Dragon brat? Why would Gern suddenly be interested in him..."

"I don't know." Xia Qi tossed the tablecloth aside and forcefully stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray.

His expression turned unusually serious. He raised his head and looked directly at Rayleigh: "Old Rayleigh, I'm serious."

If... those two had chosen to fight, you...

She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning couldn't be clearer.

Rayleigh paused for a moment, then poured himself another glass of wine. His eyes were calm and collected. Without the slightest hesitation, he gave his answer directly.

"I'll die." He downed the glass of liquor in one gulp, his throat bobbing, his voice low but crystal clear.

"Right now, I have no chance of winning against him when he's giving it his all."

Moreover, with Hawkeye Mihawk watching from the side... the chances of escape are probably slim.

He readily admitted his defeat, his tone devoid of resentment, revealing only a clear understanding of reality and a hint of indescribable solemnity.

"This ocean... is truly about to face an unprecedented storm." Rayleigh murmured to himself, gazing at the illusory sunlight of Chambord outside the bar.

Guern's rise to power, with its rapid pace and grand ambitions, seems to have far exceeded the imagination of these remnants of the old era.

“A storm…” Shakky murmured softly.

“Suspend all intelligence work,” Reilly turned around, his tone calm but unquestionable, “especially all reconnaissance regarding the G-10 base.”

"Also, tell Shanks..." His voice trailed off, like a dull knife cutting through the silence:

"Once you enter the new world, never try to take a share of the pie from the G-10's power."

Xia Qi raised an eyebrow slightly: "It's not that you've always thought highly of him, saying he's the most qualified to be the next one..."

“The prerequisite for being qualified is…” Rayleigh looked up, a flash of lightning outside the window streaking across his aged pupils.

"You have to live."

......

[Comment from Xianyu: Regarding the details of how Gern was addressed: Older generations or people from the old days on the sea knew about Gern's rise to power, so they preferred to call him 'Tianzhen' (Skyquake).]

However, those of the new era are not quite clear about this, so they refer to his general as 'Bai Lin'.

This is also a detail that distinguishes the new era from the old.

Chapter 297 Relationship with the Warring States Period

Meanwhile, Gern and Mihawk had left Area 13 and strolled to Mangrove Area 49 in the Sabaody Archipelago.

The environment here is noticeably cleaner and more beautiful, mainly consisting of tourist areas and specialty shops.

The air was filled with the aroma of desserts, and leisurely tourists and crowds of people busy buying souvenirs could be seen everywhere.

Gern held the thin intelligence document Shaki had given him, flipping through it with his head down.

I stopped in front of a cutely decorated ice cream shop and stood in line absentmindedly.

Hawkeye stood beside him, his gaze sweeping over the clearly visible words "North Sea" and "Don Quixote Family" on the document, his sharp brows furrowing slightly.

He couldn't understand why Guern would suddenly be interested in the local bullies in that corner of the North Sea.

That's right, in Mihawk's eyes, Doflamingo is indeed a local tyrant in the North Blue!

"So you deliberately left the New World this time." Hawkeye spoke, his voice still cold, yet carrying a hint of inquiry.

"Are you planning to go to Beihai? To deal with that so-called 'Joker'?"

He still believes that Guern brought him out because of some personal grudge that needs to be settled.

After all, the declaration of Fishman Island has already proven it, but the current situation doesn't seem to be.

On the other side, Gern was just seeing the key part of the intelligence report when he heard Hawkeye's question. He subconsciously hummed in response, then suddenly realized what was happening.

He looked up from the document, glanced at Mihawk who looked puzzled, and paused, startled.

Then, as if he had just remembered something crucial, he suddenly slapped his forehead, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.

"Oh! Right! I forgot to tell you! Hehe!"

His reaction gave Hawkeye a bad feeling.

And as expected, Gern, without any hesitation, lowered his voice and quickly explained the matter that Sengoku had asked him to handle.

He briefly explained his plan to secretly assist Corazon (Rosinante), the undercover agent who had infiltrated the Don Quixote family.

"Well, so, it's just a business trip to Beihai, and I'll also cover for Zhan Gao's adopted son. That's about it."

After saying that, Gern shrugged, as if it were just a trivial matter.

But Hawkeye's expression was different after hearing it.

He initially thought it was a trivial matter, but it turned out to be an undercover operation involving internal naval secrets and sensitive nerves of the World Government?!

And Gern just told this to him, someone who had joined less than a month ago, so casually and without any hesitation?!

This feeling of being trusted without reservation, although it made Hawkeye think that Gern was sometimes incredibly oblivious...

But deep down, a subtle, almost imperceptible, sense of pleasure arose within him.

This at least proves that Guern truly regarded him as "one of his own" with whom he could share secrets without suspicion, and not just as a subordinate to whom promises needed to be kept.

At this moment, Gern was completely unaware of Hawkeye's complex inner thoughts, because it was now his turn to join the queue.

So he quickly bought two different flavors of ice cream, turned around and handed one of them to Hawkeye.

"Borsalino told me that this restaurant is quite famous and the food is good."

“Here, it’s vanilla flavored. If you don’t like it,” Guern waved the pink one in his hand, “I can trade you my strawberry one.”

Sunlight streamed through the soap bubbles, illuminating Gern's lazy smile and the slightly chilly ice cream, creating a scene that looked somewhat...incongruous and strangely peculiar.

Hawkeye looked at the ice cream offered to him, so incongruous with his cool image as "the world's greatest swordsman," and the corner of his mouth under his hat twitched almost imperceptibly.

Based on his usual personality and established persona, he would definitely scoff and reject such a thing outright.

but……

He glanced at Guern's casual attitude—"take it or leave it"—while he was indeed prepared to share with him, and then thought back to the complete trust he had just shown...

In the end, Hawkeye only let out a cold snort that was hard to understand, but he took the vanilla ice cream with unusual speed and said in a stiff tone:

"No need to change, I'm not picky."

Then, this world's greatest swordsman, holding an ice cream that was completely out of character for him, expressionlessly... licked it.

Hmm, the taste is alright.

........

With an ice cream in hand, Gern and Hawkeye strolled slowly toward the naval base through the streets of Sabaody Archipelago, which were filled with colorful soap bubbles.

This unusual combination drew frequent glances from passersby, especially the image of the cool swordsman eating an ice cream cone with a straight face, which was quite striking.

Hawkeye swallowed the cold, sweet cream in his mouth, glanced at Gern beside him who was also eating without any semblance of a general's decorum, and asked in a calm tone the question that had been bothering him.

"Actually, I'm quite curious." He paused, "Why did you agree to Marshal Sengoku's request?"

From what I've observed, during G-10, he was quite restrictive and wary of you.

In Hawkeye's view, the relationship between Gern and the Navy Headquarters, especially with Fleet Admiral Sengoku, does not seem to be very harmonious.

Sengoku was clearly troubled and wary of Gern's self-contained faction and its continuous expansion of power.

Hearing Hawkeye's words, Gern took a bite of his crispy ice cream cone, chuckled indistinctly, and spoke in a relaxed tone.

"But it's just a 'restriction,' isn't it?"

He licked the ice cream from the corner of his mouth and continued, "That guy is the Fleet Admiral. He has to consider the balance, the World Government's opinion, and the overall order of the Navy."

For a troublemaker like me who's unruly and constantly causes him trouble, all he can do is cut back on funding, grumble on the phone, and maybe break a few tables.

There wasn't much resentment in Gern's tone; instead, there was an almost knowing understanding in it.

“Look,” he said, counting on his fingers for Hawkeye to see, “I planted my flag in the New World and seized territory, and he didn’t send troops to attack me, did he?”

I collect island protection fees to generate revenue, and he didn't explicitly prohibit that, did he?

"This time with Fishman Island, I directly declared asylum and even negotiated a revenue split with Neptune. In the end, all he did was call and yell at me, and then acquiesce, didn't he?"

"In the end, Sengoku knew perfectly well what was going on." Gern smiled, his eyes becoming somewhat profound. "Everything I did, although it broke away from the traditional framework of the navy, and even showed some signs of 'militarization'..."

But I'm more efficient than anyone else at fighting pirates and maintaining order in 'my' territory in the New World.

My very existence is enough to greatly deter pirates in the New World and relieve some of the pressure on headquarters, since the Navy's control over the New World is currently terrifyingly weak!

"His restrictions on me were out of duty and caution as a marshal."

But he also needs me, needs me, this knife that is sometimes disobedient, but sharp enough to cut through many troubles for him.

"For example, when he's arguing with the World Government, he can use me as a threat and then ask for benefits from me," Gern concluded.

"Our relationship is more like... well, an awkward cooperative one of mutual exploitation and mutual tolerance."

“So…” Gern finished the rest of his ice cream in a few bites, clapped his hands, “This time he swallowed his pride and begged me for help.”

From an official standpoint, this matter concerns the safety of a key naval mole; success would benefit both him and the navy.

Personally, this is a favor he owes me. If I ask him for alms or do something outrageous in the future, he won't be able to scold me too harshly.

Why wouldn't I agree to do such a favor?

In short, all you need to know is that those who play strategy games are ruthless; they won't let themselves lose money!

Hawkeye listened quietly. Although he disliked political intrigue and scheming, he found Gern's simple and straightforward analysis quite interesting.

However, it clearly explains the subtle yet realistic relationship of interests between him and the Warring States period.

"I didn't realize you were such a master at political maneuvering," Hawkeye remarked casually, his tone neither praising nor criticizing.

Gern was about to reply with a smile, "There's nothing I can do about it; after all, I calculated my way up from the West Sea step by step," but before he could finish speaking...

"Ah! Help!"

"Run! Pirates are coming!"

"Let me go! Please let me go!"

Suddenly, terrified screams, maniacal laughter, and chaotic sounds of smashing, looting, and burning erupted from the street corner ahead!

A group of vicious pirates were looting shops and beating civilians, and flames had begun to spread.

One of the burly men, who looked like a pirate leader, was roughly dragging a struggling, crying young girl, shouting vulgarities, "What are you crying for! It's your good fortune to be chosen by me and sent to the auction house! Maybe some gentleman will take a liking to you! Hahaha!"

They clearly intended to kidnap the girl and send her to a human auction house.

The surrounding civilians were terrified and fled in all directions, but no one dared to step forward to stop them.

The casual smile on Gern's face vanished instantly, and his eyes turned icy cold.

He didn't even look at Hawkeye, but merely raised his eyes slightly to look at the arrogant pirates, casually raising his left hand with his five fingers slightly spread.

"Buzz!" A very faint, yet chilling, high-frequency vibration emanated from the air!

"Heavenly Tremor - Bee Sting!"

The next second, countless rice-grain-sized, almost invisible vibrational energy particles were compressed and refined into invisible needle-like shapes.

It launched itself out at supersonic speed, precisely covering all the pirates committing crimes within a hundred meters in front of it!

Then, a series of soft but chilling thuds rang out!

The pirates who were laughing wildly and dragging the girl suddenly froze!

Their eyes instantly became bloodshot and bulged violently, their faces still bearing a ferocious expression, but the light in their pupils suddenly went out!