"Successfully subjugating and capturing a Legendary Pirate, this is a major event the Marine hasn't encountered in years... that kid just ran off?!" Kong was very dissatisfied.
But when he saw the pirates being escorted one by one to the Marineford plaza, especially Golden Lion Shiki with his golden hair fluttering, his expression immediately cleared, all dissatisfaction vanished, and he went to receive the criminals with a smile.
On the other side, Kenji's warship maintained full speed after setting sail.
Since the Marine could directly call a warship from the Marine G-1 branch on the other side of the Red Line, within the New World, there was no need to go through the large underwater cavern near Fish-Man Island to reach the New World. This saved a lot of time, reducing what might have been a one or two-month journey to a week.
And Egghead Island, where Kenji was heading, was not very far, estimated to be about three or four days away. This was roughly what Kenji had anticipated.
Because the warship maintained full speed, the journey time might even be shortened further.
On the deck, Kenji gazed into the distance, his eyes deep, or rather, unfocused. At this moment, he was releasing his Observation Haki, entering that peculiar state of perception where he felt as if he was merging with the world.
Behind him, Kuzan leaned casually against the ship's railing, scrutinizing Kenji, wondering what he was thinking about, as he often stared blankly at the sea recently.
On the other side of the deck, at a distance from Kenji, Toki also stood by the ship, gazing into the distance.
During these days on the warship, she had been quite well-behaved, acting very obediently, eating and sleeping on time, and not making any small moves.
Of course, it was hard to say if this was her low-key disguise.
After all, she had spent some time on a human trafficker's ship before, and her ability to survive unscathed must have a reason.
Moreover, through the previous Conqueror's Haki incident, she already understood that Kenji had been paying attention to her every move.
The ability to predict a person's next action by sensing their aura also existed in Toki's original era.
However, at this moment, most of Kenji's attention was actually elsewhere.
He seemed to be gazing into the distance, his eyes unfocused, but in reality, he was observing the system prompt within his vision.
In fact, shortly after the warship set sail, the system had already issued the reward for the previous side quest.
[You personally led the escort of the Legendary Pirate - Golden Lion Shiki, encountering various hardships and difficulties along the way, and finally successfully escorted him to Marineford!]
[This is a major achievement rarely seen in Marine history! The Marine high command specially prepared a grand welcoming ceremony!]
[Due to your exceptionally outstanding performance in this subjugation of Golden Lion Shiki, the Marine high command, at the welcoming ceremony, immediately announced your exceptional appointment as an Admiral!]
[You have been promoted to the Marine's highest combat power within less than a year of graduation, becoming the fastest promoted Admiral in Marine history!]
[Mission (Side): Escort the Legendary Pirate - Golden Lion Shiki to Marineford! — Overcompleted!]
[Reward increased!]
[Reward has been changed to: 3 Assignable Upgrade Opportunities!]
[Reward has been issued...:]
The screen in his vision flickered, and the trait interface appeared before Kenji's eyes without warning. He saw that behind each trait, emitting various colors of light, a special '+' sign was floating.
'To actually upgrade directly from Rear Admiral to Admiral.'
Although it was a rank increase within the system's timeline, Kenji was still somewhat surprised.
The higher the rank in the system's timeline, the greater the difficulty of the missions would naturally be, and even if the difficulty increased, the rewards might not necessarily increase.
In fact, if possible, Kenji would rather remain a small soldier forever in the system's timeline, endlessly enjoying the generous rewards of over-completed missions, wouldn't that be wonderful?
Unfortunately, Kenji could not interfere with personnel changes on the system's timeline, he could only watch helplessly.
'Damn system... Forget it, so be it.'
Kenji shook his head, and returned his attention to the trait interface before him. His gaze swept over each glowing trait, especially those that were radiating golden light.
Finally, Kenji's gaze rested on [Giant Bloodline].
[Giant Bloodline] had already achieved a breakthrough, not only was its rarity cap raised, but continuous advancement would also strengthen his physique.
According to the system's explanation, it would evolve into an 'ancient god-like creature'.
And for [Super Comprehension] to understand and use Devil Fruit abilities, his physique needed to reach a certain standard.
'I just don't know what exactly this so-called standard entails?'
Kenji pondered for a moment, then, with anticipation in his heart, began to actively upgrade [Giant Bloodline].
His gaze targeted the '+' sign next to [Giant Bloodline], continuously pressing it.
[Giant Bloodline] was already of Golden rarity. As it was continuously upgraded, a flash of light suddenly occurred, the golden light of the [Giant Bloodline] trait faded, and a red glow emerged.
At the same time, system prompt appeared in his vision.
[Your Giant Bloodline (Gold) trait has been upgraded... Dark Gold... Super Gold... Light Red! Rarity cap broken!]
[Your Giant Bloodline trait has broken through its rarity cap!]
[Current Giant Bloodline (Light Red)!]
[Name: Kenji]
[Traits: Armament Haki (Super Gold), Observation Haki (Super Gold), Conqueror's Haki - God's Domain (Purple), Physique - Human (Super Gold), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Light Gold), Swordsmanship (Super Gold), Sea King Power (Super Blue), Superspeed Regeneration (Dark Purple), Steel Balloon (Super Gold), Future Vision (Light Gold), Berserk (Super Purple), Giant Bloodline (Light Red), Super Comprehension (Blue)]
'Finally, it broke through the limit...' Kenji scanned it with a glance.
Among a host of golden traits, the crimson [Giant Bloodline] was particularly striking and stood out.
And this red, which was a higher rarity than gold, was closer to blood red in color.
Seeing this red trait, Kenji recalled the red names of bosses in online games he played on earth. Just looking at it instilled fear.
However, more than the change in color, Kenji was more concerned about the changes in his physique brought about by the trait upgrade.
In the early stages, the advancement of [Giant Bloodline] caused Kenji's height to continuously increase until he reached the height of a true Giant, unable to shrink.
It wasn't until it advanced to Golden rarity that he could finally freely control the trait's ability, and his height could switch between normal human and Giant.
At this time, [Giant Bloodline] broke through its limit, advancing to red rarity, and its ability increased once again.