"See you next time, old man Kenji!" Roger grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and waved goodbye to Kenji with a loud laugh.
"Wait a moment." Kenji suddenly called out to Roger and frowned, "Take your things back."
"What would it look like for me, an Admiral, to accept a gift from you, a Legendary Pirate?"
"Hahaha! Don't be so polite! Besides, you can't take back a gift once it's given!" Roger replied with a laugh, but his tone was very serious.
Seeing this, Kenji understood that there was no way he would be able to return this treasure chest back today.
Given Roger's personality, once he got serious, even if the treasure chest was thrown back, he would just throw it back again.
He might even use Divine Departure to slash at the treasure chest.
"Forget it." Kenji dismissed the thought.
He reached out for the treasure chest, and a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes.
"It shows he has a heart."
Come to think of it, this is the first time he has formally received a promotion gift since becoming an Admiral. Though, it was from a pirate.
At this moment, the Oro Jackson had already sailed several hundred meters away.
Roger looked back and saw Kenji examining the treasure chest.
He shouted happily, "The things inside, I went to great lengths to snatch them from Shiki! Accept them well!"
"Hmm… huh? Shiki? Snatch?"
Kenji was startled, suddenly remembering the battle between the Roger Pirates and the Flying Pirates a while ago.
The Roger Pirates had uncharacteristically taken the initiative to attack the Flying Pirates, and it was all just to snatch this treasure chest?
"No wonder he suddenly went and caused trouble…" Kenji felt utterly speechless and helpless.
At this moment, even the almost-dead memories deep in his mind were stirred up—
He recalled a joke he had heard in his previous life. Someone giving a gift claimed it was hard-won, only to find out it was literally stolen.
"This brat…" Kenji shook his head slightly, his face full of helplessness.
However, since he had already decided to accept this item, he naturally wouldn't give it away again.
Besides, the item was given by Roger, and the gift was received by Kenji, so what did it have to do with Shirojishi?
After casually putting away the treasure chest, Kenji looked up and saw that the Oro Jackson had already sailed far away, entering the depths of the thick fog, and soon disappeared from sight.
Of course, Kenji could still sense the location of the Roger Pirates through his Observation Haki.
At the same time, his Observation Haki also detected another powerful aura rapidly approaching the Roger Pirates.
"Don't run! Roger! I'm going to catch you today!"
Garp's roaring shouts clearly came from deep within the thick fog.
The next moment, a violent burst of light erupted. Even with the dense fog, it couldn't completely obscure the dazzling, sun-like radiance.
A moment after the light appeared, the rumbling sound of a huge energy collision finally reached his ears.
"It's starting again."
Kenji realized that if they didn't leave quickly, his warship would most likely be ruined and sink.
"Marie, wake everyone up and set sail as soon as possible!"
Kenji turned to Marie, his adjutant, who had mostly recovered, and instructed, "Also, let's execute that plan early on the way back!"
"Uh, it's still quite far from the headquarters base…" Marie frowned, her large eyes filled with confusion.
"Sigh, what if we run into another Legendary Pirate on the way, and they just 'greet' us? This warship won't last until we get there, it'll fall apart."
Kenji had no control over luck, so he could only take some preventive measures.
Before long, the huge waves caused by the aftermath of Garp and Roger's great battle in the distant fog had already reached the vicinity of the warship.
Marie moved across the swaying deck, waking up the unconscious soldiers one by one.
Some of them woke up on their own during this time, perhaps because the Conqueror's Haki's deterrent effect had worn off, or because they were shaken awake by the violently swaying warship.
"Huh? How did I pass out?"
"Ah, me too… Oh, the Roger Pirates!"
After many soldiers woke up, their first reaction was to find weapons and prepare for battle, then they stood up and scanned around but couldn't find any trace of the Oro Jackson.
"Strange? Where did the Roger Pirates go?"
"I just heard Lieutenant Marie say that the Roger Pirates had retreated."
"It must have been Shirojishi Admiral who repelled the Roger Pirates!"
"Shirojishi Admiral must have fought very hard so that we wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, right?"
"Wuwuwu! I caused trouble for Shirojishi Admiral…"
"Why are you crying?! Quickly, follow Shirojishi Admiral's orders, return to formation and set sail!"
Soon, the warship gained enough personnel to operate and sailed again, quickly moving away from the range of the battle's aftermath.
Meanwhile, Kenji had already returned to the Captain's quarters.
He sat on a chair covered with a plush blanket, with the treasure chest placed in front of him.
From a distance, the treasure chest looked a bit small, but up close, it seemed alright, looking slightly smaller than a human head.
As the treasure chest was not locked, Kenji easily opened it. Inside, a pure white, curved, elongated Devil Fruit lied quietly.
"As expected…" Kenji wasn't surprised.
When he first saw this treasure chest, he thought it looked very similar to the treasure chests from God Valley back then.
The treasure chests that appeared during the God Valley incident contained Devil Fruits, so it was reasonable to assume that this similarly shaped treasure chest would also contain one.
After confirming his guess, Kenji reached out and took out the pure white, curved, elongated fruit to examine it carefully.
Then he realized that he didn't recognize it at all. He knew nothing about what type of devil fruit it was or what abilities it granted.
"A Legendary Pirate wouldn't send something worthless…" Kenji stroked his chin, making a reasoned guess.
"Moreover, it's something two Legendary Pirates contended for… Could it be a Mythical Zoan type fruit?"
Finally, after playing with it enough, he put it back into the treasure chest and put it away, intending to ask someone knowledgeable about it later.
Just as he put away the devil fruit, a system prompt appeared in his vision without warning.
[You successfully led your troops to survive until the Roger Pirates left! Your performance will be remembered by the soldiers! Your reputation is about to spread throughout the Marine!]
[Mission (Side): Successfully retreat or survive until the Roger Pirates leave, with troop losses not exceeding half!—Overcompleted!]
[Reward has been changed to: 5 Assignable Upgrade opportunities]
[Reward distributed…]
The scene in his vision changed, and traits shimmering with various colors of light appeared before Kenji.
[Traits: Armament Haki (Light Gold), Observation Haki (Super Purple), Conqueror's Haki (Dark Blue), Physique (Light Gold), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Light Purple), Swordsmanship (Super Blue), Sea Beast Power (Light Blue), Superspeed Regeneration (Light Blue), Iron Body (Light White)]
A '+' sign appeared after each trait, making him feel incredibly pleasant.