Chapter 56: Ozawa's True Colors! Evolution of [Glutton]!

"You are saying there is a cannon inside your room?"

Smoker wore a deeply suspicious look on the surface, but a restless, eager-to-try gleam flickered deep within his eyes.

"Don't tell me you pried it off a warship?"

"Stop joking around!"

C泽 retorted, annoyance in his voice, as he still hadn't recovered from the sting of his financial loss.

"Besides, didn't we just come here to the collective dorms together straight from the docks?! Where on earth would I have found the time to steal a cannon?"

Just like C泽, Smoker had no relatives or connections in Marineford, which was why he too had moved into the collective dormitories.

Moments later, Smoker followed behind C泽 to inspect the artillery piece that had somehow materialized inside the latter's room.

"Oh, it's Miss Seventy-Five!"

Smoker patted the thick barrel of the M1897 75mm field gun, affectionately blurting out the cannon's nickname, his excitement hard to conceal.

What young boy doesn't love firing big guns?

Standing off to the side, C泽 quietly steered the conversation.

"Smoker, how do you think this cannon ended up in here?"

"Naturally, it was brought in secretly by some lonely, desperate bastard～"

Smoker squatted on the floor, gently stroking the thick, black, rigid, and sturdy barrel of Miss Seventy-Five without looking back.

"Actually, similar incidents happen all the time at the branch bases in the East Blue. I just didn't expect anyone here at headquarters to dare smuggle a cannon into the dorms."

'A great excuse! It turns out notifying Smoker in advance was the right choice.'

C泽 nodded inwardly, then spoke up.

"I'm going to turn this cannon over to the dorm manager now. Want to come along?"

"...Let's go!"

Smoker patted the barrel, hoisted it up effortlessly, and followed C泽 downstairs to find the dormitory manager.

The burly, broad-shouldered female dorm manager watched as two handsome young men carried a cannon down from upstairs, her expression instantly turning stern.

"You two brats! How dare you pry a cannon off a Marine warship and drag it into the dorms! Even I wouldn't have dared back in my day—ahem!"

"Manager ay—elder sister."

C泽 sensed a faint wave of hostility emanating from the manager and instantly changed his tune, his honeyed words dripping with charm.

"The two of us are members of this year's elite training camp and only just returned to headquarters today. We didn't bring this cannon into the dorms; it was just sitting inside my room."

Smoker shot a sidelong glance at C泽, never expecting this sharp-featured guy to be such a smooth-talking flatterer.

I'm keeping this in mind. I'll have to tell Tina later...

"Oh, is that so!"

The kind-faced manager immediately bought C泽's explanation, her beaming smile making her look like a female Maitreya Buddha.

"My, what a handsome young man! Got your eye on any special girls yet? Big sis—ah, I mean, older sister here happens to know the contact info for plenty of pretty young female soldiers at headquarters!"

C泽's eyes lit up instantly, the smile on his face growing a shade more sincere.

Female soldiers at headquarters are the best～

As the saying goes, "A full belly breeds..."

Well, as the saying goes, strength is the foundation of confidence.

Having advanced to C-grade and mastered Haki, C泽's spine finally felt a lot straighter.

According to his personal plan, once Zefa finalized his Marine rank, he would actively request a transfer to a Four Blues branch—preferably the weakest East Blue—to lay low and quietly develop for a few years.

Ideally, he would hunt down seven or eight Devil Fruits, and once he possessed a suite of god-tier abilities, he'd return to the Grand Line with an invincible posture!

If that was the case...

Finding a cute little female Marine at headquarters to talk about the ocean and gaze at the moon first sounded like a wonderful pastime～

It's not like he needed a long-term commitment anyway.

C泽 had already prepared the three classic breakup lines in advance:
'You love the ocean; I loved you.'
'I'm sorry, you're a good girl, and I don't want to hold you back any longer. You deserve better.'
'Let's put our relationship on hold.'

Sigh...
Would that be too much of a scumbag move...

However.
Before C泽 could speak,
Sensing the bubbling aura of a scumbag radiating from beside him, Smoker hooked an arm around C泽's neck, shoved him out of the dormitory building, and shouted aloud,

"Ugh, carrying a cannon downstairs is exhausting! I'm starving!"

Listening to Smoker's overwhelmingly awkward performance, C泽 almost used his toes to dig out a basement on the spot.

As long as you're not embarrassed, the person who's embarrassed is someone else, right?

At that moment, Smoker suddenly leaned in close to C泽's ear and whispered,

"Everything that happened today, I'm going to tell Tina every single detail."

"Tell Tina?" C泽 was slightly baffled. "Why?"

Smoker squinted at C泽 and remained silent.

Noticing Smoker's expression, C泽 realized what was going on and waved his hands frantically.

"Wait! Are you misunderstanding something? Tina and I don't have the slightest relationship!"
At least not yet! C泽 added silently in his heart.

"No relationship?" Smoker sneered. "She goes to your room every morning, and you're telling me you two have nothing going on!"

"That's because Tina and I were doing—"
C泽 was about to argue when he suddenly hit upon a crucial point.
"Wait! How do you even know about Tina's daily schedule!?"

Smoker dropped the sneer and said with a straight face, "I'm hungry and don't have the energy to talk to you. But I am definitely telling Tina about today."

Having caught onto a secret, C泽 shrugged unconcernedly.

"I'll be sure to tell Tina every detail of today as well, especially about a certain peeping tom who loves observing her every move from the shadows."

Smoker stared at C泽, as if freshly realizing the sheer thickness of this guy's skin.

After a long moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "Today's lunch is on me!"

"Deal," C泽 said with a beaming smile. "In that case, nothing happened today at all."

"Let's go eat!"

Smoker ground his back teeth as he squeezed out those three words.

Led by Smoker, the "veteran," the two of them headed toward the food street in the rear town of Marineford.

C泽's plan to bleed Smoker dry right off the bat was instantly thwarted along the way.

As the satellite town attached to Marineford Headquarters, this small town populated mostly by the families and relatives of Marines was extremely prosperous.

Especially after the incident where Golden Lion stormed the headquarters years ago, Marineford had specially ramped up security for the rear town.

It is no exaggeration to say that apart from Mary Geoise atop the Red Line, the town behind Marineford was practically the safest place in the entire ocean!

Because of this, celebratory festivals were constantly being held in the rear town.

For instance, today, as C泽 and Smoker made their way toward the food street, they ran right into an "Eating Contest."

"Let's just eat this! Free food! And all-you-can-eat!" Smoker declared decisively.

"No way! I want a grand feast!" C泽 rejected the idea, still hoping to fleece Smoker properly.

"I don't have enough money on me," Smoker quickly fabricated an excuse.

"It's fine, I have money, I can lend it to you," C泽 offered an unexpected response, adding, "With only thirty percent interest."

Dark lines striped Smoker's forehead.
I'm borrowing money from you, treating you to a meal, and paying interest afterward? C泽, are you even human?!

"We're eating this!" Smoker patted his pocket. Given C泽's appetite, treating him to a regular meal might force Smoker to eat dirt for months. "What are your conditions?"

"The kid's catching on fast～" C泽 patted Smoker's shoulder. "Let's have a spar in the training camp this afternoon! I want to check your latest progress with the Smoke-Smoke Fruit."

You just purely want to beat me up, don't you!?

Smoker glared at C泽 and nodded very reluctantly.
Fight, then!
Just wait until I learn Armament Haki, heh heh—

C泽 and Smoker squeezed through the crowd to the site of the eating contest.

The rules of the food-eating competition held in the food street today were extremely simple.

Within a designated one-hour time limit, the contestant who consumed the greatest number of food items would win the ultimate victory!

According to the host on stage, past champions of this eating contest were usually majestic, imposing, heroic... ten thousand words omitted... and awe-inspiring Marine Hero—Vice Admiral Garp!

However, because Vice Admiral Garp had returned to his hometown to visit his grandson, he was unable to participate in this year's eating contest.

Because of this, the organizers had specifically changed the competition's featured dish from donuts to cherry pie.

The host spent a lot of breath describing how delicious the meticulously prepared cherry pies were, how popular they were on the Grand Line, and how branches had been opened on multiple islands (like Jaya and Hachinosu).

Cherry pie...
C泽 found the name vaguely familiar, though he couldn't recall the specific details right away.

With the sound of a starting whistle, the eating contest officially began.

Looking at the mountain of cherry pies piled up in front of him, C泽 pressed his palms together, activating his [Food Honor].

The next second...
Eat crazily, eat crazily, eat crazily!
C泽 transformed into a ruthless feeding machine, "dumping" cherry pies into his mouth like he was loading cargo.

The towering stacks of cherry pies immediately began to dwindle at a visible rate.

Time ticked away, and the number of competing contestants dwindled as well.

In the end, only two contestants remained on the stage.
C泽.
And Sentomaru, who had somehow wandered over at some point.

"Tweet—"

One hour passed, and the host pulled out a whistle and blew it hard. The loud, piercing blast announced the end of the eating contest.

Before the staff could even announce the final tallied results, a very familiar stream of information flowed across C泽's light screen.

[Your E-class information entry [Big Glutton] has changed names!]
[You have obtained the D-class information entry [Glutton]!]

[D-class entry: Glutton]
[Entry Effect: 1. Grants +1 D-class bonus to Endurance attribute; 2. Increases stomach capacity and digestive function by 30%]

"..."

The cherry pies that had tasted so delicious just moments ago instantly lost their appeal.

"The last time I was this speechless was the last time..."

C泽 felt thoroughly exasperated.

Right at that moment, Sentomaru walked over, burping softly.
"C泽, Instructor Zefa is looking for you!"

C泽's exasperation doubled.
So Zefa is looking for me, yet you, Sentomaru, chose to stuff your face here first?
You really are an unreliable, slacker of a guy!

Smoker asked curiously from the side, "Could the training camp assignments finally be out?"

"Don't try to probe the man with the tightest lips in the world!" Sentomaru glanced at Smoker and said proudly, "I definitely won't tell you that I have no idea!"