Behind the barbecue stand were the seventeen women who had survived the massacre of Maple Leaf Village.
They wore aprons and busily worked around the five to six-meter-long grill.
Some were adding charcoal to the stove, some were fanning the flames, others were greeting customers, and some were responsible for handling money.
Their tasks were clearly divided, and they were all bustling with activity.
Rosha stared at them, seeing the smiles on their faces.
Those were genuine smiles from the heart.
“Here, John’s boy, try some of Aunt Perlo’s cooking.”
A skewer of grilled meat was handed to him.
The smoky, cumin-scented meat skewers filled his nostrils.
“Thank you, Aunt Perlo.”
Rosha took the skewer.
He recognized the woman speaking.
She was Perlo, the wife of the Maple Leaf Village fisherman, Laurel, who should be around forty years old this year.
Perlo was a very kind-hearted woman.
Rosha still remembered that among the shell necklaces and bracelets he had made over the years, Perlo had exchanged the most black bread for them.
Even though her family wasn’t wealthy, she and her husband Laurel had no children so that they could save some rations.
And a portion of those rations was given to him by Perlo.
Each time, Perlo would tell him that her previous shell bracelet was lost, and she desperately wanted to exchange it for another one.
“How does it taste?” Aunt Perlo asked with a smile.
Rosha nodded vigorously. “It’s delicious, absolutely wonderful!”
“That’s good,” Aunt Perlo said, brushing chili powder on the meat skewers as she spoke. “I always wanted to sell grilled fish at Milez Port, but back then, Laurel’s catch was too small. After paying the tax officials, there was barely enough left to support a trip to Milez Port.”
“Aunt Perlo, how did you manage to set up this barbecue stand so quickly?”
Rosha ate the skewer, hesitating before voicing his curiosity.
Aunt Perlo smiled. “We prepared the grill yesterday afternoon, with the help of some kind navy soldiers. The house behind us was rented to us in advance. The first three months are rent-free, and after that, we can pay the rent from our earnings.”
“Is the rent expensive?”
“Not at all. The money we make in a few days is enough to cover a month’s rent. I calculated that if we keep running this barbecue stand, we can buy our own house in this town within two years.”
“And the money for the barbecue supplies…”
“The navy advanced it for us, saying we can repay them once we’ve earned enough, without any interest. These navy officers are really good people. If the navy had been at the village when the pirates arrived, my clumsy husband wouldn’t have been killed trying to protect me.”
Rosha didn’t remember how he got back to the branch base.
After wandering around Rocky Town with Hibari, his mood lifted, and he felt revitalized and motivated.
Thinking about Aunt Perlo and the others, Rosha gained a deeper understanding of the justice he now upheld.
Training hard to become stronger wasn’t about seeking power or trampling on others’ lives.
It was about protecting the ordinary people, as he had seen today.
Perhaps, this was true justice.
Three days later, on the beach training ground of the 177th branch.
“As officers, you are the backbone of justice in the North Blue!”
“Sweeping the surrounding seas of pirates and criminals requires your leadership.”
“Your strength directly affects how many casualties your soldiers will suffer in battles against pirates!”
“Every elite soldier of the branch is fed with extensive resources. Every loss is a significant blow to the forces of justice and a dereliction of your duty!”
“So, when you are not on patrol missions, you must complete your daily training before you can enjoy leisure, rest, or do your own things!”
On the undulating beach, including Rosha and Lieutenant Richard, thirty-two branch officers stood in a line, straight and focused, listening to Lieutenant Commander Jennifer’s stern speech.
Lieutenant Commander Jennifer was a tall and muscular woman, even taller than Rosha by a head.
Her enormous arms were thicker than Richard’s waist, and her lieutenant commander’s uniform was stretched tight by her muscles, making her appear more masculine than most men.
Despite her physique, she had a very beautiful face and a head of wavy red hair.
She was Rear Admiral Adilla’s wife and the deputy commander of the 177th branch.
“Now we start with the first training exercise, swimming!”
“Swimming?”
Rosha was puzzled.
Before arriving, he had thought about the possible training methods he would undergo.
Weighted running, push-ups, frog jumps, sparring between officers, and so on.
But swimming training didn’t seem to fit with the hellish training Richard had mentioned.
While Rosha looked confused, the other officers’ expressions changed upon hearing Jennifer announce the first exercise as swimming.
“It’s over. The first exercise is swimming. Today’s training is likely at the inferno level. Damn, I’d rather go on sea patrol and fight those clueless pirates.”
Lieutenant Richard, standing in front of him, muttered with a grim look.
“Is swimming really that scary?”
Rosha’s confusion was quickly cleared up by Jennifer.
In the distance, a warship slowly approached the shore, stopping two hundred meters away, parallel to the coastline.
At the same time, a hundred soldiers armed with long flintlock rifles ran onto the beach.
Jennifer drew a loaded flintlock pistol from her waist and fired it into the air.
Boom!
The loud gunshot echoed over the sea.
“All of you, into the water! Swim along the coastline and don’t stop without my orders!”
“Do not approach the shallow water, or you’ll face gunfire from the beach!”
“Every five minutes, the last person will face cannon fire from the warship!”
“Cannon fire?”
Rosha’s eyes widened.
“I knew it wouldn’t be simple swimming training. But cannon fire? What is this, last-place elimination? That could kill someone!”
As his colleagues rushed into the water, Rosha grabbed Richard, who was about to dive in.
“It’s not real cannonballs; it’s solid rubber rounds, but,” Richard shivered, recalling unpleasant memories, “you definitely don’t want to experience that. Trust me.”
“How far do we have to swim?” Rosha asked.
“Didn’t you hear Lieutenant Commander Jennifer? No stopping without orders. Oh no, I don’t have time to explain. Training has already started, and if we don’t start, those soldiers will start shooting. They’re carrying real flintlocks!”
Richard broke free from Rosha’s grip and quickly dove into the water, swimming rapidly after his colleagues.
Rosha glanced to the side and saw over a hundred soldiers silently raising their rifles, aiming in their direction.
“Damn, they mean business?”
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