#720 - A small test, the selection of the chief officer! (two in one)

The warm sunlight shone over the window sill, into the room, and was reflected on the two young men standing in front of Jiguo Yuanyi.

Jiguo Yuanyi sat behind the desk, silently looking at Ace and Sabo with a faint smile on his face.

Having not seen each other for a few years, Ace and Sabo have lost some of their immaturity. Now wearing general uniforms, they look very heroic and exude a strong sense of confidence.

"Very good, you are growing really fast."

"After just a few years of not seeing each other, you already have a lot of weight on your shoulders."

After a while, Jiguo Yuanyi slowly praised with a smile on his face.

Ace and Sabo looked at each other, with some curiosity in their eyes.

This was the first time that the two of them had met Tsugekuni Yoriichi in private since he resumed his status as admiral.

They are different from ordinary navy. These two children have a close relationship with Yoshiichi Tsugakuni. Before Ace and Sabo joined the navy, they were already familiar with Yoshiichi Tsugakuni. Even the devil fruits that allow them to "make a living" now were deliberately prepared for them by the admiral in front of them.

It can be said that the reason why Ace and Sabo have achieved what they have today is inseparable from the help of Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

Originally, Ace and Sabo thought that they and Tsugakuin belonged to two different forces. Not to mention working with Tsugakuin in this life, it would be a very rare thing not to meet each other on the battlefield.

However, no one expected that the world situation would change so quickly. The "rebel leader" Tsugukuni Yoshiichirō suddenly regained his status as a naval admiral and became the chief of staff of the naval headquarters, becoming one of their immediate superiors.

At their age, Ace and Sabo have already realized the freeness of life.

"Mr. Jiguo, are you calling us to do something?"

Sabo spoke in a respectful tone, which was out of respect for Tsugakuni Yoriichi's status, and also out of gratitude for Tsugakuni Yoriichi's support for the two brothers.

At the same time, Sabo's inner excitement was revealed on his face.

The reason is very simple. In the past few months since Tsugakuni Yoshiichi returned to the Navy Headquarters, the things that the vice admirals who were ordered to go out have done in the four seas have gradually spread. The Navy Headquarters has rectified the nobles who have attached themselves to the people and sucked their blood by collecting the sky gold in many regions.

This not only deepened the prestige of the Navy Headquarters in the hearts of ordinary people, but also inspired the hearts of some truly passionate young people in the headquarters.

Under the strong rule of the World Government, the Navy Headquarters has also been under high-pressure surveillance by the CP in recent years, which makes some young people in the headquarters who really want to do something extremely uncomfortable.

When what the Navy Headquarters wants to do is inconsistent with their own values, conflicts naturally arise.

The dark cloud that had been hovering over the Navy Headquarters had only just completely dissipated.

Ace and Sabo have been training new troops at the Naval Headquarters in preparation for going to the New World. The New World is different from the first half of the Grand Line, and out of caution, the headquarters has given Ace and his men ample time to prepare.

However, this plan was temporarily shelved when Yoshiichi Tsugakuni returned to the Naval Headquarters.

Ace and Sabo were not the type of people who could endure long periods of time. Such long periods of boring training had already worn out their patience. If it had not been Sengoku who had given the order, these two guys would have jumped out long ago.

Therefore, as soon as they received the summons from Tsugakuni Yoriichi, the two of them rushed over excitedly.

Sabo knew that a busy man like Tsugikoku Yoriichi would never summon them for no reason.

"Um."

"There are indeed some things for you to do, but please wait a moment, some people haven't arrived yet."

Ji Guoyuan spoke gently, pointed to the sofa in front of the desk, and motioned for Sabo and Ace to sit down first.

After getting a definite answer, Ace and Sabo suppressed their excitement and sat down on the sofa. However, not long after they sat down, someone knocked on the door of Jiguo Yuanyi's office again.

"Come in!" Ji Guoyuan shouted softly and looked out the door. He happened to see a middle-aged man wearing a bronze helmet pushing open the door and walking into the office.

“Bang!”

The man walked into the office and stopped immediately, put his feet together, bowed directly to Ji Guoyuan, and then said loudly:

"Report!"

"Garrison commander of Judicial Island, Captain of the Navy Headquarters, T-Bone Penn reports for duty!"

The middle-aged man who entered the office at this time was none other than the officer T-Bone Peng En whom Brannew recommended to Tsugikoku Yuichi. It must be said that T-Bone's appearance was really not that good. He had dry skin, a dark complexion, cold eyes, thin cheeks, and a ferocious look.

If an ignorant child saw this, he would think T-Bone was a bad guy at first sight.

T-Bone had a long sword tied around his waist and wore a set of light armor with the navy logo printed on it. The temperament he exuded was very different from that of most of the officers that Jigoku Yuichi had seen.

"Ace, Sabo, the two of you come over here too, everyone is here."

As soon as Tsugekuni Yoshiichi finished speaking, Ace and Sabo stood up one after another and came to Tsugekuni Yoshiichi. At the same time, the two boys' eyes swept towards T-bone.

"Ace? Sabo?"

T-Bone couldn't help but be startled when he heard Tsugikoku Yoshiichi calling the two brothers. Until then, he noticed the other people in the office. Seeing Ace and Sabo approaching, T-Bone straightened his body and saluted Ace and Sabo.

Today, Ace and Sabo have been promoted to brigadier generals one after another. According to their abilities, the rank of brigadier general is obviously not worthy of these two nature-type ability users. However, in terms of age and qualifications, their upgrade speed is far beyond others' cognition.

You know, even Admiral Sakaski and Admiral Borsalino, who were called monsters in the Naval Academy, were just school officers when Ace and Sabo were their age.

Looking at the history of the navy, the only one who upgraded faster than these two guys was probably Yuichiro Tsugumi who was in the office at the moment.

But what is different about Tsugakuni Yoriichi and these two guys is that Tsugakuni Yoriichi was promoted entirely because he had accumulated enough merits. Countless super pirates had fallen at his hands.

However, Ace and Sabo would not be able to be promoted to brigadier generals based solely on their achievements. The Navy made such an arrangement because they took into account their terrifying potential.

These two potential new stars are the hallmarks of the young generation of the navy, and everyone knows that they will become admirals one day.

The resounding reputation is well-known even to a school officer like T-Bone who doesn't pay much attention to world affairs.

Just as T-Bone was carefully sizing up the two potential new stars beside him, Tsugikoku Yoshiichi picked up three documents from the desk and distributed them to the three of them. While handing out the documents, he spoke:

"The information in your hands is the location of your mission this time."

"The purpose of the mission is also very simple, that is to collect the gold from the sky."

"Let's take a look at the information first. After reading it, if you have any ideas or suggestions for starting a war mission, please share them and let's discuss them."

Ji Guoyuan said this and sat back in his chair, then leaned back and waited quietly for the three to finish reading the information.

Ace was impatient, and he used "quantum speed reading" to finish reading the information in two or three minutes. Then he frowned and said with some doubt:

"General, for a country like this, should we collect heavenly gold from them?"

While he was talking, Sabo and T-Bone beside him had obviously seen some information from the document, and both had frowns on their faces. However, they did not ask any questions to Yoshikazu Tsugakuin, but just looked closely at the document in their hands, and their frowns grew deeper and deeper.

Tsugumi Yuichiro tapped the table lightly and then nodded.

Upon hearing this, Ace was speechless for a moment and just stood there in a daze, as if he had suffered an unbearable blow.

Compensate the Kingdom.

The information that Tsugikoku Yoshiichi gave the three of them was the relevant national information about the country called Peipei Kingdom, which was a big country located in the North Sea with a population of millions.

Although located in the North Sea, the Kingdom of Peipei is one of the few islands in the North Sea with distinct four seasons.

But unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the Pei-Pei Kingdom, which is relatively rich in natural resources, is notoriously poor. People living on the island cannot even be self-sufficient, let alone have enough food to eat. According to naval intelligence, thousands of people starve to death in the Pei-Pei Kingdom every year.

Ace had already taken a quick look at the information given by Yoshiichi Tsugakuni, and realized that the navy actually wanted to collect heavenly gold from such a poor country. His expression immediately turned a little ugly.

In his opinion, how could the navy, as a righteous navy, continue to collect gold from a country that couldn't even be self-sufficient?

The atmosphere in the office was somewhat solemn. On the other side, Colonel T-gu, who had finished reading the information, also had a heavy face. After taking several deep breaths, he mustered up his courage and put the information in his hand back on Jiguo Yuanyi's desk. Then he bowed respectfully to Jiguo Yuanyi and said:

"General, I am truly sorry."

"Can I refuse this mission?"

Although T-Bone's tone and demeanor were respectful, his words did not give Ji Guoyuan any face at all.

Ji Guoyuan is a navy admiral and now the chief of staff of the headquarters. How dare someone refuse the mission assigned to his subordinates! ?

This kind of thing is absolutely not allowed in the military system. If T-Bone is facing Sakaski at this moment, he may have to face Sakaski's "Hell Dog" in the next second.

"reject?"

Tsugumi Yuichiro looked up at T-bone and couldn't help feeling a little surprised. The resistance shown by Ace at this time was what Tsugumi Yuichiro had expected. After all, he was a person who had awakened the Conqueror's Haki. Ace's strong sense of autonomy was far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

But T-Bone is different. This guy is an officer trained by the navy itself. He should be very clear about what it means to refuse the orders of an admiral like Yoshiichi Tsugakuni under such a system.

Even if Tsugikuni Yoshiichi is not a petty person, a general who commands different subordinates will not be respected by others. Therefore, even for the sake of consolidating his own power and status, people like T-Bone will never be used again.

T-Bone's refusal meant that his future in the navy was completely cut off.

And this was simply because he saw the document in his hand.

Tsugumi Yoshiichi stared at T-Bone for a long time, then suddenly chuckled and shook his head. T-Bone didn't understand why, but Tsugumi Yoshiichi's smile made him feel tremendous pressure.

"Ace, T-Bone, is this what you two are thinking?"

"Well, I am somewhat disappointed."

As he spoke, Tsugikoku Yoshiichi's eyes fell on Sabo, and then he paused for a moment and continued:

"Sabo, what about you? Tell me what you think."

When Tsugumi Yoshiichi said the word "disappointment", Ace and T-Bone did not show any shame on their faces.

Going to a poor country like the Kingdom of Compensation to collect heavenly gold is inconsistent with their simple values, and they cannot do such a thing against their conscience.

In a poor country where thousands of people starve to death every year, why would the Navy Headquarters add such a heavy burden to the people there? !

Just as Ace and T-Bone were immersed in such thoughts, Sabo closed his eyes after reading all the information, and after thinking for a while, he said in a deep voice:

"General, the Kingdom of Compensation has a big problem."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Tsugikoku Yoshiichi's eyes brightened up, and he uttered a surprised "Oh? What's the problem?"

Under the gaze of Ace and T-Bone, Sabo thought for a moment and explained:

"The Kingdom of Pei Pei has not been affected by any wars, and according to the data, this country has four distinct seasons and a very vast land area."

"With this kind of geographical environment, it is not very difficult to feed the people."

"Moreover, the data of the Kingdom of Compensation does not show that their country has suffered any major natural disasters."

"But in a place like this, thousands of people starve to death every year. This is not normal."

"If the reduction in grain production was caused by natural disasters, the number of people who starved to death would be much higher. If it was because of the oppression of the Heavenly Gold in previous years, then the final result would be that the number of people who starved to death would increase rapidly every year."

"Because once the gold in the sky exceeds the country's capacity, the country will decline rapidly."

"But judging from the data, the Kingdom of Compromise is not a country in decline."

“So I judge that the reason why people are starving to death in this country is not simply because of insufficient resources.”

"I'm afraid it's a distribution problem."

"Just like the Kingdom of Goa, prosperity and poverty coexist."

Sabo's words made T-Bone feel like he was struck by lightning, and he froze in place. Ace also looked surprised, but in an instant, he understood the meaning of Sabo's words.

The reason why thousands of people starved to death every year in the Kingdom of Pei Pei was not necessarily because of poverty.

Apparently, Ace was also recalling the days when he lived in the slums of the Goa Kingdom.

"Haha, not bad."

"Sabo, you are the lead officer for this mission. Ace and T-Bone, you two will assist Sabo."

"I'll have Brannew send you the detailed information later. Go back and prepare well."

Ji Guoyuan smiled. Only Sabo passed this little test of his.

As for the other two, they have good hearts but still need experience.