Chapter 67 Life is simple

In the evening, the base director's office.

Darren was still naked from the waist down, holding a lit cigar in his mouth. He stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window, overlooking the entire situation of the 321st branch.

One warship after another is carrying out daily patrols around the island according to a fixed route. The figures of the navy training are looming on the school grounds, and bursts of shouts and beatings are heard from time to time.

Navy soldiers in military uniforms carry out daily preparation and maintenance on forts and docked warships.

The setting sun shines in from the floor-to-ceiling glass window, reflecting on the tall figure of the naval colonel, casting a long shadow.

Smoke shrouded his face, making his eyes look even deeper.

"The progress of strength is indeed getting slower and slower..."

At a certain moment, Darren exhaled a stream of smoke and sighed helplessly.

He looked down at the wounds on his palms and chest.

The wound has completely scabbed over, and I estimate that after a good night's sleep, I'll feel better when I wake up tomorrow.

His superhuman physique gave him strong defense and also greatly enhanced his own recovery power.

The "regular" training in the past has basically been unable to improve his various statistics.

Simply put, it means that the body has completely adapted to this intensity of external stress and stimulation.

So after he came back from the Germa Kingdom, he decided to rope in Flying Squirrel, Gion and Kaki for "special training".

On the one hand, it can help them realize their talents faster and improve their strength.

On the other hand, it also puts new pressure and stimulation on yourself.

With the three of them joining forces, although it was far from enough to put enough pressure on Darren, when fighting and sparring with them, the various data of his body finally loosened and increased.

In any case, the talents of the three flying squirrels are among the best in the entire sea.

Thinking of this, Darren gradually became immersed in his mind, and through the talent of "perception", he had a clear insight into his physical condition, and thus obtained his own "data panel".

Physical fitness: 61.753

Strength: 57.192

Speed: 59.241

Fruit: 72.111

In addition to Devil Fruit abilities, the physical, strength and speed values have increased by 0.5-0.8 in the past month, but have stagnated indefinitely.

Most of them benefited from the "special training" with the three people in the past ten days.

As for the development of devil fruits, progress is even slower.

Tuk-tuk-tuk...

At this time, a gentle knock on the door suddenly sounded, interrupting Darren's meditation.

"Come in."

He whispered back.

The door to the office was pushed open, and a flying squirrel wearing a straight military uniform and a military cap strode in.

Darren poured a glass of ice-cold whiskey and handed it to the flying squirrel, smiling:

"how do you feel?"

The flying squirrel took the wine glass and grinned bitterly:

"It's not that great. Not everyone is like a lunatic like you, who likes to enjoy the pleasure of fighting and pain."

In the past ten days of "special training", he had not had a good night's sleep at all... After the special training every day, all the bones in his body seemed to fall apart.

Even lying in bed, my muscles ached terribly.

Darren shrugged and smiled:

"Pain is a good thing, it reminds you that you are alive."

"And in battle, using my own body to feel the opponent's attack allows me to more clearly perceive the opponent's strength, speed, physique, and even will, so as to find flaws."

The flying squirrel rolled his eyes angrily.

He picked up the wine glass, raised his head and drank it all.

Darren is like this. Many times he is able to avoid the opponent's attacks with his own speed and instant burst.

But he is often unwilling to do so.

The roughness and wildness of his fighting style were in sharp contrast to the flexibility, cunning and smoothness of his political skills.

Between dodge and head-on collision, he always chooses the latter.

This is the fighting style he has developed over the years, perhaps also influenced by his former boss Sakaski.

He likes to trade injuries for injuries and fight for his life against his opponents at the most dangerous moments...

This kind of person is the most difficult opponent you would never want to encounter.

Like a crazy, hungry wolf,

Even if the internal organs are shattered,

Even if my hands and feet are broken,

Before dying, it will also smile ferociously and use its remaining sharp teeth to bite off a piece of flesh from its opponent.

Hearing the flying squirrel's complaints, Darren smiled disapprovingly and gave him another glass of wine.

"It is not a good habit to dodge in battle. It will make you cowardly, timid, and hesitant."

"Once you develop the habit of dodging in combat, you will subconsciously rely on it, and it will be easy for the enemy to predict your movements."

"If you are used to leaving a retreat in battle, you may have a retreat, but you also lose the chance of winning."

"Having the habit of dodging is not a good thing for the growth of personal strength."

"Will, courage, determination to win, crisis between life and death... these are the biggest keys to improving combat power."

After thinking about it, Darren couldn't help but add.

"There is only one Polusalino in this sea."

The sinister face of that "monster" came to mind, and even though he was as serious as a flying squirrel, he couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

He sighed and said with emotion:

"But every time you fight for your life without leaving any retreat, how many lives do you have to fight for?"

Darren picked up the wine glass and took a sip.

"Who knows?"

His deep eyes drifted to the distant sea, the smoke of his cigar lingered around his flawless and stern profile, and his steady and powerful voice echoed in the empty office.

"But you only live once, and I just want to live it happily."

"I think life is actually very simple, either go forward or go back."

"Backing off... naturally won't be a problem."

"Even when it happens for the first time, you will hypocritically comfort yourself, 'It's okay, the patience will pass, just for a while, hide away for a while, and then find the place again...', but in fact, after the second time, Once, there will be a second time.”

"You retreat again and again, you dodge again and again, you compromise again and again... can you still be the same person?"

"There are too many reasons to retreat and only one reason to move forward, but this one is enough."

A smile gradually appeared on Darren's lips.

"I would rather die than lose."

He clenched his fists.

"I want to win."

The flying squirrel fell silent.

Listening to these meaningful words, it was clear to him that Darren was talking about more than just fighting.

Isn’t the meaning of these words a reflection of the choices Darren has made countless times in the past?

One step back, one step back.

This is true when fighting.

Faced with the world's leading military power, Germa 66, this is the case.