"Big Brother Jay, are you really not going to take them all in?"
"Take them in my ass! We're not some mafia recruiting underlings, we're legitimate Marines. Here, ranks are what matter!"
Jay couldn't help but curse.
At his current status, gathering a few fringe members under his wing was fine, people might gossip, but it wouldn't cause any real trouble.
But if he dared to recruit a hundred or two hundred subordinates, just watch.
Colonel Hammond would personally drag him out for target practice.
Because that would undeniably shake the ruling authority's control.
No sane leader would tolerate such a move.
Jay saw no reason to invite unnecessary suspicion and trouble.
The people around him were just a means to serve his own goals, mainly fulfilling certain activation conditions, not because they were particularly useful themselves.
Right now, Jay only had two priorities:
Getting stronger.
Climbing the ranks.
Even though others found it unrealistic, he had already set a goal for himself, to reach at least officer rank within a year, if not higher!
Buck, the one getting scolded, shrank his neck back.
"By the way, Boss Jay, in five days, it'll be our squad's turn for sea patrol. You should be careful."
"Why?"
"Porter overheard some guys talking while he was in the restroom. They were saying they'd use the patrol as a chance to teach you a lesson."
"Do you know who they are?"
"Porter was scared of getting caught, so he hid and didn't see their faces. But I'm guessing it's the guys on the candidate list."
Jay remained calm.
"I hope it's them. That way, I can secure my promotion to Sergeant without a hitch."
Some people wanted him gone?
Well, he wanted his competitors gone too.
He hadn't even made a move on them yet, and they were already trying to set him up?
How interesting.
For the next few days, Jay's life followed a strict schedule.
Morning: Wake up and get beaten up.
Breakfast: 60 sakura mochi + other food.
Mid-morning: While everyone else slacked off, Jay trained hard, sweating it out.
Lunch: 60 sakura mochi + other food.
Afternoon: Another round of beatings.
Evening: If there was combat training, he joined; if not, he trained alone.
Dinner: Same as usual, 60 sakura mochi + other food.
Night: Yet another beating.
Although he had more people available now instead of just Buck as his training dummy, there was a limit to how much damage he could withstand.
If he exceeded that limit, he wouldn't recover in time for the next session, leading to a vicious cycle of injuries.
Right now, steady progress was the best approach, there was no need to rush.
As a result, Jay was now enduring around 300 effective hits per day, double the amount from when he started!
Additionally, his daily endurance training was toughening his skin and bones, greatly increasing his pain resistance.
However, as his body adapted, his training was becoming less effective.
He would need to increase the difficulty to push past his current limits.
But Jay wasn't in a hurry.
First, he needed to activate [Demon's Back] and [Innate Strength].
Once those abilities were unlocked, his combat power would skyrocket.
And that moment was fast approaching.
At the marine base port, nearly a hundred Marines boarded the warship one after another.
The ship soon set sail.
As Marines, patrolling the seas was an essential military operation.
It served both as a deterrent and an effective strategy against pirates.
Most of the time, when the Marines received reports about a pirate crew's location, by the time they arrived, the target had already vanished.
But if marine patrols were constantly sweeping every sea region, the chances of accidentally running into pirates would increase significantly.
In fact, a large portion of pirate crews were captured or sunk simply because they ran into a Marine warship at sea.
Marines with a strong sense of justice would patrol as frequently as possible.
However, at a place like Marine Branch 88, they would go on patrol maybe once or twice a month, just to check a box.
As for Colonel Hammond, who couldn't care less about these duties, he was nowhere to be seen on the ship.
Instead, the patrol was led by Captain Petyr Dash, a middle-aged man with a simple and honest appearance.
(PS: "Captain" here refers to the rank of Lieutenant Captain, not a ship captain.)
His presence was barely noticeable, and he was rarely seen losing his temper.
Any troublesome tasks that Colonel Hammond didn't want to deal with were usually dumped onto him.
It could be said that the smooth operation of Marine Branch 88 was largely thanks to Captain Dash's efforts.
However, his personality had its downsides, he lacked the authority to keep people in check.
"The weather's really nice today, clear skies, gentle breeze, bright sunshine. Too bad we can't have a drink."
On the deck, Buck took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and sneaked over to Jay's side.
Most of the crew weren't even at their assigned posts. Instead, they gathered in small groups, chatting and wasting time.
Discipline was so bad, even a dog would shake its head.
Jay thought to himself, "If we actually run into pirates, who knows who'll be the unlucky ones."
"Stay away from me later. If too many people are around, they might not dare to make a move."
Buck hesitated. "Isn't that too dangerous? Maybe we should just forget it."
"Forget it? Are you kidding me? This is a perfect opportunity! Get lost!"
Jay impatiently shooed Buck away.
Feeling bored, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a few sakura mochi, and tossed them into his mouth.
By now, he had developed a habit, before every mission, he would make sure the mess hall prepared enough sakura mochi for him to take along.
Everyone knew by now that Jay "loved eating sakura mochi."
But in reality, Jay himself was completely sick of it.
Just the smell alone made him nauseous.
But there was no turning back now.
He had come too far to ruin everything.
Marine Branch 88 covered a vast territory, including multiple islands, several nations, and over two dozen villages.
The first half of the patrol was completely uneventful, so much so that many of the crew started dozing off.
Then, all of a sudden
"Pirate ship spotted ahead!"
Pirates?!
Cursing under their breath, the Marines snapped awake and prepared for battle.
They all waited for orders from their superiors.
Of course, if they could avoid fighting, that would be ideal, nobody wanted to risk their lives in battle.
But if a fight was unavoidable, they hoped for an easy opponent.
That way, after winning, they could claim a share of the loot and earn merit points.