"Vice-Admiral, I think I need a more challenging job."
Inside the captain's quarters, Bepo blinked his jet-black little eyes while looking at Gawain with a calm face, though his paws behind his back were trembling non-stop.
What he had just witnessed, he'd truly never seen anything like it.
What kind of navigator can punch someone into a mid-air double spin and turn them into a pig-faced mess in under two seconds?!
It's like seeing a ghost!
Something's off; this ship's navigator is seriously, seriously off!
Gawain looked a bit confused.
"Uh..."
Bepo assumed Gawain was displeased with his bold request.
Instinctively, he was about to lower his head and apologize.
But then he recalled the scene in front of the navigator's office earlier, and he couldn't help but shiver.
Forcing himself to suppress his instincts, he explained: "I… I think Chopper is good."
"That's right, Doctor Chopper!"
Bepo's eyes suddenly lit up.
Excluding the special case of Law who is both the captain and the ship doctor, most of the time, the ship doctor is the weakest combat power on a ship and is the most protected.
He has experience helping Law before, so he thinks there should be no problem in being Chopper's helper.
Another thing is that Chopper is cute and needs protection at first glance.
It is even more impossible for him to be a passionate fighting maniac.
Following him, he doesn't have to fight on the front line, and can stay in the rear, work on this warship, and improve the Marines's favorability for Law, and save a few years in the future.
He's simply a genius!
Bepo nodded secretly for his own wit. Seeing that Gawain had no reaction, he patted his chest and recommended himself:
"Vice Admiral, you know that Law is also a ship doctor and even one of the top doctors on this sea."
"After he returns, in order to better become his deputy, I think it is absolutely necessary to learn medical skills."
"Besides."
"I also know that I was once a pirate, after all. If I rashly let myself get involved in things related to navigation, there may be a risk of leaks."
"I have to avoid suspicion."
"What do you think?"
Gawain looked at Bepo with a strange expression.
In the manga, after the Straw Hat and Law formed an alliance, Chopper and Bepo, who were both cute pets on the ship, had a very close relationship.
In the subsequent battle between Law and Blackbeard, Bepo also took the secret medicine given to him by Chopper, which could force him to open the Sulong Form, and barely escaped with the seriously injured Law.
In that battle, the power that Bepo burst out in the Sulong Form can only be described as insane.
You should know that what Bepo faced at that time was the late-stage, near-fully-mature Blackbeard Pirates.
Cadres like Shiryu and Burgess had strength that could be considered at least Gold-tier, and Blackbeard himself, armed with two Devil Fruit, was an emperor-level monster.
Yet Bepo, despite being gravely injured, managed to hold the entire crew at bay and escape with Law.
From this point of view, as a navigator, if Bepo can fully master the power of the Mink Tribe, he will at least be at Warlord level.
Can fight and sail, another king of cost-effectiveness that is not inferior to Chopper?
Sure enough, the cute pets in One Piece are all monsters!
When thinking of this, Gawain suddenly felt that even if he could not conquer Law in the future, it would be a good choice to get Bepo.
It's just that the two are basically sold as a bundle, and there is basically no possibility of unpacking.
Fortunately, there is not much difference between the navigator and the ship doctor, Gawain nodded and said: "In that case, then you follow can Chopper."
"Oh, right."
He suddenly remembered that since coming aboard, Chopper had been influenced by all the other overachievers. His mindset was drifting off course, and he was slowly morphing into a musclehead.
Gawain's lips twitched, unable to stop himself from adding: "When you're working with Chopper, if he says anything strange, just listen and don't take it seriously."
"Strange things?"
Bepo blinked, then waved his paw with a smile: "No way, no way. Doctor Chopper is so adorable; how could he possibly say anything strange?"
"You—"
Before Gawain could say more, Bepo had already rushed out the door, clearly afraid Gawain might change his mind.
"... Seriously, now."
Gawain shook his head and returned to the task at hand.
Since disguising the entire crew as Marines, their journey had been smooth as silk, and no pirate crew dared to challenge them.
After all, this was the Grand Line. Any Pirate crew able to operate here wasn't stupid; a Marine warship with a strange design usually meant high-ranking officials.
And at each harbor, they stopped at, thanks to the crew's righteous yet not overbearing demeanor, they were warmly welcomed.
He has to say sometimes face recognition is much more useful than certificate recognition.
When it comes to face recognition, the first person that popped up in Gawain's mind, in addition to the red-haired woman, was only one woman.
A woman who is extremely beautiful and extremely arrogant but has some problems with her brain.
Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.
This person can make men and even women all over the world fall in love with her with just a face… and paired with the ridiculously overpowered Love-Love Fruit...
Even top-tier characters like the four emperors, once caught in her crowd control, would basically be done for.
In the Paramecia system, there are many abilities with control effects.
Sugar's Hobby-Hobby Fruit and Doc Q's Sick-Sick Fruit are both outstanding, but both can be offset by powerful Haki.
But Hancock's Love-Love Fruit is an exception.
After being petrified, people have lost their self-awareness, so it is naturally impossible to break it by force with Haki.
What's worse? Even the future devil fruit user can't undo the petrification.
That's not just op; it's ridiculously op.
This kind of large-scale, unavoidable crowd control is practically a strategic weapon.
No wonder the World Government offered her the position of Warlord the moment she got a bounty.
And after the Warlord system was abolished, they slapped a 1.6 billion bounty on her.
For context, Luffy was only worth 1.5 billion when he was dubbed the fifth emperor.
Showing just how seriously the World Government takes her, well beyond most former warlords.
"Come to think of it, Hancock does have Conqueror's Haki, too. But trying to recruit her... Probably not happening."
Gawain shook his head and turned his attention back to the newspaper in his hands.
Sure, her Conqueror's Haki was tempting, but actually bringing her into the crew?
Too much trouble. With her personality, it'd be like adopting a second parent.
Gawain is not Sanji; he's not into fawning. You can't expect him to be the one sucking up, right?!
… … …
The other side. After leaving Gawain's office, Bepo prepared to return directly to Chopper's ship's doctor's room.
"Vice-Admiral Lancelot is a good man. Even with such a presumptuous request, he didn't reprimand me."
Bepo reached out and touched his head, even feeling a little embarrassed in his heart. He immediately put this question behind him and walked quickly towards the ship's doctor's room, but at this moment, a shout came into Bepo's ears.
"Ha!"
"Hoo!"
"Hah!"
"Get stronger! Stronger! Stronger!"
"This level is nowhere near my limit!"
"Only by getting stronger can I bring the instructor back!"
Bepo's ears trembled, and he walked curiously towards the place where the sound came from.
Soon, Bepo saw everything on the deck clearly.
Under the scorching sun, everyone on the ship was immersed in practice at this moment.
Sweat poured from them, and a white layer of crusted grime even formed on the deck.
In the center was a massive figure, about five meters tall, covered in brown fur with bulging muscles, his forearm alone was thicker than Bepo's entire body.
That figure was holding a steel barbell over five meters in diameter, doing rapid squats like it was nothing.