"I never expected that our young swordmaster, the genius once praised by Instructor Zephyr and Vice Admiral Garp, would still be a third-class seaman after half a year."
Gion had never cared much about her rank; what mattered to her was her own strength. As for the title of rank, she believed that as long as her strength grew, everything else would naturally follow.
However, Gion herself didn't know why, but when she saw Wood, whom she hadn't seen in half a year, still at the same rank and with that envious look in his eyes, she uncharacteristically took on the attitude of a colonel and teased him.
Since getting to know Wood, Gion had always felt like she was at a disadvantage.
Her most proud accomplishment was her swordsmanship, but the other party was a younger swordmaster.
She once thought she had surpassed him in strength and even took pride in it for a while, advising him as a superior. But she was soon humiliated again.
Half a year had passed, and though Gion didn't know how strong Wood had become, seeing the jealousy in his eyes towards her rank made her feel great. She felt that she had finally gained the upper hand after being outdone for so long.
"Tsk, dirty politics. It's different when you have someone backing you in the Marine Headquarters. It's only been half a year since graduation, and you've jumped several ranks from Sergeant to Marine Colonel."
She couldn't deny that seeing Gion as a Marine Colonel made Wood genuinely envious.
His goal was to become a colonel at the Red Leaf Island Marine Branch. Although a branch's colonel didn't hold as much weight as a headquarters colonel, to be transferred from the headquarters to a branch as a colonel required at least the level of a headquarters major.
Wood's current rank was third-class seaman, and he was still nine ranks away from headquarters major—second-class seaman, first-class seaman, sergeant, staff sergeant, petty officer, warrant officer, ensign, lieutenant, and captain.
He was eleven ranks away from Gion's current position as Marine Colonel!
They had graduated from the same school and were in the same class, yet the gap between them was staggering.
"What are you talking about? I became a Marine Colonel at the headquarters purely through my own abilities, not by pulling strings.
I thought you would maintain your low-profile principles, but I never imagined you'd stay this low-key!
Do you know how much effort it took me to find you in the Marine roster?"
The internal structure of the Marines was extensive, with various divisions apart from the special scientific research unit.
Gion didn't know where Wood had been assigned, so she could only search by rank.
Although the Marines had a large number of personnel, over 90% were ordinary soldiers.
At first, Gion searched through the Marines for names under the "Marine Colonel" rank like hers.
After scanning through hundreds of Marine Colonels, she couldn't find Wood's name.
Then, recalling Wood's unusually low-key nature, Gion began searching among Marine Commanders and Majors.
But again, she found nothing.
Unwilling to give up, Gion continued her search, confident that Wood's name would be in the Marine roster unless he had died.
Usually, this roster wasn't available for casual browsing, but Fleet Admiral Sengoku had previously granted her permission to select any Marine officer below the rank of captain, allowing her such privileges.
Having exhausted the list of Marine officers from captain to lieutenant, a red-eyed Gion still hadn't found Wood's name!
Given Wood's strength and cautious nature, Gion couldn't believe he would die so easily.
She began to suspect that Wood might have been promoted to a higher rank, but after consulting with Vice Admiral Tsuru, she learned that officers of such high rank in the Marine Headquarters were few and far between.
If someone their age had become a captain or higher, it would have been a rare talent like Aokiji or Kizaru, and she would have known.
Undeterred, Gion spent an entire night searching, finally finding Wood's name among the countless third-class seamen.
Gion was almost relieved that Wood had at least secured a third-class seaman rank at graduation. Otherwise, finding him among the ordinary Marines would have been like searching for a needle in a haystack.
After all, in these pre-modern times, without computers, all records and information processing relied on manual documentation.
With so many ordinary Marines, even those named Wood were likely more than a few.
Gion truly couldn't understand why, given Wood's strength, he hadn't even made it to a sergeant level after half a year. Even if he was underperforming, he should at least have become a petty officer.
After all, they were elite Marines who had undergone specialized training. The worst of Zephyr's students had become sergeants.
But Wood was still a third-class seaman after all this time. That was being low-key to the extreme...
Unfortunately, Gion didn't know that Wood didn't want to be this low-profile. He had even wanted to advance quickly so he could leave Marine Headquarters and get a quiet post at a branch as a Colonel.
But the real problem was that his assignment had been in a terrible location...
Spending half a year at Impel Down, not only had the Marine Headquarters forgotten about him, but even the members of his squad had nearly forgotten his existence.
Unable to go to sea and chase pirates, and even marginalized from desk jobs, how was he supposed to get promoted?
"I know you've always been low-key, but I really need a few capable people to help with this mission.
If the mission is successful, you could be promoted directly to the rank of Sergeant (Petty Officer).
Considering your preference for staying out of the limelight, I can help you exchange the promotion for other rewards."
When Wood saw Gion, he immediately suspected trouble was coming, and sure enough, the next second she revealed why she had called him back to Marine Headquarters.
Initially, Wood had no interest in the mission Gion mentioned and was about to refuse.
But when he heard that completing the mission could lead to a promotion to Sergeant, he stopped in his tracks.