Since crossing over, Smoker had been living a life pletely disected from teology.

  However, the knowledge and experience he accumuted in his past life made him never uimate the power of sce.

  In the world of pirates, most people s teology.

  That’s because their level of uanding is too low!

  The top forces in the world—whether the gover, the revolutionaries, or the pirates—have airely different attitude toward sce. They’ve opped pursuing it.

  Whether it’s Big Mom coveting Germa’s life sces, or Kaido having Dofmingo cultivate artificial Devil Fruits, even Im has made Vegapunk research the "Holy Mother’s Fme."

  In short, in the world of pirates, teology is perhaps the most powerful, the most promising, but also the hardest to obtain force.

  After joining the Navy, Smoker had been paying attention to the stific division.

  In the inal story, this anization is very mysterious, only making brief appearances on Punk Hazard and the Head Isnd.

  Smoker’s rank was too low, so he couldn’t touch them directly. But if he showed too muterest, it might be seen as ulterior motives.

  Relutly, Smoker decided to temporarily give up on making tact with the sce division.

  Uedly, this time, he somehow ended up with a e to the stific team.

  It seemed his luck wasn’t bad after all.

  Although these stists had some quirky temperaments and didn’t get along well with the Navy soldiers, Smoker knew how to hahem.

  Within a few days, he had already bee familiar with them.

  As for how he did it… naturally, it was through teology!

  The Navy’s sce division was also split into different fields.

  The stists on this ship were all part of the artillery team, fog primarily on guns, ons, and ammunition.

  Smoker, in his previous life, was also a military enthusiast.

  He could easily talk about various cssic firearms and artillery.

  When it came to rolling up his sleeves to do research, he wasn’t a match for these stists.

  But when it came to discussing development dires and strategies, he was in a different league!

  Before long, Smoker, the "assistant," had bee the "mentor"...

  One day, Smoker was eating in the cafeteria when a stist with a spiky hairstyle walked in, hurriedly sitting beside him.

  "Mr. Smoker, care to join me?"

  "Oh, sure, Dr. Iyer, have a seat!"

  Smoker moved over to make room, and Dr. Iyer didn’t bother with pleasantries, diving straight into the topic.

  "Mr. Smoker, your cept of the automatic rifle from st time was genius! you expin it in more detail?!"

  Smoker: "Oh, sure, I once sidered a design like this..."

  He dipped his hand in some saud quickly sketched out the structure of an AK47, then began expining.

  Dr. Iyer’s eyes lit up as he listened ily.

  Before long, a rge crowd of stists gathered around.

  Even Dr. Aubrey, the most academically aplished among them, was among the crowd.

  These stubborn and hard-to-please stists were now like obedient students, with some even pulling out pens and paper to take notes.

  After Smoker finished expining, he couldn’t help but chuckle awkwardly when he saw their admiring looks. He added a few more words.

  "Resear firearms isn’t isoted. To make breakthroughs, we ’t just focus on advang the firearms themselves; we then resear other fields as well!"

  "For example, alloys reduce the weight of firearms, making them more portable..."

  "Or optics—scopes turn ao a sniper!"

  "Or chemistry—the potential of gunpowder has yet to be fully explored..."

  "Not to mention the produ line—if successful, it could greatly reduce firearm manufacturing costs..."

  "In short, don’t reihe wheel! We o leverage our collective strengths! Heh... just some humble thoughts, take them as you will."

  The stists were initially shocked, then solemn, exging looks before standing up and g enthusiastically.

  "No, no, you’re too kind..." Smoker tried to deflect their praise.

  Actually, Smoker was a little embarrassed. He wasn’t just standing on the shoulders of giants; he ractically stepping on their heads!

  But in this world, he was an undisputed pioneer...

  Now, Smoker’s retionship with these stists was already very harmonious.

  He’d present ideas and point out major dires, and the stists would eagerly research them.

  This artly due to how the stific development in the pirate world was skewed.

  Vegapunk was already researg Terminator-like teology, Germa 66 was experimenting with geically modified humans, ahe Navy’s onry was still at World War I level.

  Although Smoker’s ideas still had many issues due to the differences betweewo worlds, the stists were happy to try.

  After all, to them, success meant progress, failure was just learning, and they wouldn’t lose anything.

  Watg the enthusiastic discussions among the stists, Smoker felt relieved.

  [At least this way, I’ve formed a good e with the sce division. If I want to reach out again iure, it’ll be justified.]

  [Even if I ’t think of a purpose for now, ying the groundwork is never wrong.]

  [At worst, if I get tired of fighting and killing, I could take a cushy position in the sce division.]

  Of course, Smoker was tirelessly teag these skills in order to improve the Navy's lower ranks.

  On the Grand Li was undoubtedly the high-tier bat power that determihe naval bance.

  In simple terms, it was about how many top-tier fighters or Admirals each side had.

  But what truly affected the lives of ordinary people were the lower-tier soldiers and the tless low-level pirates!

  The Four Emperors indeed had the overwhelming power to destroy nations, but even they could only kill so many people before running out of steam.

  What truly staihe seas with blood were the tless small pirate crews.

  The teologies Smoker handed over should help the Navy soldiers’ equipment progress further.

  While it posed no threat to the big pirates, it could be a devastating blow to smaller pirate crews.

  Imagihis:

  A pirate crew deep in blood debt faces off against a Navy fleet they could barely stand against.

  And then suddenly, the Navy switches from flintlock rifles to automatic rifles.

  The se would be exhirating just to think about...

  These days, Smoker was stantly surrounded by Navy stists, answering questions, giviures, or sketg designs.

  Finally, once everyone had their own research topic, they stopped b him.

  And Smoker finally had some free time to find Hina.

  It had already been seven days sihey’d parted ways...

  When Smoker saw Hina, he was taken aback.

  "Hina, what happeo you?!"

  Hina's once fair face was now exhausted, her eyes were dark, and her hair was messy. Her gaze was somewhat vat, reminding him of how he looked just before his death in his previous life.

  However, her neck, ears, and wrists were adorned with a lot of expensive jewelry.

  "Hina's fine, just a bit tired. I haven’t been sleeping much."

  "This ship's files are a mess, they’re practically useless..."

  Smoker felt a pang of sympathy.

  "Maybe we should give up on this and try something else..."

  "No!" Hina shook her head stubbornly.

  "Being her assistant gives me the right to look through anything openly. I ’t pass up such a great opportunity..."

  "Don’t worry, once I get through the mess of files, things will be easier..."

  At first, when Zeon assigned Hina as his assistant, he only expected her to handle some paperwork and basic tasks. He didn’t expect much help beyond that.

  But to his surprise, Hina had an incredible talent for administration. Every task she handled was ao perfe, eveer than Zeon could manage himself.

  Zeon was so impressed that he quickly shifted all the work onto Hina, turning himself into a id-back supervisor. His days sisted of training or lounging on the deck, enjoying the sunshine, carefree and at ease.

  Meanwhile, Hina was stuck w non-stop for three days, clearing up Zeran's backlog of mess. Just whehought she could catch a breath, Zeran immediately handed her all of the ship’s operations.

  Everything except military secrets was now under Hina's trol. She stood there, stunned. It felt like she had taken over as the highest ander—apart from not holding a rank like majeneral and not having access to cssified information. How could the other officers accept this?

  To her surprise, the "elite" members of G2 were thrilled when they heard the news. Far from resenting her for taking over, they were moved to tears.

  "Finally, Major Zeon isn’t making life miserable for us anymore!"

  Now, they had someone who actually told them what to do, rather than yelling at them during missions or beating them while handing out assigs.

  And so, Hina unwittingly "took power"...

  Her new position made things much easier for her—files were at her fiips, and she could access personnel records without a hitch. But there was a downside.

  If Zeon'S backlog had been a pile of trash, now Hina was fag aire ndfill. Just going through the direade her head spin. For four days straight, Hina barely slept, trying to sort everything out.

  By the time she was done, she was exhausted but at least could focus on the work. It was then that she had some time to meet with Smoker.

  "Ugh..." Smoker took a sharp breath in. "He’s totally treating you like a workhorse."

  "You hate this kind of administrative work, don't you?" he asked.

  Hina wiped away a tear from the er of her eye, her hand adorned with gold and diamonds.

  "I don’t have a choice. He’s been so generous with me."

  Zeon had, in his good mood, often handed Hina gold s and jewelry. He’d share his expensive wine and rare cigarettes, things no one could easily buy. In just a few days, Hina had accumuted a box full of gold and jewelry. With her military rank, she could never have earned so much by going without food or drink for years.

  Smhed.

  "Well, you’ve got a rare opportunity here. Go rest for a bit."

  Hina, her eyelids growing heavier, agreed. "Alright, but remember to wake me in an hour. I still have a meeting..."

  After Hina fell asleep, Smoker sat nearby, smoking, pting hoerfectly good girlfriend had turned into a workaholic.

  But pared to other jobs, at least Zeon was generous... In a way, he was a lot like Dofmingo.

  Wait a minute... Dofmingo... Smoker suddenly realized something.

  "Damn it!!" he cursed. "Diamandy!"

  Hadn't that guy been locked up for a week now?! He haden or drunk anything, and there was no sound from the cell. Was he already dead?

  Smoker couldn’t be sure. Sihe Dark-Dark fruit wasn’t a "fortress" type ability, he could che Diamandy at any time. But with so many people on board, he couldn’t just release him without drawing attention.

  After some hesitation, Smathered some food, drink, and supplies, slipping them into the darkness of the cell. "I hope this helps him hold on for a little longer..."

  A while ter, Hina woke up, feeling much better. After saying goodbye to Smoker, she returo her work.

  Now that the chaos was cleared up, Hina still had plenty to do, but it was nothing pared to the overwhelming mess from before. She even found time to train with Zeon.

  Iraining room, Hina and Zeon were practig, though it was more like Zeon was teag Hina.

  Zeon shot sharp spikes from his left hand like a mae gun. Hina avoided them using her body and reflexes, careful not to reveal her abilities.

  "hat was a good move!" Zeon praised. "You o foot just oacks in front of you, but also learn to predict them!"

  "When attag, you o predict your oppo’s evasion! When evading, you have to predict their attack!"

  Despite their short time together, Zeon was starting to appreciate Hina more and more. She was young, yet her strength and skill were impressive—even in headquarters, someone like her was rare.

  Zeon grinned. "Tina, e on! Keep up! You ha, right?!"

  Tina, panting, stood her ground, her eyes burning with determination.

  "Good!" Zeon said with a smile as he attacked again. His spikes rained down like a storm. Hina gritted her teeth, dodging, but her fatigue slowed her down.

  As the fight went on, Hina’s injuries grew, and her uniform became soaked with blood. She was no longer able to dodge effectively, relying instead on her seo avoid the spikes by feeling their approach through the faint air currents.

  Hiered a straate. Even though her vision was blurred, her awareness of the attacks greer, and she unsciously dodged many strikes she couldn’t see ing.

  Zeon watched from a distance, amazed.

  "Observation Haki?! No, it’s not fully awakened yet, but it’s taking shape..."

  Lost in thought, Zeon iently unched a spike at Hina with far more speed than intended.

  "No!" he shouted.

  The spike shot toward Hina’s abdomen at an incredible speed.

  In a split sed, Hina swerved instinctively, narrowly avoiding the attack as it grazed her side, cutting her clothes.

  That st dodge took all her strength. Her eyes closed, and she colpsed to the ground.

  "Hina!" Zeon rushed to catch her.

  Hina struggled to open her eyes. "Major Zeon, I’m fi was just..."

  Zeon's eyes gleamed. "gratutions, Hina! You’ve awakened Observation Haki! That’s a skill even I’m not very good at!"

  "Observation Haki?!" Hina's eyes brightened. "That’s amazing..."

  Zeon smiled. "Silly girl, don’t get too excited. You’re exhausted. Rest first, and I’ll help you solidate your training ter."

  Hina nodded gratefully. "Please, Major Zeon."

  Soon, two medics arrived with a stretcher and carried Tina away.

  Zeon smiled as he watched them go.

  Ohey left, his smile faded...