One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 77 Survivor Bias

“There’s something wrong here.” A slender finger suddenly appeared above a huge map, the surface of which still showed signs of being slightly rubbed, but at this moment, the fingertip pointed resolutely to a small island.

Kuzan's gaze followed the source of the sound, and gradually focused on the small island the finger was pointing to.

"Is there a problem?" Kuzan unusually didn't respond lazily. After learning that Roman might have an IQ higher than her peers, he could no longer treat her entirely as a child.

“Lieutenant General Kuzan, we haven’t received any requests for assistance from the naval branch on this island, and that’s the problem,” Roman said earnestly.

Kuzan was slightly puzzled: "That means the island is safe and there are no pirates attacking, which should be a good thing."

“No, it’s really suspicious.” Roman shook his head, contradicting Kuzan’s previous statement.

Kuzan trusts her, which is a good thing for her, and he listens to her advice. It can be said that he is indeed a good choice as her direct superior; otherwise, Roman would not have had access to some military affairs.

However, in the process of handling the matter, she keenly noticed something was amiss.

These are several military documents concerning the South China Sea. The gist of them is that they are being frequently harassed by pirates and request support from headquarters.

Such requests for military assistance were extremely common. During the Great Pirate Era, hundreds of pirate raids occurred every day on average, keeping the navy on duty extremely busy.

Many branch naval forces across the four seas are almost powerless against the extremely ferocious pirates. In addition, the pirates are elusive and their usual raids are ineffective. Therefore, it is routine for them to request assistance from headquarters.

Normally, headquarters should have immediately dispatched personnel, but Marineford receives hundreds of such documents a day, and it would be impossible to resolve them all in a short time.

Moreover, the unique nature of Marineford necessitates the presence of a significant number of high-level combatants to prevent pirate raids and to ensure timely deployment of forces in response to genuine emergencies.

Therefore, it often takes several days to get a response to the branch's requests for help. And if you add the travel time, well, in the end, it's either all over or all over.

Actually, in a real emergency, the Den Den Mushi should contact headquarters directly to explain the urgency of the situation, although that process is quite slow ╮(╯▽╰)╭.

Because he needed to keep records, Roman marked the islands that had requested help, but then he discovered something unusual.

There were eight islands requesting assistance, almost all located in one area, with an average distance of no more than 50 nautical miles between them. However, one island did not send out a request for assistance. Roman initially thought he had missed its information, but after processing all the documents, he still could not find any request for assistance from that island.

Well, it's a bit strange.

Because military documents have strict numbering, and the handling of documents related to general affairs from the South China Sea and the North China Sea is almost entirely handled by Kuzan (which should be handled by a general, so his acting as an agent for approval suggests that Kuzan is a potential future general candidate), it is almost impossible for anyone else to handle them.

The fact that these documents were issued so frequently, averaging within three days, indicates that those island groups did indeed suffer trouble. But why did only one small island escape unscathed?

First, we can rule out the possibility that there are experts within the branch. If there really were such capable individuals within the branch, then these requests for help would not have been sent to headquarters, but rather to various branches for negotiation and handling.

Obviously, distant water cannot quench a nearby fire. If there were someone in the branch who could handle it, then the branch leaders would not have gone to such lengths.

Furthermore, Roman believed that the island was unlikely to be attacked by pirates.

The nine islands are each famous for their unique products: spices, rubber, timber, coal, rare earth elements, stone, steel, and fine wine. The island that did not request assistance seems to be famous for its gemstone mines...

Roman absolutely refused to believe that pirates would let go of what was possibly the richest island.

She couldn't help but consider an even more terrifying possibility: survivor bias.

She could also see the distress requests from eight other islands, whose losses might not be severe. But this island called Doherty hadn't even sent out a distress request, so perhaps it was already completely incapacitated.

The massacre of an island is not unusual in this world.

Even if that's not the case, it only means that the island is already under the control of some external force.

But neither possibility is a good thing.

If her analysis is correct, then the lives of the people on the island are in grave danger.

However, she lacked evidence. Even in cases of pirate incidents with sufficient facts, the headquarters might not necessarily take action, let alone one based on her speculation.

If they really do get involved, it can only be...

Wait, can I go by myself?

What am I lacking right now?

Military merit!

If I can solve this problem myself, what will I gain?

Military merit!

With military merit, she could learn to return to her original state, make minor adjustments to her face, change her appearance, and no longer have to sneak around when she goes out.

It might be an opportunity.

Perhaps it was a bit reckless and greedy, but Roman felt that it might really be an opportunity.

She is indeed a trainee, but logically speaking, she should have already been directly deployed to warships for combat. If we were to inform Zefa and obtain his consent to go to the South China Sea, it wouldn't be impossible.

Not to mention the four seas, the first half of the Grand Line was actually no longer dangerous for her. The last time she encountered Mihawk was an accident; otherwise, she wouldn't have even gotten a scratch.

With this in mind, she told Kuzan all her analysis at once.

"Are you confident?" Kuzan's expression turned serious after hearing this. Clearly, he had taken it all to heart.

"No, maybe I'm overthinking it, but I think we need to take a look." Just kidding, in a high-risk world like One Piece, this level of anomaly is practically the biggest problem. If there really is no problem, she'd dare to wash her hair upside down.

"Although I really want to trust my subordinates, this matter is quite serious, and I still need to confirm it."

"I see."

After all, this was the era of Den Den Mushi (snail phone calls), so contacting the branch to confirm the situation wasn't a big deal. As a lieutenant general at headquarters, it was perfectly reasonable for him to contact the colonel-level officer of the local branch to confirm.

According to the search, the island of Doherty is under the jurisdiction of the 265th branch of the South China Sea.

“Bru bru…”

“Moshi Moshi, I am Rita Deer, the highest-ranking officer of Branch 265…”

This answer completely changed the feelings of the two people.

Kuzan, on the other hand, completely relaxed and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Roman's heart sank to the bottom; he couldn't believe that everything was safe and sound there.