"Senior, forgive me for being blunt."
Rosen stood at the rail of the warship, the sea spray misting against his coat. He didn't lower his voice, nor did he avoid Fleet Admiral Sengoku's presence as he spoke directly to Borsalino.
"If one day you discover that the Navy has betrayed your justice…"
"trampled on your life…"
"And even seeks to kill you…"
"What will you do?"
The question was sharp, like a blade dragged across the Deck.
"Junior, are you trying to set me up?" Borsalino tilted his head, his lazy drawl concealing the tension in his voice.
"A question like that is dangerous. If I say even one wrong word, then at best I'll be stuck as an Admiral candidate for life. At worst, I'll never be promoted again."
He flicked a glance toward Sengoku, then shrugged with open palms. Borsalino's creed was Uncertain Justice. To reveal his true feelings here under the eyes of the Fleet Admiral would be reckless.
But Rosen didn't let the moment slip past.
"If that day ever comes," Rosen said, his voice steady,
"If the Navy betrays my justice, tramples my life, and comes for my head… then I won't have made a better choice than Douglas Bullet did back then."
Unlike Borsalino's vague evasions, Rosen's declaration rang with conviction.
"Rosen!" Sengoku's tone hardened immediately. "Be careful with your words."
It was one thing for Sengoku himself to hear such a statement. But if those words reached the ears of the Gorōsei, the consequences for Rosen would be dire.
"There's nothing to be cautious about, Sengoku-sensei."
Rosen's lips curved faintly into a smile as he stepped closer to the railing. The sea beneath was rough, the horizon jagged with storm clouds.
"Whether it's the Gorōsei… or you, it's time you all understand one thing."
His hand pressed lightly against the rail. His eyes, when they turned back to Sengoku, burned with a scarlet glint that seemed to stir the very air.
"It was not the Navy Headquarters that chose me." His words cut through the wind.
"I chose the Navy Headquarters."
"It is not because the Navy is just that I became a Marine. It is because I became a Marine that the Navy is just."
"Do you understand me, Sengoku-sensei?"
The sea itself seemed to react.
Overhead, the sky grew dark.
Clouds spiraled together into a vortex, a colossal stormfront.
Lightning twisted within the black coils like a dragon writhing across the heavens.
"This isn't for the Navy Headquarters alone," Rosen continued. His voice deepened, resonating with the storm.
"This is an Ultimatum… a warning to the World Government itself."
When Sengoku's eyes met his, an icy shiver ran through the Fleet Admiral's chest. The young man before him was no longer the raw recruit who had entered the Naval Academy only months ago.
Even without official rank, Rosen already stood at the apex of Marine power.
And Sengoku knew why.
Douglas Bullet's past was a mirror Rosen had studied carefully. Bullet had been a soldier since his youth, a child forged in endless war, a hero who risked his life for his homeland.
In the end, all that loyalty was rewarded with betrayal.Branded a criminal by the World Government, hunted down, forced into piracy.
That fate had scarred Rosen. For he knew… the Navy itself had seen tragedies not unlike Bullet's.
"This isn't just about gambling on Douglas Bullet," Sengoku realized. "It's about dragging him back from pirate to soldier as a warning. A shot across the bow of the World Government itself."
"Junior," Borsalino murmured, pushing his sunglasses higher up his nose to hide his eyes. "Is this your gift to the Gorōsei?"
His tone was almost mocking, but the weight in his chest was real. He could no longer look at Rosen as just another promising Marine.
The man standing before them was already a King.
If Rosen chose the Marines, he would be the King of the Navy.
If Rosen chose piracy, he would be Pirate King.
Borsalino had no doubts.
Neither did Sengoku.
And Sengoku's resolve hardened. Douglas Bullet's life must never be repeated in Rosen's. Never. If Rosen is ever betrayed and chooses to leave… even ten Demon's Heirs together would not be as dangerous as him alone.
At all costs, Sengoku swore to himself that Bullet's tragedy would not touch Rosen.
He had wanted Bullet's strength to add to the Navy. Now, he wanted it for something more important, to reassure Rosen. To prove that no soldier, no hero would be discarded again.
Snap.
The tense silence on deck was broken by a sound from the live feed projected by the Den Den Mushi.
Douglas Bullet had stood up.
Every eye—Rosen's, Sengoku's, Borsalino's….fixed on the image of the Demon's Heir.
Bullet's gaze dropped to the Marine uniform Rosen had left beside him.
A uniform of an ordinary enlisted man.
To most kings, that cloth would have been an insult.
But Bullet stared at it with a strange, conflicted expression. His past self—bloodied and young, yet proud in his soldier's uniform—seemed to flicker in his eyes.
"A chance to choose…?" His voice was low, bitter. "When I was a soldier, all I found was betrayal. Why… why should I ever trust anyone again?"
The words were captured by the Den Den Mushi, echoing across the deck for Rosen, Sengoku, and Borsalino to hear.
"Junior," Borsalino said, shaking his head, "it seems he's rejected your kindness. Perhaps that's for the best. At least you won't waste your wage on him anymore."
But Rosen didn't answer. He only kept his eyes on the screen, waiting.
Just as he had said before. He would wait for Bullet's answer on the warship.
Rip—
The sound of tearing cloth cut through the feed.
Sengoku's eyes narrowed. Borsalino's brows drew down ever so slightly behind his sunglasses.
Bullet had torn apart the old uniform, the one he had carried with him since leaving his homeland, the uniform of a hero who had been betrayed. Only the medal, the mark of his service, remained clutched in his hand.
Then, slowly, Bullet bent down and picked up the Marine uniform Rosen had left for him.
He pulled it on.
Straightening, the Demon's Heir turned without a word and walked away.
Rosen's lips curved faintly as he watched.
"So… that is your answer, Bullet."
...
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