Marine Headquarters
Marineford!
Captain Dick's patrol warship slowly returned, dropping anchor at the port.
Ignoring Dick, who was frantically searching for his distinguished guest, Aus's figure vanished from the warship without anyone noticing.
Walking across Marine Headquarters grounds, Aus strolled casually with hands in his pockets, like he owned the place.
"So this is Marineford. Damn, there really are a lot of strong bastards here."
Within Aus's ridiculous Observation Haki range, inside the central headquarters building, several auras rivaled Rayleigh and Captain Roger.
If it came to a straight fight on raw power, Aus wouldn't gain much advantage. After all, Garp, Sengoku and the rest should all still be at Marine Headquarters.
But Aus had zero intention of starting shit anyway.
His plan was simple: find a warship heading to Impel Down with prisoners, quietly sneak aboard, then go see Captain Roger one last time.
Marineford wasn't far from the underwater prison Impel Down, and this was the area with the most elite Marines. The number of captured pirates was naturally massive.
So the ship he needed didn't have to be transporting major criminals.
Most prisoners on Impel Down's first and second levels were small-time losers with tens of millions in bounties. They didn't need Admirals babysitting every transport or the Warden personally watching.
After scanning the military port with Observation Haki, Aus found no prisoner transport ships.
He'd wait then. No way in hell such a massive Marine Headquarters didn't have a single trip to Impel Down.
Though breaking into Impel Down by force wasn't impossible, having Marine cover would make things way easier—like Luffy hiding under Hancock's dress.
Worst case, he'd just teleport in with brute force.
With that settled, he wandered around Marineford.
Maybe because he'd messed up his hair after getting off the ship, giving himself bangs—as he walked, not only did no Marines try to arrest him, he actually got saluted left and right.
"Good afternoon, Rear Admiral sir!"
"Hello." Aus looked down at the soldier and nodded.
That was the tenth soldier to salute him.
Classic One Piece world—everyone had rocks for brains. Just changing his hairstyle and clothes made him completely unrecognizable.
Strolling through this island that every pirate worldwide considered forbidden territory, Aus discovered it wasn't like the manga—one giant military base.
The actual Marine offices and operations only took up part of Marineford.
The rest had tons of living areas for Marine families and regular civilians—apartment buildings, markets, restaurants, bars...
Hell, with Marine Headquarters right next door, this was probably the safest city for ordinary people Aus had ever seen.
Unlike other countries or islands where, no matter how prosperous, one brutal pirate crew could turn everything into a living nightmare.
Near evening
In a residential district restaurant, Marines who'd finished their shifts came in groups, arms slung over shoulders.
While eating dinner, they ordered barrels of beer and drank their asses off.
"Glug glug glug... Ahhhh!!! That hits the spot!" After downing an entire barrel in one go, a Marine in a tank top exhaled with pure satisfaction.
They bitched about the recent workload intensity.
"This is the only time all day we can relax. Fucking exhausting!"
"Can't help it. Only a week left until Pirate King Roger's execution. Headquarters ordered full lockdown..."
"Bullshit... if you ask me, no need to be so paranoid. What Pirate King? Vice Admiral Garp arrested his ass anyway. We've got the Hero of the Marines!"
The group discussed current events, talking shit freely. After a few more drinks, they started trashing headquarters' orders.
Just as one Marine was about to say more, a soldier next to him casually glanced toward the restaurant entrance and suddenly saw something impossible, spitting out his beer.
The guy who got sprayed wasn't happy.
"What the hell..."
"Shut up!!!"
Before his buddy could finish, this Marine shot up in perfect military posture, cold sweat pouring down while staring straight ahead.
Seeing his companions still looked confused, he had no choice but to yell:
"Good afternoon, Rear Admiral sir!!!"
"What?!?!"
Even the slowest idiots caught on. The group scrambled to their feet, not caring about knocked-over stools, standing at perfect attention.
We're fucked we're fucked we're fucked we're fucked...
Every soldier's face was drenched in cold sweat.
Talking shit about headquarters orders and getting busted by a Rear Admiral—they wouldn't get charged with undermining morale, would they...
Especially the loudmouth who'd been drinking the most was now shitting bricks.
Standing before them was the so-called Rear Admiral who came to eat at some residential restaurant instead of the officers' exclusive dining hall.
That could only be Aus.
"Uh..."
He was speechless. Just came to grab food and walked into this mess.
"Look, you guys eat. Don't mind me."
"Ah... Yes sir!!!"
Seeing Aus had no intention of dealing with them—just walked to the counter to order, then sat by a window to enjoy the view—the soldiers finally breathed.
Only after confirming Aus really wouldn't cause trouble did they relax and keep eating.
"Thank God we met a chill superior. What a relief~"
"Yeah, thought we'd definitely get punished. I heard some officers are hardcore strict, like Rear Admiral Sakazuki."
"But I've been at headquarters for years and never seen this Rear Admiral before. Weird..."
"What're you talking about? I think this guy looks familiar, like I saw him recently."
"Right, right, I get that feeling too. Like I saw him somewhere recently, but can't remember where."
The group chatted, every word reaching Aus's ears.
Probably saw his wanted poster, Aus figured.
But from the start, their perception got twisted—substituting their familiarity with him into a Marine identity. No way they'd find a match.
Still, even a nobody like me from the crew has entered public consciousness?
The new era Captain Roger kicked off really has far-reaching effects...
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
The story isn't over...
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