Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Kuzan was squatting at the port, letting out misty, cold breaths to cool himself down under the scorching sun.
After a while, a massive warship, even larger than a standard Marine vessel, pulled into the harbor. Kuzan finally stood up, a smile on his face.
Soon, a giant Vice Admiral, over a dozen meters tall with a kind face and a head of orange hair, descended from the huge ship. He had a simple, somewhat wild look.
This was none other than Marine Headquarters' giant Vice Admiral, Jaguar D. Saul, also a good friend of Kuzan's.
"Saul, are you back?" Kuzan asked with a grin.
Saul smiled, nodding to Kuzan. "I am. What are you doing waiting here for me?"
"The Admiral wants to see you personally and hear your report on the mission. He told me to come get you and tell you to hurry over," Kuzan replied, waving a hand.
"Sounds like the Admiral is taking this seriously," Saul murmured softly, his expression a little conflicted.
Kuzan didn't think much of it and simply nodded. "I guess so."
Soon, the two walked through the port and entered the Justice Fortress building. In the quiet corridor, Saul finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Kuzan, are those scholars truly unforgivable?"
Kuzan was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "They are. Saul, you've been on this case for several years. Now that you've finally captured a survivor, you should understand the crimes they've committed, right?"
Saul's face looked hesitant. He nodded first, then said, "But those scholars didn't do anything that harmed the world. According to them, they just wanted to uncover the truth of history and hear the voices of the past."
"Perhaps. Are you really that interested in that history? Or have they managed to persuade you?" Kuzan asked, looking at Saul.
Saul shook his head. "There's nothing to be interested in. Eight hundred years ago might be ancient history to you humans, but for us giants, that's just my grandpa's generation. If I wanted to know, I could just go home and ask one of the elders, and they could probably tell me all about it…"
Kuzan was left speechless. All his well-intentioned words of persuasion were choked off by Saul's blunt honesty, leaving him incredibly frustrated.
Damn it, he has a point!
The Void Century, the hundred years of history between the establishment of the World Government eight hundred years ago, was a time when almost no one knew what happened.
The World Government later strictly forbade research into that period, probably because it was some kind of dark history. Anyone with a brain could figure that out. But there was no need to dwell on it. How could a massive political power be established without some dark secrets?
Kuzan had no interest in it either. He thought that after years of working on this mission, Saul had simply become curious.
Instead, Saul's words had completely shut Kuzan down.
It was true. For humans with lifespans of barely a century, eight hundred years was a long time. But for giants, whose lives could last several hundred years… wasn't that just Saul's grandfather's time?
Luckily, the giants' home island didn't have a habit of recording history, and their powerful nation was known as the "strongest country in the world." Because of this, the World Government didn't dare to act rashly against them. Otherwise, they would have probably gone there and silenced them long ago.
After a slight pause, Kuzan nodded. "So?"
"I just feel like we're overreacting. For the past few years, I've been hunting down unarmed scholars. At the crucial moment, they're always willing to die with dignity, as if… as if… we Marines are the ones who are evil. I've been tormented by this for a long time. Ugh," Saul sighed, turning away.
Kuzan's heart sank at his words, and the advice he was about to give got stuck in his throat.
After all, the reason he and Saul were such good friends was that they were so alike in personality and ideology. Kuzan felt that if he had been the one relentlessly hunting unarmed scholars at sea for years, his belief in the Marines' Justice would have been shaken, too.
But the problem was, those scholars truly deserved to die.
They claimed to have a noble ideal and belief, but they were reckless and arrogant, believing they were engaged in some great and glorious undertaking. In reality, they weren't considering how their selfish desires were putting the safety of the entire world at risk.
What made them so sure they were noble?
In these past few years, they had been hunted by the Marines to the point where they were dying one after another. Although they could be described as dignified in their deaths, to Kuzan, this also exposed how powerless they were to resist.
If these scholars were to research something truly dangerous, say, an Ancient Weapon, and an ambitious person were to get their hands on it, how would they resist those madmen and thugs who wanted to bring chaos to the world?
They had nothing! They would only endanger the world.
Kuzan understood this, but looking at Saul's expression, he couldn't bring himself to say it. After all, Saul had really killed many unarmed people. For someone like him, it was only natural for their conscience to be tormented.
"At least you've had some success, and the mission will probably end. Get some good rest at Headquarters, take a long vacation, and get your head straight," Kuzan could only advise in the end.
Saul nodded. Although he had many thoughts, his internal conflict hadn't reached its breaking point. He hadn't yet reached a point of anger where he would try to defect from the Marines.
In fact, it wasn't until he received the Buster Call mission from Sengoku that he completely broke down, rejected the Marines' justice, forcibly helped the scholar Olvia escape, and then defected.
Both of them were in a heavy mood, so they didn't talk much more and quickly made their way toward Sengoku's office.
Before they could even enter, they heard a heated argument inside. Kuzan frowned slightly, knocked, and walked in to see the two arguing parties: Sakazuki and Sengoku.
Sakazuki heard the noise, turned to look at Kuzan, and a flash of displeasure crossed his eyes. He already wasn't fond of Kuzan, and Kuzan's timing was bad, so Sakazuki was naturally annoyed.
Kuzan ignored him and turned to Sengoku. "Admiral, what's wrong?"
Sengoku rubbed his forehead. "The proposal for Sakazuki to be promoted to Admiral Candidate has been flatly denied."
Kuzan was taken aback, his expression turning serious. "Why? How could this happen? Was it the Fleet Admiral?"
Although Kuzan and Sakazuki didn't get along, Kuzan knew that Sakazuki was more than qualified to be an Admiral Candidate. Not long ago, he had wiped out "Blood Hand" Lenard, who had a bounty of 1.2 billion Berries and was a former high-ranking officer under Shiki. After Shiki's fall, Lenard had gone solo.
Sakazuki had also fought a fleet from the Whitebeard Pirates in the New World, wiping them out before Whitebeard himself arrived. His strength was already proven. Given his years of service, even if he wasn't immediately promoted to Admiral, there was no problem with him receiving the honor of Admiral Candidate.
When Kuzan heard about this, he thought it was a sure thing. So, why was it shot down?
Sakazuki looked at Kuzan with a bit of surprise. He had expected Kuzan to take a jab at him, but it turned out the guy actually supported him becoming an Admiral Candidate?
After a moment's reflection, Sakazuki scolded himself internally. Kuzan was, after all, his long-time comrade-in-arms. Although their opinions differed, they had never had a major falling out because of it. That guy might be indecisive, but he's still a pillar of the Marines. He shouldn't have maliciously speculated about him.
Sakazuki lamented his mistake internally, but showed no expression on the outside. He was just that kind of proud and stubborn person. If he had been able to change even a little, even with their differing opinions and styles, they wouldn't have ended up in a life-or-death battle twenty years later.
Sengoku shook his head at this time. "No, the Fleet Admiral certainly supported it, but the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government didn't approve it. We even took it to the Gorosei, and they were evasive… It was very unpleasant."
Upon hearing that the Commander-in-Chief, who always seemed at odds with the Marines, had interfered, Kuzan's expression grew even more displeased. No matter how much he and Sakazuki argued, it was an internal Marine issue. When an outside force got involved, the Marines had to stand united!
"Since when did he get to meddle in our affairs? Things were fine before, and now he wants to control even who becomes an Admiral Candidate?" Kuzan said sternly.
"That's not all. The Fleet Admiral also brought up promoting Garp to Admiral, a move that the higher-ups had always supported. But this time… it was denied," Sengoku said, his brow furrowed.
He sighed, and his eyes grew serious. "It seems someone doesn't want the Marines to have an easy time, and it just so happens to align with the World Government's intentions…"
At that moment, Sakazuki spoke up. "So we're just going to let this slide? Admiral, this isn't a simple matter. They're trying to block our promotion pipeline. If we tolerate this today, how can we keep the loyalty of our men? When war breaks out, will our Marines still fight to the death?"
Sengoku looked at Sakazuki and said, "This year's budget hasn't been finalized yet. Now is not the time to be stubborn. I'll find a way to resolve this as soon as possible. You need to be patient for now."
Sakazuki's eyes nearly erupted with magma, but he still respected Sengoku. After all these years, Sengoku had never treated him unfairly. Although he was furious, he knew that this issue wasn't an easy one to solve.
There was nothing to do in the short term but endure it. So he nodded and said, "Yes, I understand, Admiral."
With that, Sakazuki didn't linger. He gave Kuzan a rare nod, then turned and left.
Kuzan was a little surprised, but he quickly understood, smiled, and didn't think much more of it. He turned to Sengoku and said, "How can the people above us act like this? Aren't they afraid it'll cause conflict?"
"The times are different and turbulent. They're very nervous. On one hand, they want the Marines to quickly quell this out-of-control era, but on the other hand, they're worried we'll grow too strong and become uncontrollable, even turning on them… So they want to maintain a certain balance, or perhaps find a solution that works for everyone," Sengoku said, taking a sip of tea, his tone filled with a sense of weariness.
With different positions, of course, they would make different choices. Although Sengoku was angry with the World Government's actions, he could also understand them.
After all, this wasn't the first or second time the Marines had gone against the World Government. Many Marine officers disliked the actions of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons, most famously Garp.
While others at least showed some restraint, Garp would openly disrespect a Celestial Dragon right to their face. He might even curse them out and insult their ancestors.
In the past, the World Government valued Garp's strength and wanted to use the offer of promotion to Admiral to try and change his mind, which is why they had approved his promotion many times, but Garp always refused. Now, the World Government was no longer catering to this obstinate man, and their concerns about the Marines had grown.
Especially in the past two years, the Marines' strength had grown rapidly. Sakazuki and the others were a given, but then Rodriguez Diarmuid was about to become one of the top powers in the Marines, and his power was something the whole world could see.
Then there was Gion, who suddenly became a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user. With her potential and ability, even the World Government wouldn't believe it if she didn't eventually reach the top tier.
On top of that, the Marines had taken care of Redfield, Shiki, and Roger in a row. Although the World Government had rewarded the Marines handsomely, they were also stunned.
With this level of power, and with the ability to resist them, it would be strange if the World Government felt at ease with the Marines, especially with their history of occasionally going against their wishes.
In this turbulent era, no one had it easy, and the World Government had to be cautious to avoid a complete shipwreck from both internal and external troubles.
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