From Nico Robin's perspective, the Marines were undoubtedly her enemy.
The reason was simple. The Marines had suddenly broken into the island where she lived, and without saying a word, they'd killed all the scholars she respected. At the same time, they'd also destroyed O'Hara.
That wasn't all. Finn had personally imprisoned her mother in Impel Down, essentially sentencing her to life imprisonment.
Wasn't that the definition of an enemy?
But from another perspective, he'd saved Robin and her mother's lives.
It was impossible to explain that to Robin, though.
Therefore, his reasoning for saving Robin was very simple. It was just because of some goodwill he'd felt toward her in his previous life. He didn't want her to die, nor did he want her to be as miserable as in the original story, living constantly in darkness. That was all.
After that, Finn had never cared about her again.
He had no intention of changing her mind, nor did he intend to do anything special for her. At most, he could use her to threaten Olvia in the future.
It was a bit despicable.
But there wasn't much to say about it.
Therefore, over the past two years, Finn had paid no attention to Nico Robin and had tried to minimize his contact with her.
As a result, he'd asked casually today and learned from Gion that Robin was trying hard to find a way to join the Marines. What the hell was going on?
"There's a grudge," Gion murmured, then added, "But over the past two years, she's been well taken care of by the Marines at G-7, and I've been very good to her. Perhaps, to some extent, her feelings about the Marines have changed. Also, I asked her the reason, and she said that if she became a Marine, if she became an important figure in the Marines, she might have the power to pardon her mother, Olvia, from Impel Down."
"In other words, she's planning to use this method to save her mother?" Finn murmured softly, and he understood a little.
She was just a ten-year-old child. What other options could be expected from her?
If you thought about it carefully, it was actually quite simple to reverse-engineer Robin's mental state after learning the result.
First of all, the Marines had left a very deep impression at O'Hara, no doubt, and the most profound impression was their strength.
Therefore, perhaps from the very beginning, Robin had never thought of saving her mother from any other angle.
She'd never even considered how to defeat the Marines.
So, if you can't beat them, then joining them was also a reasonable course of action.
Perhaps she thought that only by joining the Marines and making enough contributions could she exchange them for a pardon for her mother, Olvia.
Even if she wasn't that successful, as long as she became a high-ranking officer in the Marines, no one in Impel Down would be able to bully her mother. She could even use her status to visit her mother there.
This was nothing more than a little girl's deep longing for her mother.
It was the best solution she could think of.
As for hatred, perhaps as Gion had said, at O'Hara, she might have regarded the Marines as demons that destroyed her hometown.
But after living at G-7 for two years, she must have had deep contact with the Marines and could feel that they weren't evil and cruel.
On the contrary, they were gentle and just.
At the same time, given Robin's precocity and intelligence, she should have considered O'Hara's situation from the Marines' perspective.
Perhaps she was still extremely conflicted and had a very complicated mentality.
But maybe it was true that there was more to the Marines than just simple hatred.
In short, there should be many reasons. But now, the ten-year-old little Robin had not only chosen not to pursue the path of a historian, but on the contrary, she was resolutely preparing to join the Marines, rise to a high position, and save her mother.
Thinking of this, Finn laughed. "How unpredictable things are. Humans are so complicated. They often make unexpected choices and decisions. But she's being naive. She's only ten years old. It's too early for her to join the Marines. But let her work hard. Having a goal is better than having no goal at all."
"What's wrong with being ten years old? Didn't Lucci join the Marines at about the same age?" Gion teased with a smile.
"It's different. Lucci has been trained in a targeted manner since he was a child. Can Robin be the same?" Finn said with a smile.
After a brief pause, Finn continued softly, "But in the future, perhaps I can give her a chance. It all depends on her performance."
After finishing that topic, Gion talked to Finn about various matters concerning G-7 and the Calm Belt.
After Finn took the position of Admiral, from the perspective of the high-level command structure of the Marines, he basically had the final say on matters concerning the Calm Belt.
After all, it was he who'd proposed the plan, and he was the one who'd made the preliminary preparations himself. G-7 was controlled by his direct subordinates. There was no reason not to let him oversee Calm Belt affairs. After all, he was an Admiral of the Marines.
However, at this stage, the Calm Belt was still developing step by step. When the plan for the Seven Warlords of the Sea was fully mature, Smoker would be able to become one of the Warlords.
Once the Marines had that shell to protect them, the Calm Belt Plan could easily enter the next stage.
"So this survey has likely discovered a gold mine?" Finn said, his eyes lighting up.
"It's very likely. At least that's what we judged from the initial survey. We've already organized a team and started actual mining. Once we're able to open a gold mine, it will undoubtedly be a huge return on our investment in the Calm Belt," Gion said, her tone slightly excited.
"Gold mines. If the reserves are large enough, it will be the first step for the Marines to break free from the shackles of military spending. It will be a good thing if we can establish it firmly. If there's any progress, inform me immediately," Finn said with a smile.
"I understand," Gion replied.
"Well, is there enough labor?" Finn asked again.
"At present, 160,000 prisoner laborers have been invested in the entire Calm Belt Development Plan. As of now, it's still sufficient, but we also need more manpower to guard and suppress these large numbers of prisoners. So I plan to submit a new recruitment plan to Headquarters in the near future. I expect to form a 100,000-strong Marine force at G-7," Gion said softly.
When Finn had left, G-7 had grown to a size of 50,000 Marine personnel, but only 7,000 members were stationed at the base year-round to maintain daily operations.
The remaining personnel were basically all stationed on the developed islands within the Calm Belt to suppress the pirate prisoners.
However, with the continuous development of the Calm Belt, the wave of the Great Pirate Era had brought a large number of pirates, and Impel Down had been very cooperative.
The number of pirate prisoners under G-7 had rapidly expanded to 160,000 in just two or three years.
This didn't mean that Finn and his Marines had recruited a total of 160,000 prisoners. If you counted the actual number, it would be almost 200,000.
The remaining 40,000 had basically been consumed due to various reasons. After all, land reclamation was very dangerous and very hard work, especially mining.
In other words, from a certain perspective, in just less than four years, more than 40,000 lives had been lost directly or indirectly at Finn's hands because of the plans he'd implemented.
But this kind of thing seemed to happen silently.
What did this prove?
It proved his power.
And now that Finn had become an Admiral of the Marines, his influence, his every move, and the consequences would become even greater.
Perhaps a simple order or a plan from him would affect millions of people. If the plan went poorly, countless people could even die.
This was both a responsibility and power, and it was exactly what Finn was pursuing at this stage.
With a command, thousands of heads could fall. With a wave of his hand, millions of soldiers could gather.
"Well, just hand the plan directly to me, and I'll approve it as soon as possible," Finn responded.
At that moment, a Rear Admiral hurried past in the corridor. The moment he saw Finn, he breathed a sigh of relief and hurried over.
However, when he saw Finn talking on the Den Den Mushi, he didn't approach any closer. Instead, he stopped a short distance away.
Finn naturally noticed the Rear Admiral and said to Gion on the Den Den Mushi, "Well, that's all for now. You do your best at G-7. And don't worry. After the World Conference is over, I'll take a long vacation and go on a trip with you, okay?"
After giving a few more instructions, Finn hung up the Den Den Mushi call with Gion. He stroked his chin and smacked his lips. "Ah, being too charming is a problem. Always attracting women."
After making that boastful comment, Finn waved to the Rear Admiral without wasting any time.
The Rear Admiral quickly ran over, stood at attention in front of Finn, and saluted. "Admiral Finn!"
"You look like you're looking for me?" Finn asked.
"Yes. I'm Varys from the Countermeasures Analysis Group of the Intelligence Department. This is information the Chief of Staff asked me to hand over to you personally," Rear Admiral Varys explained as he handed the documents to Finn.
"Ah, Varys. I was wondering why you looked so familiar. You used to work under me. You were a Commodore back then. Now you're a Rear Admiral. Well done," Finn praised with a smile.
Hearing this, Rear Admiral Varys was extremely surprised and excited. He saluted again enthusiastically. "Thank you for your concern, Admiral!"
"Haha, you're welcome. Everything is for justice. Go back and tell the Chief of Staff that I've received the information," Finn said, patting the man on the shoulder.
"Yes! Everything is for justice!" Rear Admiral Varys stood at attention.
After that, he didn't bother Finn any longer and left quickly.
As Finn walked, he opened the information envelope and took out a document. He glanced at it and saw that it was Level 2 classified.
The confidentiality level wasn't very high, so he didn't worry about anything and simply read as he walked down the corridor.
After a while, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he shook his head. "Isn't this just asking for trouble?"
The information in the file had nothing to do with pirates, but rather intelligence about a member nation's royal family.
In the first half of the Grand Line, the Kingdom of Maugorila. From the perspective of Marine jurisdiction, this country fell under the jurisdiction of G-8 Marine Base.
This document showed that King Kuletask of Maugorila was planning to slander the Marines at this year's World Conference.
To put it simply, half a year ago, he'd hoped the Marines would help him escort a huge amount of wealth that he'd just plundered from the people in his country and transfer it to another nation to buy luxury goods that weren't available in his own country for his personal enjoyment. As a result, Vice Admiral Jonathan of G-8 Marine Base had directly rejected his request.
Then this fool had gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, and done the thing by force anyway. As expected, given the chaos on the seas right now, he'd been robbed.
Since then, he'd hated G-8 Marine Base.
Due to Vice Admiral Jonathan's policies at G-8, the base had always been criticized as "flashy but not practical," but in fact, as a defensive fortress, it was extremely powerful.
Outsiders just couldn't understand it.
This time, Kuletask was going to attack that point and try to get Vice Admiral Jonathan removed from his post and have someone else replace him as the base commander of G-8.
This matter was easy to resolve. Without giving it much thought, Finn walked into his office, locked the door, took out his Den Den Mushi, and called Smoker, the promising pirate.