The review was basically finished by late afternoon.
Gion closed the last folder and stacked it neatly on top of the others.
Garp stood up excitedly. "Finally done with this! I was bout to fall asleep."
Tokikake stretched, "Man, this was kinda dissapointing to be honest. I was expecting some crime and some action. Well, whatever. So, what about a date with this handsome soul, Gion?"
His tone was lecherous and Soren almost couldn't resist punching that disgusting face. [A/N Insert Sanji's ero face]
Gion ignored him and asked a few questions.
Soren answered the final few questions, nodded when they told him the report would be finalized on the return voyage, and watched the four of them leave for the guest quarters.
Only when the administrative building was completely empty did he lock the ledgers away and walk back to his residence. He sat down at the desk, opened the diary, and stared at the blank page for a moment before he started writing.
[Day thirty-six.]
[Finally, it's over. At this point, I am convinced this was just an inspection. But I still don't understand the firepower.]
[Gion stayed sharp the entire time. She basically made me explain the whole system. What a pain]
[Bogard still hasn't said a single unnecessary word since he got here. The man could stare at a blank wall and make it feel like it's being evaluated for treason. I don't know whether to respect it or find it deeply unsettling.]
[Garp and Tokikake are walking comedic reliefs, but their judgment is better than it has any right to be. Garp actually cares whether regular people freeze when they see a justice coat. Tokikake noticed that the systems keep working even when no one's standing there yelling orders.]
Soren paused, tapped the pen against the page once, then kept going.
[People like these four could actually drag the Marines somewhere worth going. Real protection instead of performance art for the World Government.]
[Unfortunately, that's not how the board is set up. Those five geezers have the leash tight around the marines. Even someone like Sengoku had to bow down and reign his justice after becoming the Fleet Admiral.]
[ Most of the high ranking marines also do not understand the standpoint of the World Government. They don't care about justice or the civilians but they care about one thing...Balance.
For the World Government, Pirates and Marines are the two sides of the same coin. One acts as a guardian for the member nations and one acts as the terror for the non-member nations. The member nations pay the Heavenly tribute each year so that they can be protected by the marines and the pirates act as the threat that the marines are supposed to protect the member nations from.]
[These non-allied islands will always become a source of pirates because of their conditions. The people there are forced to become the very thing they dispose and the marines do not even see the cause.]
[So the marine stays pointed at the wrong targets. And anyone who gets too good at making one corner of the world actually function properly eventually draws the kind of attention that ends with a desk in Marineford or a quiet disappearance.]
[Whatever. I am probably at a strength level of an elite Rear Admiral at this point. If I want to stand tall among the marines and stay in the side of Justice, I am still weak. Those Five Geezers, God's Knights and most importantly Imu.]
He closed the book, set the pen down, and went to make tea. The harbor outside was already turning dark.
Across the compound, Gion opened her copy of the diary under the single candle on her desk.
She read at her usual steady pace through the comments about the review, about herself, about Bogard, about Garp and Tokikake. Her expression didn't change.
Then she reached the lines about the Celestial Dragons and balance.
Her fingers tightened on the edge of the page hard enough to leave a sharp crease. The candle flame jumped when her sleeve brushed too close. She kept reading anyway, eyes moving line by line until she hit the final paragraph.
"Imu?"
The information revealed earlier was something she knew about. Tsuru was not the Chief of Staff of the marines for no reason after all. But who was this Imu, that Soren put above the Five Elders and teh God's Knights?
A full minute passed before she closed the diary. She used more force than necessary. The book hit the desk with a dull sound. She left it sitting there unlocked and didn't move to put it away.
In the next room Bogard read the same entry.
He went through the early parts without reaction. When he reached the section on the Celestial Dragons his hand simply stopped turning the page. He stayed like that for several seconds, thumb pressed white against the paper. His breathing slowed. Then he exhaled once through his nose, long and controlled, and shut the book with deliberate care.
"Who are you, Soren?"
He set it down on the table, stood up, and walked over to the small window. For a while he just looked at his own reflection in the dark glass. The lanterns on the western dock had already been put out. Eventually he turned away, sat back down, and stared at the closed diary like it might open itself again.