Soren spent a few days in his office and finally decided to take some concrete steps forward.
He moved towards Tsuru's office and opened the door with confidence.
"Ashen D. Soren. Reporting."
Tsuru raised her head and looked at the thick stack of papers in Soren's hands. She went back to her meeting with Sengoku a few days ago and suddenly found herself brimming with anticipation.
She gestured towards the young marine to speak and listened attentively.
"I have gone through the logistics of the marines and found a significant flaw."
Tsuru's eyes sharpened but she didn't interrupt him.
"The entire revenue of the marines comes from the World Government. While that is not a bad thing in general, looking at the logistics from a few years, we can see that it is not consistent at all."
"Sometimes it is the salary being delayed, sometimes the ships are not fixed, and most of the times the upper echelon of the marines simply don't take their own salary to make sure everything else gets done."
Tsuru knew all this but she was helpless as well. As the Chief of Staff, she was much more knowledgeable about the marine's and the World Government's or the Five Elder's issues with the funding. But all these years her hands were tied behind her back as well.
It wasn't that she had no ideas at all, but maintaining an image for the World Government was something she had to do as well.
"Any ideas you got for these issues, Soren?" Tsuru was quite straightforward with her intentions. She had brought this boy as her attendant specially for this reason after all.
Soren hesitated a little this time but decided there was no point in hiding his one (decent) idea.
"Well, there is a solution. But this requires a specific amount of investment."
"Go on." Tsuru's eyes lit up a bit.
"There is one sector in the Grand line that is very underutilized and that is the Shipbuilding industry. Water 7 basically has a monopoly over the industry and even the marines basically commission their warships with water 7."
"But that is a waste of money. Whether it is the materials or the manpower, the marines have infinitely more resources than the shipwrights of water 7. If the marines can establish a shipwright division of their own, their costs will drastically go down after the initial costs have been covered."
"Also the newly made warships in Water 7 are currently one of the major targets for pirates because they are usually not staffed with high ranking marines. If we have our own division, we can simply use Vegapunk's technology to establish the division in the calm belt."
Tsuru's mood brightened as Soren explained his reasoning. By the time he was done, there was a faint excitement and gratification in Tsuru's face.
Funding was a problem that the marines faced from a long time ago and while she had some ideas, she had never made the issue her top priority because of other projects. Now the idea presented by Soren was not only feasible, it was simply killing two birds with one stone.
"Draft a report detailing the idea. We will present it to the Fleet Admiral's office tomorrow."
The day passed like any other and Soren opened his diary once more.
[Tsuru agreed to the shipbuilding plan. I am supposed to present it to Sengoku tomorrow. Well, our dear 'Resourceful General' will surely see the details and the potential of this plan.]
[But I have to say, without those interfering from the top, the marines sure are hard working. I haven't been here for long but even my cold heart has been moved by the atmosphere here.]
[It is a just a pity. No matter how much the marines develop, it is destined to become a puppet dancing in the hands of the five elders.]
Gion, Bogard and Sengoku all felt the diary updated and looked at the newest entry.
Most of it was jargon but the last three lines caught there attention.
'Even my cold heart has been moved.'
'Destined to become a puppet?'
Gion and Bogard were puzzled by these statements but Sengoku as a fleet admiral understood those words perfectly.
"How does this brat know so much information. Is it really time travel? or is it a clairvoyance type devil fruit?"
Sengoku had meticulously investigated Soren and his life but he found nothing suspicious.
'Born in Sema to two farmers who perished six years into his birth from pirates. Raised in an orphanage until the age of twelve and applied to a local training school for the marines. Graduated three years later and joined the marines in Sema. Became the Commodore of Sema after five years of serving due to his exceptional combat skills and administrative traits. Scouted by Vice Admiral Garp, Gion, Tokikake and Bogard at the age of twenty-five and promoted to a Rear Admiral.
There was nothing indicating any unnatural behavior but the diary and the words used by him there suggested otherwise.
[A/N: I got many comments saying that the story is decent but it has no soul so I decided to just use my own versions instead of the AI one. Give it a read and tell me what you think.]