Chapter 74: Pirate Guerilla Squad
“Instructor.”
Isca walked over, bending deeply at the waist in a bow of greeting.
The matter with Vice Admiral Dolo had given her a huge sense of alienation toward the Navy, but it hadn’t destroyed her adherence to justice. She didn’t fully agree with Instructor Zephyr’s “non-killing justice”; after all, she had turned targets into beehives with the long sword in her hand many times in combat.
But that didn’t stop her from continuing to respect Instructor Zephyr, this respectable elder.
“Isca······”
Zephyr shifted his gaze from Prince Elus and looked toward the student he had once taught.
“Leaving the Navy······it’s no big deal. Justice has nothing to do with identity. Even after leaving the Navy, you can still uphold the justice in your heart.”
As the former Navy Headquarters General and current Chief Recruit Instructor, Zephyr learned the ins and outs of the matter not long after Vice Admiral Dolo was escorted back to Navy Headquarters. Vice Admiral Dolo, in the name of justice, had recklessly harmed ordinary civilians time and again in pirate-hunting operations. Isca’s parents and relatives were among the victims.
This was undoubtedly an infuriating matter.
Even Sakazuki, representative of the hardliners, had expressed his disgust toward Vice Admiral Dolo via Den Den Mushi.
Justice
does not come from harming innocent civilians.
The reason Sakazuki had resolutely chosen to bombard Ohara’s refugee ships back then was that he believed Ohara’s residents were not innocent. They had violated the World Government’s ban and researched forbidden Poneglyphs, thus bringing destruction upon themselves.
Whereas Vice Admiral Dolo was completely abusing the name of justice to indulge his destructive desire for revenge against pirates.
So,
after discussions among the higher-ups, Vice Admiral Dolo was branded with the crime of “indiscriminate killing of innocents” and directly sent to the undersea great prison, where he would spend the rest of his life. However, to preserve the Navy’s face and honor, the matter was suppressed and known only to the Navy’s higher-ups.
Those like Tina and the Navy Soldiers present at the time were all issued gag orders.
No external disclosure of Vice Admiral Dolo’s matter was allowed.
In Zephyr’s view, Vice Admiral Dolo’s actions were a complete trampling of justice.
Seeing Isca stirred a bit of pity in Zephyr’s heart; this child was also a victim.
“Do you have any plans now?”
After comforting his student, Zephyr followed up on Isca’s current situation. “What do you plan to do in the future? And······ why are you here?” As he spoke, he cast a puzzled gaze toward Prince Elus standing to the side.
Prince Elus smiled without speaking.
Isca straightened her back just like in the past when receiving the instructor’s inspection. Looking at Zephyr, she answered: “Instructor, Prince Elus invited me to join the Eckmond Kingdom’s army. I plan to go to the New World to continue fighting pirates.”
“Go to the New World?”
Zephyr furrowed his brows.
He looked at the resolute-faced Isca, half pleased and half worried. The pleasure was naturally because Isca had held firm to her own justice after such an experience without falling into evil ways, while the worry was due to her choice.
New World,
is not at all the same concept as Paradise!
Speaking so lightly of “going to the New World to continue fighting pirates”—if she really went to that godforsaken place in the New World, her fate would be uncertain.
“I’ve just taken a look; Miss Isca’s talent is quite good.”
Suddenly,
Prince Elus interjected into the conversation.
“With proper training, Miss Isca’s achievements won’t be low. The New World isn’t some one-way dead end. On the contrary, there’s no better place than the New World to temper oneself. As long as you don’t blindly court death, the New World isn’t that terrifying.”
“Moreover, I don’t have the habit of sending my subordinates to their deaths.”
Prince Elus wore a sincere and composed smile.
He was telling the truth.
As long as Isca herself didn’t reject the pie falling from the sky, he could genuinely help her grow strong quickly.
His aides-de-camp were the best examples.
“······Prince Elus, you still haven’t answered my question. You had my student specially contact me saying you hoped to meet—what exactly is it for? What are your intentions?”
Zephyr stared at Prince Elus.
His sharp gaze was like an eagle’s, able to see through stealthy figures lurking in shadows; his resolute will was like sharp swords, not befuddled in the slightest.
He hadn’t yet returned to Marineford and was drifting on the sea aboard the training ship when he received the Den Den Mushi call. His former student, now making a name as the “Black Prince,” Tina had contacted him, saying that the Black Prince among the Seven Warlords was waiting for him in Marineford and hoped to meet.
After disembarking,
he handed all the paperwork directly to his second-in-command and brought his two ever-following students straight to the hotel where Prince Elus was staying.
Regardless of Prince Elus’s various calculations toward Zephyr, Zephyr actually had some ideas about this Black Prince as well.
Of course, no matter what ideas, he had to first see with his own eyes what kind of person the other was.
Only after confirming that Prince Elus wasn’t an utter villain could his ideas take root.
So,
he came.
He gladly accepted the invitation and came right over, using his own eyes to judge Prince Elus’s true nature.
Prince Elus quietly looked at Zephyr. After a few seconds, he smiled and said: “It’s simple, Instructor Zephyr. Are you interested in going to the New World to hunt pirates?”
“Eh?”
A voice
came from beside Zephyr.
It sounded like a young girl.
“Go to the New World······to fight pirates? You’re looking for me for something like that?” Zephyr’s expression was a bit strange.
“That’s right.”
Prince Elus nodded.
“The Seven Warlords bear the responsibility of fighting pirates······ but aren’t you being a bit sly here? Prince Elus, do you want me to fight pirates for you? Just like you tricked my student?” As he spoke, he glanced at Isca standing nearby.
Isca blinked, looking blankly at Zephyr and Prince Elus, not knowing how to respond.
“It has nothing to do with the Seven Warlords identity.”
Prince Elus smiled and shook his head. He looked around. “This isn’t the place to talk. It’s noon anyway—how about lunch together?”
“Whatever.”
Zephyr didn’t refuse.
It was already noon; he’d come straight to Prince Elus after disembarking and hadn’t eaten.
······
The hotel restaurant.
In the private booth sat five guests: Prince Elus, Zephyr, Isca, and the two students following Zephyr—Second Lieutenant Ain with her smooth sea-blue wavy long hair, and Second Lieutenant Binz dressed like a ninja from Wano Country.
Unlike Isca, who had already graduated from under Zephyr.
Ain and Binz, due to special circumstances, had never left Zephyr’s side. At Navy Headquarters, they were tacitly regarded as Zephyr’s secretary and assistant. After all, he was a former General who had trained a large batch of outstandingly strong Navy personnel; some special treatment was normal.
“This, this······ and this······”
Prince Elus rapidly ordered a huge pile of dishes without asking others’ opinions.
But neither Zephyr nor the two young, inexperienced second lieutenants had any objections. None of them indulged in gluttony. Zephyr especially wasn’t one to demand special meals for himself; he basically ate whatever the Navy Soldiers ate, so as long as it was edible, he could eat it.
Isca was much the same; she had no particular dislikes and ate whatever was available.
“About that much for now. We’ll order more if it’s not enough.”
The server left.
The room door was pulled shut,
Prince Elus picked up the teacup, took a sip of hot tea, looked up at Zephyr, and took the lead in raising the topic. “Instructor Zephyr, Fleet Admiral Sengoku wants the Navy to return to the New World—you know about that, right?” As he spoke, he glanced at Isca, Ain, and Binz.
Speaking of which, this matter was still confidential for now.
But Isca could now be considered his subordinate, while Ain and Binz were Zephyr’s closest students; no worry about them leaking secrets.
“Mm.”
Zephyr sipped his tea and responded in a moderate tone.
With his rank and seniority, hardly any Navy news could be kept from him. He knew very well about Fleet Admiral Sengoku wanting to form an alliance with Prince Elus and use the Eckmond Kingdom as a springboard to return to the New World.
And precisely because he knew about it,
the idea had suddenly sprouted in his mind.
“Then······ I’ll be direct! Whether from my personal preference or from the perspective of interests, I’m happy to see the Navy return to the New World. Compared to disorderly chaos and destruction, an orderly New World better matches my hopes for the future.”
“It’s just the Four Emperors······ honestly, they’re tough! Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit is too terrifying; I don’t want to see Eckmond sunk into the sea. Beasts is the indestructible strongest creature, I’ve personally experienced BIG·MOM’s power and it’s extremely hard to deal with, Red-Haired······ Red-Haired is enigmatic and mysterious; finding him is hard, let alone taking him down.”
“Most importantly, I don’t want to pull chestnuts from the fire for the Navy by going to war with the Four Emperors.”
Prince Elus spoke very bluntly.
“And then?”
Zephyr asked.
“You hope the Navy can return to the New World to maintain order and peace, but you don’t want to stand alone against the Four Emperors, so you’ve set your sights on this old man, right? Want me to be the lightning rod vanguard to draw the Four Emperors’ hostility and attention?”
“Win-win cooperation requires both sides to maintain it together. To get me to oppose the Four Emperors, you can’t just issue empty checks to trick people into dying. I was thinking ideally the Navy could station a General in the Eckmond Kingdom; united, as long as the Four Emperors don’t band together, we’d have a winning chance against any one individually.”
“But unfortunately Fleet Admiral Sengoku can’t spare anyone. The current Three Admirals are all tied up, and Vice Admiral Garp······ the Navy Hero recently messed up, got chewed out by Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and stormed back to his old home in East Blue in a huff. Honestly, that personality isn’t quite suitable either.”
Garp messed up,
and Zephyr knew all about it.
Truth be told, when he learned that the recently rising Pirate Supernova—Fire Fist Ace—was Garp’s grandson, he rushed right up to Garp and joined Fleet Admiral Sengoku in thoroughly beating the hell out of that old bastard. The Navy Hero’s son was the world’s most wanted dangerous criminal, and now his grandson had become a bounty-over-billion Pirate Supernova······
If he could, Zephyr really wanted to pry open that bastard Garp’s skull and see what the hell kind of educational ideas were inside.
What kind of education makes both son and grandson go down the path of crime!?
Simply outrageous!
Though the “stormed back to East Blue old home” wasn’t accurate. According to Garp himself, he still had a young grandson back in the East Blue old home. To prevent him from being led astray by the eldest grandson, he had to go back and properly educate the little one. He might even bring the little grandson to Marineford to prevent him from going astray too.
Well!
Though this explanation sounded a bit odd,
it felt like if Garp didn’t go back, his young grandson would go astray anyway?
Zephyr’s thoughts wandered a bit.
“So.”
Prince Elus raised his voice.
Zephyr glanced over, reining in his wandering mind.
“So, I hope Instructor Zephyr you can come to the New World. Without establishing a new Navy base, strike pirates in the New World as a guerilla squad—on one hand to weaken pirate forces as much as possible, on the other to preliminarily raise the Navy’s presence in the New World.”
“So Fleet Admiral Sengoku has already agreed?” Zephyr asked.
“I’ve already talked to Fleet Admiral Sengoku; he didn’t object, but said it needs Instructor Zephyr your own nod. If you’re unwilling, then······.”
“Guerilla squad······ guerilla squad······ a pirate-hunting guerilla squad? Hahaha!!!”
Zephyr muttered twice.
He burst into laughter.
“Fine, leave establishing this guerilla squad to me!”
He agreed with great boldness.
Nearby, Ain and Binz looked a bit odd, but both stayed calm, unlike Isca whose eyes nearly popped out, with huge question marks practically carved on her forehead to show her bewilderment and surprise!
“······Eh? No need to think it over?”
Zephyr agreed so readily that Prince Elus was surprised instead. The Pirate Guerilla Squad was indeed something Zephyr would create in the future, but the current Zephyr hadn’t even gotten his prosthetic limb yet and was still focused on training recruits. He’d been pondering how to persuade Zephyr······
Could it be that he already had such ideas at this time?
He noticed the changes in Ain and Binz’s expressions and understood; perhaps Zephyr really did have the idea of forming a Pirate Guerilla Squad to fight pirates at this point.
“Prince Elus, from the moment I knew you’d become one of the Seven Warlords, I’ve been gathering intelligence on you. That scum known as the King of Maritime Transport built the maritime transport network, which you’ve now taken over, right? And Fleet Admiral Sengoku agreed to let you extend your hand from the New World into Paradise······”
Zephyr stared at Prince Elus and said meaningfully: “Recently I heard pirates are causing destruction in the territory you’ve newly occupied. Establishing this specialized pirate-hunting guerilla squad······ is to protect your maritime transport network?”
“Compared to emotional assurances, binding interests makes it harder for people to part, doesn’t it?”
Prince Elus said righteously.
Not embarrassed at all that his attempt to use Zephyr to protect his interests had been directly called out by the target.
“Thick-skinned, comparable to those bastards in the World Government······ but compared to recruiting those incorrigible pirates, I’d rather see more Seven Warlords like you, Prince Elus.”
No matter how much personal motive Prince Elus mixed in.
In short,
by his judgment, Prince Elus wasn’t some sagely monarch, but neither was he some irredeemable villainous scum. Just as Prince Elus himself said, between chaos and order, he clearly stood on the side of order.
Moreover, to protect his own interests, Prince Elus was bound to take the path of opposing pirates.
“I can form a Pirate Guerilla Squad in the New World to strike down those rampant villains, but······ the Navy only has two bases in the New World. Without building new ones, we’ll probably need Prince Elus your help with logistics, just as you said before—”
“Win-win cooperation requires both sides to maintain it together.”
Zephyr said.
“Rest assured on that point, Instructor Zephyr. The Eckmond Kingdom’s two centuries of accumulated wealth won’t be squandered easily, let alone—with the maritime transport network running smoothly, I could even sustain a 100,000-strong guerilla squad.”
Prince Elus smiled happily.
He looked at Zephyr like he was seeing millions of elite troops, a towering flag that could shake the Navy.
As long as he could hold this great banner of Zephyr, it would be the foundation to rival the Navy.
At this moment—
“Knock knock!”
A knock sounded, and the server swiftly brought the ordered dishes.
Time for lunch.
