Chapter 45
When we returned to the Marine HQ, we made sure to take out every single Beri that were in our accounts and asked them to pay us in cash. It's always safer to have things in your inventory rather than somewhere else. Good hard cash.
With Sengoku and Garp serving elsewhere in the Marines, the tension between Aokiji and Sakazuki was growing. Of course, in our hearts we were supporting Aokiji but we knew what would happen eventually, so we didn't bother.
The Marines underwent a massive development as Marine presence was felt all over the world wit the 'World Draft'. From all over the world, new talent and rookie Marines rose up the ranks. One of which was…
Me: Dad!!!
Dad became a Vice Admiral just a few days ago. He was recognized for his power in dealing with Pirates swiftly and ruthlessly. Like us, he was a Super Rookie of the Marines. Like the great man he is, his crew and other Marines came to respect him as a honorable swordsman. I'm sure he'll become an Admiral soon.
As for the others in our crew, they became monsters of their own. Training everyday on the Requiem without excuse turned them into forces even to be reckoned with in the New World.
Sarah, our navigator was taught swordsmanship by both of us and she became skilled at both armament and observational haki. She pushed her observation haki beyond it's basic form and with my help, awakened the first step of 'future sight'. It wasn't perfectly accurate as mine but any amount of time into the future could help her. Whether it's in close combat or sniping.
John Timber, our shipwright, became even more of a muscular monster than he already was. Due to the fact that we often made our crew go after the pirates instead of ourselves, he got the experience he needed to become a strong fighter. His armament haki turned pitch black a month ago and now he can hold it for extended amounts of time. While nowhere close Sarah's level of observational haki, playing 'Hit John while he's blindfolded' a couple dozen times finally awakened his ability for it. Through many trial and errors, his Devil Fruit ability with Wood became fearsome. We would often stop of deserted islands for him to practice; one of which was creating a terrain of his choice by growing plants all over the island. He was always a big guy so it makes sense he would choose to fight with Adam Wood gauntlets he makes with his ability. One useful ability he also has is to drain water, like a real tree. One problem would be he still drinks way too much booze.
Tim, our mechanic and blacksmith, is probably the guy that changed the most in the past couple of months. He got more muscular and his long blue hair that was usually sprayed back was cut short, like John's. He managed to awaken both forms of haki, though still haven't grasped a mastery of both. His real ability came from his Devil Fruit. With his solid understanding of how to create weapons and machinery, he can instantly create a weapon connected to his hand or body. An emergency suit of armor, or more! Of course, he always carried a couple extra electricity dial with him just in case.
Doc Brown didn't change much in terms of appearance but he maintained his healthy look so that's something nice. He's become well versed in his use of Observation haki and his daily sparring against each other made him a capable fighter. Both sis and I have encouraged him to find a Devil Fruit that would supplement his ability as a fighter or doctor, or maybe both. Yet, he chooses not to. Whatever, it's his loss.
Other than that, the last 2-3 months together has been a ride with all the crew members. We've had more than one close call against some of the escapees from Impel down…ok, maybe not for us but for our crew. The atmosphere on the ship was pretty much always bright, full of jokes, and overall happy. None of the crew (except for us) exactly had a happy childhood so maybe this was why they so desperately tried to hold onto moments like these.
Seeing the great increase in strength and battle power, Sengoku tried to offer them promotions (and much more money) so they could lead teams of their own in different parts, but all of them refused and chose to stay here. Really warms my heart. I remember sis just petting the crying me when I was overcome with emotion from the love the crew members had for us.
Other than that, there's really nothing special to update… it's been a busy couple of months.
A few weeks later, Aokiji and Akainu decided to duke it out on Punk Hazard like the civilized people they were. We were at the scene with them to take them both back after they've had their 'friendly discussion' on who should be the next Fleet Admiral which included a few 'arguments' that consisted of throwing magma and trying to freeze each other the death. Yup, friendly discussion.
Of course, we knew what would happen. Akainu returned alone and told us that he would be the next Fleet Admiral and that Aokiji would not be returning. Of course, he wasn't dead but he wouldn't be doing anything for a while so we just took that as an answer and returned to G-1, which was being rebuilt to become the New MarineFord on the New World.
Diana: Hey Sakazuki
Akainu: What
Diana: What are you going to do? How will you change this world, with the power you now hold as Fleet Admiral?
Akainu: Isn't it obvious? Bring justice to the Pirates. All of them. One by One we will bring down the emperors and bring them to Justice!
Diana: … you do realize you and I have different types of Justice right? I see the world differently from the way you see yours.
Sakazuki: …
Diana: Here's a warning from me and Kara and make sure you take it to heart. The reason we joined the Marines was to bring Justice, as you said, to all people. My priority isn't removing pirates, but rather making sure the people are protected. I'm not going to talk about sacrifices or anything for your Absolute Justice. That's the reason we joined and if you ever order us directly to do something that opposes our view…
Me: We will quit, and you know how the media will take that right? With the 'Vain of Pirates' no longer on the sea, it will only aid in the rebirth of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Diana: Also, whether one of us becomes an Admiral or not, don't send us to chase some goons that hit the World Nobles or something. We're here hunting people who do real harm to this world, not someone who punches some sense into those spoiled bastards. Send Kizaru instead.
Akainu: You…cannot say that about the World Nobles.
Me: Piece of Shits; spoiled brats who love nothing but torture, COVID-19 of the One Piece World, incest loving idiots who lost all their immunities.
Akainu remained speechless as he was shocked at what I just said, but he chose to remain silent.
Diana: You and I disagree on many things but this should be one thing we both agree on. The World Nobles don't deserve their place in the world. The World Government isn't a Royalty or Monarchy. It's the frigging World Government that keeps corruption out and Peace in; and yet, the people who cause the most trouble, break the most laws, complain about everything when they are in fact the blessed of the blessed are none other than the World Nobles.
You've seen them bleed before. Their blood isn't anything special. They're people, just like us. A parent's deeds are not their children's deeds; yet, why do the World Nobles reign so supreme over the World Government when they by themselves have no power at all?
Think about it Akainu. This is the Marines you are representing, the largest fighting force in the World!
Our argument was starting to get heated up. I guess this was to be expected, Sakazuki never had any sympathy to begin with.
Akainu: Enough…!
Diana: The World isn't just Black and White! Not all World Nobles are good! Not all Marines uphold our promise of Justice! And not all Pirates are evil! There are in-betweens everywhere! You, Sakazuki, have resorted to looking at the world in a simple fashion. Absolute Justice you call it. You deliver death to pirates no matter who they are without question. You sacrifice your own troops, you sacrifice entire nations like you did in Ohara. Tell me then, where are the Justice of the people who died that day? Those who did not study the ancient language?
Akainu: They were a risk! It was necessary to wipe out everyone…!
Diana: In other words you denied their Justice. Even though they trusted the World Government to protect them, you obliterated their trust. You stripped them of what they thought you stand for.
Akainu: Diana Fujitora… I think that is quite enough…
Diana: It is not. These are things you need to know. Let's talk about Nico Robin the devil child. I presume you've heard of her once or twice? Now tell me, how could a 10 year old child sink 6 Marine Warships?
Akainu: She's a Devil Fruit user!
Diana: Wrong. You sacrificed your own ships and fabricated the news to make her a Devil spawn to the world. You've turned her into a monster so that she would be hunted wherever she would go. Tell me, where is the Justice of Nico Robin? Not as an scholar who studied the ancient language but rather as a 10 year old girl who lost everything…because of your Justice.
Akainu: Those actions were necessary! The ancient language posed too much of a risk to the future!
Diana: Then why didn't you bring Ohara into your protection? Get every scholar into the Marine HQ and protect them and make sure they wouldn't even think about leaving? Or put them to work by finding out what the Ancient cubes say so the Marines could fine Raftel before anyone else does. Finding Raftel and the One Piece would signal the end of Piracy once and for all, don't you think?
Yet, your sense of Absolute Justice chose the worst option. Buster Call. Once your Justice was threatened, you removed every chance of it happening at the cost of countless innocent lives, lives you should have been protecting instead as if they were scraps off your plate. To me, THAT is what I see in your so called Absolute Justice. Do you disagree?
Sakazuki: …
Me: You've got a lot of time to think about it. Just know that we are people before we are Marines. We have our own morals to uphold before we uphold yours.
If we were going to get kicked out of Marines sooner or later, then we're messing with Sakazuki as much as we can before be leave. I don't want to be labeled as 'Just Another Pirate' when our defection inevitably happens.
After that, the time on board was spent in Silence with the new Fleet Admiral. After dropping him off at G-1, the Marine officers had an official meeting and a vote for the next Marine Admiral to fill in Akainu and Aokiji's spot. They easily voted us in which made us the youngest Admirals ever.
After a short ceremony, our new Marine coats, interviews, and a lot of newspapers, we went back to Akainu… Sakazuki now I guess and warned him one more time of our values and of what we will do if he doesn't repeat OUR Justice as well. We also told him we didn't want an Epithet and just be called Kara and Diana as always.
Knowing full well that we are now the Marine's greatest Military Power, he relented and gave us his word… yet we both knew that in the end that would only buy us time.
With our rise to Admiral, our crew was also promoted. Sarah officially became a Rear Admiral (which she was very excited about, stepping into the rank of Admiralty).
Tim and John were both granted the rank of Commander while Doc Brown became a Captain. (Captain is higher than Commander).
They celebrated this news as well but Sis and I were doing some more important things. Using our hard earned money and a lot of legal documents with evidence of what we did for the Marines, we managed to buy the Requiem from the Marines legally for only 500 Million beri. It was a lot of string pulling and small favors, but in the end it was worth it. We now had the excuse to take off everything that would track us back to the Marines on the ship.
We had Tim take off all the GPS trackers that didn't come with a White Den-Den Mushi (these block signals), and reprogram the Pacifista to be loyal to us and not the Marines. Since the PXS-1 was a prototype and the only one of its kind, it was rather easily done. Tim had a confused look at first but when we told him we bought the ship he understood immediately… probably wrong whatever he's thinking but whatever makes him work.
It's only been around 3 months since the end of the War and already so much as changed. I wonder what else will happen in the months to come.