Continuous gunshots continued all night long, sometimes mixed with the roar of grenades.
The thousand elite army troops led by Crocodile have killed most of Kabane under the firepower net.
The periphery of the built-up area is now covered with layers of broken bodies and limbs in Kabane. The entire scene can be described as a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Next, they would have to enter the Station's various buildings to search for and eliminate any Kabane hiding within.
Crocodile will not help during this process. This is an order that Bullet transmitted to him through the Den-Den Mushi, for the purpose of training these army soldiers.
To be honest, Crocodile didn't want to accept this order, simply because it bothered him. He was a lieutenant general, and Bullet was too. Why should he follow the other's orders? But he couldn't find a suitable reason to argue against it.
Crocodile already knew the current situation of the army. Although they were soldiers of the army headquarters, their quality was similar to that of the marines of the Marine Branches of the Four Seas.
How could this be acceptable? He was an army lieutenant general, and in the future he would be an army general, and even possibly an army marshal. If the soldiers under his command were worse than those at the navy headquarters, it would be a shame for him.
Furthermore, he did not know how to train soldiers, so Crocodile, while flying through the sky of the Station, could only watch in disgust while smoking his cigarette.
"Tch, it's nothing to be able to train soldiers. The generals and the marshal are not here to train soldiers. The most important thing is strength and ingenuity."
But at that time, both Crocodile and Bullet ignored a more important factor: support from higher levels.
…
While the Army Headquarters is in full swing in the world of Kabane, the Navy Headquarters is about to face changes in the top leadership following the conclusion of the army-wide Supreme Command Council meeting.
However, for now, there had been no changes. The restructuring and handover are not things that can be completed quickly.
Previously, there were a row of large warships docked in the ports outside Marineford, but now only a few remained.
There have been too many tasks requiring naval escort recently. The warships of the G-series branch alone are simply not enough, so the warships from the headquarters can only be mobilized to help. As a result, the atmosphere on the island has been very deserted these days.
It was in this situation that two warships arrived slowly, one after another.
"I don't know why, but I always feel that times have changed so fast. I can actually see so many fish-men and merfolk in this place, all wearing Navy uniforms."
Garp walked with Dragon and Bogard behind him, casually observing the fish-men and merfolk moving around.
The three of them advanced quickly, and before long they reached the outside of the fortress meeting room. But at this point, Bogard couldn't go any further.
His military rank was not enough.
However, Bogard didn't care. He just found a random couch and sat down.
"Hey, you are the only one, Fleet Admiral?" Garp looked at Kong, who was sitting alone behind the meeting table, with a confused expression.
He thought that Sengoku and Tsuru would also be present. She sat on a chair and started teasing. "In that case, we could have gone directly to your office instead of coming to this big room."
Dragon on the side didn't say that much. He sat silently on the chair opposite Garp. He had no choice but to do it. He had been beaten too many times since he was a child, and subconsciously he didn't want to sit with this man.
"This is…" Dragon saw a thick stack of documents on the table.
"You should check those documents first, otherwise the explanation will be too complicated." Kong said.
Without those documents, explaining what a Dimensional Gate was and why the military was being restructured would require a lot of effort. Garp and Dragon didn't say much and started looking through the documents.
"Hmm?"
"Ah!"
After a few minutes, Garp's eyes widened, and Dragon's expression changed drastically. Both of them fixed their gazes on every word of the documents, and even the speed at which they turned the pages instinctively slowed down.
For a moment, the huge conference room was silent, only the sound of pages turning, and labored breathing could be heard.
Meanwhile, Kong, sitting in the main seat, was smiling as he watched the changing expressions of the two. He knew that when they first saw those documents at Mary Geoise, they probably had the same reaction.
"Phew..."
"Phew..."
Garp and Dragon let out a long sigh almost at the same time, they had finally reviewed all the documents.
Kong saw that they were ready, smiled and said: "I guess you understand quite a bit about the Dimensional Gate and the Other Worlds now, right?"
"Are there strong people in other worlds?" Garp raised his head and looked over with burning eyes. He could feel the blood in his body getting excited.
"Yes, but as the information says, no high-level combat power has yet been discovered in Kabane World, but it does not mean that there will not be in other worlds in the future."
Kong looked at Garp seriously and said: "There may even be some advanced or even top-level combat forces that are stronger than what we have here!"
"Bwahaha, isn't that a good thing?" Garp laughed excitedly. In his opinion, his strength has reached the point where he can't make any progress. If there are opponents stronger than him in other worlds, it means that he has the opportunity to become stronger.
"If it's an opponent that you can't resist at all, or even all of us can't resist together, do you still think it's a good thing, Garp!" Kong shouted loudly.
"Ahh... this..." Garp was stunned, then touched his chin and said: "Even together we are not strong enough? You mean not only the Navy, but also pirate groups like Whitebeard's, right?"
"That's right."
"I, Sengoku, Zephyr, and Whitebeard are not rivals if they join forces. It's really exciting!" Garp opened his mouth and laughed, which made Dragon opposite him have a black line on his head, and the veins on Kong's forehead popped out, and his fists clenched and banged.
"You should take this seriously, you bastard!"
The roar echoed through the conference room, stopping even Bogard, who was enjoying his coffee outside.
Inside the conference room, Dragon ignored the two leaders' fight and reflected on his own matters, as he had understood the rationale behind so many recent changes in the World Government.
The existence of the Dimensional Gates could connect other worlds, which meant that the World Government could no longer simply worry about maintaining the balance of power on its own world.
They needed to mobilize all forces from all aspects of the world to assist in the conquest and development of other worlds. And they would face more and more new worlds in the future.
Therefore, the World Government was taking severe measures to address problems such as the slave trade, the Heavenly Tribute, pirates, and racial conflicts. Because, for the World Government today, the current world was no longer simply a pasture to tend, but the base of operations to conquer countless worlds.
And closing the Dimensional Gates simply wasn't an option, even if theoretically it was. The pull of resources on the second habitable planet was fatal to both the World Government and the world itself, and there was more than one new world confirmed, with more to come.
"Enough!" Kong waved his hand to silence Garp and pushed a document towards him. "This is your new appointment after the restructuring, congratulations, you are finally an Admiral!"
"What?" Garp jumped to his feet, knocking over the chair behind him. He quickly took the document and looked at it, it was true!
"Impossible!"
"Don't even think about it if you want me to be Admiral to wipe that trash's ass!"
Garp's categorical rejection spread throughout the conference room, but Kong was not surprised and didn't even blink.
What kind of temper this old bastard has is known to the whole of Marineford.
"Regarding the Celestial Dragons, you don't need to worry. I have already received the news. The Five Elders have issued a house arrest order for all the Celestial Dragons."
"In the future, only those Celestial Dragons with special permission will be able to leave Mary Geoise. Even if you wanted to wipe their butts, you won't even be able to find their butts."
"..." Dragon listened to Kong, his head filled with black lines. However, he was not at all surprised that his own father was promoted to Admiral.
Ever since he read the documents regarding the military restructuring, he had already had a hunch about it.
"What? Those wastes are under house arrest?" Garp was startled after hearing this. When he came to his senses, he quickly shook his head. "No, no, you just said that some Celestial Dragons can still come out, but if they cause trouble, I have to wipe their asses!"
[Bang!]
Kong slammed the conference table and said angrily: "Where do you get so much nonsense from? As if you were hurt by being named Admiral."
"Let me tell you clearly, this time you have no choice. Whether you agree or not, you will be an Admiral in the future, this news will be announced to the whole world immediately!"
"I'm not doing it anyway! If anyone wants to be an Admiral, let them be. I'm not going to wipe those trash's asses!" Garp was also angry, not caring if he was the Fleet Admiral or not.
"Garp!" Kong also stood up abruptly, radiating incredible pressure. His fierce gaze collided in the air with Garp's defiant gaze.
"..." Dragon, sitting on the other side, looked speechless at these two great men facing each other. To be honest, if he were another ordinary vice admiral, he would probably be drenched in sweat and struggling to stay conscious.
"Father, if you do not accept the position of Admiral, who will?"
"If no one does, then Sengoku won't be able to promote to Fleet Admiral. Are you trying to hinder your old friend's advancement?"
"Oh, and if there is no one to take over as Admiral, then the restructuring will not be able to continue, and Vice Admiral Tsuru will also not be able to advance to Minister of General Staff, with the rank of General."
These words caused Garp's expression to stiffen and his aura to fade instantly. Kong also regained his composure and sat back down, shooting Dragon an approving look.
"This is my business. Why is it related to Sengoku and Tsuru?"
"The current situation is that your promotion is directly related to Sengoku and Tsuru's promotion path."
"As for those three Admiral candidates, you should also know that they are not yet ready to take over as Admiral, at least not in the next few years."
"..." At this time, Garp was completely confused and stood there at a loss. He hadn't expected his son to give him a lesson like that. Damn!
And he wasn't the kind of person who could say something like 'I don't care about Sengoku and Tsuru'.
"And after you become an admiral, even if any of the Celestial Dragons cause trouble in the future, you can completely ignore it. Can the World Government remove you? Even if they did, wouldn't that be just what you want?" Dragon continued.
"Ah this." Garp was dumbfounded, and at the same time thought to himself: 'Yes, I can ignore them! Who can force me?'
It's just that Kong on the side was a little speechless at Dragon's words. Is it appropriate to say this in front of him?
But for some reason, Kong decided to remain silent at that moment, and simply pretended not to have heard anything.
"The most important thing is that if you really completely reject the position of Admiral, the World Government may prohibit you from going to other worlds. Can you accept that kind of punishment?"
"Of course not!" Garp shouted.
Then he fell silent, standing there in a tangle. Dragon said nothing more, silently waiting for his decision with Kong.
After a moment, a long sigh sounded.
"Okay, I'll be Admiral, but I still say the same thing, I don't want to deal with the Celestial Dragons!" After saying that, Garp turned around with a grim expression and was about to leave the conference room.
"Wait a minute, we're not done yet. Don't you want to hear about the arrangements for Dragon?"
Kong's voice came from behind him, which successfully stopped Garp in his tracks. He turned around and sat down again. He glared at his son angrily and snorted. "What's wrong with this brat this time? I have to give him another 'fatherly love training' session after this."
Dragon's eyes twitched when he heard this.
"Look at this". At this moment, Kong pushed the remaining document towards Dragon. Under the furious gaze of his father, the latter picked it up and began to leaf through it reluctantly.
As he read, he was drawn to the content.
"Separation of the military and police. Restructuring of the Tribunal and adding the Ministry of Police, Public Security Department, Military Police Station, and Police Station"
Dragon is different from his father Garp and his future son Luffy. He is the kind of person who likes to think. At this moment, the more he analyzes this restructuring plan, the more he feels that the separation of the armed forces and the police is a beneficial policy.
"The emergence of the Ministry of Police will completely restrict the authority of the navy to the ocean, but it will also deprive all affiliated nations of their judicial and security powers, which is not easy."
Kong showed a gentle smile and asked: "How about it, are you willing to be the first minister of the Police Department?"
"Although he is not part of the armed forces and does not have the rank of Admiral, but as the top leader of the Police, he is actually equivalent to that of Fleet Admiral."
Dragon thought for a moment and just as he was about to respond, Garp interrupted in surprise. "What is this Police Department? What do you mean it's not part of the armed forces? Are they going to get Dragon out of the Navy?"
He had always considered his son to be an exceptional Marine, raised from a young age. In his mind, his future would definitely be that of an Admiral. But now, hearing Kong's words, didn't that mean they wouldn't let Dragon be part of the Navy?
It's just that Kong didn't care about Garp's attitude. Instead, he looked at Dragon seriously and asked: "What is your decision?"
"I am willing to be the Minister of Police. From the overall perspective of the world, this is a good thing, but I want to meet the candidate for the Director of the Military Police Bureau recommended above."
Dragon picked up the document and turned to the last page. He squinted his eyes and said softly: "Bartholomew Kuma?"
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