"Kuzan, what is your dream?" Yeyin's question left Kuzan bewildered once again.
His goal was to become a man of the Navy, and his dream was naturally to eliminate evil and uphold justice!
"To eradicate evil!" Kuzan responded calmly.
"Eradicate evil?"
"And what, in your heart, is evil? And what is justice?" Yeyin shook his head and asked again.
This kind of statement was something almost every Marine would say. However, very few truly adhered to their personal sense of justice and had a clear concept of what justice meant to them.
Even the current Admirals, Sengoku, Zephyr, and Tsuru, were vague on the matter.
In Yeyin's memory, there were only a few individuals in the Navy who truly followed their sense of justice: Garp, Kuzan, Smoker...
Many others were uncertain, simply following the version of justice aligned with their current position, wandering forward aimlessly.
"Pirates are the greatest evil on this sea, and my job is to eradicate them, the tumors of this world," Kuzan continued. "Just like Vice Admiral Garp!"
In Kuzan's eyes, Garp's repeated refusal of promotions to admiral was incredibly cool.
What he wanted to do was the same: only do what he believed was right.
"Vice Admiral Garp?"
"Hahaha! If you want to walk Garp's path, you're still a long way off!" Yeyin laughed.
"Ice-Ice Fruit, but all you've managed is a freezer and basic elemental transformation."
"How much have you really developed your Ice-Ice Fruit ability?"
"And what level is your Armament Haki and Observation Haki?" Yeyin ruthlessly criticized him.
Despite having such a powerful elemental Devil Fruit, Kuzan couldn't even defeat a mere cleaning officer.
Yeyin had only intended to show off in front of one of the future Admirals, Aokiji, but as he spoke, he realized he couldn't stop.
Now that he'd said this much, he might as well continue bragging, right?
"I..."
"Are you saying I should go learn from Vice Admiral Garp?" Kuzan was momentarily stunned, blurting out this question.
"You've heard of Borsalino and Kisaragi, right?"
"When it comes to training students, none of the current Admirals is more suited than Admiral Zephyr."
"Kuzan, you still have much to learn. Keep working hard!" Yeyin finished, then quickly ran off.
If he stayed any longer, he'd run out of things to say.
It turned out, he was only good at fooling people.
Teaching and guiding others really wasn't his thing!
Kuzan didn't pursue him but stood silently amidst the ice formations.
As for Carotel, he anxiously followed Yeyin out of the area.
"This kid is truly interesting!" Zephyr, standing on a distant rooftop with a smile on his face, remarked. "But you told him all those things, didn't you?"
"I can't figure this kid out," Garp replied lazily, tossing a rice cracker into his mouth. "And as for where he got that information, I have no idea."
"The only thing I can confirm is that he's not evil."
"If he's not evil, then let him become justice! How about sending him to my training camp?" Zephyr suggested again.
"You'll have to ask him yourself. It seems this kid only wants to be a cleaning officer. He's just a boy who's interested in garbage. Bwahahaha!" Garp said as he walked away.
(End of Chapter)