"Aizen… leaving already?"
Outside the room, Smoker and Tashigi—no, Tina had come together to see Sōsuke Aizen off.
"Yes," Aizen replied. "The Science Unit has been pushing pretty hard."
That signature, gentle smile returned to his face—warm, polite, and impossible to read.
"Damn it!" Smoker slammed a fist into the wall. "What the hell are those bastards thinking? Sending a war hero like you to the Science Unit so you can 'assist with research'?"
"Tina thinks this is completely inappropriate!" Tina's pretty face was tight with anger.
And it wasn't just them.
Every elite Marine who had fought at Marineford felt the same way once the news spread.
Aizen's achievements were undeniable, and his strength was the real deal.
He was exactly the kind of man you stationed in the New World to hold the line.
Especially now—Sengoku stepping down, Akainu taking over—the New World desperately needed top-tier power to stabilize it.
Pulling Aizen out at a time like this?
That wasn't a transfer.
That was ripping the roots out from under the Navy.
But inside the Marines, attention on Aizen faded quickly—because something else swallowed the entire organization's focus.
Aokiji had formally challenged Akainu to a duel.
In front of the upper brass, Aokiji had said it plainly:
"I don't agree with your vision for the Marines. If the Navy falls into your hands, it'll sink into a bottomless hell—becoming nothing but a heartless killing machine."
"Let's settle it with a duel. Winner leads. Loser steps aside."
Akainu, of course, wasn't about to give up the Fleet Admiral seat that was practically in his hands.
He accepted.
The time and place were classified. Only the highest of the high-ups would be allowed to witness it—no chance for outsiders to exploit the chaos.
"Once the new Fleet Admiral takes office, the Navy's direction is going to change," Aizen said, almost kindly. "You two should prepare yourselves."
Tina's eyes narrowed. "From the way you're talking… you already know who's going to win?"
After all, whether it was Aokiji or Akainu, both were monsters.
Neither side could claim a guaranteed victory.
Aizen smiled.
"I don't know who will win."
"But I do know the World Government."
"Even if Akainu loses this duel, the World Government will find a way to put him in that chair anyway."
"What?!" Smoker's eyes went wide. "Then what's the point of the duel?!"
Aizen shrugged, his tone mild but the implication sharp.
"Maybe that's the question the World Government wants to ask."
"Starting a duel like this… what do they think that appointment decree was? A suggestion?"
By that point, even someone as thick-headed as Smoker finally got it.
Right.
The World Government had already named Akainu as Fleet Admiral.
If the Marines turned around and swapped him out through a duel…
That would be a public slap in the World Government's face.
What—the World Government can't even command its own Navy now?
Tina frowned. "Sengoku-sama isn't stupid. He had to understand that. So why would he allow this?"
Aizen shook his head.
"It's not that he allowed it."
"It's that he couldn't stop it."
He tilted his chin toward the window.
Outside, commanders from the "dove" faction and the "hawk" faction were still sniping at each other across the plaza—smirks, insults, barely restrained contempt.
"The real purpose of this duel is to vent the pressure and calm the split inside the Navy."
"The conflict between the hawks and doves has hit its breaking point."
"If they don't give it somewhere to explode safely, then the day Akainu takes the seat will be the day the Navy starts tearing itself apart."
"Damn it!" Smoker crushed the cigar in his hand, furious. "This is all because the World Government insisted on forcing the change! Otherwise the Navy wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Heh." Aizen's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Maybe the World Government is perfectly happy to see it happen."
Smoker and Tina both snapped their heads toward him.
"What do you mean?" they asked at the same time.
Aizen's voice lowered—soft, almost intimate.
"A Navy that can mobilize a hundred thousand elites at a moment's notice… with five Admiral-class monsters… and total unity…"
"Do you think the World Government can sleep soundly with that sitting under them?"
"What if that blade ever decides it doesn't want to cut pirates anymore…"
"…and turns around to cut them?"
The words were quiet—but they crawled under the skin like ice.
"That's impossible!" Smoker barked, face flushing. "The Marines would never do something that unjust!"
Aizen lifted one shoulder.
"You say you won't."
"But what if the World Government doesn't believe you?"
"People with filthy hearts assume everyone else is filthy too."
Then, as if that weren't enough, Aizen added another twist—calmly tossing gasoline on the fire.
"And tell me something."
"Why do you think the hawk-and-dove conflict suddenly got this intense?"
"Don't forget what the World Government's CP agencies are paid to do."
Smoker and Tina both felt a chill run down their backs.
If the World Government had been quietly stirring the pot behind the scenes…
Then what were they really trying to accomplish?
Aizen seemed to read the question in their faces.
His tone remained flat.
"The goal is simple."
"The obedient stay."
"The ones who won't heel… get kicked out."
"To the World Government, the Navy is a dog they keep on a leash."
"And obedience matters more than anything."
Smoker and Tina left Aizen's room in a daze.
They'd talked for a long time—but most of it blurred.
Only the last part stayed crystal-clear.
"If Akainu wins the duel, the damage can be kept to a minimum."
"But if Aokiji wins…"
Aizen's smile sharpened into something almost amused.
"Then sit back and watch."
"It'll be one hell of a show."
They didn't know what kind of "show" Aizen meant.
But they were certain of one thing:
It wouldn't be good.
—
After wrestling with it for a while, Smoker decided to go find Sengoku and try to stop this farce of a duel.
They were Marines—not puppets on the World Government's strings.
Normally, Smoker—a mere Colonel—would never get a meeting with Sengoku, who was buried in crises and paperwork.
But Smoker was one of the rare new-generation Logia users, and Sengoku did take him seriously.
He agreed to see him—once.
No one knew what they discussed behind closed doors.
But the duel wasn't canceled.
It still happened.
Punk Hazard.
Akainu and Aokiji fought for ten days and ten nights, permanently twisting the island's climate into two extremes.
But this time…
Aokiji was the one who won.
"Kh—!"
Akainu was drenched in blood, his back pressed against a broken wall, barely holding himself upright.
"I can't believe it… I actually lost to you."
His eyes burned with frustration.
To him, Aokiji had always been criminally lazy.
If anything, Akainu had expected Aokiji's strength to stagnate—not surpass his own.
Aokiji shook his head.
"You were in a hurry."
"At Marineford, you took heavy damage—back-to-back—from Barrett and Whitebeard."
"It looked like you recovered…"
"But injuries that deep don't just 'heal' because you say they do."
At their level, even the smallest flaw could decide everything.
And in the final moments…
Akainu's old wounds fully caught up with him—handing Aokiji the opening he needed to turn the tables.