Chapter 99: Bane: Don't Pity Me - It's All for Justice!
Before entering, Bane had assumed only Sengoku would be inside. But after entering, he discovered there were several big shots present.
The three Marine Admirals - Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan - sat on the sofa, and Chief Staff Officer Tsuru was also there.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat behind his desk, and all their gazes turned toward the door.
Garp laughed heartily without any pressure and walked in with Bane: "This is Bane, whom I mentioned to you all before. He's come as promised."
Fleet Admiral Sengoku's face showed a warm smile: "We've been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time, Bane."
The three Admirals Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino also showed respect, nodding at Bane in greeting. Chief Staff Officer Tsuru also smiled kindly.
Bane quickly exchanged pleasantries with these Marine high-ranking officers, and they all got acquainted.
After some brief conversation, Fleet Admiral Sengoku lavishly praised Bane as a young man with a sense of justice, expressing how much the Marines appreciated people like him and encouraging him to keep up the good work.
Bane also firmly declared that the fire of justice burned fiercely in his heart, and he would definitely persevere and continue on his path.
"Bane himself is a Logia Dark-Dark Fruit user, and besides that, his strength is quite impressive. I have high hopes for him. Moreover, he came to our Marine Headquarters with his companions this time - don't be surprised, but his companions are all first-rate talents. Among them are two Logia users - a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user and a Sand-Sand Fruit user - plus someone so powerful that even I must be cautious," Garp helped with introductions from the side.
After his words fell, everyone else in the office showed some surprise in their eyes, not having expected Bane's group to be of such high quality.
"It seems we underestimated you and your group, Bane. Quite remarkable indeed," Fleet Admiral Sengoku was the first to recover, his smile becoming even more warm.
"Not at all, we just had slightly better luck. We still have a long way to go," Bane said very modestly.
"Hahaha, luck is also part of strength. You don't need to be so modest," Sengoku laughed and waved his hand, then proactively asked: "I heard from both Smoker and Garp that you seem interested in joining our Marines?"
"Yes, we do have that idea. After communicating with Captain Smoker previously, I increasingly feel that the Marines align perfectly with what people like us pursue - justice and strength..." Bane spoke eloquently.
Hearing Bane praise the Marines, all the Marine leaders present showed warm smiles on their faces.
"Our Marines also very much welcome people of aspiration like yourselves..." Sengoku first nodded in affirmation of Bane, but then said somewhat difficultly: "However, even though I'm the Fleet Admiral, I can't act unilaterally. If you truly decide to join our Marines, I can at most guarantee that you'll start from the position of Headquarters Captain..."
Actually, this was all diplomatic talk. What did he mean by "acting unilaterally"? With so many Marine leaders present - one Fleet Admiral, three Admirals, one Chief Staff Officer, and one Marine Hero Vice Admiral - if they were determined, arranging Admiral positions for Bane's group would be impossible, but arranging Vice Admiral positions would be absolutely no problem.
However, it was obvious that Fleet Admiral Sengoku didn't want to do this, because while it would appear to absorb Bane's group's strength and strengthen the Marines, it would actually create many hidden dangers.
Three Logia users arranged as Vice Admirals, plus the expert Garp mentioned who would also need at least a Vice Admiral position, right?
That would be four Marine Vice Admirals, and they weren't coming separately but as a group, with one top expert and someone like Bane who had leadership qualities and was already recognized as their leader. What kind of situation would this create?
It would directly airdrop a new faction with considerable power into the Marines!
As Fleet Admiral, Sengoku definitely wouldn't want such a thing to happen. So his ideal arrangement would be to separate Bane's group, have them start as Captains, then gradually win them over and promote them separately. After all, as far as he knew, Bane and his group had been together for less than a year - perhaps after training in the Marines' melting pot, they wouldn't be as united as they were now.
This way, their power would be stably absorbed and digested by the Marine system.
Especially since, although both sides currently maintained a relatively friendly relationship, Sengoku still couldn't truly trust Bane's group. Suddenly giving them high positions in the Marines could very likely cause major problems.
Regarding Sengoku's arrangement, Bane wasn't actually surprised. He had long anticipated this situation and didn't feel there was anything to complain about. If he were in the Fleet Admiral's position, he would make the same arrangements and considerations. Position determines perspective - no problem there.
This was also why he wasn't eager to immediately join the Marines - because Sengoku wasn't anxious now, so he was unwilling to give more.
On the contrary, after the War at the Top ended, when Sengoku was about to step down and the factional and personal conflicts between Kuzan and Sakazuki that had accumulated for years reached their peak, unable to be suppressed due to the fight for Fleet Admiral position, erupting into enormous conflict that caused one Marine Admiral to leave the Marines.
Combined with the damage from war, the pressure from the turbulent seas situation, and the World Government seizing the opportunity to try to create reins for the Marines...
Under all these factors, the Marines would be forced to launch the World Military Draft - that would be the real opportunity.
Once the World Military Draft began, all the previous restrictions and thresholds would be shattered, completely highlighting a Marine stage where "if you have the skills, come!"
Two Marine Admirals would be directly airdropped in, along with a large number of Marine intermediate forces and massive numbers of new recruits.
In an instant, this would suppress the Marines' originally unstable situation and quickly restore the Marines' deterrent power, supplementing them with strong capabilities.
However, judging from the subsequent performance of people like Issho and Aramaki, many ridiculous problems also appeared within the Marines.
The most obvious one was that civilian experts like Issho and Aramaki hadn't systematically learned Marine spirit, so their personal styles were extremely prominent, and Fleet Admiral Sakazuki's words carried no weight.
How could something like a Marine Admiral kneeling down to apologize have happened during the old three Admirals era?
When Sengoku was Fleet Admiral, his orders had to be unconditionally obeyed even by Admirals - there had never been cases of insubordination.
But what about Sakazuki? Also a Fleet Admiral, yet Issho completely ignored him, doing whatever he wanted.
Aramaki was the same - though he at least held some admiration for Sakazuki, even so, he secretly went behind Sakazuki's back to stir up trouble in Wano Country, accomplishing nothing but losing face spectacularly.
From all this, one could see how much damage the World Military Draft had caused the Marines.
But it didn't matter - Bane didn't care about these issues. From a positional standpoint, he would later belong to the beneficiary group of the World Military Draft. As the saying goes, position determines perspective - he couldn't wait for the Marines to start this action sooner, and he also hoped the Marines would develop problems afterward, which would conveniently allow him to team up with Boss Zephyr to form the New Marines!
After Sengoku finished speaking, Bane's face also showed a troubled expression... Acting - who couldn't do that?
"Well, I'm honored by your kindness, Fleet Admiral, but I still need to go back and discuss this thoroughly with my companions," Bane said somewhat helplessly.
Sengoku wasn't surprised by this reaction and showed no dissatisfaction at having his face swept. Instead, he appeared very understanding: "Indeed, you should discuss it carefully. This is a big matter that requires all of you to think seriously before making a decision. Alright, let's not talk about this for now. The reason we invited you to our Marine Headquarters this time is actually because there's a very important matter that requires your help."
Just now they had been mutually "troubled," but now with no conflicts of interest, Bane's role changed extremely quickly.
Without even asking what it was, he immediately patted his chest and declared: "Working for the Marines means contributing to justice! For justice, we can all give our utmost effort! Please don't be polite, Fleet Admiral - whatever you need me to do, just assign it!"
*We don't have the idea of becoming Marine Captains and executing justice, but we do have the idea - and plenty of it - of using the name of justice and raising the Marines' banner to enhance our own reputation and prestige!*
Sengoku silently cursed "little fox" in his heart - the acting was quite convincing - but his smile became much richer: "Good, then I'll speak directly!"
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