After observing the state of disarray in Mariejois for a while, Diarmuid saw a beautiful woman with a graceful figure and an enchanting smile walking toward him from a distance.
She wore a pure white women's suit with a small hat on her head, adorned with a blood-red rose on its brim. A sable fur shawl hung on her shoulders, and she held a stylish ladies' handbag.
She walked gracefully toward Diarmuid in a pair of white high heels that exuded an air of dominance.
Undoubtedly, this stunning beauty was none other than the CP-0 Chief, Queen Stussy.
As Stussy approached, a smile appeared on Diarmuid's face. He looked at her with admiration and said, "Is power a woman's best nourishment?"
Stussy rolled her eyes alluringly and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Chief, you look even more beautiful and charming than before," Diarmuid teased in a "respectful" tone.
Queen Stussy covered her mouth and laughed, her body trembling in a truly captivating way.
"Oh, Admiral, you are too kind," Stussy replied, then asked, "Do you like it?"
"I do," Diarmuid said with complete honesty.
Queen Stussy took two steps to stand beside Diarmuid, wrapped her arm around his, and leaned half her body against him. She whispered, "If you like it, I'll give you a surprise tonight..."
"I'm truly looking forward to it," Diarmuid quipped with a laugh, then added, "As the CP-0 Chief and me a Marine Admiral, is it really okay for us to be so openly intimate in Mariejois?"
"It's fine. They've changed their attitude toward you Marines this time and want to get you all on their side," Stussy said with a wink. "Before the Gorosei sent me to greet you, they specifically told me not to cause any conflict with you and to welcome you properly. So, you see, I'm just following orders."
"Seriously? Don't they know that we already have a great relationship?" Diarmuid asked, a bit surprised.
"Do you think they care about such things?" Stussy said without hesitation.
"I guess not..." Diarmuid mused.
The World Government had so many trivial matters to deal with day in and day out. Why would the Gorosei have the time to care whether Diarmuid and Stussy were in a relationship?
Or, perhaps, they wouldn't even think to guess something like that.
After all, before Diarmuid, there was no record of anyone from the CP organization getting along with the Marines.
When they stood together, it was always with mutual contempt...
As the World Government's highest authority, they simply didn't have the time to observe the intimate relationship between Diarmuid and Stussy.
Since they now had the "righteousness of an ordered intimacy," Diarmuid didn't act aloof. He kept his arm around Stussy, and the two of them walked toward the World Government's headquarters, chatting and laughing.
Most of Mariejois was burned to the ground and was now being rebuilt, but the World Government's main building was not affected by the arson and still stood tall over Mariejois.
Diarmuid and Stussy soon entered the building together.
"Even after being an Admiral for so many years, this is the first time I've officially come alone to meet the Gorosei. Do they have any plans? You can give me a heads-up," Diarmuid asked Queen Stussy as they stood in the elevator.
Queen Stussy thought for a moment, then said, "For at least the next few years, the World Government plans to ease tensions with you Marines. The 'Anti-Corruption Operation' request you submitted before... the Gorosei see it as a sign of you, as an Admiral, showing goodwill and a willingness to compromise."
"Huh?" Diarmuid was taken aback.
A joke, right? He had never intended to be a pushover for the Gorosei. He had always tried to avoid them. If the Gorosei hadn't ignored him before, he wouldn't be so calm. In Diarmuid's mind, the best-case scenario was for them to leave him alone and let him quietly build his strength. Once he had accumulated enough power, they wouldn't have the right to interfere anymore.
Therefore, Diarmuid had never thought of currying favor with the Gorosei or the World Government. His core policy had always been a single one: iron must be hard by itself. Developing the Marines was his cornerstone.
The favor of the Gorosei and the like was all superficial. Today, they could favor you and give you everything; tomorrow, they could get disgusted with you, and you would be nothing. Diarmuid was very clear on this simple principle.
So the request he submitted was purely to absolve the Marines of responsibility and avoid being dragged into the Mariejois incident. After all, I submitted the request, and you personally approved it. Are you going to hold it against me later? That would be going too far, wouldn't it?
Who knew the Gorosei would interpret this as him compromising and showing goodwill?
However, on second thought, Diarmuid chuckled. That's good, too. There's no need to correct this misunderstanding.
While he didn't care about the Gorosei's attitude, now that they wanted to meet him, Diarmuid wasn't going to act like a proud hero and declare, "I am not your subject, I refuse to bow down to your will!"
At this stage, giving the Gorosei the false impression that he was "compromising" was a great idea. It would make them lower their guard even more.
"I don't know what to say about them. Have they been in high positions for too long that they don't bother to look down and see if the road is flat?" Diarmuid complained.
"It's normal. For hundreds of years, the relationship between you Marines and the World Government has always been a cycle of coming together and breaking apart, good and bad. So whether your relationship was bad before or your 'compromise' now, it all seems normal to the Gorosei's ingrained mindset. People's fixed ways of thinking are very hard to change... If I hadn't spent so much time with you and gotten to know you so well, I wouldn't believe that while you lead the Marines to do such reckless things, you actually intend to completely break free from the World Government's control and restraint," Stussy said calmly.
Thinking about Queen Stussy's words, Diarmuid found them reasonable and stopped complaining.
"Since you're back and a Chief, what are you going to do about the Pleasure District? Are you giving it up?" Diarmuid asked.
"How could I? I still remember what you said back then," Queen Stussy said with an eye roll.
"What did I say?" Diarmuid was confused. What did I say? I don't remember at all.
"You said... everything the CP organization has now is based on the trust of the World Nobles and the Gorosei. We have this power and status only because they trust us. The moment they stop trusting us, we will be nothing, just abandoned stray dogs." Stussy said softly.
"I said that?" Diarmuid thought hard but still couldn't remember. Maybe he just said it casually during one of his "fights" with the Queen.
"So?" Diarmuid asked again.
"So how could a person like me place everything I have on the trust that others bestow upon me?" At this point, Queen Stussy looked at Diarmuid and chuckled, "Not even you."
That's right. How could the Queen possibly put everything on someone else? Although she seemed extremely close to Diarmuid, have you ever seen her let him interfere with the Pleasure District even once?
Never.
Perhaps the Queen relied on and trusted Diarmuid, but she would never place her entire being on him. The same went for the World Government. It was just that she was born into the CP organization, making it hard to change. Fortunately, she happened to be in control of the Pleasure District.
Diarmuid had no doubt that even though the Pleasure District was officially an outlying organization of the CP agency to the World Government, in reality, the entire district was likely a fortress built by the Queen.
If she ever lost her power within the CP organization, she might completely betray the World Government and truly become a boss of the underworld!
Therefore, there was no way the Queen would ever give up her base in the Pleasure District. The CP-0 Chief position was just a stepping stone for her to gain power. The large organization of the Pleasure District was her true foundation.
She's so cold. Diarmuid rolled his eyes at Stussy. "Aren't you afraid of hurting our feelings by saying that?"
Stussy just laughed. "Our feelings aren't so fragile that they'd be hurt by something like this, Diarmuid. I'm a very smart person. Between us... only betrayal is truly destructive. That's why I never hide anything from you, not even thoughts like this. I'll tell you everything honestly."
"You really have an amazing talent for getting into people's minds," Diarmuid remarked with a sigh.
He was right. Even though Stussy had been so blunt, Diarmuid felt no disgust or distance from her. On the contrary, he was happy about her honesty.
But it was obvious that this was a carefully crafted move by the Queen.
It didn't matter, though. Diarmuid didn't care about this stuff. He and Stussy were fundamentally different. While they called themselves allies, Diarmuid was always the one holding all the power.
Perhaps, because he was from the Marines and Stussy was from the CP, it was destined from the beginning.
It's confirmed. It's much safer to have the Marines as my base of operations. After all, the Marines' military power is very real.
As long as I can control that power, I don't need to rely on anyone else. I can do it all on my own!
"You don't like it?" Stussy asked with a smile, her eyes twinkling like stars.
Diarmuid looked at her beautiful eyes and finally nodded. "I do."
"Then there you go, hehehe..." the Queen said with a laugh.
In truth, she did have some "weak" thoughts. For example, when she hadn't seen Diarmuid for a long, long time, she would sometimes think at night that perhaps she didn't need to control the Pleasure District or have power within CP-0.
Maybe she just needed to be simple and hold on tightly to Diarmuid's heart, and she could have everything...
But these weak thoughts never lasted long. Because she was smart and understood Diarmuid's mindset, she knew that to capture his heart, she had to be useful to him. The more she helped him, the more important her place in his heart would be.
If she really gave up everything and only used her beauty... she might not only fail to win Diarmuid's heart but also gradually lose the affection he currently had for her.
Regardless of the Queen's twisted little thoughts, Diarmuid quickly arrived at the top floor of the World Government's headquarters. This was his first time here.
As he got out, he looked around curiously. There was only one door on this top floor.
"That's the office of the Five Elders. Let's go," Stussy said, still arm-in-arm with Diarmuid, and walked toward the door.
Diarmuid smiled and calmly walked to the door, then raised his hand to knock.
"Come in."
After hearing the response from inside, Stussy finally released Diarmuid's arm, and Diarmuid steadily pushed the door open and entered.
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