Of course,
that was something only Aokiji could remember!
As the person directly involved, he recalled that stretch of events from back then.
As for everyone else,
the other viewers, and even Luffy himself, none of them remembered it right away.
Let alone those far away in the Bleach world, inside the surveillance room—
At this moment,
inside the video footage—
Back then, although Aokiji had been accidentally slammed into by Luffy,
and later had also come face to face with the entire Straw Hat Pirates,
to him, these rookie pirates
were not worth taking seriously.
As an Admiral, because of the gap in status and strength, Aokiji did not place them in his eyes at all.
Not only did he show no hostility whatsoever because of his position,
he even took the initiative to clarify that he was merely passing through
and had nothing to do with the Straw Hat crew.
However,
after learning through his conversation with Luffy
that Robin had newly joined their crew,
Aokiji's attitude instantly changed.
He was no longer completely relaxed and unguarded.
Instead...
He decided to make his move right there,
to eliminate the Straw Hat crew—Luffy and Robin included—before they could fully grow!
And the exposure of this scene,
especially the contrast between Aokiji's attitude before and after,
was laid out clearly through the playback of the review video.
It immediately won Aokiji praise from his colleagues inside Marine Headquarters:
"Oh?"
"Kuzan, that's rare..."
"For someone as lazy and laid-back as you,
you actually took the initiative to want to kill weak pirates?"
In truth,
even Akainu found it surprising.
Based on his understanding of Aokiji,
this ice Admiral was the laziest one among the three Admirals!
Although Kizaru liked to slack off too,
when it came to missions that needed to be carried out, he never shirked them.
Aokiji, on the other hand,
would rather lie down than stand if he had the choice!
For any mission, unless it was of major importance,
he would either drag it out or find an excuse to avoid showing up.
In short,
as fellow Admirals,
Akainu had long since found Aokiji unpleasant to deal with!
He believed
that the other man's way of doing things
was completely different from his own. And when combined with the justice each of them believed in, they were clearly not walking the same road at all!
And at this moment,
as the person involved,
Aokiji himself also raised his brows slightly. After recalling the past, his feelings were rather complicated.
If he had known in advance
that Garp's grandson—Luffy!—would cause such enormous trouble in the future,
then...
If he had known back then,
on that island,
no matter what, he would never have held back. He would have gone all out to wipe out Luffy himself, along with the entire Straw Hat crew!
What a pity...
"Sigh..."
Thinking of that,
Aokiji felt a headache coming on.
His gaze landed on Garp.
Luffy was Garp's grandson! And he himself was Garp's disciple!
In short,
during this period of time,
Aokiji could be said to be caught between two sides. He had truly been dragged into a mess!
Meanwhile,
on Garp's side, the old man's expression remained extremely calm.
And deep inside,
he was secretly delighted that Aokiji had stepped in to attract everyone's attention.
Otherwise,
after the previous round of exposure,
the matter of how he had deliberately held back on the execution platform and been easily knocked flat by one punch from Luffy
would not only have damaged the image of the "Hero of the Marines,"
but would also have left him facing endless doubts from people across the world.
They would have decided that this strongest Marine
had held back far too much,
to the point where it was practically the same as handing the win over for free!
Fortunately,
Aokiji was here now.
If, later on, even after developing killing intent,
and even after freezing the surrounding sea with the power of his Devil Fruit,
Aokiji still failed to take down the Straw Hat crew,
and if that entire process
were also completely exposed by the review video—
then what awaited Aokiji next
would not merely be the doubts of the world and the speechless reactions of his colleagues.
And also...
...
Over in the Bleach world,
those mysterious Captain-class Shinigami, as well as the entire Arrancar army,
would all start mocking and belittling him from afar as well!!!
And at this moment,
inside the screen, the clip continued and the exposure went on—
He made his move!
Cold air erupted!
Right in front of the camera, after stating his thoughts and warnings,
and after repeatedly reminding Luffy
that Robin was not a good person,
that from the age of seven she had already been a wanted criminal of the World Government—
Aokiji finally struck!
With the power of an Admiral,
he easily crushed the entire Straw Hat crew!
There was no suspense in this battle at all. It ended very quickly.
However,
just when the audience all thought
that Aokiji would follow through on his words and truly kill Robin with his own hands in front of Luffy and the others—
unexpectedly,
the next moment,
as the captain, Luffy, in order to protect his crew,
actually faced the camera
and boldly proposed a decision—
he wanted to fight Aokiji one-on-one!!!
That scene
naturally left the audience stunned.
And the atmosphere among the viewers
instantly turned grave because of Luffy's decision.
(End of Chapter)
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