Even though the Navy was huge in numbers, the actual count of its various branch bases was not incredibly high.
Raleigh planned to start his secret organization by assigning just one person per branch base as a trial.
Later, as their numbers naturally grew, they could train Marine members on a massive scale up in the North Blue.
Once the entire Navy was quietly filled with their own loyal people, who held the official title of "Fleet Admiral" would no longer matter.
After all, regardless of who sat in the Fleet Admiral's chair, the actual control of the Navy would rest firmly in Raleigh's hands.
It seemed like Raleigh had spent a long time thinking deeply about these massive plans, but in reality, only a fleeting moment had passed.
His hand still gripped his fishing rod tightly, locked in a struggle with a big fish deep in the sea.
Splash.
The massive fish leaped out of the water, trying to break free from Raleigh's hook.
Unfortunately for the fish, it had encountered a very crafty opponent.
"Shigan."
The moment the fish surfaced, Raleigh raised his free hand and aimed a single finger right at the leaping fish.
Thud.
The fish's head exploded in a spray of blood, and its body instantly floated lifelessly on the ocean surface.
"Uh... is this even fishing?" Gion asked, holding her head in her hands.
She had never seen such a brutal method—it completely ruined the relaxing enjoyment of fishing!
Raleigh retorted with a smile, "How is this not fishing? No one ever said the Shigan technique cannot be used as a landing net."
Completely speechless at Raleigh's lazy antics, Gion sighed and left his side, determined to go focus on her own training.
She really wanted to complain about this.
Every time she looked for Raleigh, she would find him doing random, lazy things in different places.
She had never actually seen Raleigh engage in hard, sweaty physical training.
Yet, Gion knew that Raleigh's strength was increasing every single day.
The Raleigh from a month ago would definitely be no match for the current Raleigh.
Even though he had not fought a serious battle against anyone for a long time, Gion had still deduced his true strength.
He was infinitely close to the Admiral level.
With that kind of power, even if he fought a real Marine Admiral, he would not be defeated in a short amount of time.
However, Gion could not predict exactly when he would finally step fully into the Admiral tier.
Raleigh happily hauled up the big fish he had just killed.
He casually cleaned it and started grilling the meat on his nearby barbecue.
...
Two Days Later
The Marine warship arrived at the Shikkearu Kingdom, and the scene waiting for them sent a chill down the spines of everyone on board.
The sky here was extremely dark, covered by thick, heavy layers of storm clouds.
But what was strangely surprising was that there was no sign of rain anywhere.
The Shikkearu Kingdom seemed almost completely empty of people.
The only signs of life were a few pirate ships docked at the ruined harbor.
However, those pirate ships also looked like no one had touched them for several days.
There were absolutely no signs of pirate activity on their decks.
This apocalyptic scene made Raleigh seriously doubt if there were any living people left in this country at all.
But since they had already arrived, no matter what was waiting for them on the island, Raleigh had to go take a look.
Besides, Douglas Bullet—the man Raleigh was looking for—was on this very island.
"All soldiers, disembark!"
Under Raleigh's command, the Marines towed all of the empty pirate ships away from the dock and dragged them out to the deep sea to be burned.
Their own Marine warship then took the empty spot at the harbor.
When Raleigh stepped onto the port, the ruined country finally revealed its mysterious side to him.
Against the dim, cloudy backdrop, the distant mountains seemed to stretch out like several strange, dark tentacles.
Raleigh curled his lips into a smile. Looking at the shape of those ruins, his usually lazy brain finally remembered where he was.
To be precise, the Shikkearu Kingdom was famous for two things.
First, this was the place where the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk, would eventually make his castle home.
Second, the island was home to a group of strange, highly intelligent large apes that were perfectly able to imitate human actions.
Because of this, visiting merchants had given them a specific name: the Humandrills.
However, the deeper the Marines went into the country, the worse Raleigh's expression became.
The main town had clearly been destroyed by pirates.
Most of the local residents were lying dead on the streets.
Everywhere they looked, there were broken walls and ruins from brutal battles.
It offered very little value for a search.
"Something is wrong. Why are there no pirate bodies here?" Gion asked with a deep frown.
She was not just making a fuss over nothing.
When they entered the port, the docked ships proved that this specific group of pirates had not left the island yet.
But right now, there were only civilian bodies in the town.
There was not a single dead pirate to be seen, which was incredibly strange.
"Vice-Admiral Raleigh, we have not found any traces of Bullet's involvement here," several Marine intelligence analysts reported as they walked over.
Raleigh nodded without saying much.
Actually, even before they entered the ruined town, he had already surveyed the entire situation using his Observation Haki.
He knew this massacre had nothing to do with Bullet.
Bullet's brutal, explosive methods of attacking could be recognized at a glance.
However, Raleigh could still figure out where the pirate crew went by analyzing the tracks left behind at the scene.
"WRYYYYY!"
Suddenly, a troop of heavily armored baboons wielding long blades and spiked clubs charged into the town from the outer forest.
Upon seeing the corpses on the ground, they bared their fangs menacingly at Raleigh and his Marines.
If you ignored their hairy faces, these baboons looked incredibly similar to humans.
Dressed in stolen military armor and holding matching swords, they looked exactly like a highly disciplined army.
Raleigh did his best to look completely non-threatening.
He had absolutely no intention of casually slaughtering these intelligent apes.
So far in his career, the only group he would indiscriminately kill without asking questions were pirates.
Toward other groups and creatures, Raleigh still held a certain degree of kindness and goodwill.
"Humans, leave this place."
"Pirates..."
"Fight—"
The lead Humandrill muttered a few broken, fragmented human phrases.
Raleigh did not fully understand the exact words, but he managed to piece the meaning together through guesswork.
"Are you saying this place was attacked by pirates, so you fought them?" Raleigh asked patiently.
Whether the lead baboon fully understood his words or not was unclear, but the creature simply nodded in response.
Raleigh continued, "Actually, you do not need to worry about us. We are the Marines. We are here specifically to capture pirates. If you know where those pirates are, we can help you eliminate them."
Hearing Raleigh's words, a flicker of joy appeared in the baboon's eyes.
But then, as if it suddenly remembered something terrible, its expression twisted into one of extreme fear.
"Hu... human..."
"Devil is slaughtering—"
Hearing this term, Raleigh quickly pieced the puzzle together in his mind.
He knew he was getting very close to the truth.
If his guess was right, the "Devil" the Humandrill was talking about had to be Douglas Bullet.
Only a monster like him could possess the kind of terrifying power needed to make these fearless, warrior baboons feel true fear.
"Do not worry. I came here specifically for him!" Raleigh smiled confidently. "Just lead us there, and leave the rest to us."
Raleigh's calm, confident attitude gave the baboon immense courage.
Gripping their long blades tightly, the Humandrills turned and led Raleigh and his Marine group deeper into the ruined country.
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