Chapter 162: I'm Going to Banish You to the News Department...
Nereus wasn't sure exactly how the Marines relayed the message to Zephyr. He had merely found a random Marine and passed along what Zephyr's wife had said.
But half a day passed after that, and he still didn't see any Marines come over to receive Zephyr's family.
"The Marines these days... their efficiency is getting slower and slower. It seems the average strength of the garrison on the Sabaody Archipelago has dropped again."
"I say, Old Man, even if the average strength of the garrison here has dropped, isn't that your doing?"
"I've never attacked the Marine base here. Plus, the Marines aren't currently short on personnel, so reasonably speaking, this shouldn't happen. Perhaps it's because Zephyr is still working on the front lines."
Looking at the Marines in the original timeline, almost all named Marine officers came out of Zephyr's training camp—not just the Three Admirals and a large number of Vice Admirals, but also countless low-ranking officers.
Although these low-ranking officers couldn't single-handedly turn the tide of battle, they were indispensable cogs when assembling the massive war machine that was the Marines.
During the Summit War, it was exactly this batch of Marines that suffered heavy losses. This casualty rate ultimately caused the average strength of the Marines to plummet severely, and the rapid influx of recruits during the World Military Draft resulted in a mixed bag of quality.
Although it didn't shake their foundation, recovering from it would take some time.
Now that Zephyr was still serving on the front lines as a Marine Admiral, the Marines truly lacked such a Chief Instructor.
Yekrik was still young, and his mother's current physical condition was poor, so they hadn't noticed what Nereus was saying. Otherwise, they might have fainted directly from sheer terror.
After all, Nereus was vastly more terrifying than those nameless pirates.
"Front lines? Why does it feel like you're anticipating Zephyr's retirement, Old Man? He's only... in his early forties this year, right?"
In his forties—the prime age for making a name for oneself on this sea. For someone with Admiral-level combat power, Nanamo felt that retirement shouldn't have anything to do with him.
After all, even if these powerhouses reached their seventies or eighties, they still had the ability to fight on the front lines. Although they would inevitably weaken compared to their peak, they would still be a force not to be underestimated.
"That's right, now it really is uncertain."
The main reason Zephyr stepped back to the second line was because his family was murdered by pirates. Now that this mother and son were still alive, the final outcome was truly up in the air.
"Speak of the devil, he's rushed over himself. Oh to be young—did he literally 'run' all the way here?"
Nereus looked toward the sea. A figure was speeding toward them through the air, even leaving a series of sonic booms in his wake.
The trails left in mid-air were like footprints in the mud, starkly displaying their owner's inner impatience and anxiety.
BOOM!
"Nereus! What exactly are you trying to do?!"
With an explosive sound, Zephyr landed on Grove 33. The ground, formed by the intricate roots of the mangrove, was exceptionally tough; even digging with shovels and pickaxes would struggle to leave a mark, usually only scraping off the topsoil.
Yet, accompanied by Zephyr's furious roar, the roots of Grove 33 were forcefully snapped by the sheer brute strength he carried. The seeping resin, blown by the wind pressure, turned into a dense cloud of bubbles floating into the sky, obscuring both sides' vision.
In Zephyr's mind, Nereus was not someone who cared about things like hostages. After all, last time, Nereus had used the lives of an entire ship of soldiers to force Zephyr to listen to him.
Even though after multiple investigations, Zephyr realized Nereus had been telling the truth back then, the memory was still fresh in his mind.
Only after all those bubbles dispersed in the wind did Zephyr see with his own eyes what was actually happening.
His wife was lying to the side, being tended to by someone dressed as a doctor. His son was holding a cotton candy in his hand, tear tracks still somewhat visible on his face, and currently...
He was fearfully hiding behind Nereus, warily looking in Zephyr's direction. It seemed he had been frightened by the commotion just now.
"Papa! Mister, that's my Papa! A Marine Admiral, a super amazing hero!"
"Yes, I've heard a lot about him. Accurately speaking, we've known each other for a long time. Zephyr, your entrance was quite imposing. I'm very curious, what exactly did the Marine who passed the message to you say?"
"..."
At this moment, Zephyr felt incredibly awkward. He stood frozen in place, as if controlled by some unknown force.
If possible, Zephyr wanted to drag that Marine who made the call over right now and have a thorough discussion with him about what exactly the internal Marine regulations dictated regarding relaying orders.
Not long ago, on a warship, Zephyr was commanding soldiers to patrol the surrounding waters, executing the mission of escorting the Kings back as usual.
He had done this kind of mission even before being promoted to Admiral; he was extremely familiar with it.
It was exactly at that time that an urgent communication reached him, stating that his wife and son were currently in Nereus's hands, and that Nereus had contacted the Sabaody Marines to notify him.
"Halt!"
After issuing this command, Zephyr immediately ordered the Vice Admirals on the surrounding warships to pull back and temporarily dock at a nearby Marine branch to rest.
As for himself, he utilized Geppo (Moonwalk) and Soru (Shave) to madly rush toward the Sabaody Archipelago, only to end up in this awkward situation.
"I also want to know what exactly you said to the messenger."
"'Your wife and son were attacked by pirates but are currently fine. Notify your Admiral Zephyr to hurry over.'"
Zephyr carefully pondered Nereus's sentence and found it equally devoid of any problems.
"Your soldiers were too afraid to come closer, and I couldn't just leave a helpless mother and child here. Since you've rushed back, handle it yourself.
Oh, right, Hermes, give the guy to him."
"As you command, Lord Nereus."
Hermes spat a pirate out of his body. In his Swamp Cloud form, his body was essentially a mobile swamp; anyone swallowed inside would basically suffocate.
However, due to differences in physical constitution, the pirate hadn't directly suffocated to death yet.
"Pirates planning to exact revenge on you. How you deal with him is up to you."
Looking at that pirate's face, Zephyr's expression darkened to the extreme. But in the end, he still didn't deal a lethal blow. It seemed he planned to lock the guy up in Impel Down.
Attacking the family of a Marine Admiral—this kind of crime meant being locked up in the great underwater prison until death, at the very least.
In the original timeline, even after his wife and child were murdered, Zephyr still clung to his "no killing" principle in his grief and still sent those pirates to prison. This was even more true now.
"Thank you..."
"How rare. The last Marine to say thank you to me... I think it was that brat Dragon."
For some reason, Zephyr felt Nereus was implying something with those words, yet he had no evidence.
Nereus didn't continue, and Zephyr didn't know what to say either. But at that moment, someone helped Zephyr break the silence.
"Papa, that big sister over there said earlier that you made her miss her concert, and she wants you to compensate her for the ticket money."
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