In the early morning, the first light of the sun broke through the thin mist over the sea.
Hundreds of low-ranking soldiers gathered in the central plaza of the G-17 branch.
The thunder and explosions from the night before had kept them awake all night.
But these low-ranking soldiers had no idea what had really happened. They only knew that everyone had been called for an emergency assembly early that morning.
The air felt heavy and uneasy.
The soldiers stood in lines, their faces showing only numbness and confusion.
In this fortress, they had long been used to being treated like cheap guards.
They were used to watching their officers eat well while they bowed to pirates. Even if the sky fell, it did not seem to have anything to do with them.
Clack, clack, clack.
The sound of clear footsteps rang out.
Aiden walked onto the high platform, wearing his brand-new Colonel coat and looking calm.
Gion walked beside him, showing her support.
Behind them...
"Hey! I said, Aiden—"
Smoker had two cigars in his mouth and looked very annoyed.
His hands were in his pockets, but several thick trails of white smoke extended from his back like giant arms, dragging several large boxes.
"I'm a Marine officer, not your porter!"
"Stop complaining, Smoker," Aiden said without looking back. His tone was light.
"The things inside these boxes can change people's minds. I don't trust anyone else with them."
"Tch."
Smoker snorted coldly and used his smoke to slam the boxes onto the platform.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The heavy sounds startled the soldiers below.
They craned their necks to look. What was it? New weapons? Or tools for punishing prisoners?
Aiden stood at the edge of the platform, looking down at the hundreds of numb faces.
He did not give a speech. He simply walked forward.
Bang!
He suddenly raised his foot and kicked over the top box.
The lid broke open, and the contents poured out.
Crash!!!
Stacks of brand-new bills poured down from the platform and piled up on the ground.
The smell of fresh ink filled the plaza.
The numb soldiers stared with wide eyes. Their breathing grew heavy.
"Money! It's money!!"
"So much money! I've never seen so many Berries in my life!!"
Aiden watched the soldiers' eyes light up with desire.
He did not care about the money. To him, the Berries he had taken from Nelson were just numbers.
But he knew very well that for these veterans, who had been shaped by a rotten system for years, talking about ideals or justice was useless.
If he wanted to take over this base quickly, and make these people follow him even out of greed, the fastest and most direct way was to throw money at them.
He would give out enough money to make them forget Nelson and only see Aiden as their new leader.
"Do you see this?"
Aiden's voice spread coldly across the plaza.
"These are the Berries that fat pig Nelson took from this golden sea route! This is the money he squeezed out of you!"
Aiden leaned down and grabbed two thick stacks of bills.
Without looking, he threw them toward the crowd.
"Last night, your officers bowed to pirates and sold the Marines' dignity. Why? For these scraps of paper!"
The heavy stacks of cash hit the ground at the feet of the front row with a thud.
No one dared lean down and pick them up, but their bodies were shaking.
It was a mix of greed for money and anger over how they had been used before.
Aiden clapped his hands, and his voice suddenly became loud and full of authority.
"I didn't come here to steal these leftovers from you!"
"Listen to my order!"
Aiden pointed at the mountain of money and shouted, "From now on, give all this money out!
Pay back all the salary owed to every soldier for the past three years! The pensions for soldiers who died in the past will be paid at three times the Headquarters' standard!
The rest is my gift to you. Split it equally among everyone!!"
"And I am setting a new rule here!"
Aiden's voice rose above the sea breeze.
"From today on, at the G-17 branch, don't expect to get rich just from a fixed salary!"
"I want you to go out to sea!
For any soldier of G-17 who catches a pirate, the base will pay an extra bonus equal to the full bounty set by Headquarters!"
Aiden grabbed a stack of cash and slammed it against the railing.
Bills flew everywhere in the air.
"Do you want money? Then bring me pirates!!
The more you catch, the more you get! There is no limit!!"
Boom!!!
Those words shocked the crowd.
The soldiers could not believe their ears.
Giving money? Not only paying back old salary, but also giving out gifts? And from now on, they could get an extra payout equal to the full bounty for catching pirates?
This was no longer just soldier work. It felt like easy money.
"Is it really... all for us? There's extra bounty for catching pirates?!"
"Hooray!!!!"
Someone shouted first, and then a wave of cheers rose into the sky.
The soldiers waved their arms wildly.
Their once-dead faces were now red with excitement. In this chaotic world, who you followed did not matter much.
But following a boss who gave money to his men, that was worth risking your life for.
Gion stood to the side, watching this with a complicated look in her eyes.
Although she thought this method was a bit rough, she had to admit that in a place as rotten as this, it worked better than any speech.
However, Aiden's performance had only just begun.
When the cheering calmed down a little, Aiden raised his hand again to silence the noise.
He turned around and pointed at the base building behind him, the luxury fortress with white walls and a gold roof that looked like a palace.
His face showed clear disgust.
"I gave you the money, so your lives are mine."
Aiden said coldly, "Now, I have the first task for you."
"I am tired of looking at this place.
It is soft and flashy. It doesn't fit my troops."
He gave the soldiers a strange order.
"I want metal. Lots of metal."
"Go drag out those rusty guns and broken old cannons from the warehouse!
Take the iron fences from this 'palace' and the decorative copper statues! Tear them all down!"
"As long as it is metal, pile it up on the empty ground in front of the fortress!"
For the next three days, the G-17 branch was busy tearing things down.
The soldiers had their money, so they worked hard.
A huge pile made of scrap guns, broken cannons, iron fences, and copper statues kept growing higher and higher. It almost reached the height of the fortress itself.
"This guy... what exactly is he trying to do?"
Smoker had a cigar in his mouth.
He looked at the giant pile of junk with a deep frown.
"Is he changing jobs to collect scrap?"
Gion did not speak. She only watched Aiden standing on the high platform.
Her intuition told her that something even more shocking was coming.
The soldiers were working hard because they were being paid, but as they looked at the pile of junk, they were still confused.
No one knew what the young captain wanted.
The morning sea breeze was cool.
Aiden stood on the highest watchtower of the base.
Gion, Smoker, and a confused Moore stood behind him.
He did not look at the scrap metal.
Instead, he turned and looked up at the fortress building behind him, which was still bright with white walls and a gold roof.
"What do you think of this base?" Aiden suddenly asked.
"It's... very nice?" Moore tried to answer.
"After all, it cost a lot of money—" He almost said the previous commander's name, but realized it was a mistake and stopped.
"Pretty, my ass."
Aiden coldly cut him off.
He walked forward and slapped his palm against the white wall. He used a bit of force, and a layer of the wall fell off, showing the weak bricks inside.
"It's too flashy and useless."
Aiden shook his head, his eyes full of disgust.
"A place like this doesn't fit a Marine base. It can't guard this dangerous golden sea route."
"Then... what do you mean? Do we tear it down and rebuild?" Moore asked carefully.
"But that's a huge amount of work—"
"It's not that complicated."
Aiden let go and walked to the edge of the roof.
He faced the mountain of scrap metal and the large white fortress below him.
He took a deep breath and slowly opened his arms.
"Since it's not hard enough, I'll just reinforce it."
The moment he said that, rumble!
The clear sky turned dark without warning.
Everyone looked up in terror.
Above the base, thick black thunderclouds had gathered.
The clouds hung low over the fortress.
Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt!!!!
A terrifying sound of electricity exploded from Aiden's body.
At this moment, he no longer hid his power.
He slowly floated into the air.
His body was wrapped in countless violent arcs of lightning. His dark eyes had turned completely into white light.
"Rise!!"
Aiden opened his fingers and made a grabbing motion toward the port.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!
The ground shook.
Under everyone's horrified gaze, the mountain of scrap metal on the dock made the sound of twisting metal under the pull of a terrifying magnetic field.
Then it rose into the air.
Countless pieces of steel scrap floated in the sky, blocking the sun like a giant metal cloud.
Aiden gave a low roar and slammed his palms together.
CRACK—BOOM!!!
The thunderclouds in the sky finally exploded.
Thousands of thick lightning bolts struck down at the same time, hitting that mass of floating steel.
The high heat of the lightning melted countless pieces of steel at once.
Red-hot molten iron flowed in the air.
Under Aiden's control, it rushed toward the weak white fortress below.
Sss—!!!
The heat turned all the moisture around it into steam.
The entire base was covered in white mist.
Inside that rolling mist, the red-hot liquid iron moved like it was alive.
It climbed over the fortress, sank into it, and fused into the frame.
The weak bricks were filled with steel.
The useless decorations were completely covered by the molten iron.
Huge metal supports grew out of the walls.
Thick armor plates covered the base layer by layer, wrapping the entire fortress tightly.
When the lightning faded, the sea breeze blew away the steam.
Everyone forgot to breathe.
The flashy white palace was gone.
In its place was a dark iron fortress with a cold metal shine.
Every inch of the walls looked strong.
The gun barrels shone coldly in the sun.
Just one look was enough to make people feel the weight of iron and war.
Whether it was Moore or the low-ranking soldiers in the distance, they all stood there with their mouths wide open.
Some even dropped to their knees in fear.
Was this... something a human could do?
This was impossible.
Aiden slowly landed on the very top of the steel wall.
The lightning around him faded.
He touched the steel battlement, which still had some warmth.
He felt the heavy weight of the fortress beneath him and nodded with satisfaction.
He turned around and opened his arms.
His coat fluttered in the sea breeze.
His voice was calm, but everyone heard it clearly.
"Welcome to... my G-17 branch."