"Knock, knock."
"Come in."
The moment the words fell, a flood of Marines poured into the office.
"Fleet Admiral, Vice Admiral Rowan is right! We..."
"We can't let the Marines be humiliated our Marines have never."
Before anyone could finish speaking, they froze.
Behind the desk, the Fleet Admiral who had always stood ramrod straight, radiating overwhelming authority.
Now sat hunched over, his eyes bloodshot.
Beside him stood Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Unlike ordinary Vice Admirals, she was Sengoku's contemporary and the chief strategist of Marine Headquarters.
Yet now her eyes were just as red, her shoulders stooped, as though she'd aged ten years overnight.
"Fleet Admiral... what... what happened to you?"
Sengoku forced out a smile as he wiped his glasses and put them back on.
"It's nothing. We were just speaking with the World Government. Don't worry. As Fleet Admiral, I will continue arguing our case with every reason I have!"
Tsuru spoke solemnly from the side.
"Although they still refuse to change their decision, we are Marines. We are the shield that protects the people."
She stood up and bowed deeply to every Marine gathered in the office.
"As senior officers, we will continue negotiating with the World Government. But this world cannot exist without the Marines. The countless islands and innocent civilians cannot lose our protection."
"If even we disappear, then all that awaits them is slaughter and plunder at the hands of pirates. There will no longer be any justice sailing these seas."
"To endure humiliation and keep moving forward... Even if the world misunderstands us, we will continue upholding justice. That is what it means to be true heroes."
To endure humiliation and keep moving forward.
Those words echoed through everyone's minds.
The officers at Marine Headquarters weren't fools.
They all knew the World Government's orders couldn't be overturned.
They had only come here to plead for Rowan's punishment to be reconsidered.
Yet seeing the two veteran Marine leaders.
Seeing them exhausting themselves for the sake of justice.
Tears began welling up in the eyes of many Marines.
That's right.
Without them the pirates would become even more rampant.
The future would be filled with Seven Warlords wielding their legal right to plunder.
So perhaps enduring humiliation was also a form of justice.
"Fleet Admiral..."
A young female captain wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.
"Please... you have to take care of yourself!"
Beside her, a young Headquarters lieutenant was already sobbing uncontrollably.
"Fleet Admiral! We'll never forget today's humiliation! We'll work even harder to uphold justice!"
The emotions inside the office exploded.
Even the Marines lining the hallway outside became agitated after hearing what had happened.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru! We'll inherit your will and become great Marines!"
"Vice Admiral Rowan opened our eyes! We'll never forget the humiliation the Seven Warlords system has brought upon the Marines!"
"Remaining silent is easy, but those who step forward are the true heroes!"
"Vice Admiral Rowan stood up so that all of us would know someone was resisting. He's a true hero!"
Behind the desk, Sengoku deliberately lifted his head, memorizing the face of the first Marine who had started praising Rowan.
Looks like one of the cadets from that same academy class.
Hmm... one of Hina's admirers too.
Are these idiots stupid?
This is obviously helping the enemy build his reputation!
Even with brains like that, they still wanted to pursue one of Tsuru's girls?
They could go eat dirt.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Before long, the massive gathering of Marines outside the Fleet Admiral's office was effortlessly defused by nothing more than a few drops of eye drops.
After receiving Sengoku's promise that Vice Admiral Rowan would not be punished, the younger generation of Marine Headquarters officers all headed for the training grounds as though they had been injected with adrenaline.
Sengoku had no idea how many of them would actually persevere.
But even if only ten or so managed to stick with it, the future backbone of Marine Headquarters would improve by leaps and bounds.
The only problem was had these eye drops expired?
Sengoku repeatedly turned the bottle over, examining the label.
His eyes were aching and stinging uncomfortably.
Had he used too much just now?
"So this burst of training enthusiasm turned out to be an unexpected bonus."
Tsuru spoke as she found another seat and sat down.
Sengoku glanced at her before continuing to inspect the eye-drop bottle.
The stuff worked almost too well.
The questions he had been expecting to face had disappeared with ease, and the blame that had been hanging over Marine Headquarters had been neatly shifted away.
"Aren't you busy today? You're not going back to work?"
Tsuru replied,
"If I go out now, people will notice something. Besides, the way this incident spreads still needs to be carefully controlled. We're different from that kid. To a certain extent, our attitude represents the Marines' loyalty to the World Government."
"Heh... loyalty?"
Sengoku set the eye drops down.
Back when he had been an Admiral, he had indeed obeyed every order from the World Government without question.
Otherwise, the position of Fleet Admiral would never have fallen to him.
But in some ways Rowan was very much like him.
For the stability of these seas for ordinary people to at least have a chance to survive.
He had chosen obedience.
But loyalty?
Someone who possessed Conqueror's Haki.
How could such a person ever truly be loyal to the World Government?
He simply understood how powerful the World Government was.
He also knew that merely maintaining the world's stability was already the greatest hope they could ask for.
"Don't worry. I'll be careful."
Sengoku looked out the window.
"Bartholomew came back to Headquarters this time too, didn't he?"
Tsuru nodded.
"He came under the pretext of visiting Zephyr. After all, if Zephyr hadn't intervened back then, he probably would still be in Mary Geoise."
"No..."
"If he'd actually been taken to Mary Geoise, someone with Bartholomew's personality would already be dead."
Had Bartholomew become a Celestial Dragon's slave and been brought to Mary Geoise, with his temperament, he probably wouldn't have survived even ten months.
Yet it was precisely because of that kind of personality.
That he had made the choice he did.
Tsuru continued,
"I'll go visit that kid later, while Bartholomew is there."
Sengoku looked at her.
"You still can't determine where he truly stands?"
Tsuru replied,
"I simply want to understand why that kid, whom Bartholomew recognizes, chose a path that seems to lead to the same destination."
"Though compared to Bartholomew..."
"He's far smarter."
At the Marine Headquarters hospital, Rowan lay comfortably on a hospital bed with both hands wrapped in bandages.
During Sakazuki's final attack, he had deliberately withdrawn his Armament Haki, leaving the skin and muscles on his hands with a few burns.
The wounds had already healed after being treated and bandaged.
But since he'd already committed to the performance, he might as well see it through.
So he planned to stay in the hospital for another couple of days.
The planned spectacle had come to an end.
Now all that remained was to wait for the incident's effects to spread.
He still couldn't remember exactly when the Seven Warlords system had first been established.
He only remembered that Crocodile had been among the first group.
As for the exact timing he had no recollection whatsoever.
With the Great Age of Pirates in full swing, the balance between the Marines and the pirates was gradually beginning to tilt.
And what the World Government truly cared about was nothing more than preserving that balance.
The legal right to plunder granted to the Seven Warlords, how many innocent lives it would destroy and how many ordinary people would suffer because of it, was never something the World Government cared about.
But to the Marines, the creation of the Seven Warlords system was a humiliation.
And Rowan knew very well that this was only the beginning.
Once the system was actually implemented, when pirates openly looted towns right in front of Marines who could do nothing to stop them, that would be true humiliation.
In his memories, the Marines had ultimately accepted the Seven Warlords system in silence.
Even though Zephyr had been furious, and the vast majority of Marines had opposed it, nothing had changed.
Of course, today's commotion wouldn't change anything either.
But because of today's events, every time the Seven Warlords became an issue in the future, the Marines would remember Rowan's act of defiance.
And the tiny seed he had planted today.
With Sengoku and the other Marine leaders unknowingly watering and nurturing it.
When that seed finally grew into a towering tree in the future.
Only then would Rowan reveal what he had truly intended all along.
Looking out through the hospital window toward Marine Headquarters, Rowan fell into thought.
The Marines were one of the world's dominant powers.
Their quality varied greatly.
There were corrupt officers like Captain Nezumi of the future East Blue branch.
There were scum like the Marines who had once filled G-5 in the New World.
But there were also men like T Bone, Marines who genuinely embodied kindness and justice.
Those people would one day become allies worth uniting.
All he had to do was wait for the seed to sprout.
Wait until the time was right.
Ever since Kuzan had guessed his identity as a Revolutionary, Rowan had become even more cautious about shaping the image of his own position.
Some things didn't require evidence.
A suspicion alone was enough.
Sengoku the Strategist and Tsuru perhaps they would eventually realize that he intended to go one step further.
But they would never imagine that he intended to bring the entire strength of the Marines into the Revolution.
Knock. Knock.
"Come in."
The door to the hospital room opened, revealing someone Rowan hadn't seen in quite a while.
"I thought my two subordinates would be the first to visit."
"I didn't expect it to be you."
"So? Have you finally been transferred to Headquarters?"
Rowan smiled at Nomi.
"Come to think of it, you've been stationed in Las Gap Town in the West Blue for quite a few years now. You deserve a promotion by this point."
Nomi walked in empty-handed, pulled over a chair, and sat down.
"I figured you probably weren't seriously injured, so I didn't bother bringing anything."
"I wasn't wrong, was I?"
Instead of answering, Rowan asked about the situation in Las Gap Town and the West Blue.
Thanks to the massive purge Rowan had carried out before leaving, piracy had only begun to recover over the past few years.
Compared with before, the West Blue was now only slightly more dangerous than the East Blue, earning a reputation among pirates as the second weakest sea.
The two chatted about the West Blue for nearly half an hour before Rowan suddenly asked,
"Your Haki..."
"It's recovered?"
Nomi looked up, meeting Rowan's gaze.
After a moment's thought, he replied,
"The conviction I once held found a new direction."
"So naturally, my Haki returned as well."
"But I'm still nowhere near your level."
"You're already a Headquarters Vice Admiral, permanently stationed on the front lines of the New World."
"You've become an outstanding Marine."
A new direction.
Rowan fell into thought.
Just as he was about to ask another question.
Knock. Knock.
"It seems I may have interrupted your reunion."
Tsuru stood in the doorway, looking first at Rowan, then at Nomi.
"So you've managed to rediscover the conviction you once lost."
"It seems the fact that so few pirates from the West Blue have entered the Grand Line these past few years is thanks to your efforts, Nomi."
Since it was Tsuru, Nomi immediately stood and saluted.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru."
Tsuru nodded, but said nothing further.
Nomi immediately understood what that meant.
After saying goodbye to Rowan, he quietly left the room.
Rowan also knew Tsuru had come to speak with him in private, so he didn't stop him.
As for his former superior having regained the conviction he'd once lost...
Rowan already had a rough idea why.
All that remained was to confirm it later.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru... is there something you needed?"
Only after the hospital room door had been closed for a while did Tsuru finally speak.
"Once this matter has settled down, you can have the World Government propose your promotion to Admiral Candidate. The Marine side will approve it."
A broad smile immediately spread across Rowan's face.
"So getting punched by Sakazuki wasn't without its rewards after all."
Tsuru looked at him.
"You let Sakazuki's magma send you flying on purpose, didn't you?"
"And your gains aren't limited to that alone."
"This time, the Marines' opposition to the Seven Warlords system will be spread throughout every Marine branch in the world through unofficial channels, leaving no written record."
"Your reputation at Marine Headquarters will be completely overturned."
"Even the Marines stationed in the Four Blues will come to know your deeds and your name."
"Those were your real objectives... weren't they, Vice Admiral Rowan?"
Faced with her questioning, Rowan spread his hands, both wrapped in thick bandages.
"I never imagined I could fool the Headquarters' Chief Strategist, Vice Admiral Tsuru."
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku has probably figured it out too."
"But Vice Admiral Tsuru..."
"You and I both know that the Seven Warlords system is already a foregone conclusion."
"So achieving this much is already the limit."
"The World Government has made its decision."
"The Marines cannot defy it."
"And after today's events..."
"The new generation of Marines should train even harder."
"After all... being called weak is something no man can tolerate."
After he finished speaking, Tsuru continued staring straight into Rowan's eyes.
Yet in the end she found nothing.
Rowan calmly met her gaze the entire time.
Nomi's earlier words had been completely unexpected.
And that unexpected remark had also been heard by the woman renowned throughout the Marines as their greatest strategist.
Colonel Nomi had belonged to the same academy class as Kuzan.
Logically speaking, Kuzan hadn't yet become the lazy man he was today.
Anyone who had earned Kuzan's respect back then must have been a gifted Marine.
Yet someone like that had effectively been exiled to the West Blue.
Gradually losing his fighting spirit.
That meant the conviction Nomi had once clung to was worth investigating.
"Vice Admiral Rowan."
Tsuru stood up.
Looking down at Rowan from beside the hospital bed, she said,
"The Marines acknowledge your previous cooperation in Wano."
"We also believe that cooperation can continue."
"But there's one condition."
"Your allegiance must remain with the Marines."
Rowan rubbed his forehead.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru my allegiance has always been to my own sense of justice."
"Whether it's the Marines or the World Government..."
"All I've ever wanted is to wipe out every pirate."
As if genuine emotion had finally surfaced, Rowan continued,
"I've heard that you, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Vice Admiral Garp, and Instructor Zephyr all joined the Marines in the same generation."
"Then over all these years you must have witnessed countless villages and towns destroyed and plundered by pirates."
"I've seen far too many."
"In the West Blue."
"On the Grand Line."
"I've seen it over and over again the entire coastline covered in corpses."
"Children barely old enough to walk, their stomachs cut open."
"At times like that I even imagined that child was me."
His voice fell low.
"So my justice has always been the same."
"To slaughter every single pirate on these seas."
Silence filled the hospital room.
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