East Blue, Marine 16th Branch Base.
In his office, Nezumi stared at the small chest of treasure on his desk, eyes gleaming with greed. Drool dripped from the corner of his mouth, soaking the documents beneath.
Shoving the damp paperwork aside, he clutched the treasure chest tightly to his chest and carefully counted the gold and jewels inside, muttering to himself:
"Pirates really are generous... Even if I worked in the Marines for years, I couldn't save up this much!"
"Like what you see?"
A voice suddenly rang out in the office, startling Nezumi so much that he shuddered. The treasure chest slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.
Kaito stood at the office doorway, arms crossed, with a squad of Marines holding rifles behind him. But their faces were pale, and every one of them was trembling.
Just moments earlier, Kaito had descended from the sky. The surrounding Marines had immediately rushed in, but Kaito hadn't even moved—he merely released a faint wave of Conqueror's Haki. That alone was enough to knock them all unconscious, white-eyed and sprawled across the ground. None of them had woken up since.
The soldiers who remained didn't dare advance. They knew they weren't a match for the man before them. Still, their sense of duty as Marines compelled them to follow Kaito all the way to Nezumi's office.
At that moment, Nezumi was on the floor, frantically gathering the scattered treasure with his hands. But the more hurried he got, the more the treasure refused to cooperate. Whenever he tried to scoop it up with his arms, gold coins and jewels would slip through the gaps.
The Marines behind Kaito watched their superior officer crawling on the ground in this utterly disgraceful state. One by one, they lowered their heads in shame. Truthfully, they all knew—at least to some extent—about Nezumi's corrupt ways. Every single one of them looked down on him in their hearts.
But there was nothing they could do. Rank crushes all. He was, after all, the highest-ranking officer here.
Seeing that using his arms was inefficient, Nezumi started picking up the gold piece by piece with his hands. As he reached for another coin, his fingers touched a shoe.
He froze and slowly looked up, only to be met with Kaito's downward gaze—and those Rinnegan eyes glowing with divine intensity.
It was like staring into the face of death. Nezumi collapsed flat on his butt, staring blankly at Kaito. His voice trembled as he stammered:
"Wh-Who are you…?!"
Kaito looked at this disgraceful excuse for a Marine as if staring at a corpse.
"Marine Headquarters, Captain Uchiha Kaito."
"You're a Marine?"
The moment he heard Kaito was also with the Marines, Nezumi let out a sigh of relief. In his mind, since the guy was a fellow Marine, things couldn't be that bad. They were comrades, right?
Thinking this, he calmly stood up and patted the dust off his pants. Pressing his palms together with a fawning smile, he stepped forward flatteringly and asked:
"So you're Captain Kaito from Headquarters? What brings you here, sir?"
Let's clarify something: even when Marines from headquarters and a regional base hold the same rank, their status and strength are worlds apart. Especially someone like Kaito—so young and already a Captain from Headquarters. If Nezumi didn't recognize that, he might as well have been living under a rock.
After all, the only reason he'd climbed to the rank of Branch Captain was his gift for flattery and ass-kissing. With his lack of strength, if not for his bootlicking skills, the best he could've hoped for was slowly grinding his way up to maybe Lieutenant.
And besides, in his mind, no matter how high Kaito's status was, he was still just a kid. All it would take was a few flattering words, and maybe he'd puff up with pride. He might even help Nezumi get promoted.
What he got instead was a loud slap across the face.
Smack! The crisp sound echoed throughout the small office.
Nezumi spun in place ten full times before finally stumbling to a stop. Clutching his now football-sized swollen cheek, he looked at Kaito in disbelief.
"W-What the hell?! I'm a Marine too!"
Hearing this scumbag dare to call himself a Marine made Kaito laugh in disgust.
Without a word, Kaito reached into his Dimensional Space and pulled out a jagged piece of flesh—specifically, a bloodstained, sawed-off nose.
He waved it in front of Nezumi.
When Nezumi's eyes landed on the object, his pupils instantly shrank. He recognized it—that was Arlong's nose.
At that point, even someone as sly as him understood exactly why Kaito was here. He fell silent.
Kaito held Arlong's nose in his hand and stared him down.
"Marine? Hearing that word from your mouth makes me sick. Tell me—when you were taking bribes from pirates, did you ever once remember that you're a Marine?"
As soon as he said that, the Marines behind him all widened their eyes in shock.
They had always known Nezumi had bad habits, but this… accepting bribes from pirates? That crossed a hard line. The very idea sent a wave of nausea through them, shaking their core beliefs in justice.
One Marine's voice trembled as he asked:
"Captain Nezumi… is what Captain Kaito said… true?"
Even now, this righteous soldier clung to a shred of hope. He had even avoided calling Kaito "Captain" just in case, trying to preserve Nezumi's dignity.
But Captain Nezumi no longer cared about dignity. He shouted back at the soldiers with false bravado:
"Of course it's not true! I'm the highest-ranking officer here! I suspect this man isn't a Marine at all! Arrest him at once!"
The soldiers hesitated, caught in a dilemma. In truth, their hearts leaned toward Kaito—Captain Nezumi's conduct had long turned them against him.
Kaito didn't pay any attention to the soldiers behind him. He had no interest in wasting any more time on this corrupt excuse for a Marine.
In a flash, he appeared in front of Captain Nezumi, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him off the ground like a child hoisting a chick.
Captain Nezumi barely stood over 180cm. In front of the towering Kaito, he already looked small. Now dangling in the air, he could only flail his legs wildly and shout:
"Let go of me! Let go! Even if you're from Headquarters, you don't have the authority to punish me!"
"Oh? I don't have the authority?"
Kaito sneered, pulled out a Den Den Mushi from his cloak, and dialed right in front of everyone.
Gulu gulu—
After a few seconds, the Den Den Mushi connected, and the voice that came from it stunned everyone present—except Kaito.
"This is Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Kaito, huh? You and Rayleigh stirred up quite the mess. What do you need this time?"
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo