The commotion Saul had caused was over in less than half an hour.
At first, Diarmuid was puzzled. Even if Saul had blocked the port, with Kuzan's abilities, there was no need for him to intervene. Kuzan should have been able to freeze the sea around Marineford and seal it off. Who needed ships then?
But when he returned, he realized Saul was a crafty one.
Before acting, Saul had gone to drink with Kuzan.
Kuzan saw that he was in low spirits and joined him.
The result, as one might expect: could Kuzan out-drink a Giant?
He was quickly knocked out by Saul, and when the incident happened, Kuzan was still fast asleep, impossible to wake up.
In Admiral Sengoku's office, Diarmuid was sitting on the sofa pouring himself some tea, while Saul stood obediently in front of Sengoku's desk.
Sengoku was currently furious, scolding Saul.
"Are you really this stupid, or are you just pretending?" Sengoku roared.
If you say Saul is stupid, he at least had the sense to knock out Kuzan before running. But if you say he's not stupid, he still made the hot-headed decision to defect from the Marines.
As Sengoku yelled at him, Saul could only hang his head in silence, his face filled with regret.
Defecting from the Marines was indeed a decision he'd made on a whim.
He felt his sense of justice had been shaken, especially when Sengoku ordered a Buster Call on Ohara. He thought it was unbelievable—it was a massacre!
But on the way, Diarmuid berated him from head to toe, and even Olvia, who had always left him speechless, was rendered silent by Diarmuid's verbal assault.
The misunderstanding in his mind was cleared up in an instant.
Saul was now regretting his impulsiveness.
"You're a high-ranking Marine Vice Admiral, the commander of the Giant Squad! I put so much trust in you and even put you in charge of the Buster Call, and you, you bastard, turned around and tried to defect? Do you have any sense of loyalty?" Sengoku raged.
Saul awkwardly scratched his head. "I'm sorry!"
"How can you even say that!" Sengoku slammed his hand on the table, roaring.
Diarmuid was startled by the noise and quickly took a sip of tea to calm his nerves. "Admiral, Saul is a straightforward guy. It's understandable that he'd be misled and do something impulsive. He's come to his senses now, and luckily, nothing big came of it. Why don't you just forgive him?"
"Is this just a matter of me forgiving him?" Sengoku glared at Diarmuid.
Saul gave Diarmuid a grateful look.
After a slight pause, Sengoku continued, "He's a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral. Him defecting just like that has created a terrible impression, do you know that?"
Diarmuid gave an embarrassed laugh but still said, "It does look bad, but Saul was truly deceived…"
Saul also nodded quickly. "Admiral, it's all my fault."
"What if we just say it was an exercise?" Diarmuid suggested cautiously.
A flicker of annoyance appeared in Sengoku's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it, glaring at Diarmuid without a word.
Seeing this, Diarmuid was slightly relieved. At least Sengoku wouldn't be so angry that he'd have Saul executed.
To be honest, Diarmuid had his own selfish reasons for not stopping the incident from happening and then jumping in to save Saul after the fact.
On one hand, he and Saul were indeed good friends, and saving him was a show of that friendship.
On the other hand, Saul had a very unique influence within the Navy.
In terms of strength, Saul was actually very powerful. He was only easily brought back by Diarmuid because he didn't resist.
As for the original story, he was instantly defeated by Kuzan, partly because Kuzan was genuinely strong, and partly because Saul was in a terrible state.
Saul himself was very strong and was the commander of the Marines' Giant Squad. He had a strong influence over the Giant Vice Admirals in the Marines; you could basically say they were all his subordinates.
Diarmuid was already looking to expand his influence within the Marines, and gaining the support of the Giant Vice Admirals would be a huge advantage.
His strong defense of Saul right now was for that very purpose.
Giants were also famously loyal. If Diarmuid saved Saul now, would they refuse to help him when he needed them in the future?
"An exercise is out of the question," Sengoku said, taking a breath.
He was in a bit of a difficult position. He could see that Saul had been foolishly deceived and acted on a whim.
But the chaos that had been caused still needed to be addressed.
And he couldn't let this go unpunished; otherwise, what kind of precedent would that set?
But he also couldn't just kill Saul. After all, Saul was one of the men he had brought up, and Saul's influence in the Giant Squad was immense. Abruptly killing him would have a negative impact on the internal state of the Marines.
Just then, the office door was pushed open, and a disheveled, drunken Kuzan rushed in frantically. "Saul! What have you done?"
He first scolded Saul, then looked at Sengoku. "Admiral, Saul just had a moment of madness. He would never…"
Sengoku gave Kuzan an annoyed look, then seemed to remember something and interrupted him. "We'll announce to the public that Saul got drunk with Kuzan, went on a drunken rampage, sank the battleship in the port, and then tried to take a boat out for a sea breeze, which caused all the commotion…"
Diarmuid's face lit up.
Sengoku was still protecting Saul. Going on a drunken rampage was a completely different story from defecting.
Kuzan also breathed a sigh of relief and said no more. Saul was so moved he was about to cry.
Sengoku saw Saul's reaction and sighed, then continued, "As for Saul, he'll be stripped of his Vice Admiral rank and command of the Giant Squad. He'll serve as a Captain and atone for his mistakes with future achievements, to be reviewed later!"
Sengoku had demoted Saul from Vice Admiral to Captain in one fell swoop.
He had completely removed Saul from the Marine Headquarters officer hierarchy.
The punishment was undeniably severe.
But on this matter, neither Diarmuid nor Kuzan pleaded for a lesser punishment.
Saul also nodded in acceptance.
"Admiral, how about you send Saul to our G-7 base?" Diarmuid asked with a smile.
If Saul had remained a Vice Admiral and commander of the Giant Squad, it would have been impossible to transfer him to G-7.
But now, he was just a Marine Captain, and the transfer was perfectly reasonable.
And speaking of which, Saul was the first Giant Captain in the history of the Marines' Giant Squad… because that unit only recruited Giants, and they were all granted the rank of Vice Admiral upon joining.
Sengoku didn't hesitate, nodding his head. "In that case, you keep a close eye on him. If he does anything foolish again, I'll hold you, Diarmuid, responsible!"
"Yes, yes, Admiral. Don't you worry," Diarmuid said quickly.
Saul hadn't fully grasped it, but Kuzan laughed.
The back-and-forth between Sengoku and Diarmuid was quite interesting.
It showed that Sengoku also hoped Saul would regain his former rank soon.
After all, Diarmuid's future was set. With Saul at G-7, he'd be under Diarmuid's command. After a while, Diarmuid could get Saul a Rear Admiral position.
When Diarmuid returned to Headquarters, he might even be promoted to Admiral. At that point, Diarmuid could arrange for Saul to be reinstated as a Vice Admiral, and it would all be a natural progression.
Sengoku had also secretly done Diarmuid a favor.
After all, if Saul were to become a Vice Admiral again and lead the Giant Squad under Diarmuid's care, he would be a part of Diarmuid's inner circle.
"Hmph!" Sengoku let out a cold snort, waving his hand, signaling the three to get out.
Diarmuid and the others didn't linger, quickly turning to leave.
But just as Diarmuid was about to step out, Sengoku suddenly said, "Diarmuid, you stay."
"Yes." Diarmuid answered, and after Kuzan and Saul left, he closed the door and sat back down.
"What about that scholar?" Sengoku asked.
"She's locked back up," Diarmuid said with a slight smile.
"Let's just end the matter with Saul here. There's no need to keep that scholar around, either…" Sengoku suddenly said.
Diarmuid was taken aback, realizing Sengoku wanted him to dispose of the scholar.
"I think we should keep her!" Diarmuid said unexpectedly.
Sengoku was confused by his words and frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"
"I don't think she'll be very useful, or maybe not useful at all in the future, but she's still a card to be played, Admiral," Diarmuid said softly.
Sengoku, who had been thinking of having her killed, stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.
Ohara was definitely going to be destroyed. After that, no one would be able to read the Poneglyphs.
So this scholar that the Marines had in custody might be their last resort?
Diarmuid was implying that Olvia could be used in the future to secretly harass the World Government.
But Sengoku clearly misunderstood. He was thinking, what if, just as a last resort, in a desperate situation that threatened the very foundation of the Marines, they could borrow the power of the Ancient Weapons?
After thinking for a long time, Sengoku said again, "Dispose of her, Diarmuid. I'm leaving it to you."
After a slight pause, Sengoku added, "You understand what I mean, right?"
Diarmuid smiled. "I understand. I am the King of Understanding. Nobody understands better than me."
It was clear that although Sengoku hadn't said it outright, he meant to leave the matter to Diarmuid. And based on Diarmuid's previous suggestion, he wanted him to handle it cleanly and not leave any traces.
And Diarmuid was happy because this test had confirmed that Sengoku also had a "restless" heart towards the World Government.
But he didn't know that he had misunderstood Sengoku and hadn't understood him at all.
"Good. You can go now," Sengoku said, nodding and waving his hand.
Diarmuid stood up, saluted, and walked out of Sengoku's office.
After walking for a while in the hallway, he turned a corner and saw Kuzan and Saul waiting for him.
"Thanks a lot this time, Diarmuid," Saul said with an embarrassed smile.
"Oh, what can I do? You're such a big idiot…" Diarmuid sighed.
Kuzan smiled and said, "Good thing you were at Headquarters. If Saul had actually gotten away, this wouldn't have been resolved so easily…"
That's right. The reason the incident was resolved so simply was that Diarmuid had caught Saul right after he left.
If he had truly gotten away, he would never have been able to return to the Marines, and he would have been sentenced to death.
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