Sengoku's roar echoed through the empty office, finally dissolving into a long sigh full of resignation.
He waved a hand, signaling for Potts to leave.
Potts bowed respectfully and turned to go, but just as he shut the door, the corners of his usually expressionless mouth couldn't help rising ever so slightly.
The Fleet Admiral might be distressed.
But for him, the direct aide to Renzo, this was the most wonderful news in the world.
Admiral?
His own status would rise with the tide.
This meant no one would ever dare push Renzo to do work again.
This meant he could legitimately block 99.9% of "troubles" for his superior.
This meant… perhaps the kitchen budget could be doubled?
Potts felt that his career had reached an unprecedented peak of glory.
.....
At the same time, in the Marine Headquarters Hospital, special intensive-care ward.
The air was thick with the smell of disinfectant, but even that couldn't fully conceal a faint trace of sulfur.
Akainu lay half-reclined on the bed, his body wrapped in layers of bandages, yet despite this, his rock-hard, unyielding face showed no weakness at all. Only a smoldering fury burned in his eyes.
Whitebeard's Gura Gura no Mi had inflicted severe internal injuries on him, but for this man, physical pain was nothing compared to humiliation.
He had personally executed Ace, but letting those pirates who "defecated on Marineford" escape… was a permanent stain on his Absolute Justice.
The door opened. Fleet Admiral Sengoku entered with a dark, heavy expression.
"Sakazuki."
He pulled up a chair and sat down.
"Fleet Admiral." Sakazuki's voice was hoarse, like two slabs of burning rock grinding together.
"What matter is so urgent that you must bring it to an injured man?"
His tone carried displeasure.
To him, time should be spent hunting Blackbeard, not on pointless talk.
Sengoku stayed silent for a moment. He was organizing his words, wondering how to defuse this bomb… less explosively.
In the end, he gave up.
With people like Sakazuki, euphemisms were pointless.
"The World Government's highest authority, the Five Elders, have just issued a personnel appointment."
Sengoku looked straight into Sakazuki's eyes and said, slowly and clearly:
"It concerns the new Admiral position."
Sakazuki's gaze sharpened.
This was one of his greatest concerns.
Garp had "gone home to recuperate."
The Marines needed additional top combat power to stabilize the chaos in the New World.
"Which Vice Admiral was chosen?"
He asked, "Gion or Tokikake? Their strength is lacking, but their seniority and merits are sufficient."
"Neither," Sengoku said, shaking his head.
"Then who?"
Sakazuki's brows furrowed.
Sengoku took a deep breath, as if pushing all his chips into one desperate gamble.
"Renzo."
"..."
The room fell into deathly stillness.
Sakazuki's expression froze, as though he didn't understand what those two syllables meant.
He stared at Sengoku, searching his grave expression for any sign of a joke.
He found none.
The Fleet Admiral's face was only fatigue and heaviness.
"…Who did you say?"
Sakazuki's voice dropped, dangerously quiet, like the final calm before a volcano erupts.
"Marine Rear Admiral, Renzo," Sengoku repeated.
BOOOOM!!!
An indescribably violent wave of heat exploded from Sakazuki's bed, blasting outward in an instant!
The temperature in the ward skyrocketed, the air itself warping from the heat. The metal cabinets began to glow red and melt before the eye.
The bandages around Sakazuki's body burst into black smoke. Under his skin, magma-like crimson fissures lit up like spiderwebs.
"Is this a joke?!"
He sat up abruptly, ignoring the searing pain of his injuries. His roar shook the walls like a real volcanic eruption.
"To make that lazy parasite, that useless glutton who hides in the kitchen all day, a Marine Admiral?! Equal to me?!"
"It is the greatest insult to the word 'Justice'!"
"This is the decision of the Five Elders, Sakazuki! It is an order!" Sengoku barked, golden light faintly rising to resist the heat.
"I don't care whose decision it is!"
Magma overflowed from Sakazuki's mouth, dripping onto the bed and burning a massive hole through it.
"The highest power of the Marines, the cornerstone that guards the world and enforces justice, built upon the blood of countless soldiers, how can it be given to someone who can't even wake up on time?!"
"His mere existence mocks every Marine who fights on the front lines!"
Sakazuki's fury was not just hatred toward Renzo.
In his worldview, justice is earned through sweat, suffering, sand acrifice.
And Renzo, a man who had never shown the slightest "heart of justice," who lived for comfort and indulgence, was being elevated to the highest position.
It shook everything he believed in.
"I will never acknowledge it!"
He slammed a fist into the bed, melting half the alloy frame instantly.
"If he stays, I leave! I will never stand alongside such a man!"
Sengoku felt his skull split with pain.
He had known this would happen, but he hadn't expected the explosion to be this catastrophic.
....
Meanwhile, on the other side of Marine HQ, the peaceful center of the storm driving the Fleet Admiral mad and the Admiral into volcanic rage…
Was serene.
Sunlight filtered through the windows onto polished glass counters, the air sweet with cream and eggs.
Renzo was carefully placing a syrup-glazed cherry onto the top of the "structure" before him.
It was a towering construction made of various puddings, jellies, creams, and fruits,
A Pudding Tower.
Nine layers tall, dazzling in color, wobbling precariously yet holding a strange balance.
He had spent the entire morning on this masterpiece, his way of soothing the emotional wounds the war had inflicted, meaning: he didn't sleep well.
"Done."
Renzo smiled, picked up his spoon, and prepared to begin the grand "demolition project" from the bottom.
Just then, Potts entered quietly, face glowing with restrained joy and excitement.
"Renzo-sama."
"Hm?"
Renzo didn't even lift his eyelids, focusing intensely on choosing the perfect angle that would make the tower's collapse most beautiful.
Potts took a deep breath and, in a tone like announcing a royal decree, said solemnly:
"Congratulations, sir. Word has just come from the highest authority… you have been appointed the new Marine Headquarters Admiral."
Renzo's spoon froze mid-air.
He slowly lifted his head. In his usually sleepy eyes, there was, for the first time, a hint of confusion.
He stared at Potts for a solid ten seconds.
Then he asked a question that nearly turned Potts into stone.
"…Is the Admiral's office far from the kitchen?"
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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