According to current calculations, just three Pacifistas per sea would be sufficient for daily operations across the four seas.
Even when the great pirate era triggered by Roger, Raleigh estimated that seven Pacifistas would be enough to handle the situation.
If more Pacifistas could be developed, Raleigh would send all the remaining ones to Loguetown to suppress anyone attempting to enter Reverse Mountain.
Raleigh had complete faith in Vegapunk.
As long as there was sufficient funding for his research, everyone in the world would be amazed by Vegapunk's capabilities.
However, with Vegapunk's departure, Raleigh benefited from what was left behind.
His assistants had already taken a large ship to the island where Vegapunk was taken away.
All the inconvenient-to-move equipment and excessive research materials became Raleigh's windfall.
"Sengoku, Garp, don't think I don't know you two were behind this scheme," Raleigh shook his fist at the air.
If this matter really needed handling, there was no need for Garp and Kuzan to make the arduous trip from headquarters - they could have just let Raleigh handle it.
The reason for not assigning Raleigh to handle the matter, but instead choosing Garp and Kuzan, was naturally to add more achievements to Kuzan's record.
Through his interactions with Raleigh, Sengoku had realized that this young man didn't belong to any faction—he intended to establish his own independent camp.
This led to a subtle shift in Sengoku's attitude toward him.
As the saying goes, when dealing with someone of exceptional talent who remains unaligned, the best approach is to promote your own people.
The Marines Admiral positions are capped at three.
Kong and Sengoku had identified several individuals who had already demonstrated extraordinary talent: Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan, and Raleigh.
Among them, Sakazuki and Borsalino were unquestionably destined to become Admirals as long as they didn't die prematurely.
As for Kuzan and Raleigh, their futures were less certain.
Although Kuzan's talent and strength slightly surpassed Raleigh's, everyone was well aware of Raleigh's attitude.
If Raleigh put in even a little effort, he could easily replace Kuzan as an Admiral.
Whereas Kuzan might end up stuck at the Vice Admiral rank for life.
In truth, Raleigh often felt like shouting at the headquarters officers:
"Who cares about your Admiral position? I just want to be a Vice Admiral for life!"
But he feared being labeled insane if he actually voiced this thought.
Though Raleigh understood Sengoku's arrangements, he had no intention of opposing them.
Essentially, since Sakazuki and Borsalino hadn't firmly aligned with Sengoku's faction, they would promote Kuzan from their own camp.
Before Raleigh's emergence, Kuzan's promotion was virtually guaranteed—it's just that the situation had become somewhat complicated now.
The only solution was to diminish Raleigh's presence and assign major accomplishments to Kuzan instead.
"Indeed, no matter which world you're in, those at the top always play the game of relationships and social politics," Raleigh sighed to himself before putting on his eye mask to daydream.
[Daydreaming during work hours: Slacking Points +500]
...
One month later, in an unknown region of the Grand Line.
Marines soldiers who had spotted something unusual fished up some ship fragments from the sea.
"Reporting to Vice Admiral Raleigh! We've discovered some ship debris."
Several soldiers presented the fragments to Raleigh.
"Sir, judging by their appearance, these don't seem to be from modern pirate ships," Hans carefully examined the fragments before speaking to Raleigh.
"Hans is right. I estimate these fragments are at least a hundred years old."
"Oh no, more like two hundred years," Beck picked up another piece and added.
During their training at the previous naval base, Beck and Hans had developed expertise in analyzing ship traces.
Hans gently rubbed the ship fragment between his fingers, causing it to crumble like snowflakes and scatter on the deck.
"Vice Admiral Raleigh, I estimate this must be from a ship at least three centuries old. It wouldn't have such fragile structural integrity otherwise."
"Vice Admiral Raleigh! We've spotted what appears to be a person over there!"
A lookout sailor urgently reported to Raleigh on the deck.
Hearing this, Raleigh used his Observation Haki to scan the entire sea area.
Although the area was vast, following the sailor's direction, Raleigh quickly detected a relatively weak life form.
"They don't seem like pirates, because pirates aren't this weak." Raleigh muttered to himself.
"Raleigh-sama, there are more ship fragments in that direction. Should we go take a look?"
"Alright, let's check it out."
Raleigh nodded and signaled the Marines soldiers to steer the ship in that direction.
As the warship drew closer, the small figure tightly covered his mouth.
Afraid that his breathing might be too loud and expose his location, he didn't realize that the Marines soldiers and Raleigh had already spotted him earlier.
However, Raleigh had no ill intentions.
He believed that anyone appearing in these waters, as long as they didn't attack him first, he wouldn't actively seek them out either.
The warship quickly passed by the spot where the boy was hiding without stopping.
After seeing the warship rush past him, the boy let out a soft sigh.
Raleigh arrived at the large area of ship debris and gazed curiously at the sea.
Hans and Beck, who had prepared earlier, had already dived into the water to retrieve items.
"Raleigh-sama, look what we found! This is the flag of a small kingdom from a very, very long time ago."
"This flag belongs to a kingdom in the East Blue. When I was a child, my family used to tell stories about this kingdom."
"But I remember this kingdom vanished from history as early as 200 years ago."
Raleigh took the flag from Hans's hands and couldn't help but exclaim, "Could it be that this ship is from 200 years ago?"
"Very likely, Raleigh-sama."
Hans suddenly emerged from beneath the ship, holding a lump of golden material, and shouted loudly.
"Raleigh-sama, look what I found!"
"It's a piece of valuable gold!"
Upon hearing about the gold, everyone on the ship erupted in excitement.
The boy also noticed this scene and grew very excited when he saw the gold in their hands.
"Could this be the City of gold that my ancestors once spoke of?"
Raleigh noticed the boy's unusual reaction but didn't dwell on it, as many people would be excited upon encountering such gold.
He had already assumed the boy hiding behind was a scavenger of the sea.
"Hey, kid, come out."
"I've known you were there for a while."
"Hiding behind the ship is useless."
"I can see you want this thing, right?"
Raleigh tossed the gold artifact back and forth in his hand, trying to lure out the boy behind.
After hearing Raleigh's words, the boy slowly moved out from behind the ship.
Trembling with fear, he spoke.
"Marine-sama, I was just here collecting some things."
"I don't have any intention of coveting your gold."
Raleigh could tell from the boy's eyes that he truly had no desire for the gold.
Yet, at the same time, the boy's gaze seemed strangely familiar.
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