Early in the year 1504 of the Sea Circle Calendar, Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In Fleet Admiral Kong's office, Finn sat sprawled on the sofa, eating an apple with obvious relish.
"Bartholomew Kuma? That man's with the Revolutionary Army? That's really surprising," Fleet Admiral Kong said with a faint smile as he reviewed the document in front of him.
As he finished speaking, he raised his hand and stamped his seal on the paper, then picked up the next one.
Finn bit off a piece of apple with a loud crunch, then continued chewing while mumbling around the mouthful, "Back in the Sorbet Kingdom, I met that fellow Dragon. It seems they have a somewhat ambiguous relationship. Not surprising."
"That's true," Kong agreed with a nod.
After a brief pause, he shifted his gaze from the document and looked at Finn. "What do you think of his proposal?"
"Me?" Finn thought for a moment while eating his apple, then shook his head. "That guy isn't as simple as he pretends to be. He probably has other plans, so I won't comment. Fleet Admiral, whatever you think is fine is fine with me."
"You're becoming more and more slippery," Kong complained, though he didn't press the issue further.
Finn didn't bring up the subject again. Instead, he asked, "Where's Admiral Sengoku? I didn't see him when I got back."
"He went to Mary Geoise. The World Conference is coming up soon, and there are some things the Marines need to arrange there," Kong said casually.
"Really?" Finn didn't pay much attention, then asked, "Speaking of which, does the Marine have any requests for this World Conference?"
"No. It's useless to mention anything. Relations with the higher-ups have been tense lately. As long as our military budget isn't cut next year, I'll consider it a great blessing," Kong said with a dry smile.
"Relations are tense," Finn murmured, and said nothing more.
"Here, take a look at this." Kong seemed to have thought of something. He picked up a document from the table and tossed it to Finn.
Finn stuffed the remaining half of the apple, core and all, into his mouth, then raised his hand to catch the document. He opened it and began to read.
After a moment, Finn swallowed the apple and looked at Kong. "Isn't this normal? I remember they also refused to participate in the World Conference back in 1500. As far as I can recall, I've never seen the royal family of Fish-Man Island attend a meeting in Mary Geoise, right?"
The document mentioned nothing else but that the Neptune royal family of Fish-Man Island had refused to participate in this year's World Conference.
This wasn't strange at all. Although Fish-Man Island had joined the World Government two or three hundred years ago and had been a stable member nation since then, due to racial issues and related problems like slavery, there were enormous differences and conflicts between Fish-Man Island and the World Government, as well as between Fish-Man Island and the humans above the sea.
Therefore, they basically never participated in the World Conference and were members in name only.
Of course, it had to be said that Fish-Man Island was quite wealthy and paid the Heavenly Tribute on time every year. Finn didn't really know what to make of that.
Nowadays, in the Great Pirate Era, some dramatic changes had taken place. For example, the flag now flying over Fish-Man Island was the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates. They'd been incorporated into Whitebeard's territory.
In that situation, wasn't it normal for them not to attend?
Kong nodded, then shook his head. "That may be normal, yes, but normal doesn't necessarily mean right. Fish-Man Island is extremely important. If possible, I'd like to gain their support."
"That's probably difficult," Finn said bluntly. "As far as I know, the King of Fish-Man Island, the Great Knight of the Sea Neptune, is very hostile to humans, and he's good friends with Whitebeard. Moreover, although the slave trade is prohibited by law, you can't be unaware of what Mary Geoise is like in private. The slave trade involving mermaids and fish-men has been rampant, and it even has the support of the Celestial Dragons behind the scenes. In that situation, it's good enough that they don't turn against us openly. You still want to gain their support?"
Finn rolled his eyes at the Fleet Admiral.
That's right. Neptune's attitude toward humans wasn't nearly as accommodating as it would be twenty years later. At this stage, Neptune was deeply hostile to humans. It wasn't until Queen Otohime's death that he repented, inherited her will, and began working earnestly to allow Fish-Man Island to communicate peacefully with surface society.
But unfortunately, even then, it hadn't accomplished much.
"Slave trade," Kong muttered, a flash of disgust crossing his eyes.
He knew very well that the main reason for the separation between Fish-Man Island and the surface world was the issue of slavery.
"Do you have any good solution to the problem of the slave trade?" Kong asked.
Finn was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. If you give me the order, Fleet Admiral, I'll go to Mary Geoise right now and kill all the Celestial Dragons. No buyers, no trade. Simple."
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting, kid?!" Kong glared at him.
"Hahahaha. Fleet Admiral, you know it's a joke. So what can I really do about this kind of thing?" Finn laughed.
Kong glanced at Finn, then said with a hint of emotion, "Although the World Government is rotten, the Five Elders are actually quite thoughtful and proactive. I'm not afraid to tell you that they also intend to rebuild their relationship with Fish-Man Island. They just don't know where to start."
"With the power of the Five Elders, there shouldn't be any problem in teaching those lawless Celestial Dragons a lesson, right? As long as we can stop the slave culture, there will be hope," Finn said softly.
"It's not that simple. Although the Five Elders are the highest-ranking Celestial Dragons, they can't just rearrange the affairs of the other Celestial Dragons at will." Kong paused, frowning. "I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but…"
"But what?" Finn asked, his curiosity piqued.
Kong thought for a moment, then finally said, "Those Celestial Dragons on Mary Geoise who seem completely useless, they apparently have some crucial role to play for the World Government."
"Role," Finn muttered, then asked, "Does it have to do with the legal legitimacy of the World Government?"
The twenty kings were the founders of the World Government, so their descendants enjoyed extremely high authority and were called the descendants of the gods. This was the origin of the Celestial Dragons. From a political perspective, the reason the World Government worshipped the Celestial Dragons was because their existence represented the legal orthodoxy of the World Government itself.
Kong shook his head. "It's not a political matter. It's probably related to some secret of Mary Geoise. I'm just speculating, so I don't know the details."
"I see," Finn said, nodding. He didn't ask any more questions.
After all, if the Fleet Admiral said he didn't know, what was the point in pressing?
"Forget it. These aren't things we should be worrying about," Kong said, shaking his head. He was clearly done talking about the Celestial Dragons.
After a pause, he looked at Finn again. "Is there really no good solution?"
Finn smiled helplessly. "It's nothing more than strengthening ties or something similar. If you really want to pursue it, Fleet Admiral, have you ever considered forming a special unit similar to the Giant Squad, but staffed by fish-men? Perhaps that would improve relations."
Kong glanced at Finn. "You may not know this, but the Marines have tried something similar before."
Finn's eyes lit up. "And then?"
"And then we failed," Kong said, his tone tinged with helplessness.
Before Finn could ask, he explained. "Well, there's no need to consider the merfolk. Regardless of gender, they're all relatively peaceful by nature and unsuitable for combat roles. That's why we only recruited fish-men."
"Well, with basic strength ten times that of humans and the ability to breathe freely in the sea, I think that race is more adapted to this world than humans are, honestly," Finn said, nodding.
"That's right. We also valued those traits at the time, but there's always a trade-off. While fish-men possess great power, they're also naturally extremely violent and aggressive, with extremely poor discipline. And they're quite xenophobic," Kong said quietly.
Understanding dawned in Finn's eyes. "Is that the reason for the failure?"
"That's right. In the end, the special force formed by fish-men rebelled and was disbanded. Since then, there have been no related proposals. Maybe they're good at being pirates, but being Marines? It's really not suitable for them," Kong said with resignation.
"That's a pity," Finn said with some emotion. He really hadn't known the Marines had made such efforts.
"But then again, not all fish-men are aggressive and violent, right?" Finn asked.
"Of course not. There are always exceptions. Some fish-men don't have that violent gene in their blood. They're able to tame their wildness," Kong said.
Similar to Jinbe, similar to Fisher Tiger. They should both be that kind of person. Even Hachi probably fell into that category.
But those were just individual cases. They were useless for changing the overall trend.
"Then there's nothing I can do," Finn said with a shrug.
Kong had nothing to say in response. This matter was just that difficult to handle.
But at that moment, Finn suddenly spoke. "Does Queen Otohime of Fish-Man Island have great kindness toward humans?"
Kong frowned, hesitating. "I don't really know."
"Fleet Admiral, you're going too far. You want to appease Fish-Man Island, but you don't understand the current situation at all. Isn't that just empty talk?" Finn complained.
"Hahahaha. You're right. I'll send someone to investigate the situation," Kong said with a laugh.
"Well, if Queen Otohime really does have a benevolent attitude toward humans, then the Marines might be able to start from that angle and support her. Given her status, it could have a miraculous effect," Finn said with a thoughtful smile.
"Let me give it a try," Kong agreed with a nod.
Taking a sip from the teacup on the table, Finn asked again, "It always seems like Admiral Sengoku is incredibly busy all day long, but I don't feel busy at all. Fleet Admiral, is there something wrong with my performance as an Admiral?"
"No problem," Kong said with a smile, then explained. "Sengoku is special. He's not just an Admiral. He also bears a large portion of a Fleet Admiral's responsibilities."
Without hiding anything, Kong said openly, "When I retire, or when I'm promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the World Government forces, Sengoku will definitely take over the position of Fleet Admiral. Therefore, I'm assigning these tasks to him now so he can quickly assume full authority over the Marines in the future."
"Is that so? Then I can relax and do my fishing in peace. Hahaha," Finn joked.
At that moment, the Den Den Mushi in Finn's pocket rang. He pulled it out and glanced at it. "It's Gion, Fleet Admiral. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."
Kong smiled and nodded. "Go ahead."