Marine Headquarters Marineford:
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku sat in Steel Bone Kong's former seat, with stacks of documents piled high before him. Beside him, a goat was eating the discarded papers Sengoku had thrown.
Since returning to Marineford, Sengoku had taken over the duties of Fleet Admiral. The defeat of the Marine and the death of the Fleet Admiral had left Sengoku overwhelmed with various issues.
He had thought that even if he were to become Fleet Admiral, it would be at least five or six years from now. He never expected to be hastily appointed due to the Fleet Admiral's death.
This was just like how Steel Bone Kong was hastily appointed after the previous Naval Fleet Admiral Brak was killed by Rocks!
"Purupurupuru!!!"
As Sengoku was working through the documents, the den den mushi on his desk rang. Seeing the face on the den den mushi, he knew it was Five Elders Saturn Saint!
"Sengoku, Kong is dead. From now on, you are the Fleet Admiral. I have already sent people over. Let's hold the Fleet Admiral inauguration ceremony today!"
Saturn Saint spoke calmly, as if the death of a Fleet Admiral was an insignificant matter to him, and appointing someone else wouldn't affect anything.
"Your Excellency Saturn Saint, this time the Marine was defeated, requiring a large sum for pensions, and the Marine suffered heavy losses, needing a huge expansion budget."
"There are many reasons for this defeat. One of them is that our weapons are too far behind those of the Limitless Pirates. We need to purchase more powerful weapons."
Although Sengoku really wanted to question the Gorosei about why Fleet Admiral Kong was killed by Redfield and why the World Government didn't send anyone to support him.
But he knew that his questioning would be completely meaningless. The Gorosei would never admit to any mistakes, let alone compensate for anything because of it.
So he could only make the Gorosei bleed from another angle, or rather, make the Gorosei allocate funds to restore the strength of the Marine.
Now he understood why Steel Bone Kong had become so submissive in front of the Gorosei. It was all because the Gorosei controlled the economic lifeline of the Marine; all military expenses were in the hands of the Gorosei.
For the Marine to develop, they couldn't do without the Gorosei and the World Government. Otherwise, without financial support, the Marine wouldn't be able to pay military expenses, pensions, etc. If the capital chain broke, the Marine would quickly fall apart.
"The most important thing now is for you to take office and stabilize morale, stabilize the current Marine, rather than expanding the military."
"This year's military expenses have already been distributed. The Marine finance department definitely still has some. You can use that portion of the money first."
"Once the celestial tribute is handed over next year, we will distribute military expenses again!"
After Saturn Saint finished speaking, he directly hung up the phone, giving Sengoku no chance to speak further.
Their World Government is now restricted by the Allied Nations from printing Berries, so they are already short on funds. How could they possibly have extra money for the Marine?
"Bastards!"
After the den den mushi hung up, Sengoku angrily slammed his hand on the desk in front of him, shattering it, and scattering a pile of documents on the floor.
"Fleet Admiral, the inauguration ceremony is ready and can begin at any time."
Just then, a Marine soldier ran in from outside to report, startled by Sengoku's outburst.
"I understand. I'll go now."
Sengoku sighed.
Being this Fleet Admiral is so damn difficult.
This feeling of being choked is absolutely unbearable, but he can't vent his anger on the people who are choking him. In a word, it's stifling!
On the Marineford plaza, over forty thousand Marine soldiers stood solemnly. They should have been radiant, but their emotions were somewhat gloomy and sad.
Even Marine Admirals Zephyr and Vice Admiral Garp were in a heavy mood, as this was the second time they had participated in such a ceremony. They had experienced the same humiliation twice!
As Sengoku appeared, all the Marine soldiers present focused their gaze on him. Now, Sengoku was the benchmark for the entire Marine.
Everyone else could be gloomy and heavy-hearted, but as the Fleet Admiral, he absolutely could not show any such emotions.
"Fellow colleagues, I am the current Fleet Admiral Sengoku. I assume you all already know about the unfortunate death of former Fleet Admiral Steel Bone Kong."
"We already know who the murderer of Fleet Admiral Kong is, and we are already preparing to capture him, escort him to where I am standing now, and carry out a public execution in front of all of us Marines!!"
"Capture the murderer, justice will prevail!"
Sengoku's tone was excited and loud as he spoke, successfully resonating with everyone present.
"Capture the murderer, justice will prevail!"
"Capture the murderer, justice will prevail!"
"Capture the murderer, justice will prevail!"
"..."
Roars like angry shouts were continuously called out, dispelling the previous sad and heavy atmosphere.
Seeing the Marine soldiers below whose fighting spirit had been reawakened, Sengoku couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Now is a period of decline for the Marine. If the beliefs of the Marine under his command are also depressed, then the Marine will fall into a trough for an unknown period of time.
At least now, by using the method of transferring hatred, the fighting spirit and beliefs of the Marine have been awakened.
As for the matter of capturing Red Count, that was all something he had fabricated to deceive people.
Since killing Steel Bone Kong, Red Count had disappeared into the Calm Belt to hide. Their Marine and the World Government couldn't find any trace of Red Count.
"Later, I'll let Garp go out and catch pirates under the guise of capturing Red Count!"
Sengoku thought to himself.
The current Marine could be said to have no one capable. Admiral Zephyr had retired, and Garp was unwilling to be promoted to Admiral.
As a Fleet Admiral, he didn't even have a Marine Admiral under him; he could be said to be a lonely man.
"Fortunately, the Marine has just produced two young monster Marines. In four or five years, they will be able to take on major responsibilities."
When Sengoku looked down, he saw two young Marines he was very familiar with: Sakazuki and Borsalino. He had witnessed their growth and potential, and they were future Admiral candidates.
Wano Country:
Shakky opened the passage to the refuge island in the Calm Belt, and then the little ones excitedly ran out from the mirror.
Esdeath and Drake, who were walking at the front, were already one meter five or one meter six tall. They were only fourteen years old now.
The two youngest, Rhodes and Asuna, were only two years old and ran out following their older brothers and sisters with their little arms and legs.
"Father, Father, hold me, hold me!!"
The youngest, Rhodes and Asuna, hadn't seen their Father for seven or eight days, so after running out and seeing Nox, they excitedly ran over with their little legs.
"Oh, isn't this my cute Rhodes and Asuna? How have you been? Have you listened to your older brothers and sisters while Father was away?"
Nox picked up the two little ones, one in each arm, and said dotingly.
"Father, Father, I was very obedient. My older brothers and sisters even took me to catch wild chickens to play."
"Father, Father, I was also very obedient. Ares brother even taught me how to practice martial arts."
The two little ones, Rhodes and Asuna, rolled their eyes and then started showing off.
Nox was playing with the two little ones, but Drake and the other older brothers and sisters were not child anymore. They didn't come up to ask for a hug like Rhodes. In a word, the child had grown up and were no longer close to their Father.
"Mama!!!"
Nine-year-old Ares, although no longer close to Nox, was still quite dependent on his Mama Athena.
"Ares, stop acting spoiled. What you want is with your Father. You should go find him."
Athena looked helplessly at her son, who was shaking her arm, and said.
Ares is her son. How could she, as a Mama, not know what her son was thinking?
"Oh? Ares, what do you want? Why are you afraid to come find me and instead go to your Mama to act spoiled?"
Nox, holding Rhodes and Asuna, walked in front of Athena and watched Ares acting spoiled with a smile.
When Ares was younger, he was even clingier than Rhodes and Asuna.
Now that he's grown up, he even asks his Mama to ask Father for things. This son, he's a bit too...
"Hehehehehe, brother is shy, acting spoiled with Aunt Athena!"
"That's right, brother doesn't ask Father but asks Mama, how embarrassing!"
The two little ones, Rhodes and Asuna, finally got a chance to see their brother embarrassed and even made a face, making Ares so angry he wanted to hit the two little ones.
"Ares, your Father is right here. If you want it, why don't you hurry up and ask? I don't have what you want, Mama."
Athena stroked Ares's little head and said with a smile.
"Father, I also want to eat a Devil Fruit and become a 능력자 like my older brothers and sisters."
Ares fidgeted for a long time before finally saying it.
Originally, Nox had already said that he would give Ares a Devil Fruit when he turned ten.
But this little guy saw how amazing the abilities of his older brothers and sisters were, so he naturally didn't want to wait. Anyway, nine and ten were almost the same, so he wanted to eat it early.
"I thought it was something else. So it's this. No problem, since you want to eat it, I'll give it to you."
Nox said with a smile.
The Devil Fruits he had were originally prepared for his child. Since the child wanted to eat it, there was no reason for him to refuse.
"Rhodes, Asuna, come, Mama will hold you."
Toki Amatsuki knew that Nox was going to get something, so she walked over to Nox and took Rhodes and Asuna from him.
The two little ones, Rhodes and Asuna, obviously preferred Mama. Before Toki Amatsuki even reached out, the two little ones struggled out of Nox's embrace and jumped into Mama's arms.
"Ares, this is a list of all the Devil Fruits I have collected. Choose one."
Nox returned to the room, took out the Devil Fruit list and some powerful Devil Fruits, and gave them to Ares to choose from.
"Paramecia: Door-Door Fruit, Plasma Fruit, Comet Fruit, Combine-Combine Fruit, Box-Box Fruit, Bag-Bag Fruit..."
"Logia: Steam Fruit."
"Ancient Zoan: Night Bat Form, Iron Feather Giant Eagle Form."
At the top of the list were the Devil Fruits that Nox considered relatively powerful.