At Marine 16th Branch, Captain Nezumi was restless. He had an ominous premonition ever since he heard a few days ago that a Marine warship had departed from Marineford, seemingly headed for his location. The fact that several days had passed with no news made it even harder for him to calm down.
"Could it be that the Arlong matter has been exposed?" Captain Nezumi thought to himself as he paced. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he collapsed into a chair, his eyes turning fierce.
"No matter who you are, if you're just docking here, everything's fine. If you've discovered something, then I have no choice. At most, they'll escort me back for trial, and I'll just bribe the Judge then."
Just then, his subordinate reported, "Captain Nezumi, we've spotted the Marine ship."
Captain Nezumi excitedly grabbed his subordinate's collar. "Who's on board? Do you know whose ship it is?"
The subordinate was startled and stammered, "I think I only saw four girls on board. The ship has 'argo' painted on its side. I haven't heard of it, so it should be a new ship."
Captain Nezumi immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "So it's just a few kids, then they probably haven't discovered my actions." He went out to greet them.
Nami curiously asked Hera, "You're going to deal with Captain Nezumi. Are you going to escort him and find an opportunity on the way, directly pronounce his guilt, or assassinate him? What about Marine 16th Branch?"
Hera stroked the Hour Hand in her hand and said, "It won't be that much trouble."
Soon, the argo arrived at the dock. Captain Nezumi saw that the young Hera's badge was already that of a Navy Headquarters Lieutenant Commander, and immediately went up to greet her, somewhat fawningly saying, "Lieutenant Commander, why didn't you say you were coming beforehand? I would have prepared a banquet for you. Do you need any supplies?" He prepared to shake hands with Hera.
Hera didn't speak. Captain Nezumi's hand touched not Hera's hand, but the cold Hour Hand. "Do I need to inform a scoundrel like you that I'm coming to kill you?"
With a single shot, Captain Nezumi fell to the ground. Before his consciousness faded, he saw Nami walking down, and then understood the reason for his death: "So she had already been to the Arlong Pirates. What a decisive girl." This was Captain Nezumi's last thought before he died.
Seeing Captain Nezumi killed, the dock immediately descended into chaos. The other Marines didn't know what to do and panicked.
"No running around! Everyone stand still!" Hera's aura pressed down on these Marines with her words, making them all stand still, not daring to move.
"Very good. Captain Nezumi accepted bribes from the Arlong Pirates, shielding them from their evil deeds. He has now been executed on the spot by me."
Among the Marines overwhelmed by her aura, several showed panicked expressions. Hera's mind moved, and a black shadow wrapped around them.
"Take these people down for interrogation and ask if there are any accomplices. Everyone else, stand by and wait for your new superior to arrive. During this time, no one is allowed to leave the Marine branch. Violators will be considered accomplices of Captain Nezumi. Someone, take me to his office."
Her aura receded, and the adjacent Vice Admiral's deputy hurriedly took Hera to the office.
After Hera went to the office, she took out Grandma Tsuru's den den mushi. "Grandma Tsuru? I'm at Marine 16th Branch. The Captain here accepted bribes, turned a blind eye to a Pirate Crew, and didn't report them, so I killed him."
Grandma Tsuru wasn't too surprised after hearing this, only asking, "Is the situation true?"
Hera replied, "It's true. That Pirate Crew has already been eliminated by me. It was a large-scale operation; if someone hadn't been protecting them, the news definitely couldn't have been kept secret."
"That's good. If you killed him, you killed him. I'll arrange for someone to take over." Then Grandma Tsuru frowned. "Next time, it's best to have him tried. That would have a greater deterrent effect on others."
Hera said to Grandma Tsuru in a somewhat coquettish tone, "I just couldn't help it. He was truly abominable."
Grandma Tsuru said, "Alright, alright, he was a scoundrel. If you killed him, you killed him, as long as the evidence is solid. Later, I'll go to Sengoku to get you an Internal Inspector, alright?"
Hera hadn't expected such an unexpected gain and immediately became happy. "Great, great!"
Grandma Tsuru said, "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."
Hera suddenly remembered Nami's question and asked again, "Then what should I do if I want to recruit people into my team?"
Grandma Tsuru said, "Then I'll give you a few more Marine positions. After you recruit people and come back, I'll issue their ranks based on their strength and merits, alright? You child, you haven't been out for long and already have so many things. Are there any other troubles?"
Hera said, "No, no, that's all. Thank you, Grandma Tsuru."
The Marine affairs were thus properly handled under Hera's decisive actions.
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!