Kong's mood had improved remarkably.
He took a deep puff from his premium cigar, gazing out through his office window at Marineford.
Admittedly, Raleigh's choice pleased Kong greatly.
The only question was whether Fisher Tiger would actually accept serving the World Government.
However, this troublesome diplomatic matter was something Raleigh had taken the initiative to propose, so Kong didn't need to stress over it.
Seeing this usually lazy young man voluntarily take on a mission lifted the Fleet Admiral's oppressive mood considerably.
"By the way," Kong added casually, "we can temporarily set aside the matter of recruiting Fisher Tiger. Now that Garp has captured the Pirate King, Roger, we plan to execute him publicly in his hometown, Loguetown."
Raleigh stiffened.
"We have received urgent intelligence that thousands of rookie pirates and underworld mafia members are flocking to Loguetown to witness the execution," Kong continued.
"Our local forces there are already vastly insufficient to suppress them. You are currently the closest Vice-Admiral on the nautical chart. Go to Loguetown immediately and assist Garp in supervising Roger's execution."
Raleigh instantly felt as if his peaceful world was collapsing.
The very reason he had come out here to hunt Mihawk was specifically to avoid this massive, headache-inducing historical event!
Being assigned to it anyway was truly irritating.
"Fleet Admiral, I still have many urgent matters to attend to—" Raleigh's voice suddenly sounded incredibly pitiful.
But Kong wouldn't be fooled by Raleigh's lazy little tricks.
He cut him off directly. "Don't worry! I know you dislike having too many missions at once, so I have officially canceled all your other tasks! Your only mission now is to go to Loguetown. This is an order, Vice-Admiral, not a discussion."
Click.
Having said this, Fleet Admiral Kong decisively hung up the Den Den Mushi, giving Raleigh absolutely no opportunity to argue.
Under the bright azure sky, Raleigh's heart felt as if it was being drenched by a freezing, torrential downpour.
He never imagined that one day he would be so thoroughly outmaneuvered by Fleet Admiral Kong.
No wonder people said that wretched old man was truly wicked!
Sighing heavily, Raleigh gave the order to the helmsman to turn the warship around.
There was no other way—within the military system, one must follow direct orders from the Fleet Admiral.
At that moment, Bullet emerged from the training room, his expression unusually stiff and unnatural.
Seeing Bullet come out, Raleigh guessed he had something heavy on his mind and gestured for him to sit on the lounger beside him.
Bullet wasn't one to beat around the bush.
He looked at the deck and said directly, "Vice-Admiral Raleigh... can I not go to Loguetown?"
Raleigh raised an eyebrow.
"Although I have left the Roger Pirates... Roger will always be my captain," Bullet muttered, his massive hands clenching into fists.
"I... I don't want to watch him die in chains."
Raleigh nodded slowly.
He could completely understand this.
No matter what happened, Roger held an impossibly high position in the hearts of his former crew members, and Bullet was once one of those closest to the captain.
His deep reluctance to go watch the execution was entirely normal.
Raleigh scratched his head, and a brilliant, ruthless idea suddenly popped into his mind.
"Actually, I happen to have a highly classified solo mission I need you to do instead."
Without even asking what the task was, Bullet immediately agreed.
"Fine. I will go."
Black lines seemed to appear on Raleigh's forehead. "Hey, hey, at least hear me out first!"
Bullet's face showed some impatience, wanting to get off the ship as soon as possible.
"Do we not have Mihawk's severed head and corpse stored in the ship's freezer?" Raleigh asked, lowering his voice.
"I need you to secretly deliver his body directly to Dr. Vegapunk's laboratory on Karakuri Island. Meanwhile, take his Supreme Grade Black Blade, Yoru, and deliver it to my disciple, Miles."
Raleigh's master plan was simple but incredibly far-reaching.
Since Mihawk was already dead, he might as well make the swordsman's death useful for the future.
Remembering from his past life that Dr. Vegapunk later developed the terrifying "Seraphim" pacifista clones based on the DNA of the Seven Warlords, Vegapunk would definitely need the genetic information of top-tier fighters.
Although the original Mihawk was gone, sending his fresh corpse to Vegapunk would serve the exact same scientific purpose!
Raleigh was highly looking forward to seeing whether Vegapunk could replicate a batch of Pacifistas modeled after the World's Greatest Swordsman.
Even if there were only a dozen or so S-Hawk clones under Raleigh's future command, it would be enough military might to suppress the entire sea.
As for the ownership of the Black Blade Yoru, that was Raleigh's personal desire.
He felt he had somewhat neglected Miles's growth during this time.
According to Sakazuki's reports, Miles was making monstrously rapid progress in both physical combat and swordsmanship.
Although he hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit yet, the boy was already approaching Vice-Admiral level in raw strength.
Raleigh didn't have any particularly good famous swords in his own possession to give away, but this Black Blade Yoru was of the highest grade, making it an incredibly valuable gift for Miles.
This could be considered Raleigh finally providing his very first disciple with a true weapon to conquer the New World.
Hearing Raleigh's casual orders, Gion smiled and said half-jokingly, "Raleigh, the Black Blade Yoru is one of the twelve Supreme Grade Swords in the entire world! Are you really just giving it to Miles like a simple graduation gift? You are being far too generous."
Raleigh shrugged his shoulders, not particularly concerned about the so-called Great Grade or Supreme Grade rankings.
To him, legendary swords were merely reflections of their owners' true strength and fame, having little to do with the metal weapons themselves.
A good weapon could certainly enhance a user's lethality, but top-tier experts didn't rely solely on their weapons to become strong.
Just like Whitebeard's Murakumogiri and Roger's Ace—even if a weakling obtained those legendary blades, they would at most reach the level of a basic Swordmaster.
The Golden Lion wielded two excellent swords, yet wasn't he still defeated by pure Haki and fists?
...
Several days later, Raleigh's warship crossed over Reverse Mountain once again, officially re-entering the peaceful waters of the East Blue.
The belated shocking news had just begun spreading across the globe about Raleigh's brutal battle with the Marine Hunter.
The world now knew that Dracule Mihawk, the prodigy who had fully intended to challenge for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman, had died a gruesome death at the hands of Marine Vice-Admiral Christian Raleigh.
"How terrifying! Another Great Swordsman has fallen!"
"Vice-Admiral Raleigh... he is truly worthy of being called the Swordmaster Killer!"
The world's populace always had strange focuses when reading the news.
Based on Raleigh's several high-profile actions since entering the Grand Line, people noticed that Raleigh had successively defeated or eliminated three of the world's greatest sword users.
Thus, the public gave him a terrifying new nickname: The Pirate Swordsman Killer!
Ignoring the increasingly chaotic and exaggerated rumors about his sword skills, Raleigh finally set foot on the soil of Loguetown.
Without any surprise, the exact moment he entered Loguetown's bustling harbor, Raleigh's Observation Haki noticed dozens of hidden pirates with astronomically high bounties.
This included many New World veterans who had clearly entered the Grand Line but had returned to the East Blue through various illegal means of smuggling.
Though highly dangerous, this gathering was quite normal.
This was the world's first and only execution site of a true Pirate King, and absolutely no one with ambition would want to miss such a historic event.
Even with the Navy massively increasing their security personnel, they couldn't possibly stop these future legends from wanting to witness history firsthand.
Currently, Raleigh's terrifying reputation had already spread worldwide.
He was recognized by the hidden pirates immediately upon stepping off his ship, and the chilling information that the "Swordsman Killer" had arrived quickly spread in all directions through the shadows of Loguetown.