You have to give someone a sweet date after swinging the stick. Since the other four were scolding Kong, Saturn naturally chose to calm him down a little.
In Saturn's words, the Marines would no longer have to continue fighting Nereus, which was a great thing for the Marines.
"Besides, we didn't give the entire Fishman Island extrajudicial immunity. If someone causes trouble in the future, the Marines can still take action."
Simply put, this was also part of the agreement. To prevent the situation from spiraling out of control, as long as Nereus himself did not take action, the World Government would not intervene either. Marine Admirals and the Fleet Admiral were likewise not allowed to step in.
The conflicts would be left to those below, kept within a certain limit, somewhat similar to a proxy war.
"But the Marines' reputation… the attitude of the other soldiers… how am I supposed to explain something like this when I go back?"
"That's something you need to think about. It has nothing to do with us. However, Kong, you have a misunderstanding."
Saturn paused and looked at Kong with a solemn gaze.
"The 'reputation' you're talking about is worthless in our eyes. Do you understand? When you return, make sure the matter is properly conveyed. I don't want the Marines clashing with that man again for some inexplicable reason."
"…Yes, I understand."
Kong remained silent for a long time before finally standing up and leaving Mariejois. However, before he could walk out the gate, Mars called out to stop him.
"The Marine engineers are quite capable. Tell them to come up again. Mariejois needs repairs."
"…Understood."
Kong accepted the task and left quietly. Meanwhile, the Five Elders seemed to have reached a shared conclusion.
It was all the Marines' incompetence that had led to today's situation. They were even beginning to sound as if they were hypnotizing themselves.
"Come to think of it, that man came to seek a compromise with us, didn't he?"
"You call this… a compromise?"
Warcury pointed around them. Even during the clash on Mariejois between Rocks and Harald, the terrain hadn't been devastated like this.
Their fight back then could even be considered a misunderstanding, and it ended quickly.
The last time Mariejois suffered large-scale damage was when that robot, Emet, climbed up here.
Because of that, he found it difficult to understand how Saturn could say such a thing.
"After all, his goal was to reach an agreement with us. How could that not count as a kind of compromise?"
"I think the ones who compromised were us. That guy… was more like coercing us."
"He merely sparked the Boss's interest. We're just following orders. Or would you prefer coercion over his 'voluntary compromise'?"
The other four Five Elders said nothing, only nodding silently. Saturn's version did sound better. Since that was the case, slightly altering how the story was framed wasn't a problem.
"Speaking of which, the Marines must have forgotten how many people died in the operations against Nereus, yet they still want to take revenge."
"Our orders have already been delivered; the Marines won't defy us. Speaking of which… Zephyr encountered Nereus before, didn't he? With his abilities… how did he manage to retreat with all his soldiers unharmed?"
Zephyr's explanation was that Nereus had something to do and had no intention of fighting him. But thinking about today's events carefully, the Five Elders suddenly felt that something was off.
It was true that Zephyr was the youngest Admiral, but he hadn't become an Admiral because his strength had surpassed the level of an Admiral at a young age.
Rather, he had accumulated enough military merit at that age, and his strength had reached the minimum threshold for an Admiral. Coincidentally, there happened to be a vacancy for an Admiral in the Marines, so Zephyr naturally filled the position.
For someone like that, it would make sense if he could preserve his own life. But protecting all of his soldiers was somewhat unreasonable.
Under normal circumstances, either the ordinary soldiers or Zephyr himself—some of them should have died.
"Who knows? Maybe that guy was just in a good mood. There's nothing going on now anyway, so let's not worry about the Marines."
"That's true. Let's think about how to rebuild Mariejois instead. Should we make it exactly the same, or change the style?"
Although it felt somewhat strange, the Five Elders ultimately didn't think too deeply about it and continued to follow their usual principle of dealing with problems only after they actually occurred.
Meanwhile, Kong had no idea what the Five Elders said after he left.
He simply departed Mariejois filled with suppressed frustration. On the way back to Marineford, aside from the order to withdraw the troops, he didn't say a single word the entire journey.
The Marines only needed to obey the order. In the recruit camps, obedience was well promoted, and no soldiers raised any questions. However, those who became strong within the Marines were mostly the type who disdained such orders.
"Notify everyone currently at headquarters with the rank of Vice Admiral to gather in the main conference room in one hour. Have Sengoku and Zephyr… and also Garp and Tsuru come to my office first."
Kong sat at his desk for a long time before finally issuing his command.
The Five Elders had given their orders bluntly without considering anything. Kong, however, couldn't do the same.
If even the death of a Fleet Admiral could be accepted, then who would care about their lives? As an ordinary soldier, would they simply be treated as cannon fodder and thrown onto a battlefield where dying would have no meaning?
Kong had to consider all of these possible scenarios.
Since the Levely had just ended, most of the Marine high-ranking officers were currently still at headquarters and hadn't yet departed for other missions, which made arranging the meeting much easier.
Before long, the four people Kong had summoned arrived at the Fleet Admiral's office.
However…
Garp was wearing a tropical tank top and slippers, holding a senbei in his left hand and a teapot in his right, looking as though he were about to go on vacation.
Zephyr had a cigar in his mouth. The stubble on his face looked like it hadn't been cleaned up in a long time, and he had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for quite a while.
Sengoku looked utterly exhausted, seemingly with a headache, rubbing his temples from time to time. Only Tsuru looked like a normal person.
"What's… going on with you all?"
These were his core subordinates and the highest ranks of the Marines. Yet now, they all looked full of problems.
"I was just about to go on vacation when you called me over."
Garp was as unserious as ever. Ever since the God Valley Incident ended, he had been like this. In the past, Kong would have flown into a rage, but today he felt oddly indifferent.
"I was planning future campaign strategies, reviewing some past examples. I haven't slept recently."
Zephyr's explanation sounded reasonable, yet it still made Kong feel that something was slightly off.
"Their excuses have resulted in all other military affairs falling on me.…"
Finally, Sengoku glared resentfully at Zephyr and Garp, even casting a glance at Kong. For some reason, he felt like he was now carrying the responsibilities of four people.
"Ahem, that's not important. I called you here because there's something extremely important. On Mariejois, that vampire has reached an agreement with the Five Elders…"
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