"In other words, starting now, the World Government no longer classifies him as a pirate, but as the king of an affiliated nation.
Not only can we not carry out targeted actions against him, we even have to cooperate with his actions…"
Kong briefly summarized the decision made at Mariejois. Although the Five Elders had already reached a series of agreements with Nereus, many details were still in the process of being implemented.
Some matters had not even been formally decided by the Five Elders yet, so the information Kong knew was only a portion of the whole.
But even that portion was already troublesome enough.
"And the matter of Fleet Admiral Salazar… has also been set aside by the World Government…"
The Marines as a whole were subordinate to the World Government, but they still possessed a certain degree of independence. Anyone who could rise to the position of Marine Fleet Admiral already had loyalty to the World Government that met the required standard.
However, they were still the highest representative of the Marines and had to consider the interests of the Marines themselves. Obeying the World Government did not mean having no thoughts of their own.
Yet the reactions of his subordinates were somewhat different from what Kong had expected.
At this moment in his office, there was no scene of collective outrage. Tsuru, Zephyr, Sengoku, and Garp all appeared extremely calm.
This exceeded Kong's expectations. Tsuru remaining calm was perfectly normal. Although she had also fought on the front lines, she currently held the position of staff officer as well. Given the current situation, she would soon be promoted to Great Staff Officer—the chief of staff.
It was also understandable that Zephyr and Sengoku were not agitated, but Garp's personality…
Even though Garp's previous behavior had already been somewhat strange, Kong felt that after hearing such news, his attitude shouldn't have been this indifferent.
"Isn't this perfectly normal? Since when has the World Government cared about the life or death of the Marines? Whether its soldiers or the Fleet Admiral, as long as it suits their interests, anyone can be discarded.
If Nereus declared he wanted to join the Marines, those five old men might even hand the Fleet Admiral position directly to him."
"Garp! Don't say things like that! Don't forget, you're a Marine too!"
Seeing Garp about to say something even stranger, Sengoku stepped in to scold him. Or rather, he was worried Garp might say something that would be difficult to deal with later.
"I know. Isn't the Marine motto to obey the orders of the World Government? Then we just obey. It's good timing too, our soldiers won't have to face that madman, and we can reduce some unnecessary casualties."
Bang!
"Both of you, stop arguing! The World Government's order has already been issued. I didn't call you here to discuss how to oppose it. I called you here to figure out how to notify the entire Marine force!"
Kong slammed the desk in front of him, stopping Sengoku and Garp's argument before raising the key issue.
"What's so complicated about that? Just pass along the original message and say it's the World Government's order."
"Tsuru, you should understand what I'm worried about."
"Nothing more than the soldiers' reactions. But Fleet Admiral, you're overthinking it. Ordinary soldiers won't think too deeply about this sort of matter, they might not even know what you look like.
Officers of general rank more or less understand how the World Government works. Once they know it's their order, they won't ask too many questions. Even if there are complaints, they'll blame the World Government's orders, not us.
Fleet Admiral Kong, the reason you find this difficult is simply because you're thinking too much."
Garp and Tsuru's stance was aligned with the Marines, while Kong was considering both the Marines and the World Government at the same time.
Knowing full well that the World Government had made a decision that might bitterly disappoint some Marines, he hoped that through other means those Marines would still maintain absolute loyalty to the World Government, rather than being loyal only to the Marines.
That was the reason Kong found the situation difficult to handle. Tsuru, however, did not see it that way. Just as Garp had said earlier, this would reduce casualties in the future. If any problems arose, they could simply push the responsibility onto the World Government. It would not affect the internal stability of the Marines at all.
And in fact, that was exactly how things turned out.
The Marines were not some makeshift organization that had only existed for a few years. After several hundred years, their degree of obedience to the World Government was extremely high.
Therefore, even among the soldiers who had participated in the God Valley Incident, although some felt that what they had done was wrong, very few openly opposed the orders from above.
After the news was announced, most people had little reaction.
Only some Marines whose comrades or relatives had died at Nereus's hands were indignant about it, but the matter was eventually brushed aside under the explanation that "this is the World Government's order; there's nothing we can do."
Very few of those people had any chance of ever meeting the Five Elders. At most, their immediate superiors simply had to listen to a few more complaints.
Meanwhile, the news that the Ryugu Kingdom had become an affiliated nation again, or rather, had its affiliated-nation rights restored, was officially published in the newspapers.
"Due to mistakes by certain World Government personnel and former members of the Ryugu Kingdom's royal family, some misunderstandings arose between the Ryugu Kingdom and the World Government. After friendly negotiations, the misunderstanding has now been resolved…"
"The World Government formally declares that world law does not support the existence of slavery. Any act of capturing or trafficking citizens of affiliated nations is illegal…"
"Due to an uncontrollable geological disaster, a meteor fell upon Mariejois after the conclusion of the Levely. Fortunately, it did not result in serious casualties…"
With the release of the newspapers, a large amount of news about the Ryugu Kingdom spread across the Four Seas. In the past hundred years, the Ryugu Kingdom had never appeared in world news as frequently as it had in these few days.
It even caused some citizens of the Four Seas to learn something for the first time.
"There's really a kingdom deep under the sea in this world?"
"Merfolk are real too? I'd love to see them…"
"Stop dreaming. That country is in the Grand Line. If you're not afraid of dying, go ahead and buy a ship ticket there."
Many people saw the newspaper, but few truly cared about it. If anyone was the most confused, it was actually Harald.
Florian Triangle, Harald as usual had destroyed a pirate ship within the dense fog. A drifting newspaper happened to be picked up by him.
To Harald, human newspapers were practically like picture books for children, but he still read it carefully, wanting to know what was happening in the world.
However, the words printed on it suddenly felt unfamiliar to him.
"His Majesty…Nereus?"
He narrowed his eyes and carefully read the lines of small print. Without exception, those titles all indicated that the World Government not only intended to change its attitude toward the Ryugu Kingdom, but had also accepted Nereus as its king.
"He actually did it…"
Harald and Nereus were not close friends, but they were acquaintances. As for Nereus accomplishing this, Harald himself had no strong feelings; if anything, he felt a hint of relief.
If Fish-Man Island could do it, then Elbaf should not have much trouble either.
But on second thought…
"Then what does that make me?"
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