Waiting until the small black dot in the sky disappeared from view, Mike retracted his gaze, his tone somewhat annoyed.
"George, you shouldn't have said those things!"
George was also very annoyed. "Wasn't I just seeing that you were also hesitating!"
Mike shook his head. "I'm referring to your last sentence..."
He glanced toward the horizon again and sighed.
"What kind of person is our Vice Admiral? Back then, the two of us were clearly detained on Fish-Man Island for acting on our own, but the Vice Admiral said it was by his orders!"
"And his attitude toward Vice Admiral Garp and Vice Admiral Tsuru..."
"Our Vice Admiral values friendship and loyalty; he treats us subordinates like this, let alone his teacher?"
With Mike's prodding, George's stubborn mind finally caught on.
Then, he felt even more regretful.
"This... what should we do?"
Mike sighed again.
"Don't worry, the Vice Admiral won't hold a grudge over a small mistake like ours. I'm just reminding you that you absolutely cannot do this again in the future!"
George's expression was serious, and he nodded heavily. "I'll remember!"
Taro indeed didn't take this small matter to heart; his only worry was Zephyr.
His teacher was already 72 years old and suffered from severe asthma.
Although he had a team of pacifists by his side,
those 'artificial idiots' were clearly not enough when facing Germa 66, who possessed the strength of New World pirates.
Urgency filled his heart, and he no longer cared about Vice Admiral Tsuru's words about 'not crossing the Red Line.' He only wanted to reach the North Blue as quickly as possible... Hien Island, North Blue.
Zephyr, the Fleet Admiral of the 'NEO Marine,' sat on a reef by the shore, panting heavily.
He had just inhaled some asthma suppressant, and his condition had recovered slightly.
After the fleet Sergeant Major arranged the defenses, he approached cautiously, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes and hesitation on his face.
Zephyr coughed forcefully and wiped the sweat from his face.
"Cough, what are the fleet's losses?"
"Reporting to the Fleet Admiral: the five warships only sustained light damage and won't have major issues after simple repairs. However... two pacifists were destroyed. Given the conditions on the ship, I'm afraid they can't be repaired!"
The Sergeant Major swallowed and answered.
Zephyr gave an 'un' in response but didn't speak.
The Sergeant Major became even more hesitant. After a long pause, he finally spoke.
"Fleet Admiral, the 'Evil Army' of the Germa Kingdom is not weak in combat power, and they have the legal status of a World Government member nation..."
Zephyr raised an eyebrow, his face darkening.
"What exactly do you want to say? Just say it!"
The Sergeant Major composed himself.
"I feel... should we recall Ain and Benz, or perhaps give up for now..."
Zephyr's Sea Stone right arm swung out as he shouted sternly to stop him.
"Don't say such things again. If you disrupt the army's morale, I won't forgive you!"
The Sergeant Major's expression stiffened, and he said solemnly, "Yes!"
Zephyr was silent for a while before shaking his head.
"That old woman Miss. Bakkin has been active in the New World for so many years. Not long after Taro killed Weevil, she suddenly sought out Germa. This really concerns me; I cannot give up!"
Hearing Taro's name, the Sergeant Major's heart stirred.
"Fleet Admiral, even if you don't recall Ain and Benz, wouldn't it be better to tell Vice Admiral Taro about the situation here?"
Zephyr was somewhat moved by the words, but after thinking it over, he still refused.
"Since I have already left the Marine, I will no longer send messages through the Marine Intelligence Network. Furthermore, Taro is currently facing some troubles of his own..."
The worry in the Sergeant Major's eyes grew even deeper.
"Fleet Admiral, if something were to happen to you... given Vice Admiral Taro's personality, I'm afraid he would..."
Zephyr suddenly burst into laughter and waved his hand quite casually.
"There are no 'ifs'! I have roamed the four seas for decades. Although I am old, killing me isn't that easy. What could happen?"
After laughing for a while, he spoke again.
"It's precisely because I know Taro's temperament that he must not know about the matters here, understand?"
The Sergeant Major hesitated for a long time before nodding with difficulty. "Understood!"
In a certain sea area dozens of kilometers away from Hien Island.
Dozens of ships were tightly joined together, connected stem to stern like an isolated island, with various castles built upon them.
In the center of the island-ship, atop the highest castle, flew a flag with a 'cross and 66' pattern.
Inside the castle, the tall King, Vinsmoke Judge, sat on a wide, high-backed throne.
Below the steps, the short and hunched Miss. Bakkin leaned on her cane and looked up, her sharp, piercing voice ringing out.
"Judge, that matter—how have you considered it?"
Judge's head, encased in a metal helmet, tilted slightly, his gaze cold and contemptuous.
"Old woman, after decades of not meeting, you've actually fallen to the point of allying with a pirate brat. You're really regressing as you age!"
The gaze behind Bakkin's sunglasses also turned cold, but she quickly hid that trace of chill.
"Marshall D. Teach is no simple pirate brat, Judge! He is our kind, with great ambition!"
Judge remained very disdainful and snorted.
"Bakkin, I already know what you want to say."
"I only want to restore the glory of Germa's past dominance over the North Blue. I have not the slightest interest in that little pirate's ambitions!"
"For the sake of our past relationship, I stopped Zephyr for you today. Now, you may leave!"
Bakkin paid no mind to Judge's order to leave; she let out a ghastly laugh.
"Judge, I am very grateful for your intervention today!"
"However, because of that, it's probably not possible for me to leave now!"
Hearing this, Judge slammed his hand onto the armrest of his throne.
"Old woman, what do you mean?"
Bakkin laughed gloomily like a witch for a while.
"Judge, since you know it was Zephyr who came after me, can't you figure out why that old fellow would come after me?"
Judge naturally knew about Edward Weevil's attack on Zephyr's recruit ship seven years ago. He frowned.
"So what?"
Bakkin's smile became even more sinister.
"You probably don't know that Zephyr has another student, do you? His name is..."
"Taro!"
As soon as this name was spoken, the expressions of the four young people—three males and one female—standing quietly to the side changed instantly.
Judge slammed the seat even harder, standing up in shock as he roared furiously,
"You damned old woman, you set me up?"
Killing intent radiated from him; because of his anger, the two pointed whiskers by his mouth trembled.
No matter Germa Kingdom's reputation or what they did, on the surface, they were still a member nation of the World Government.
Even if they were to cooperate with pirates, the partner should be at the level of the 'Four Emperors.'
What kind of nobody were the Blackbeard Pirates to be worthy?
This was the most important reason why Judge rejected Bakkin's proposal.
The secondary reason was Blackbeard's personal factor.
After this fellow schemed to get the Warlord of the Sea position, he triggered the Marineford War, plotted against the entire Marine, and finally seized the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Shortly after the war ended, Akainu, then a Marine Admiral, had personally taken Taro to pursue him.
Nowadays, of these two, one was the Fleet Admiral and the other was the Marine Chief of Staff.
No matter how one looked at it, allying with Blackbeard at this time...
was a dead end!
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.