"Report! Rear Admiral Strawberry, ahead is the sea area of the Six-Gold Kingdom."
A Marine soldier reported the situation to a Rear Admiral with an unusually long skull.
Rear Admiral Strawberry, a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters possessing monstrous strength, was one of the Navy's core forces trained under Black Arm Zephyr alongside the current three Marine monsters.
Strawberry's most distinctive feature was his skull, far taller than that of an ordinary person.
Strawberry's skull was long and elongated upward. Because of that, his Marine cap had to be specially made.
What he excelled at was wielding two blades—he was a dual-sword swordsman.
"Have you found any trace of the invading pirates?"
Rear Admirals and Vice Admirals from Marine Headquarters often patrolled outside. For the past six months, he had been patrolling the West Blue. In just a few days, his West Blue patrol mission would have ended, and he would have returned to Marine Headquarters to begin a period of leave.
But at this very moment, the Six-Gold Kingdom had sent a request for aid to the Marine branch. Strawberry just happened to be patrolling near that branch and directly followed them to provide support to the Six-Gold Kingdom.
After all, according to the records, the Six-Gold Kingdom was a very powerful nation. If even they were requesting assistance, it was perfectly reasonable to send a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters.
However, after they arrived, they found no trace of pirates.
The docks, however, clearly showed signs of having been attacked.
"There's no sign of any pirate ships… Could it be that they repelled the pirates themselves?"
"Look at that castle. Does it look like they repelled pirates that easily?"
At least a third of Gold Mine Island's docks had been destroyed. The road leading to the castle appeared peaceful, but the castle itself had already become ruins.
"Let's head onto the island directly. We'll know the situation once we ask the soldiers of the Six-Gold Kingdom."
The massive Marine warship sailed straight into the harbor of the Six-Gold Kingdom.
The Den Den Mushi loudspeaker immediately began broadcasting loudly: "We are the Marines here to provide support! We are the Marines here to provide support!"
The guards at the dock immediately signaled for the Marines to dock.
Rear Admiral Strawberry led a group of Marines ashore once the ship was secured at the pier.
"We received your country's request for aid, saying you were attacked by pirates. Why don't we see any pirates? Did they leave, or is there another reason?"
The Marine branch Captain fired off a series of questions.
"We were indeed attacked, but it wasn't a pirate invasion… It was a coup. The old king returned with his people."
The Marine Captain immediately felt stuck. The attack was real, but it wasn't pirates… This, however, was something he could understand.
The Captain was a veteran of the nearby Marine base. He knew that the Six-Gold Kingdom had experienced a coup two years ago, and now it had gone through another one.
A coup was such a sensitive matter, especially one within the royal family. It wasn't something the Marines could easily get involved in. The new king must have wanted to obtain Marine support, so he falsely claimed it was a pirate invasion.
This kind of thing had happened before in history.
"A coup, you say… We've truly run into quite a situation. I wonder if we might take a stroll around Gold Mine Island. If we encounter anything requiring force, we can lend a hand."
Strawberry did not immediately believe their words and instead proposed taking a "stroll" around the island.
"This is a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters, possessing immense strength. With him here, any rabble can be suppressed."
The branch Major highly praised Strawberry's strength. He had personally witnessed Strawberry cleave a pirate ship into fragments with just two blades.
"That's fine. I'll inform the king. A Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters visiting will surely make His Majesty very pleased."
After all, a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters was considered top-tier combat power in the West Blue.
Strawberry observed the situation on Gold Mine Island with an expressionless face. The civilian residential areas indeed appeared undisturbed; only the royal castle looked as though it had been forcibly demolished into ruins.
Gold Mine Island was not large. Before Strawberry had walked even halfway, the old king of the Six-Gold Kingdom came forward to greet them.
"I heard that a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters has arrived—what a rare guest! I've long heard that your Rear Admirals from Headquarters capture pirates in the Grand Line…"
The old king wore an expression like a family welcoming an honored guest during the New Year—just short of directly grabbing Strawberry's hand.
The Marine branch Captain shot Strawberry a glance, indicating that the man before them was indeed the genuine old king of the Six-Gold Kingdom.
"Oh my, Your Majesty, I never expected it would truly be you, freed from suffering at last…"
Strawberry remained expressionless, watching from where he stood as the branch Captain responded warmly.
...
"Are you really not worried that the old king might suddenly turn on us? The other side is a Rear Admiral from Naval Headquarters. His strength shouldn't be underestimated."
On the castle ruins, Vane was still sitting there, with Meowth by his side and Lena, whose eyesight was the sharpest.
Lena held up her specially made sniper rifle, staring at the man below with the tall skull-like head. She seemed to be pondering where exactly his brain was—whether she should aim a shot just above the eyes, or straight at the top of his skull.
"If it were a Vice Admiral, I might be a little concerned. But if it's just a Rear Admiral… we'll just kill our way out."
Just look at X Drake, the Dragon-Dragon Fruit user in Allosaurus form, to gauge the strength of a Naval Headquarters Rear Admiral. Before becoming a pirate, he was a Rear Admiral.
Although he secretly continued working for the World Government and the Navy under a special identity, his bounty was very real. When the future Admiral Borsalino kicked the Supernovas at Sabaody Archipelago, he certainly didn't show X Drake any mercy.
Judging from Drake's case, if bounty roughly corresponds to strength, then a Headquarters Rear Admiral's power should be around the 100 million to 300 million Belly range.
The strength of Headquarters Rear Admirals is relatively consistent. What's abstract is the strength of Headquarters Vice Admirals.
In Vane's view, the lower limit of a Vice Admiral's strength isn't necessarily much higher than a Rear Admiral's, but the upper limit can rival a Yonko.
Logically speaking, a Vice Admiral should correspond to the level of the three or four top commanders under a Yonko.
However, because most Vice Admirals in the Navy have had too few on-screen performances, the title of "Vice Admiral" feels wildly inconsistent depending on who holds it.
At the very top are Garp and Tsuru. These two should be considered special cases, possessing strength close to—or even comparable to—an Admiral. At the very least, Garp does.
Then look at the other Vice Admirals. Two years later, Smoker couldn't defeat Vergo, the Demon Bamboo under Doflamingo—and Vergo himself was also a Vice Admiral.
There's also Momonga, who appears frequently, and he's roughly at that same level.
During the Summit War, the two Vice Admirals with Dog-Dog Fruit abilities struggled quite a bit even against pre-timeskip Luffy.
Clearly, the general positioning of an average Vice Admiral is below the three top commanders of a Yonko, and also below the typical Shichibukai.
Of course, there may be Vice Admirals who approach the strength of top commanders—those who rarely make a move and thus maintain a sense of mystery.
The future Onigumo, Strawberry, Yamakaji, Chaton, Momousagi under Tsuru… as long as Oda hasn't written them in detail, the strength of these Vice Admirals can wildly fluctuate anywhere between the 100-million and even the billion-Belly range.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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