Two days later...
Dressrosa, East Coast.
The harbor was bustling with activity. Besides the Riku Royal Family, thousands of Royal Army soldiers, and Zephyr leading a contingent of Marines, there were also over a thousand captured pirates, bound and closely guarded. In the distant sea, eight large warships lined up and sailed towards them, their silhouettes slowly growing larger.
Due to the sheer number of war prisoners, transporting these pirates to a Marine prison with only two warships was impossible in a single trip, requiring multiple round trips. Furthermore, over a thousand pirates had fled to sea and couldn't be found. For safety considerations, Marine Headquarters decided to send eight warships and an Admiral Candidate to handle this prisoner transport—a major operation.
After waiting for a while, a warship finally sailed into the harbor, dropped anchor, and lowered its gangplank to the pier. From there, a tall figure emerged. Kizaru, three meters tall, wearing a white justice coat draped over his shoulders, a yellow and white striped suit, and sunglasses on his face, sauntered down the gangplank with a lazy expression, hands in his pockets. Although this person did nothing, said nothing, and simply walked, he somehow always gave off the feeling that he desperately needed a punch... Sephiroth, standing among the crowd, muttered this to himself.
"Long time no see! Zefa-sensei... Ha~!" Kizaru raised his right hand and picked his nose with his pinky finger, then yawned, displaying characteristic indifference.
"Borsalino! You are now an Admiral Candidate and the Commander-in-Chief of Marine G-2 Branch! Can you act properly!!!" Veins popped on Zephyr's forehead. His old face darkened as he sternly reprimanded him, his exasperation evident. He had been dissatisfied with this student's behavior since he was in the Marine Academy. After he graduated and his position in the Marines grew higher, this dissatisfaction became even more pronounced.
Hearing this, Kizaru immediately raised his hands and said with a feigned startled expression: "How scary! How scary! Zefa-sensei, you're still so strict!"
Seeing this teacher-student pair, Sephiroth's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly, and he muttered in his heart: You say 'how scary,' but when you attacked Zephyr with Yasakani no Magatama, you showed no restraint whatsoever and directly turned him into a sieve... If this wasn't personal, no one would believe it!
After Kizaru and Zephyr exchanged a few official words, the thousands of pirates were successively escorted onto the warships, filling the ships' holds.
Zephyr watched as Kizaru led the eight warships away calmly, the fleet slowly moving away from the harbor. Only then did he turn and say to the black-haired middle-aged man beside him: "Alright, King Riku. This time, my mission to support Dressrosa and eliminate the Pirate Alliance is considered successfully completed. So, it's time for us to leave too."
As he spoke, Zephyr looked towards the Marine soldiers, preparing to issue the command to return.
However... "General Zephyr, don't be in such a hurry to leave." King Riku grabbed the purple-haired old man's wrist. Facing the other party's bewildered gaze, he quickly explained: "Look, ever since the war ended, you've been busy searching for the escaped pirates throughout the country until now. If I let you leave like this, without holding a banquet to give you a proper reward, I would truly feel awful... Moreover, if such disrespectful matters were to spread, it would also damage the reputation of our Dressrosa Kingdom!"
"This..." Hearing this, Zephyr appeared hesitant. After a moment, he could only nod in agreement, a faint smile finally gracing his face. "Alright! In that case, I will trouble King Riku. We will depart tomorrow."
"Oh!!!" "Oh!!!" "Let's have a feast!!!"
Hearing their conversation, the Marine soldiers immediately cheered and looked overjoyed, momentarily forgetting the exhaustion of battle. Although two days ago, they had comrades fall on the battlefield, they had already grieved when they should have grieved, and when it was time to celebrate, they needed to celebrate! One cannot always be immersed in past sorrows, especially Marine soldiers with extremely high mortality rates. No one knew if they would be buried at sea during the next mission...
Dressrosa Royal Palace, Banquet Hall.
On the music stage stood a band playing, and joyful melodies filled the hall, dispelling the lingering tension. Long tables were laden with abundant food and drinks for the banquet attendees to enjoy, inviting appetites.
Sephiroth held a white plate in his left hand and serving tongs in his right, using them to pick up a slice of rose cake and two pieces of roast pork for himself. Finally, he grabbed a bottle of red wine and a wine glass. His gaze swept across the entire hall. He unconsciously ignored Kaji, Maynard, and the others who were eating very messily, focusing on other objectives.
Finally, he directed his gaze to Gion and Hina's round table, walked over, and sat down casually.
Sephiroth glanced at the stack of over ten plates beside the long-legged older sister's figure, and unconsciously exclaimed: "Tsk tsk tsk! Speaking of Gion... has your appetite increased again recently?"
Hearing that, Gion's action of cutting a roasted lamb leg with a knife and fork paused for a moment. She immediately retorted: "Hehe! Little Sephiroth, you eat so little every day, no wonder you can't grow tall!"
"Pah! I'm only almost sixteen, and I'm already tall enough, okay! Lately, my height is almost two meters. Shouldn't it be you who's grown too tall?" The silver-haired youth widened his eyes and retorted defiantly, a little annoyed. That woman, Gion, her height was truly outrageous. For a year in the Marine Academy, she kept growing and was now two meters seventy centimeters tall! Definitely a big truck...! I wonder what it feels like to drive that kind of truck... Maybe next time I should go to the Pleasure Quarter and look for a big truck to try?
"Oh my! Your height is only two meters one. This older sister is already two meters seventy-two, hehehe!" The pink-haired girl was expressionless. While cutting the steak on her plate, she warned: "Hina is very unhappy! Hina feels very hurt. Please stop this topic immediately."
"Cough~!" Sephiroth coughed lightly and averted his gaze. Gion glanced at the 'petite' Hina beside her, then chuckled awkwardly and stuffed a piece of lamb into her mouth, avoiding the sensitive topic.
Saying Hina was petite was relative. At her sixteen years, her height was around one meter seventy centimeters, which wasn't actually short... However, people's heights in this world grew randomly, from as short as twenty or thirty centimeters to over a hundred meters. It all depended on genetics; any height was possible! Of course, acquired training also had an influence on height, but there was also a certain limit, so it mainly depended on genetics.
While enjoying the delicious food on his plate, Sephiroth delighted in watching the Dressrosa girls dance on the dance floor, which made him feel inexplicably comfortable. After experiencing various bloody battles, his heart always felt an inexplicable exhaustion, and he especially yearned for peaceful and joyful moments, immersing himself in them without being able to extricate himself.
He knew that he likely had mild psychological issues due to long-term killing. However, this kind of thing was also normal. Post-war syndrome was a condition highly susceptible to soldiers who had been to the battlefield. His condition was not a big problem at all... If someone killed people on the battlefield and then acted as if nothing happened, then that person's ideological condition at a mental level had most likely deviated from the realm of humanity...
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