In the first half of the Grand Line, in an area near the Calm Belt and close to the Florian Triangle, lies a hidden island.
It's called the Orphanage, and it houses a large number of children taken in by the World Government. They claim these orphans were rescued from pirates and other criminals. In reality, most of the children on this island were bought by the World Government from human traffickers all over the world. It was a practice they'd had for a long time, similar to the one followed by the nun who was eaten by Charlotte Linlin.
The World Government loves to do this. They buy gifted young children from human traffickers and raise them together, brainwashing them from an early age about the World Government's benevolence. When they grow up, they are absorbed into various World Government agencies, becoming members of their forces.
A Marine Headquarters warship was sailing through the sea near the Orphanage. Not far ahead, a pirate ship was fleeing frantically. The cannons on the warship fired from time to time, the shells exploding near the pirate ship in a game of cat and mouse.
On the warship's deck, Diarmuid sat on the edge, leisurely holding a fishing rod. The constant roar of the cannons meant he couldn't catch anything, but judging by his relaxed expression, he was enjoying himself anyway.
"Rear Admiral sir, we have reached the waters near the Orphanage. Any further, and we will deviate from our course," a Marine Major reported softly as he approached Diarmuid.
"Oh? We got here pretty fast," Diarmuid said with a smile. After a short pause, he placed his fishing rod on a stand and stood up. "So? Did you find out who those pirates are?"
"Yes, the Arsonist Vanst Pirates, with a bounty of 36 million Berries," the Marine Major quickly replied.
"Good. Make a note of it. When we get back to Marineford, have their bounty posters canceled," Diarmuid said with a nod.
He then walked to the bow of the warship and looked at the pirate ship still desperately trying to escape. He lightly tapped the sheath of his sword, Nagasone Kotetsu, which was hanging from his waist.
The Marine Major standing behind him watched with an expectant look in his eyes. Diarmuid was known as the Ferocious Tiger of Marine Headquarters, a brutal man who, according to rumor, would even hit a Fleet Admiral or force a Marine Hero to jump off a building when his temper flared.
No one in the headquarters had ever really seen him in action. It was said that after he arrived at headquarters, he was promoted to Rear Admiral after only two field missions. And those two missions were incredible.
The first one was when the Marines destroyed the Golden Lion Shiki's flying pirate fleet. The second was when he helped the Fleet Admiral capture Redfield, the "Red Count"!
Among the new generation of Marines, this Rear Admiral was a mystery, and many people were eager to see what he could do.
"Gravity Blade: Tiger's Bite!" Diarmuid said with a soft exclamation. As he spoke, he drew his sword, and a formless energy was released as he lightly swung it toward the distant pirate ship. It was as if he was just playing around and didn't even bother to take it seriously.
After the sword swing, nothing on the sea changed. Diarmuid calmly sheathed his sword, turned around, and patted the Major on the shoulder. "No need to clean up the battlefield. Let's head to the Orphanage as planned."
The Marine Major was a little confused. Clean up the battlefield? The pirates are still perfectly fine! Is Rear Admiral sir messing with me?
Just as the Major was about to ask what was going on, he saw the sea where the pirate ship was located suddenly change. The water instantly churned, and the sea beneath the ship suddenly caved in, transforming into a giant tiger's mouth that ferociously swallowed the pirate ship whole.
Before the Major could react, everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that the pirate ship was now a pile of wreckage floating on the sea. Many pirate bodies were floating on the surface as well, some of them lucky enough to still be struggling and asking the Marines for help. Getting captured was better than dying right here, after all.
The Marine Major snapped back to reality and quickly stood at attention. "Yes, everything for justice."
The large warship didn't stop for a moment and didn't launch any rescue operations. Instead, it crushed the remaining unlucky pirates under its hull. It was cold and ruthless.
After taking care of them, Diarmuid went back to his stool and continued to fish leisurely. In comparison to before, the Marines on the ship now looked at his back with reverence. He was truly worthy of the title The Ferocious Tiger of Marine Headquarters, the man who, according to rumors, was a prodigy whose potential was no less than that of the three monster rookies of the previous generation who trained under Zephyr.
Diarmuid was fishing and thinking at the same time. He was still very uncertain about his own power level. He had no idea what level he was at. He knew he couldn't beat people like Shiki or Whitebeard.
Judging from his spars with his sensei Zephyr, he would lose in less than a thousand or two thousand moves. But he could easily overpower most ordinary pirates, and the gap in strength between him and his peers from the sixth Marine Officer Training Camp was very obvious.
Only Gion and Tokikake could barely be considered his opponents. Momonga and Yamakaji were no match for him at all. His strength was very hard to define, so he didn't know how strong he truly was.
Not long ago, he successfully mastered one of the ultimate moves of Rokushiki: Life Return. As for Haki, he hadn't awakened his Conqueror's Haki yet, and the others, Observation and Armament, needed to be slowly accumulated over time. There wasn't much to say about them for now.
His swordsmanship was still the same. Diarmuid didn't have much talent for it, and if he couldn't find a famous master to guide him, he wasn't going to stubbornly pursue it. That's why he had recently started focusing on developing his Devil Fruit ability, which was probably the fastest way for him to increase his power.
He also needed to gain combat experience to improve his fighting style, which wasn't a problem since he often sparred with Gion and the others at headquarters.
"When I go back, I should start sparring with Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino to see where I stand compared to them," Diarmuid murmured softly.
While Diarmuid was thinking about these things, the Orphanage island came into view. Soon, the fast-moving warship arrived at the Orphanage's port. Diarmuid stood up, and a Marine quickly packed away his fishing gear. Diarmuid then asked, "Whose ship is that?"
The Marine was stunned, as if he hadn't expected the Rear Admiral to speak to him. He quickly looked at the large ship docked next to them. "That style… It must be a CP agency ship."
"Is that so?" Diarmuid nodded, then smiled. "Thanks for your hard work."
The Marine was excited to hear this and immediately saluted. "Everything for justice!"
Without another word, Diarmuid walked down the gangway. He saw the agents standing around the ship and confirmed that it was a CP agency ship.
While the Marines also had the authority to come to the Orphanage to find talented recruits, they rarely used that power. Most of the time, the Marines recruited from their own ranks, and there were many military families who had served the Marines for generations. So they didn't have much need to go to the Orphanage.
In contrast to the Marines, the CP agencies seemed to favor this practice and would take a large number of children from this island every year to train them to be their special agents.
After a quick glance, Diarmuid no longer paid any attention to the CP agency ship. The people from the Orphanage were already waiting for him at the dock. As soon as he approached, a kind-looking old man greeted him with a smile. "Rear Admiral Diarmuid, we have been waiting for you."
"Thank you," Diarmuid said with a friendly smile. Even though he knew this kind-looking old man was definitely no good. But what did it matter? He wasn't a good guy either. Diarmuid was here to recruit some fresh blood.
Not long ago, Tsuru had asked him to write a proposal for the "non-existent organization." He had already submitted the proposal, and Tsuru was very pleased with it. One of the items in the plan was to secretly train new recruits. Diarmuid had decided to find these recruits at the Orphanage.
But when he found this year's list among a pile of dusty documents, he found a surprise. There was a six-year-old boy on the list named Rob Lucci. Just by looking at the picture, Diarmuid knew this was the boy who would be taken away by CP agencies and become the ace of CP9 in the future.
Now that he had found him… why should he become a CP agent? He should become a Marine for justice!
As he spoke with the old man, Diarmuid walked into the Orphanage. He took a paper out of his pocket and said, "I came here to take this boy, and a few other talented kids, with me. Please bring him to me."
The old man took the paper from Diarmuid's hand and looked at it. "Rob Lucci? Rear Admiral sir, you have an eye for talent. He's the most gifted boy in the Orphanage right now."
"I hope he doesn't disappoint me," Diarmuid said with a smile. But just then, the old man's face became a little awkward. "But, Rear Admiral sir, the CP agency people are also interested in him. They are in a meeting right now. This…"
Diarmuid was taken aback. Then he frowned and said, "The CP agency can't steal a person the Marines have their eyes on!"
"Please go and discuss it with the CP agency people yourself. I don't want to offend either of you," the old man said timidly.
Diarmuid looked at him. He knew this old man was as slippery as a ghost and had become an expert at maneuvering with age, so he didn't bother to argue with him. He just nodded and said, "Fine."
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