"Hawk!"
"Have you forgotten? You were just a Seaman Third Class back then. It was me, I was the one with the eye for talent who promoted you… it was me!"
Nezumi babbled, spitting as he tried to invoke a debt that never existed.
Arlong was dead. The Arlong Pirates were finished.
Now he was on his own.
If Hawk didn't show sentiment, he was done for.
"Heh."
Hawk let out a light laugh laden with open mockery.
He had long since studied the Marines' promotion system through and through.
The military merits he had racked up over six months were enough to make him a branch colonel, even a bid for branch brigadier wasn't impossible.
But thanks to the greedy rat in front of him he was still only a branch lieutenant colonel.
And the funds Nezumi skimmed, the bounties he pocketed.
Every coin was stained with the sweat and blood of him and his brothers.
Begging now?
Too late.
Hawk slowly drew out a cigarette and bit it between his lips.
Seeing that motion, Nezumi lunged like a drowning man grabbing driftwood.
With trembling hands he pulled a gold lighter from his tunic and humbled himself forward, trying to light Hawk's cigarette.
Hawk didn't refuse.
He lowered his eyes slightly, watching Nezumi's face twisted by fear and fawning.
The flame danced and caught the tip.
Hawk took a drag. "Your sincerity… isn't enough."
Nezumi shuddered all over. A fierce will to live flared in his eyes. There was hope.
He forgot all dignity, sprawled flat, and kowtowed hard to Hawk.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
His forehead struck the hard deck with dull blows until blood showed.
"Hah."
Watching the ridiculous, pathetic scene, Hawk's mouth curled in a cold arc.
How ugly, Nezumi.
If you'd known today, why act as you did then.
A parasite like you doesn't deserve to live.
"Nezumi…"
Hawk slowly blew a smoke ring. The haze blurred his expression.
"What can I say, I am a merciful man."
Nezumi's head snapped up. On his blood-streaked, filthy face a warped ecstasy blossomed.
"Hawk, you'll… you'll spare me? Really?"
Wonderful.
He was saved.
"I can keep my hands off you."
"But…"
Hawk lifted the hand holding the cigarette and gave a casual little wave toward Nezumi.
Step.
Step, step.
Step, step, step.
As if receiving a silent order, the marines who had stood ringed around, eyes cold, moved forward in unison.
Their synchronized footfalls pounded the floor with long-suppressed fury, hammering at Nezumi's heart.
They closed him in at the center.
"Nezumi, remember the back pay you withheld from the brothers."
"Remember the mess hall meals where you could see a fly's leg."
"Remember the rusted junk in the training yard."
"You… you…"
Nezumi stared in horror at the tightening ring of soldiers. The color drained from his face and he looked to Hawk in despair. "Hawk, you… you're going back on your word. You said you wouldn't lay a hand on me."
"Mmm."
Hawk lounged back comfortably, watching Nezumi penned in like a lamb to the slaughter.
In a good mood, he flicked ash and spread his hands, tone innocent.
"I really haven't laid a hand on you."
"See, my hand's right here."
He even deliberately waggled the hand holding the cigarette to show Nezumi.
Hearing this, the soldiers' faces showed knowing, icy smiles.
Yes, the lieutenant colonel hadn't moved.
But they had made no such promise.
"You can't… you can't do this."
Nezumi broke completely. He tried to retreat and backed into the iron chest of a soldier behind him.
"Marines have discipline. This is mutiny. This is a soldiers' revolt."
"Hawk, control them. I'm a colonel."
Hawk watched calmly.
Thud.
No one knew who struck first.
A clenched fist whistled through the air and smashed into Nezumi's face.
That punch was the fuse to the powder keg.
The soldiers stopped holding back.
Fists full of rage hammered Nezumi's face.
Countless boots drove into a certain part of him with savage force.
"Ah—"
"Stop."
"I was wrong, spare me."
"No— you can't."
Nezumi rolled, dodged, and howled on the floor.
His face swelled black and blue, smeared with blood and dirt.
"Hawk… you… you're ruthless…"
Drowned by pain and despair, the last shreds of Nezumi's reason flared into madness.
A flash of venom crossed his eyes.
If you won't treat me like a person and you're going to do me in, then we'll both go down.
No one gets out clean.
With his last strength he groped into the torn breast of his Marine uniform.
Feeling around, he pressed a special miniature Transponder Snail.
Buru.
Buru.
The distinctive chime of the line sounded.
This was the emergency Transponder Snail that only a branch's top commander had the authority to carry, a direct line to Marine Headquarters at Marineford.
Nezumi had never dared use it.
He feared his embezzlement and collusion with pirates would be exposed and he'd be removed and investigated on the spot.
Everything he had would vanish like foam.
But now, he couldn't care.
A grim smile cracked across his blood-filthy face. He fixed Hawk with a glare.
"Hawk, just you wait."
"Wait for Headquarters to question you."
"Insulting a superior and letting your men beat your direct commander."
"Even if I embezzled, even if I am guilty."
"The Marines have rules for judgment. Higher departments will handle it. It isn't your place."
"You can report me. You can refuse my orders."
"But you cannot use force directly. You're breaking the rules."
"Marine rules."
His voice was hoarse and shrill, full of vindictive glee.
He could already see Hawk being held to account, stripped of rank, even facing court-martial.
Hawk drew on his cigarette with easy pleasure, showing not the least surprise.
A little trick like that could never slip past his Intermediate Observation Haki.
You think this is a last-ditch counterattack.
No— it's exactly what he needed.
The East Blue had been nearly cleaned. Staying meant low efficiency in gaining Justice Points.
So it was time to leave.
This call was the chance to get out of the East Blue.
By the Marines' regulations, killing a superior without sanction was indeed a violation.
But Nezumi's embezzlement and collusion were facts.
Worst case, Hawk would be removed and reassigned to another branch elsewhere to start over.
With his current elite rear admiral–level strength, he would claw back to lieutenant colonel in no time.
Better, if some big shot at Headquarters who hated evil heard about it, he might even keep his post or use the chance to enter Headquarters' sights.
Either way beat being trapped in the East Blue.
Time to squeeze the last drop of value out of this parasite.
Hawk rose and strolled over to Nezumi.
Then he lifted his right leg in its Marine boot.
"I didn't use my hands."
His foot came down with the words.
Thud.
A heavy kick.
Nezumi flew like a rag sack, booted hard away.
His body slammed the far wall with a dull boom, then slid limply down and moved no more.
A man-shaped blood print stained the wall.
Ding. Eliminated the corrupt Marine branch colonel Nezumi.
Gained 1,000 Justice Points.
Current Justice Points: 2,024 plus 1,000 equals 3,024.
Hawk drew his foot back with natural ease, as if he had only kicked aside a stone in the way.
Just then—
Step.
Step.
Firm, powerful footsteps came from beyond the shattered gate.
Through the drifting smoke a silver-haired man with two cigars clenched in his teeth and a cloak of Justice across his shoulders appeared in the doorway.
Marine Headquarters colonel, the White Hunter Smoker. Behind him were Tashigi and the marines from Loguetown.
"A Marine branch lieutenant colonel butchered his direct superior?"