Click—
The office door closed softly and Dane went back to the drill yard to continue training.
Hawk sat down again and picked up the line of thought Dane had interrupted.
Interesting.
He had just been plotting the Summit War, planning the annihilation of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Now the Summit War's MVP was on his way.
In that war the Marines gathered every elite from Headquarters and the branches, yet it was still a slog in the end because of the three top powers at Headquarters. One coasted the whole time, one let an entire sea loose. Only Admiral Akainu went full force.
This time would be different.
He would be on the field.
Sorry, Admiral Akainu. This time the Summit War will not be your stage alone.
So he had to make sure the Summit War happened.
Hawk rubbed his chin as he weighed it. Should he make a move himself and take Ace…
In truth, the Summit War was inevitable.
Teach had killed Thatch and taken the Dark-Dark Fruit.
As Thatch's friend, Ace would never give up the chase.
Whitebeard himself would not allow his iron rule to be trampled.
That much had already shown in the original course of events. Shanks sailed in person to Whitebeard's ship to dissuade him and failed.
If even Shanks could not turn him aside, there was no need for needless meddling.
Better to focus on growing stronger.
Once Admiral Akainu arrived, he would apply to leave the East Blue.
The North Blue would do, the South Blue as well, even a branch in the first half of the Grand Line.
The key was to get out of this novice sea and onto a broader stage to stockpile strength and keep advancing.
Then wait quietly for the great stage to arrive.
Hawk crushed the spent cigar in the ashtray between his fingers.
His eyes fell back to the sheet of paper on his desk covered in plans.
The last word was Goal.
To be honest, when he first came to this world of pirates, he had no clear goal.
The instant the Justice System awakened, its cold prompt began the countdown to death.
If the host does not carry out justice, then the system will carry out justice.
Back then, his only thought was to live.
Kill pirates for Justice Points, trade them for days of life, see another sunrise.
After he survived, instinct drove him to grow stronger.
Only strength makes life safer, calmer, better.
Now that survival was no longer an imminent threat, now that his power was steadily rising and he had the leisure to look at the world, the goal in his heart was coming into focus.
These six months had taught him deeply.
Most people in this world were simple and decent.
They knew exactly who treated them well and who truly protected them.
When Headquarters Colonel Smoker appeared with unearned hostility, the villagers of Cocoyasi stepped in front of him without hesitation.
Those angry, resolute faces and those voices from the depths of their lungs crying protect Lieutenant Colonel Hawk still rang in his ears.
So while he slew evil, gained Justice Points, and grew stronger, perhaps he could try to change this twisted world a little at a time, starting from those around him.
Let the kind who were oppressed stand tall in the sunlight.
Let the evil who lorded it over others have nowhere to hide wherever he went and be cut down to the last.
Hawk rose and went to the window once more.
In the sun, the Marines of the 16th Branch kept perfect ranks and thundered their chants.
Watching these brothers who were being remade under his lead, Hawk recalled how they had stood in front of him not long ago and tried to shoulder the blame for killing Nezumi with him.
He felt a surge of fierce confidence.
He could be certain.
If he raised his arm and said I'm done, any brothers willing to follow me, stand up, the men who had bled at his side would rip off their Marine uniforms without a second thought, then follow him to carve a road of blood across the sea.
Like Instructor Zephyr in the original course, the so-called non-killing admiral who defected in despair, his students chose to follow their teacher.
His subordinates would follow their commanding officer as well.
This was the bond of hot blood.
Hawk slowly clenched his fist until the joints clicked.
It felt good.
Meanwhile, a ship without a Marine flag shouldered aside the waves of the East Blue.
Its hull had been disguised, every obvious Headquarters insignia scrubbed away, moving like an ordinary armed merchantman in silence.
On the foredeck, Sakazuki stood with his arms folded, his face still as water.
More than half a day had passed.
The sea as far as he could see lay flat as blue glass, not a shadow of a suspicious ship in sight.
Where had the pirates of the East Blue gone, those weeds that should have sprouted up again the moment Vice Admiral Garp's vacation ended?
The Headquarters elites with him held their breath. Even the patrol's footsteps on deck grew deliberately light.
"Where are the pirates of the East Blue."
Sakazuki's cold voice cut the air.
"Check."
"Yes, sir."
Soon the encrypted line to Marine Headquarters was live.
Intel moved fast.
When the signalman returned to the deck his face held a curious gravity.
He carefully handed a freshly compiled brief to Sakazuki.
"Admiral Akainu, while investigating the case of former 16th Branch Colonel Nezumi, Headquarters Intelligence consolidated all recent anti-pirate reports from the East Blue branches."
"The intel shows that within East Blue waters, every recorded pirate crew of any size, including those with bounties over ten million Berries, has been purged by East Blue 16th Branch Lieutenant Colonel Rayne Hawk."
"At present, there is virtually no pirate activity of any consequence anywhere in the East Blue."
"What."
The elites on deck stared at one another in shock.
The East Blue was Vice Admiral Garp's home waters.
Every time the Marine Hero vacationed there, he would casually plow under whatever pirate shoots dared poke up. It was an open secret at Headquarters.
So East Blue pirates were the least threatening of the four seas.
But Garp had not been on leave lately.
Yet the East Blue was clean.
And the one who did it was the very officer under review, Lieutenant Colonel Rayne Hawk.
A single branch lieutenant colonel with a single branch's strength had wiped the East Blue clean.
How was that reasonable.
Are you sure he is not a Headquarters lieutenant colonel.
No, even a Headquarters lieutenant colonel could not do this.
Smoker was a Headquarters colonel.
He had never managed to sweep the East Blue.
What was going on.
Sakazuki turned and took the brief.
"Rayne Hawk."
"He cleaned the entire East Blue."
"Interesting."