You can really tell they're on the level of an Admiral, and the ones sent from Marine Headquarters this time are all elites. They gave him an incredible amount of emotion points.
Before this, he had sucked in so many slaves that they were completely drained, and even then, after all that effort, he barely scraped together a hundred thousand emotion points. But now, after the Nine-Tails has only been causing trouble for a short while, and not even in the same "drain them dry" way, he's already collected over six hundred thousand negative emotion points.
And it's clear that as time goes on and this event spreads across the whole world, the emotional feedback will only keep growing!
Marines and those loyal to the World Government will naturally give negative emotion points, while pirates or those who hate the World Government will provide positive emotion points.
Right now, he's using a hundred thousand negative points to pull a "character card," and the card he just drew is…
"Vanilla Ice: From JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Stand ability. A dark space inside the mouth that can swallow the user without harming them, but will consume any enemy it touches. The downside is that once inside the dark space, the user cannot see the outside world."
A JoJo Stand, huh? And it even appeared as a character card. With just a thought, a purple phantom giving off an unreal aura appeared behind him.
This is perfect. Not only did he gain one percent of Vanilla Ice's ability, but he also got a complete Stand. For something drawn with a hundred thousand points, he's pretty satisfied.
Sure, Vanilla Ice moves slowly, and the lack of outside vision is a weakness. He's not sure if the Stand's attack can be blocked or nullified by Haki, but honestly…
He doesn't need it to attack anyone!
With Vanilla Ice, he basically has an absolutely safe alternate dimension—just like Uchiha Obito's ability—giving him a way to remain completely untouchable!
He can enter the dark space inside Vanilla Ice anytime he wants, and his own body also has a small dark space inside, making him completely hidden with an unbreakable defense.
Well, he's not sure if Whitebeard's Quake-Quake Fruit could shatter the space and hurt him, but honestly, he doesn't need to go up against Whitebeard anyway. With such a powerful ability, why risk his real body?
There's just no reason.
Right now, since it's still his "startup phase," he can make some moves. And with Vanilla Ice, his safety is guaranteed.
Now, about the other reward from the thousand positive points…
"A serving of beef stew: With fragrant rice, it'll fill you up."
Well, guess it was silly to expect anything big from something worth a thousand points.
Still…
He really hasn't eaten well during those days as a slave.
Before leaving Sabaody, he got himself a new outfit, covering his whole body in a black robe and wearing a mask. That person Zephyr and the others saw standing on the sea during the voyage? Of course, that was him.
Right now, he suddenly realized he's a bit like Uchiha Obito too—releasing the Nine-Tails and hiding behind a mask as a mysterious man.
Obito went to meet the Fourth Hokage. So… should he go meet the Marines' future Admiral?
Should he make them completely clueless about the Nine-Tails and puzzled by the unknown, or should he let them think someone released the Nine-Tails and turn their fear, anger, and suspicion toward him?
With the way the Nine-Tails fights Garp and Sengoku, this battle won't end in less than half a day. In the world of One Piece, big battles often drag on for days before they're settled. With Garp and Sengoku fighting together, this fight will definitely be way harder than the later battle with the Golden Lion.
Genichi thought for a moment and decided to go with the second option. He wanted the World Government and other forces to see him as the source of all this chaos. If they just saw it as a natural disaster or feared the unknown, he might waste a lot of potential emotional energy.
Now that he had the power of Dark Space Miasma, he couldn't beat Zephyr in a fight, but no one was catching him again.
Right now, the Marines were busy protecting civilians and evacuating them. The warships were already packed with people. Zephyr looked around and saw most of the evacuation was almost done. He was just about to head over to support Sengoku and Garp when he suddenly saw someone walking slowly across the surface of the sea.
His eyes narrowed. That guy…
It was the same man he had seen before!
And the direction he was heading… was toward the warship full of civilians?
What is he planning to do?!
For some reason, Zephyr felt this man was extremely dangerous. He couldn't let him get anywhere near that ship!
"Hey! Stop right there and don't move."
In an instant, he jumped off the warship. Zephyr wasn't a Devil Fruit user, so he didn't fear the sea. Staring at the masked Genichi, he said coldly, "Take one more step, and I'll treat you as a pirate."
"Marine… Zephyr."
The masked Genichi slowly said Zephyr's name. The latter's face grew even more serious. Anyone who could remain so calm and walk right up like this was definitely no ordinary person.
"First time meeting, future Admiral of the Marines."
"Who are you?" The fact that this man called him a future Admiral didn't shock Zephyr much. Everyone already knew the three top figures in the Marines right now were Sengoku, Garp, and him. Sengoku was already an Admiral, and it was only a matter of time before Zephyr became one too.
"I'm… here to deliver a declaration of war. You can call me 'Zero.'"
"Zero…" Zephyr frowned. "A declaration of war? Ridiculous. You're declaring war on the World Government? Why?"
"Why? You could say it's on a whim… or something I've planned for a long time. It's for war… and for peace."
"That's your reason?" Zephyr roared in anger. "For a reason as laughable as that, you started all this? You bastard! Do you have any idea how many lives were lost because of you?!"
Zephyr had always followed the principle of not killing. Even when facing the worst criminals, he never took their lives. Hearing what Genichi said, he was sure now that the Nine-Tailed Fox was his ally. Seeing all these deaths—even if most were scum from lawless zones—still made him shout with fury.
"Not just Sabaody… even here…"
Genichi lifted his head and looked at the civilians on the warship. "Is this really okay? A ship carrying civilians, yet the defense is this weak?"
"No need for you to worry about that."
Zephyr's arm was already covered in Haki.
"With me here, this is the safest place in the world!"