The vast majority of Marines had come to accept what appeared on the Sky Screen as undeniable truth. The previously overlooked Marine inspection teams had found themselves with a new priority target—a young apprentice who had somehow earned the attention of the Marine Hero himself.
Like Garp, who hailed from the East Blue, both Coby and Helmeppo had found their way aboard the legendary Marine's ship through circumstance rather than design. They had started at the very bottom as ordinary seamen, scrubbing decks and running errands with the determination that only those with everything to prove could muster.
Coby's unwavering dedication had been impossible to ignore. His willingness to throw his small body in front of a loaded cannon to save his friend had moved even the usually stoic Garp. The two young men had been transferred directly under the Vice Admiral's command, and he had formally accepted them as his apprentices during their journey to Marine Headquarters.
But fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of timing.
No sooner had Coby begun to find his place among the Marines than the Sky Screen future glimpse branded him as the potential future traitor. This insignificant boy, who would have lived and died in anonymity, was suddenly thrust into the harsh spotlight of suspicion. A thorough background investigation had revealed uncomfortable truths that made the Marine brass shift uneasily in their seats.
Coby had once served as a cabin boy aboard Alvida's pirate ship—a detail that had been noted but dismissed during his initial recruitment. After cross-referencing with intelligence reports, investigators discovered that this was the same Alvida who would later align herself with the notorious Buggy Pirates. During his time with the Straw Hat Pirates, Coby had maintained what could generously be called a "positive relationship" with the crew, particularly after his role in Monkey D. Luffy's escape from Shells Town.
Buggy the Clown. Alvida the Iron Mace. Monkey D. Luffy.
When the Marine Inspection Division laid out these connections on paper, the implications were too troubling to ignore. Could it be that Coby was a deep-cover agent, planted within their ranks from the very beginning by the clown himself?
With paranoia festering in the minds of his superiors, Coby was quietly removed from active duty. He now found himself confined to a solitary cell in the brig, with only his friend Helmeppo permitted to visit. His newly acknowledged mentor, Garp, worked tirelessly behind the scenes, leveraging every favor and friendship he had accumulated over decades of service to clear his student's name.
"Coby, I brought you something to eat." Under the watchful eyes of two Marine guards, Helmeppo approached the cell with a covered tray. His golden hair had grown out since their arrival at Headquarters, and his once-soft frame had filled out with muscle earned through months of brutal training under Garp's instruction.
The irony wasn't lost on either of them. Logically speaking, Coby was just a seaman—barely worth the paper his service record was printed on. The amount of manpower and resources being devoted to investigating one teenage boy should have been laughable. What kind of damage could an underage Marine possibly inflict on the World Government's most powerful military force?
But circumstances had conspired against them. Coby represented the only tangible lead the Marines had on the Buggy Pirates, and in the current climate of uncertainty, no stone could be left unturned. So the Hero's apprentice endured his imprisonment, waiting for a resolution that seemed further away with each passing day.
When pink-haired Coby saw his friend approaching, his face brightened with the first genuine smile he'd managed in days. "Helmeppo! You came again. Please tell me you have good news this time."
Helmeppo's expression remained carefully neutral as he passed the tray through the cell's feeding slot. The food was standard Marine mess hall fare—serviceable but hardly appetizing. Still, it was better than the stale bread and water that constituted standard prisoner rations.
"I wish I did," Helmeppo said quietly, glancing at the guards before lowering his voice. "The investigation team is still digging. They've expanded their inquiry to include anyone who's had contact with the Straw Hats in the past 5 years."
Coby forced himself to take a bite of the lukewarm rice, though it tasted like ash in his mouth. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, but he blinked them back fiercely. Even as a thousand grievances churned in his heart, who could he possibly confide in? Who would believe that his only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Dark thoughts crept into the boy's mind like poisonous tendrils. Why had the Sky Screen singled him out for this cruel fate? He had no quarrel with whatever force controlled those impossible broadcasts. Was wanting to serve justice as a Marine really such a terrible ambition? And if these same accusations had fallen on Helmeppo instead...
"Vice Admiral Garp is fighting for you every day," Helmeppo said, interrupting Coby's spiral into despair. "You haven't done anything wrong, and everyone with half a brain knows it. Even the Sky Screen can't just manufacture lies out of thin air."
The blonde Marine's voice carried a conviction that helped steady Coby's nerves. Helmeppo had changed dramatically since his spoiled, arrogant days as the son of Marine Captain Morgan. His transformation from entitled brat to dedicated soldier had been as remarkable as it was complete, though Coby sometimes wondered if his friend carried his own share of guilt over his father's disgrace.
The reason Helmeppo could move freely while Coby remained locked away was simple—his background, while embarrassing, was considered clean. As the son of Marine Captain Morgan, his childhood had been one of privilege and bullying, using his father's rank to terrorize the citizens of Shells Town. It had taken a confrontation with the Straw Hat Pirates to shatter his delusions and set him on a better path.
Captain Morgan's betrayal of his own son during his escape from Marine custody had been a blow that cut deeper than any physical wound. The man had actually used Helmeppo as a human shield, prioritizing his own freedom over his child's life. Vice Admiral Garp had resolved the situation with typical directness, but Morgan had vanished into the criminal underworld, leaving his son to bear the weight of his shame.
After leaving the Marine mess hall, Garp strode through the corridors of Marine Headquarters with purposeful steps, his destination clear: Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office. The moment the door closed behind him, the two old friends erupted into a heated argument that could probably be heard three floors down.
"What crime has he committed, Sengoku? What has Coby actually done wrong?" Garp's voice thundered off the office walls. "You need to give me answers today, not more bureaucratic nonsense!"
"You've known that boy for all of two months, Garp!" Sengoku shot back, his usually composed demeanor cracking under pressure. "I ordered a thorough investigation precisely to protect your reputation! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
The two legendary Marines stood their ground, neither willing to yield an inch. Garp believed firmly that the Sky Screen's predictions were just that—predictions of a future that might never come to pass. Punishing someone for crimes they hadn't committed went against everything he stood for as a Marine.
Sengoku, meanwhile, carried the burden of the entire organization on his shoulders. The world's seas were more turbulent than they had been in decades. Pirates grew bolder by the day, the Revolutionary Army's influence spread like wildfire, and now these mysterious Sky Screen broadcasts were sowing chaos and mistrust within their own ranks. If sacrificing one boy's freedom could prevent a catastrophe that might claim thousands of lives, wasn't that a price worth paying?
"The situation extends far beyond just Coby," Sengoku said, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "G-5 Base is in complete chaos. I've dispatched investigation teams to verify every piece of information shown on that damned screen. Do you have any idea what kind of position this puts us in?"
The Fleet Admiral's words carried the weight of sleepless nights and impossible decisions. Not only was the small fry Coby under suspicion, but the entire G-5 Marine Base found itself under intense scrutiny. Marine Headquarters had already deployed investigation teams to examine the base's internal operations, and preliminary reports were expected within days. The very foundations of Marine authority were being tested.
"Get out of my office, Garp," Sengoku said finally, his voice quiet but firm. "I have enough problems to deal with without you storming in here making demands. Guards!"
Two Marines appeared in the doorway, their faces carefully blank as they waited for orders. Garp made no move to resist as they flanked him—if the Hero of the Marines truly didn't want to leave, no force on earth could make him. He had come here to gauge Sengoku's resolve, and the answer was clearer than he'd hoped.
As he walked slowly through the corridors, Garp's weathered face was etched with worry. His encounter with Bogart in the hallway provided a small measure of comfort.
"Still thinking about Coby?" the stoic officer asked, falling into step beside his superior. "Don't lose heart, Vice Admiral. I'll stand with you no matter what comes. That boy has a good heart—anyone with eyes can see it. This mess will sort itself out eventually."
It was unfortunate that Kuzan, Garp's former student and current Admiral, was away on a mission to capture the Demon Child Nico Robin. If the cool-headed Admiral were present, his voice might carry enough weight to tip the scales in Coby's favor. As it stood, Garp found himself fighting an uphill battle against bureaucratic paranoia.
Admiral Akainu's proposed solution had been characteristically extreme—skip the investigation entirely and execute Coby immediately. Better to kill a thousand innocents than allow one traitor to escape, or so his philosophy went. Such radical thinking had made even the most hardened Marines uncomfortable. Everyone understood that allowing such extremists to gain power would spell disaster for the organization's soul.
Perhaps Artoria's future appointment as Acting Fleet Admiral, compromise though it was, might yet prove to be the best possible outcome for everyone involved.
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