Taro didn't expect that upon returning to Marineford, the first one to greet him wouldn't be a Marine Soldier, but a News Coo.
He was stunned for a good while before remembering that he had freeloaded a newspaper from it a few days ago.
The News Coo kept circling around Taro, occasionally pecking at the red newspaper bag hanging from its neck with its beak, signaling Taro to pay up quickly.
"Sigh, is the rat race even among you guys this serious nowadays? Chasing me down for 100 Berries?"
Taro's brow twitched wildly, and he couldn't help but complain. Then, he waved toward a Navy Captain in the distance.
"That Captain over there, come here for a second!"
The Navy Captain had been watching Taro since he appeared. Seeing Taro wave, he ran over without a moment's hesitation, gave a proper military salute, and shouted with great spirit,
"Lord Great Staff Officer, what are your orders?"
Taro quickly waved his hand, "Don't be so loud!"
Then, he leaned in closer and whispered,
"Lend me some money!"
The Navy Captain's face was full of shock, his eyes wide, thinking he had misheard.
"Gr—Great Staff Officer, I just joined the Marine through the World Conscription, I'm afraid I don't have that much money?"
Taro raised an eyebrow and gave him a very disdainful look.
"How are you even getting by? You don't even have 100 Berries?"
The Navy Captain was a bit dumbfounded, "Huh? 100 Berries?"
Then his expression turned strange as he thought, how are you getting by as the Navy Grand Staff Officer? You have to borrow 100 Berries from someone?
Is the Marine's current situation so difficult that they can't even pay the salary of the Navy Grand Staff Officer?
For a moment, he even felt that his decision to join the Marine seemed like a mistake!
The Navy Captain fumbled around his person for a bit, pulling out a stack of bills and a few coins.
Taro glanced at his hand and pointed at the News Coo.
"Don't you have money right there? Give it 500. Consider it borrowed from you; remember to remind me to pay you back later!"
It's only 500 Berries; even if you gave me more courage, I wouldn't dare ask you to pay it back!
The Navy Captain's face looked strange. With a flick of his thumb, the coin landed accurately into the seagull's newspaper bag. He then said,
"Great Staff Officer, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki requests that you go see him immediately upon your return!"
Taro gave an 'en' and started walking toward the Main Fortress.
The Navy Captain watched Taro's back with a weird expression, then looked at the seagull rummaging in its bag, seemingly looking for change. He waved his hand.
"No need for change, keep the extra as a tip!"
Just as he turned around, he found the vice chief of staff, Vice Admiral Tsuru, standing behind him. Startled into a stumble, he quickly steadied himself and raised his hand to salute.
Vice Admiral Tsuru stopped him and asked with furrowed brows,
"What did the Great Staff Officer just say?"
"Reporting to Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Great Staff Officer just asked to borrow money from me!" the Navy Captain responded loudly and with full vigor.
Vice Admiral Tsuru's expression went blank for a moment, "Borrow money?"
"Yes, the Great Staff Officer just...!"
...Fleet Admirals Office.
Taro pushed the door open and walked straight in, casually finding a spot to sit down.
Akainu was facing the window, looking out at the waters of the New World, seemingly oblivious to Taro's actions, and did not speak.
Taro glanced at Akainu's back, sensing the heaviness of Red Doggy's Aura, and also remained silent.
After a long while, Akainu finally moved. His voice was somewhat raspy.
"Taro, has this old man's performance as Fleet Admiral been acceptable?"
Taro didn't understand why Akainu would suddenly ask this. He was stunned for a moment before saying,
"From the Marine's standpoint, yes!"
Akainu suddenly turned around, his gloomy gaze staring straight at Taro.
"No matter how dissatisfied you are with this old man personally, I can ignore it! However, if you drag the entire Marine into a dangerous situation, I will never allow it!"
Taro performed a tactical lean back, resting against the sofa. He stared at Akainu for a good while, narrowing his eyes.
"Are you suggesting that I, as the Navy Great Staff Officer, am not quite up to par?"
Akainu's Aura suddenly surged. His gloomy face showed signs of turning into magma, appearing dark red and glowing.
Seeing this, the corners of Taro's mouth turned up in a slight smile.
"Sakazuki, I am well aware of the importance of the Marine!"
"If you truly think I would drag the Marine into a quagmire... I can only say, you, underestimate me too much!"
Akainu looked at Taro for a while longer, his face gradually returning to normal.
"What have you been doing these past few days?"
Taro lowered his gaze and pondered for a moment before saying in a deep voice,
"Teacher Zephyr tracked down the whereabouts of a group of pirates, and I just went to lend a hand!"
As long as one was determined, what happened with Zephyr and the Germa Kingdom could be easily found out with a simple investigation. Taro did not intend to hide it.
Akainu's breathing grew heavy, and his tone was stiff.
"That old fellow is no longer a Marine. For you, a Navy Great Staff Officer, to be so close to him...!"
"Sakazuki!"
Taro suddenly stood up from the sofa and barked, interrupting Akainu's words. He stared into Akainu's eyes with a sinister gaze, saying each word deliberately,
"Teacher Zephyr is also your teacher!"
Akainu's face instantly turned extremely gloomy as he stared at Taro.
The two were in a standoff for a long time before Akainu gave a cold snort. "In any case, watch your influence. Don't get too close to Zephyr!"
Seeing Akainu change his tune, Taro snorted and sat back down.
"Even if Teacher Zephyr has left the Marine, he is still working hard to exterminate pirates. You boast about how you can't tolerate pirates, yet you can't even tolerate Teacher Zephyr?"
Akainu's breathing became even heavier. He realized that in a war of words, he was indeed no match for Taro. After a long silence, he simply skipped the question.
"And then? What did you do in the New World?"
Taro thought for a long while before saying in a flat tone,
"I went to the New World and slashed Blackbeard!"
Akainu's eyes instantly turned blood-red, doubting if he was having auditory hallucinations. It took a good while before his face changed drastically, and he exclaimed,
"What did you say?"
Taro shrugged and said in an indifferent tone,
"The group of pirates that Teacher Zephyr clashed with were Blackbeard's subordinates, 'Champion' Burgess and 'Barrel of Wine' Shot..."
"I got intelligence on Blackbeard from them, so I just went to the New World while I was at it and slashed Blackbeard too!"
Akainu stared at Taro's face for a good while, finally convinced that Taro wasn't joking. He took a few steps to the front of Taro, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
"Tell this old man the details of what happened!"
Taro raised an eyebrow and organized his words.
"Blackbeard took an interest in the mercenary Germa Kingdom, intending to obtain their help, so he sent two subordinates..."
"Later, on an island in the New World, I found the Blackbeard Pirates..."
As he listened, Akainu suddenly interrupted, full of doubt,
"Impossible. With your strength, it's impossible for you to kill so many of Blackbeard's people alone!"
Taro raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? With my strength? You think I can't do it?"
Akainu didn't speak, just looked at Taro.
Taro curled his lip. You Red Doggy really do look down on people!
After a moment of silence, he spoke indifferently,
"Fine, then I'll tell the truth. When I went there, Blackbeard was in a final battle with the Whitebeard Pirates Remnants. I just happened to pick up the pieces. Does that satisfy you?"
Akainu stared at Taro for a while longer, a mocking and sarcastic expression appearing on his face.
"And what about Kuzan? Do you intend to hide the fact that Kuzan was also there from me?"
Taro's brow furrowed. Only now did he finally realize that Red Doggy didn't care whether Blackbeard was dead or not.
What he cared about was Kuzan!
When Aramaki ran into Aokiji and Taro, there were many witnesses on the scene. Therefore, it was impossible for Aramaki to hide this point from Akainu.
However, Akainu had concluded based on limited intelligence that Taro and Aokiji must have been together beforehand.
Not bad, Red Doggy!
Taro's eyebrow twitched a few times, and he admitted it openly.
"Kuzan was indeed there!"
He paused, then shook his head, looking at Akainu with a face full of frankness.
"However, as for why he was there, I wouldn't know!"
"Sakazuki, I don't care what you think, but that was the first time I've seen him since he left the Marine!"
Akainu's eyes flickered uncertainly, clearly doubting how much of Taro's words were credible.
Back at Punk Hazard, Aokiji had very deliberately told Taro the deeper meaning behind the two's struggle for the Fleet Admiral position. This attitude had once made Akainu feel strange.
And now, after Aokiji had been gone from the Marine for so long without a word, he appeared again, just happening to be with Taro. This really forced Akainu to think more about it.
"Creak!"
Just then, the office door was pushed open again. Vice Admiral Tsuru walked in, followed by Vice Admiral Onigumo, whose face was stiff.
The two immediately saw the Navy Great Staff Officer Taro sitting on the sofa, looking perfectly natural.
Opposite him, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki was sitting in a chair with a gloomy face, as if he were the one receiving a lecture.
This caused Tsuru and Onigumo's expressions to instantly become very strange.
The surprise in Tsuru's eyes was particularly strong. This was a bit different from the expected situation!
Shouldn't it be Taro being lectured by Sakazuki?
The current situation left the Old Lady, who had rushed over to save the day, a bit dazed.
Onigumo, behind her, felt as if he had been struck by lightning, finding it very difficult to accept.
Akainu was a man like a lighthouse in his heart, always a role model he admired and learned from.
Now, facing Taro, he was actually like this... This, what on earth happened?
How did it come to this, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki!
On Onigumo's zombie-like face, an inexplicable emotion surfaced, and tears actually welled up in his eyes.
Tsuru and Onigumo's sudden intrusion caused both Taro and Akainu, who were in a standoff, to be startled simultaneously. Especially after seeing their strange expressions, the two biggest big Shots of the Marine were also dazed.
The four people were all dazed at the same time, each in their own way!
The atmosphere suddenly froze!
The awkward atmosphere lasted for several seconds before Akainu reacted, waving his hand to signal Onigumo to leave.
Then, he looked at Vice Admiral Tsuru, frowning with a somewhat impatient tone,
"What did you come here for?"
Tsuru's gaze was deep, scanning back and forth between the two several times before lowering her gaze a bit.
"I have something to attend to!"
"Hmm?" Akainu held a cigar in his mouth, tilting his neck.
A flash of inspiration hit Tsuru's mind, and she thought of an excuse. She looked up at Taro.
"I remembered that I promised my little sister to give this brat a lesson..."
"Double!"
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