By the day after the day Luffy’s group set sail, Rengoku and his unit had finished emergency treatment for the injured and departed Syrup Village without staying behind.
There had already been a delay in Syrup Village, and thanks to Kuro of the Hundred Plans, he had also decided that East Blue needed tighter vigilance.
Under the villagers’ send-off, Rengoku’s ship left Syrup Village and headed first for Loguetown.
He needed a Marine branch to hand Kuro over to, and Loguetown, where Colonel Smoker was stationed, seemed like the best choice.
"Colonel Smoker... if I remember right, he was a Devil Fruit user too?"
Tashigi, seated beside Rengoku, confirmed their next destination and chimed in.
"That’s right! Colonel Smoker is the smoker man who ate the Moku Moku no Mi! Unfortunately, I remember his ability’s practical use being rather limited! If anything, his hand-to-hand combat was far superior!"
"Huh... so Devil Fruits can be like that?"
"Even a Devil Fruit’s power depends on the user’s own specs! If an ordinary person ate the Gomu Gomu, they’d only get better elasticity in their body, but because that straw-hat boy turned it into a martial art, we got the power we saw!"
"That ability really does seem hard to use unless you have the strength to back it up."
"In that sense, Colonel Smoker hasn’t properly fused his martial arts with his ability! I’ve seen him train now and then at Marine Headquarters, but I never saw anything new beyond punching with smoke!"
"Ahaha..."
Ring-ring-ring.
Ring-ring-ring.
As they were chatting, the Den Den Mushi rang.
"Click."
"This is Vice Admiral Rengoku. What is it?"
"I-I’m calling from East Blue!"
"I know. This Den Den Mushi line is for East Blue only. You seem nervous, so take a breath and speak slowly!"
"Y-yes, sir! This is the Sea Restaurant Baratie! I... I originally wanted to write a letter from the heart, but I decided to contact you directly!"
"A letter from the heart?"
"Yes, sir!"
A letter from the heart.
Commonly known as a "sting."
Usually, it was a letter exposing corruption within the military.
Rengoku immediately switched the Den Den Mushi communication to one-on-one, so the two of them could speak privately.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his adjutant, Tashigi. It was simply a basic security measure.
"Unexpected. I thought a letter from the heart was something you wrote separately and submitted later."
"W-well... I thought this would be the fastest way!"
"Hmm, I see. Go on."
Rengoku knew how much courage it took for a soldier to directly sting a superior officer with a letter from the heart.
So rather than scolding him, he decided to listen first and judge afterward.
The soldier identified his Marine code and affiliation, then carefully explained the situation from beginning to end.
Between his roundabout wording and his stammering, communication was a mess.
"...That is how it happened."
"Hmm... the situation is quite serious in many ways. I understand. I’m coming at once."
He cut the Den Den Mushi connection and immediately issued orders.
"Change course! Objective: Sea Restaurant Baratie!"
"Vice Admiral, may we ask what this is about?"
"A Marine officer is said to have abused his authority."
Rengoku did not say much. He reduced it to the core of the matter.
Anything more would also count as a security breach.
"Abuse of authority... that is a serious problem."
"Exactly. I’ll go see for myself and decide. Until the judgment is complete, do not speak of this to anyone!"
"Understood!"
*
The warship’s full-speed run was very fast.
In about thirty minutes, a lookout reported that the Sea Restaurant Baratie had been sighted.
"Is there a Marine warship in that area?"
"Yes! It’s a small warship, and several soldiers are visible on deck!"
"Good!"
The warship docked right beside Baratie at high speed, and Rengoku stepped onto the deck with his Marine coat on.
"Vice Admiral! How should we handle this?"
"Seize Captain Fullbody’s warship as is! One rifle squad will follow me and board Baratie! The rest of you, secure the perimeter and stand by! If anything unusual happens, report immediately by Den Den Mushi! That is all!"
"Yes, sir!"
Rengoku and one rifle squad—thirteen Marines—approached Baratie in a small boat.
According to the soldier who had sent the letter from the heart:
- Captain Fullbody of Marine Headquarters had used his leave to commandeer a Marine warship as if it were his own.
- He had forcibly drafted off-duty soldiers for departure and sailed without reporting to his superiors.
- In the process, he had even brought an unidentified civilian woman aboard and given her a tour of the ship.
- Of course, the ship tour was supposed to be the soldiers’ job, and most of the soldiers drafted for the trip were those scheduled to work the next day.
The military hated noncombat losses the most.
Creeeak--
When they opened Baratie’s door and stepped inside, a rather strange scene unfolded.
A blond young man in a black suit was holding a sturdy-looking man up with one hand.
Judging by the Marine knuckles on the sturdy man’s hand, that victim was the perpetrator of this abuse of authority.
It was Marine Headquarters Captain Fullbody of the "Iron Fist."
Meanwhile, Baratie itself was already in chaos because of the violence between Fullbody and the staff.
Then another Marine officer entered with more than a dozen rifle-armed subordinates, and the confusion only grew worse.
Those were familiar faces.
Rengoku confirmed that Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were inside.
But there was no time to greet them.
He had to do what a Marine officer was supposed to do right now.
"Hmm! You there, young man! Could you let go of that hand?"
"Huh?"
Even after Rengoku spoke, the blond young man had no intention of letting Fullbody go.
"I’ll repeat myself. Could you release the Marine officer in your hand?"
Rengoku, who always kept a smiling face, repeated himself once more.
"Huh? You’re this guy’s superior? Perfect timing. You trash should handle your own trash!"
"Sanji! What are you doing!"
When the blond young man, Sanji, tossed Fullbody toward Rengoku like garbage, a large chef standing nearby shouted without thinking.
Rengoku caught Fullbody cleanly, handed him to a soldier beside him, and asked about the situation.
"Captain Fullbody."
"H-hiiik! Vi-Vice Admiral Rengoku..."
"Could you tell me what is going on? For now, your abuse of authority has already been exposed, but this situation is also something we cannot ignore as fellow Marines."
"Th-that is..."
"Explain how things came to this point. The punishment for your abuse of authority is a separate matter."
"Y-yes, understood."
The truth of the matter was simple.
Captain Fullbody had been on a date at sea with a woman named Moody, whom he had been seeing for some time.
He had also reserved lunch at the famous Sea Restaurant Baratie.
Wanting to impress her, Fullbody had separately requested that a specific wine be prepared in advance, but the wine that actually arrived was a different one entirely.
In the end, Fullbody’s attempt to show off had only turned him into a laughingstock.
"That bastard was pestering Moody, and when she got upset, they started arguing. The rest is exactly what you see..."
"I understand. Then let me ask that young man over there! Curly-browed young man, is everything Captain Fullbody said true?"
Rengoku turned his gaze and questioned Sanji.
"Yeah, that’s right. That idiot doesn’t even know food from a hole in the ground, and he asked for a wine that didn’t even suit the dish, so I changed it."
"Curly-browed young man, are you a cook?"
"Yeah, I’m the sous-chef. Why?"
"I see. Then I have several questions."
"First, Captain Fullbody was the one who made the reservation, and serving the meal exactly as requested is the restaurant’s basic duty, is it not?
Second, even if, in the sous-chef’s judgment, the wine did not suit the meal, should you not have explained that and asked whether it should be changed?
Third, in a situation where you deviated from the reservation and did not even ask about a substitution, is it truly the role of a Baratie cook to swap out a guest’s food on his own?
Fourth, is it morally acceptable to pester a guest’s date and touch her, and to assault a guest simply because he complained?
And finally, is it acceptable for a sous-chef to smoke indoors at the Sea Restaurant Baratie? What about the quality of the food and sanitation?"
Rengoku asked Sanji questions based on facts that could be confirmed right now.
But this was not merely a question. It was also directed at the restaurant’s other customers.
At Rengoku’s few words, the faces of the customers who had originally been laughing at Fullbody’s humiliation gradually darkened, and one by one they hurried to settle their bills and leave Baratie in their boats.
They were all thinking the same thing.
"What if I were in that situation?"
Change the reservation however you want, don’t even ask before changing it, sexually harass a female customer, and if someone complains, just beat them up? And the sous-chef smokes indoors too?
"Where do you think you’re going, you squid bastards! Ah, no, customers!"
The large chef, Patty, tried to stop the departing customers who were paying up—some of them even dining and dashing—but against the tide of public opinion, it was all useless.
And so, as the customers steadily left, only Luffy’s group and Baratie’s chefs remained.
Watching the departing customers, Sanji ran a hand through his hair and said, "Haa... what is this? Are you really going to openly interfere with business, Marine officer? And that broken table was your side’s fault in the first place, wasn’t it?"
"Interfere with business? I merely asked, as one human being, about this restaurant’s basic standard of service!
Even if a customer files a complaint and says harsh things, striking first is illegal!
Furthermore, under current law, property damage does not justify bodily assault!
Besides, compared to the curly-browed young man who is perfectly unharmed, Captain Fullbody’s head is already covered in blood! Anyone can see this was your one-sided violence!"
"What! Why is it so noisy here?"
"Agh, let go of me! I can barely handle working here for one week!"
*
(Rengoku’s expression when pointing out faults)
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