On an unspecified year, month, and day.
Somewhere in East Blue.
Rengoku had come aboard a warship to take custody of the corrupt pirate captain Morgan.
"Vice Admiral Rengoku! We’re grateful you could come all this way this time! I, Marine Branch Captain Morgan, will hand him over at once!"
"Understood! You’ve done well!"
Under the Marines’ escort, Rengoku looked at Morgan as he was brought before him.
"Marine Branch Captain Morgan! You certainly abused the power entrusted to you! Even if you were not to face a court-martial, you will be sent to Impel Down! During the transfer to Headquarters, I expect you to remain quiet and cooperate!"
At Rengoku’s words, Morgan rolled his shoulders with a bored expression.
"What’s with this hot-blooded brat who hasn’t even grown a beard yet?"
"What did you say? Watch your mouth, Morgan! This man is Vice Admiral Rengoku, the Flame Hashira of Marine Headquarters! He is not someone you can insult!"
"Huh?"
Morgan glared irritably at the Marine who had spoken up.
Crack!
Crack!
Morgan strained against the chains, trying to break free.
Of course, the Marines moved to stop him, but Rengoku held them back instead.
"By the way, are those the two boys? The one who enlisted on special terms as a laborer alongside Morgan’s son."
"Yes! That’s right!"
"Hm! You there, the blond boy!"
Rengoku called out to Helmeppo.
"M-me?"
"Yes!"
"Do you resent your father?"
At Rengoku’s blunt question, countless thoughts flashed through Helmeppo’s mind.
"...I once... once respected him, but not now that he’s become a criminal!"
He answered indirectly, but Rengoku did not press further.
"Even if this is a special enlistment on condition, you are still a Marine! If Morgan were to escape right now, what should be done?"
"Th-that would be..."
"You’re still a laborer, so you may not know, but for criminals who have already been captured once and then flee, immediate execution is permitted if necessary! If your father ran away right now, could you, as a proud Marine, kill him?"
At Rengoku’s question, Helmeppo only fidgeted and failed to answer.
"Hm! Then what about you, the pink-haired boy who enlisted under the same conditions? What do you think?"
Summoned by name, Koby froze for a moment and glanced at Helmeppo for support.
"Who told you to look at him!"
"He’s being scolded..."
"Vice Admiral Rengoku is scolding him..."
"I’ve never seen this kind of situation before..."
The murmuring Marines and Rengoku’s own imposing presence made every nerve in Koby’s body stand on end.
"S-sorry!"
"And your answer?"
"Y-yes?"
"Your answer?"
"A-ah, yes! If the situation calls for it, then yes, immediate execution!"
"Good!"
Clang!
"Then show me by carrying it out once!"
Morgan shattered his chains through sheer strength and seized Helmeppo, who was standing right beside him.
"Everyone, keep away from Morgan! Pink-haired boy! Bring me a sword!"
At Rengoku’s command, Koby immediately ran off and returned with a Marine cutlass.
"Morgan has broken his chains and taken a hostage! What should be done now?"
"He should be arrested, or if the situation is bad, then he should be immediately executed!"
"Good! Then you carry out the arrest!"
Rengoku pushed Koby forward.
"V-Vice Admiral Rengoku..."
The Marines who had spent only a short time with Koby tried to stop Rengoku, but his gaze overwhelmed them, and in the end none of them could say a word.
"H-Helmeppo..."
"Koby... save me..."
"Hmph! So this useless son can be of some use at a time like this! Move aside! Or I’ll kill this brat!"
As Morgan swung his axe hand wildly, no one could get close.
"F-father, please save me..."
"Shut up! Having a son like you is Morgan’s greatest mistake! Be glad you’re finally useful!"
Morgan’s axe hand brushed Helmeppo’s neck.
"B-blood! Father! You really are trying to kill me?"
"Tch! You noisy brat!"
Morgan smashed his steel-braced lower jaw into Helmeppo’s face.
Helmeppo collapsed unconscious on the spot, and Koby’s trembling only grew worse.
"Pink-haired boy! Comrades should support one another, should they not? Your comrade has been injured by a fugitive! Even if you can’t win, can you truly not take a single step forward?"
Buoyed by Rengoku’s words, Koby gripped the cutlass tightly and shouted at Morgan.
"Criminal Morgan! L-let go of my comrade and friend, Helmeppo!"
"Hmph, how amusing. Since none of you seem willing to step up, I’ll be leaving here!"
Still holding Helmeppo, Morgan strode toward the shore.
"Let go of Helmeppo!"
"Hmph! A brat like you!"
Koby squeezed out every last scrap of courage he had and rushed at Morgan.
Morgan kicked him away with a brutal blow.
But Koby never ran. He got back up and challenged him again and again.
"Vice Admiral Rengoku... shouldn’t we stop this?"
"Let us watch a little longer."
"Y-yes, sir!"
After some time, even Morgan was sweating.
The warship had no intention of coming any closer to shore, and with that Headquarters Vice Admiral standing there in plain sight, Morgan had found himself in a true deadlock.
Thud.
In the end, the first to collapse was Koby.
Only then did Rengoku finally approach Morgan.
"Morgan, did you really think you could escape?"
"Sh-shut up! I’ve got a hostage in my hands!"
As Rengoku came striding closer, Morgan panicked and raised his axe hand to attack him.
"And now you don’t even have a weapon!"
He did not dodge.
Rengoku did not dodge.
He simply accepted Morgan’s attack as it came.
But what shattered was Morgan’s axe hand.
"I hear you’ve spent every day bragging that you’re great! But now that you’ve been stripped of your Marine post and lost even that precious axe, are you still great?"
"D-d-don’t come any closer! Get lost!"
Terrified, Morgan kept wildly swinging his broken axe hand through the air.
"Right now, you’re more pathetic than your own son! And even more pathetic than this pink-haired boy! To borrow your own words, there’s no one more uncivilized than you!"
As Rengoku finished speaking, Morgan lost consciousness for a moment.
"Vice Admiral Rengoku!"
With Morgan down, the Marines rushed over one by one.
"Men!"
"Yes, sir!"
"I hope you all will strive to become able to summon courage just like this pink-haired boy, even in the most difficult and hopeless situations!
Never forget that you are the future of the Marines! What we must do is capture criminals and protect civilians!
We must keep the people from being exposed to evil until the end of their natural lives! Do you understand!"
"Yes! Understood!"
"Morgan may still thrash about, so have the medical unit administer a sedative, bind him completely, and throw him into the holding cells!"
"Yes, sir!"
Under Rengoku’s orders, the Marines gathered around Morgan and took him away.
"Ugh... urine smell..."
"Did he wet himself in the meantime...?"
...
"Vice Admiral."
"What is it, Chief Petty Officer Tashigi?"
"I know you wanted to fire up the branch Marines, but I think you went a little too far. That boy looks like he was hurt pretty badly."
"But they were all just bruises and scrapes! If anything, he gained something greater from those wounds, so the ultimate winner of this matter is that pink-haired boy! I’m sure that once he wakes up, he’ll train with his life on the line to become a proper Marine! Especially since a special enlistment on conditional terms leaves one’s position unstable, I hope this incident will help him grow even more!"
"So that’s why you made a separate recommendation to Vice Admiral Garp?"
"I simply thought Vice Admiral Garp would be the most suitable person to train him!"
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