Pirate: I'm about to do something big!

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

Located in the Paradise Sea, in the middle of the Grand Line, adjacent to the Sabaody Archipelago, the Red Line, and the Holy Land Mary Geoise.

The entire island is crescent-shaped, making it a natural harbor for ships.

The island is dotted with military fortresses, as well as towns where the families of naval officers reside.

When Alyosha's warship docked at the port, there were already people waiting at the pier.

The leader was a tall, well-built female navy officer with long legs and short, flowing hair.

She wore a black, deep-V, tight-fitting tank top underneath, revealing her midriff and showing off her figure.

She wore dark blue skinny jeans with high boots.

"Lieutenant Dol, I didn't expect it to be you who came to pick me up."

Alyosha looked at his tall colleague, who still wore that harmless smile.

This Marine, who enlisted at the same time as me, has no Devil Fruit ability, but is extremely skilled in physical combat. He also has his own understanding of the Six Powers and has developed a skill called "Sound Soul Burst".

My current position is colonel.

"Commander Alyosha, I have come to greet you on the orders of Fleet Admiral Sengoku. He wants you to come to him as soon as you return and explain the conflict that occurred with Rear Admiral Stobelli during the pursuit of the Sun Pirates."

"Okay, is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Lieutenant General Kuzan, Lieutenant General Borsalino, Lieutenant General Sakasno, Lieutenant General Capo, Lieutenant General Tsuru are all here, and of course, Major General Stoberi is also here."

"Oh, everyone's here. Okay, I'll leave this place to you. You take over from Smoker and Tina. Oh, and keep a close eye on that fishman Arlong. Don't let anyone else touch him, no one."

"Yes, Brigadier General."

Alyosha remained unfazed. After giving an order, he looked towards the headquarters building in the distance, and with a light leap, he used Moonwalk: Flying Step to fly towards the headquarters building.

Upon landing, he identified himself to the marines on duty at the entrance, saluted, and then entered the building.

I hadn't walked far down the corridor when I saw two figures smoking and loitering outside.

When they saw Alyosha appear, they greeted him.

"Hey, Alyosha, you've really messed up this time. Sakazuki is furious."

"I can't even get a good night's sleep anymore."

"It's hard to say who started this mess first, Mr. Kuzan, Mr. Borsalino. Now that I'm here, you two shouldn't linger here. Let's go together. I'm here to see the Marshal openly and honestly."

Alyosha looked at the two guys who were teasing him, Aokiji Kuzan and Kizaru Borsalino, who were a decade older than him and whose positions as admirals were a sure thing.

Alyosha had a good relationship with these two men, and they had cooperated on several occasions.

That is, Akainu Sakazuki. Alyosha and he don't get along very well; they are just ordinary colleagues.

The absolute justice upheld by the other side was so hypocritical that Alyosha clashed with them in several operations.

If Alyosha weren't so confident of victory, he would have definitely given Akainu a hard time.

The three arrived at the conference room door. Hai Bing went in to report before pushing the door open and entering.

Upon entering the conference room, Marshal Sengoku sat at the head of the table, flanked by Garp, who was constantly eating senbei (rice crackers), and Tsuru, who was resting with his eyes closed. Next to them was Sakazuki, puffing on a cigar.

At the very end sat Major General Stobery, who had come to lodge a complaint.

"Haha, Alyosha, I heard you made things really difficult for that Stobery guy~"

"Alyosha, although we uphold different principles of justice, what was wrong with Stobelli eliminating the pirates? I need an explanation! You, Alyosha, deserve to kill or arrest those vicious pirates."

"Garp! You better tone it down, Sakazuki. This isn't your time to talk, Alyosha. Sit down, I want to hear your explanation."

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Sengoku stopped his old comrade Garp from playing around, gestured for Alyosha to sit down, and began to ask questions.

"Thank you very much, Marshal Sengoku, for giving me a chance to explain. Before I begin, may I first see the meeting minutes of Major General Stobery's report on this incident?"

Sengoku gestured to the scribe beside him to present the meeting minutes. Alyosha looked at the detailed minutes and simply smiled.

Should we play the victim game with him?

"Before I explain the accusations made against me by Major General Stobery, I would like to ask everyone here to watch a video."

Alyosha took out the video Den Den Mushi and the surveillance Den Den Mushi that he had prepared beforehand; the former was responsible for playing the video, and the latter was responsible for recording the audio and video.

As the Den Den Mushi played, the audio and video recordings of the Den Den Mushi were played, and the others in the room also saw the scene after the fishman Tiger was knocked unconscious by Alyosha with Fishman Karate: Water Coffin, and Alyosha also pretended to be exhausted and fainted.

In the scene, Alyosha pretends to be exhausted and says that he fought Tiger to a draw, gaining the trust of the Sun Pirates crew and making a deal with them. He then transmits the details of the deal to the warships left behind via Den Den Mushi, so that they can explain it to the arriving Stobelli.

Then there's the scene of Stobelli firing cannons to ambush the Sun Pirates while simultaneously drawing his sword against himself, and Alyosha still pointing his cannons at himself and his allies while rescuing Tiger.

The scene ended there, and everyone understood the reason. Stobelli's face turned ugly.

He slammed his hand on the table and began to defend himself.

"I already said, Alyosha's plan is too naive. Even if you're going to act, you should at least make it convincing. What did I do wrong!"

"So, by 'acting more realistically,' you mean almost killing Tiger, that great pirate? And ruining my carefully crafted plan? Even turning your sword against me and pointing your guns at our own forces when I tried to stop you, right, Rear Admiral Stobelli?"

"But Fisher Tiger is a notorious pirate that the World Government has specifically targeted for capture!"

Stobery was speechless and could only invoke the World Government to intimidate others.

Alyosha had already given his explanation for this.

"Since we were able to catch Fisher Tiger once, we can certainly catch him a second time. What difference does it make whether we catch him now or later? Or do you think you don't have the ability to catch Tiger again?"

"Quiet! Alyosha, tell me your plan."

Sengoku stopped Stobery's unreasonable behavior, looked at Alyosha, who nodded and took out the documents he had prepared.

"This is information I obtained from the intelligence department under Vice Admiral Tsuru before I was ordered to hunt down the Sun Pirates. It pertains to the Sun Pirates."

These documents clearly record the time, location, and the country and company to which the slave ships belonged in each of the Sun Pirates' attacks on the slave trade. During this process, I discovered that half of the slaves on these ships were citizens of member states under the World Government, citizens with no criminal records. Gentlemen, what does this mean? Is someone secretly undermining the laws enacted by the World Government? Are these people who threaten the World Government's rule also criminals who must be arrested, like Tiger?

"Alyosha! Explain your plan clearly, and stop with the nonsense!"

Sengoku once again stopped Alyosha from making any connections. As a naval admiral, how could Sengoku not know how many shady dealings were involved in the slave trade?

He was also very unhappy, but there was nothing he could do about it.

If we met at sea, he would definitely intervene; if not, he would just turn a blind eye. Why did you, Alyosha, have to bring this mess up in public?

"I misspoke, Marshal of the Warring States Period."

"This is a one-time exception. Continue with your story."

"Well, let's put aside these guys who are breaking the World Government's laws for now. Let's talk about the Sun Pirates. We all know that Fisher Tiger is a criminal from Fishman Island, which is 10,000 meters underwater. But he has cut off all contact with Fishman Island. We have also confirmed with Fishman Island many times that the Sun Pirates have not appeared in the waters near Fishman Island."

"So, as a pirate crew, where is their hideout? Where did they get their intelligence to attack the slave ship? Who gave them the intelligence? Who provided them with logistics and crew? If we can't wipe out the Sun Pirates in one fell swoop, what good is capturing Tiger? There's always another Sun Pirates. I'd like to ask Rear Admiral Stobelli, what's wrong with my plan to eradicate the Sun Pirates and those behind them?"

"Too naive to choose to believe in inherently evil fishmen!"

"You can only hold me accountable after my plan fails. But because of your sabotage, Stobelli, I have to expend more effort and pay a higher price to re-establish a deal with the Sun Pirates. Now, it's not you who should hold me accountable, it's me who should hold you accountable, Stobelli. You completely distrusted the plan devised by your colleague, and not only did you distrust it, you also sabotaged it. Is this what a soldier who upholds justice at sea should do?"

"That's enough!"

The Warring States period stopped the argument between the two.

When Alyosha showed footage of himself leaving his mark, even Akainu Sakazuki, who wanted to make things difficult for Alyosha, frowned and looked at Stobery.

As someone who upholds so-called absolute justice, Sakazuki would naturally choose to execute a plan to eradicate pirates if someone under his command could devise one.

More importantly, Stoberi completely ignored them, even drawing his sword against Alyosha and pointing his cannons at his own troops.

Alyosha merely stomped his foot on the deck to stop the sailors from firing, without harming anyone, thus unleashing his power.

He wanted to speak up for Stobelli, but he couldn't.

"The matter is clear, Stobery. As someone who cooperated with Alyosha's operation, you disobeyed orders, turned your sword against your colleague, and pointed your cannon at friendly forces. The circumstances are extremely serious. You are suspended for six months. During these six months, you should reflect on your actions at the Naval Headquarters."

"And you, Alyosha, since you were the one who proposed the plan to eradicate the Sun Pirates, then you're in charge of seeing it through to the end. I need to see the progress of your plan. If there's nothing else, meeting adjourned. Garp, you stay."

"Yes, Marshal."

When Sengoku dealt with Alyosha and Stobery, Sakazuki glanced at Stobery, signaling him to accept it.

A six-month suspension, and at Navy Headquarters no less, was hardly a punishment for Stoberry.

The accountability meeting regarding Alyosha's release of the Sun Pirates was thus resolved, and everyone left, leaving only Sengoku and Garp, the old partners, in the meeting room.

"Sengoku, you've been too lenient with Stoberi's punishment."

"Zeff has retired, and that guy Kong went to become the World Government's Commander-in-Chief. I also became the Fleet Admiral. The position of Admiral is vacant now. Kong has spoken to me and he thinks highly of Sakazuki. At this time, there is no need to cause so much trouble."

"So, who do you favor, Kuzan or Alyosha?"

"Of course it's Alyosha. Look at the plan he just devised. It's a bit risky, but definitely worth doing. It'll be a good opportunity to cause some trouble for the World Government and let them know that the Navy isn't their dog. As for age, that's not a problem. Alyosha is very popular among the lower ranks of the Marines."

Upon hearing this, Garp burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I was just thinking about happy things."

"What's making you happy?"

"I thought you supported Kuzan as the general."

"Kuzan is too lazy, Borsalino is too cooperative, and Sakazuki is an extreme guy. The position of admiral can't be so one-sided."

"Then you'll be disappointed, Sengoku. Alyosha won't become the general."

Why?

"Don't you know Alyosha's nickname?"

"Alyosha Ran is a man of two sides: he shows his ruthless side to the enemy, but is the strongest fortress and the warmest spring breeze to his comrades."

"So, do you consider Stobelli an enemy or an ally of Alyosha?"

Sengoku remained silent, while Garp continued eating his senbei and laughing heartily.

-----------------

"Major General Stobery, please wait a moment."

In the corridor, Alyosha called out to Stobery, who was leaving behind Sakazuki, with that same deceptively harmless smile.

"Alyosha, is there anything else?"

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you about some personal matters, Major General Stobelli."

"Personal matters?"

"Yes, since Fleet Admiral Sengoku thinks that Rear Admiral Stobery should be suspended for six months at the Naval Headquarters to reflect on his actions, I think this punishment is fair."

"You're too kind, Alyosha."

"It's nothing. As a colleague, I'm very magnanimous. I just wanted to offer you a few suggestions during your period of reflection, Major General Stobery."

"Oh?"

Alyosha adjusted his glasses, looking at Stobery, who was half a body taller than him due to his long head, and still had a smile on his face.

But Kizaru in front of him already had a look of anticipation on his face.

The next second, Alyosha's fist landed on the door of Stoberli, the force of which sent him flying from the headquarters building toward the port.

boom!

A loud bang echoed from the headquarters building. Marines patrolling the base saw a figure fly across the sky, crashing into the sea with a sonic boom and creating a splash.

"Alyosha Ran! What do you want to do?!"

Stobery's roar echoed through the air. Covering his bleeding mouth and nose, Stobery also leaped out of the sea and landed on the shore.

He drew two long swords from his waist, coated them with Armament Haki, and glared angrily at Alyosha, who was slowly walking towards him from the air and landing.

Alyosha was still all smiles, but it sent a chill down Stobery's spine.

The opponent maintained such a harmless smile even during the sneak attack, without showing the slightest killing intent. How can you defend against that?

"My suggestion is that since you're being suspended for six months to reflect on your actions, you should at least show some remorse. For example, take six months to rest in bed. As a major general, you should set an example, don't you think, Major General Stobery?"

Alyosha slowly drew his sword from his waist.

It was a wooden sword without a guard.

Black Armament Haki clung to Alyosha's sword as he drew it, pointing it at the enraged Stobery, and waving to the surrounding marines.

"I need to discuss some personal matters with Stobery. If you're interested, you can stand back and watch. Don't worry, it'll be over quickly and won't take up too much of your time."