The Old Man Who Loves Rice Crackers Goes to the East Blue to See His Grandson
After leaving Moria, the three boarded a small boat.
On the boat, Torres and Sakaino rowed the boat while Wang Chuan sat cross-legged, reflecting on his actions and the course of the battle that day to see whether there was anything he could improve.
Torres said, "Sakaino, are we just leaving like this?"
"The young master has already accomplished what he came here to do."
"He has?"
"We found Moria and reached a preliminary agreement; we learned about that thing in the thick fog; and most importantly, Moria didn't refuse to give us Shusui. Unless something unexpected happens, Shusui will be delivered to the young master."
"So that's how it is."
Torres was a typical fighting type, with an average mind.
His most famous exploit came about because he hadn't known how to be a Marine. He had asked Sakaino for advice and been told to read the Marine Code carefully.
And the fellow had actually done it, memorizing the Marines' regulations, prohibitions, duties, and so on. Before Wang Chuan began leading his own unit, Torres had relied on them to stand firm against quite a few superiors' personal orders.
He wasn't a clever man, but once given sound advice, he would stick to it.
Sakaino wasn't a fighting type. He wasn't particularly strong himself, and mostly handled day-to-day affairs.
After learning that Moria had become a Shichibukai, Sakaino had already begun raising the matter of finding him before Wang Chuan had even said he wanted to.
At the same time, he advised Wang Chuan to strive for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman. He could see that no Admiral's seat would open up again in the near future, and that with Zephyr stepping down and Akainu taking office this time, Wang Chuan had no chance.
He was a typical staff officer among the Marines.
Wang Chuan had also discussed their subsequent arrangements with Sakaino.
With Akainu taking office this time, Wang Chuan had no chance at all to compete for the Admiral's seat. No one in the entire Marine organization had a chance, for three reasons: strength, accomplishments, and factional support.
But now that Akainu had risen to power, his radical faction would make plenty of moves afterward, unleashing a fierce crackdown on pirates in the near future.
Sakaino also suggested using this period to draw closer to the radical faction and join them in fighting pirates, adding to Wang Chuan's own accomplishments.
The radical faction wouldn't refuse either. Since it was Akainu taking office, they would take the lion's share, but they would still have to divide some up for Kizaru's neutral faction, Aokiji's moderate faction, and the various other factions, large and small, organized or otherwise.
As for whether they could get any and how much, that depended on their strength.
This time, Wang Chuan would seize the opportunity to become a Rear Admiral!
As for Vice Admiral, that would be difficult in the short term, for a simple reason: there weren't enough great pirates for him to earn a promotion!
Wang Chuan wasn't in a hurry, though. The Paramount War was still a few years away, and afterward Akainu would be promoted to Fleet Admiral, while Aokiji would leave his post while retaining it.
There would be at least one seat available then.
He would use the intervening time to build up his accomplishments and become an Admiral candidate.
Wang Chuan's decision not to draw close to any of the three major factions was also Sakaino's suggestion.
All three major factions already had Admirals. Whether for the sake of balance or the acceptance of the other factions, large and small, no one from the three major factions should be appointed to fill that seat.
In fact, after the Paramount War, promoting Gion to Admiral would have been the most orthodox and appropriate succession within the Marines.
In terms of rank, Gion was an Admiral candidate at the time.
As for factions, she had no obvious affiliation, but she was close to Tsuru. As the Marines' chief staff officer, Tsuru could be regarded as the person in charge of the entire Marine staff faction.
But there was a problem: Tsuru, Garp, and Sengoku all counted as moderates.
And the moderate faction already had Aokiji, with Smoker also in its ranks; Kizaru of the neutral faction had been there all along.
If Gion rose to power, there would be too many moderates and neutrals within the organization. At least two of the Three Admirals would be moderates or neutrals, making it very difficult for Akainu, a radical Fleet Admiral, to command the entire Marine organization.
As for Tokikake, he was similar to Kizaru of the neutral faction. If he rose to power, it would present the same problem.
And directly promoting an old hand from Akainu's radical faction would meet fierce opposition from the other factions. The entire Marine organization would then become Akainu's personal domain, something neither the Five Elders nor the other factions could allow.
So, in the end, the Marines recruited Fujitora and Ryokugyu.
And now Wang Chuan wanted to become an independent radical of limited scope.
He was radical, but only when it came to Kaido. At the same time, he stood apart from the radical, moderate, and neutral factions within the Marines.
After the Paramount War, if his strength and accomplishments were sufficient, he would encounter less resistance to his promotion than either Gion or Tokikake.
But no one could guarantee that he would become an Admiral, so the other path was to become the World's Greatest Swordsman!
The reason Garp enjoyed so much freedom within the Marines was the prestige that came with being the Hero of the Marines.
If Wang Chuan had that kind of prestige too, then, given Akainu's character, he wouldn't refuse to deal with Kaido.
Before long, the small boat drew close to the warship.
The three went aboard and attended to their respective duties.
Torres handled various military matters, while Sakaino adjusted the warship's course to patrol.
They had a mission on this trip as well: to find out why so many ships were disappearing in the Florian Triangle.
Although Moria had given them information, they still had to make the rounds, and if they ran into it, a fight might be unavoidable.
But after circling the area, they found no sign of the enormous fellow Moria had described.
The fleet's orders also included a short-term deployment, so they continued patrolling nearby.
Late one night after that, waves from a moving ship appeared on the distant sea, even though there was plainly no ship there.
The Marines on watch spotted the strange phenomenon under the beam of a searchlight.
"Look, what's that?"
"A g-ghost ship?"
Another Marine rubbed his eyes and spoke of the rumors surrounding the Florian Triangle, his voice full of fear.
"What are you panicking for? Sound the alarm and call the officers."
"All right, I'm going."
At the orders of another, more experienced old Marine, several men sprang into action.
Before long, Sakaino arrived on deck.
Watching the ship's wake draw closer and closer, he used his Observation Haki and gained a rough idea of what it was.
Then, after the seemingly transparent vessel approached the warship, a long, narrow box was thrown from the spot where the strange phenomenon was occurring, landing directly on the warship's deck.
Sakaino walked over and saw the skull with bat wings printed on it, and he knew who had sent it.
Wang Chuan received the box the next morning.
"Young master, we inspected this box as soon as we received it last night. It's an investment from Moria."
"Looks like Moria really does intend to fight his way back."
As he spoke, he opened the box. Inside lay none other than Wano Country's National Treasure—Shusui!
Clang—
Drawing Shusui, Wang Chuan admired the Supreme Great Grade Sword, one of the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords.
He infused it with a little Haki, and a faint layer of dark light appeared along the edge of the blade.
"A fine sword."
Over the next few days, Wang Chuan was like a child with a new toy, constantly sending Flying Slashes into empty space.
Shusui was worthy of being a top-grade Famous Sword: tough, sharp, and capable of enhancing Haki.
But several days later, by the time this mission ended, they had found no further clues, so Wang Chuan could only head back.
—The return voyage—
They returned to headquarters and handed over the mission without any trouble.
There were too many strange occurrences in the world. The mere Florian Triangle wasn't worth that much attention.
And on this return, he met an old man at headquarters who was eating rice crackers.
"Wahaha, it's you, kid."
"Vice Admiral Garp." ×3
Wang Chuan and his two deputies saluted Garp.
As for why Garp knew him, that was simple: Garp had visited the recruit training camp.
Although Zephyr had been in charge of the recruit training camp during that period, Garp had visited too, and Wang Chuan's Haki had left a deep impression on him.
Although he hadn't received the rank of major directly in the training camp, he had received the rank of captain. Then, in a very short time, he had left and become a major leading his own unit.
"How boring. You're always so stiff and formal. Want a rice cracker?"
"Then thank you, Vice Admiral."
As he spoke, Wang Chuan took one and began eating with him.
"I'm going to the East Blue soon to wipe out some pirates, crunch. Got time to come along?"
"Crunch. To the East Blue?"
Wang Chuan had a rough idea why Garp was going to the East Blue, but he didn't know what Garp wanted him to go for. Still, there was no harm in going with him.
If he could, he wanted to try bringing Luffy over to his side. Even if he only established some ties with him, he would have a better chance against Kaido in the future.
"I've just finished a patrol mission, so I have nothing to do lately. I'll go to the East Blue with you, Vice Admiral."
"Then I'll add your name to the list, hahaha."
With that, he walked off on his own without paying the others any more attention.
"Young master, why go to the East Blue now? There aren't any great pirates over there at the moment, are there?"
"You can think of it as an attempt to win someone over."
Wang Chuan's answer was vague, but Sakaino understood roughly what he meant.
Vice Admiral Garp was the Hero of the Marines, and a man who could have become an Admiral but refused. His prestige was also very high. If they could win him over, it would be a great help to the young master's promotion or to securing a permanent base.
Whatever Wang Chuan might say, that was how he understood it.
Besides, he had always wanted to help Wang Chuan secure a permanent base.
Although this kind of guerrilla-style campaign against pirates earned plenty of accomplishments too, having a permanent base would make it easier to recruit all kinds of talent.
Once the Marines established a base, they could take charge of a portion of the taxes paid by the local area. So few Marines with bases were poor.
Although Wang Chuan had the Wang family's financial backing, that was his own money after all. If he used too much of it, people would start to fear whether he was maintaining Marines or raising a private army.
Even skimming military funds, overstating wear and tear, and raising taxes were all within the tolerance of the Marine high command and the World Government.
But if he became a Rear Admiral or Vice Admiral and still relied on his own money to support his subordinates, that would be crossing something of a taboo.
Wang Chuan hadn't said much, but that did nothing to stop Sakaino from thinking. He had already begun considering the bases connected to Garp.
Sure enough, the next day they received orders appointing them to join Garp's operation.
What followed was a flurry of preparations for departure, with all kinds of supplies and fleet movements to arrange.
On the previous trip to the Florian Triangle, he had deployed only the flagship, considering the thick fog there and the danger Moria posed.
This time, they were accompanying Garp on a purge, so he needed to bring his full complement of personnel and ships.