Marine Headquarters,
Marineford!
Colonel Dick's patrol warship slowly returned and dropped anchor in the harbor.
Ignoring Dick, who was searching everywhere for the distinguished guest's whereabouts, Austin quietly vanished from the warship before anyone noticed.
Strolling across the grounds of Marine Headquarters with his hands in his pockets, Austin looked as relaxed as if he had returned home.
"So this is Marineford. There really are a lot of powerful people here."
Within the headquarters building at the center of Austin's exaggerated Observation Haki range, several presences were not much weaker than Rayleigh and Captain Roger.
If it came down to a straight fight of raw strength, Austin would not gain much of an advantage. After all, Garp, Sengoku, and the others should still be at Marine Headquarters.
That said, Austin had no intention of causing a huge scene.
His plan this time was to find a warship transporting prisoners to Impel Down, sneak aboard unnoticed, and go see Captain Roger once more.
Marineford was not far from Impel Down, and it was also the area with the largest and most elite concentration of Marines. Naturally, the number of pirates they captured was enormous.
So the ship he boarded did not necessarily have to be one carrying major criminals.
After all, most prisoners on the first and second levels of Impel Down were small fry with bounties of only tens of millions of Beli. There was no need for an admiral to escort them or a warden to watch over them every time.
Austin swept the area around the naval harbor with Observation Haki, but he did not find any ships transporting prisoners.
Then he would wait a little longer. Austin did not believe that a Marine Headquarters this large would not have a single ship headed for Impel Down.
Forcing his way into Impel Down was not impossible, but having the Marines provide cover would undoubtedly make the trip much more convenient, just like how King Luffy had hidden in the Empress's skirt.
If all else failed, he could just teleport in by force.
With that in mind, he simply began wandering around Marineford.
Perhaps it was because he had deliberately tousled his hair a few times after disembarking, leaving an extra fringe over his forehead.
As he walked along, not only did no Marines shout for his arrest, but quite a few saluted him.
"Good afternoon, Major General!"
"Hello." Austin glanced down at the young soldier beside him and nodded.
This was already the tenth soldier he had encountered who had saluted him.
Was this the One Piece World? Everyone was all muscles and no brains. Just changing his hairstyle and clothes made him completely unrecognizable.
As he strolled across this island acknowledged by pirates around the world as forbidden ground, Austin discovered that it was not simply the enormous military base depicted in the manga.
Rather, the actual places where the Marines worked and carried out operations occupied only part of Marineford.
Beyond that, there were living areas for countless Marine families and ordinary residents—apartment buildings, markets, restaurants, taverns...
With Marine Headquarters right next door, this could be said to be the most livable city for ordinary people Austin had ever seen.
Unlike other countries or islands, where no matter how prosperous they were, encountering a sufficiently brutal Great Pirate could turn the place into a living hell.
As evening approached,
In a restaurant within the residential district, many Marines who had finished their shifts or returned from missions came in groups of three or five, arms slung over one another's shoulders.
While eating dinner, they also ordered a few barrels of beer and drank to their hearts' content.
"Gulp, gulp... Ah!!! Refreshing!!" A young soldier in a Marine tank top drained an entire barrel of beer in one go, let out a breath, and wore an utterly contented smile.
They chatted idly, complaining about the intense workload lately.
"There's only this little bit of time in the whole day when we can relax. I'm exhausted!"
"What can we do? There are only a little over ten days until Pirate King Roger's execution. Headquarters has ordered a full lockdown now..."
"Tch... If you ask me, there's no need to be so nervous. What Pirate King? Didn't Vice Admiral Garp capture him? We've got the Marine Hero on our side!"
The group of young soldiers discussed current affairs, bragged, and freely grumbled. After a few more drinks, they even began complaining about headquarters' orders.
Just as one Marine was about to say something else, a soldier beside him who had been drinking casually glanced toward the restaurant entrance. As if he had seen something unbelievable, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of beer.
The soldier who had been sprayed all over looked displeased.
"What are you doing..."
"Shut up!!!"
Before his companion could finish speaking, the man immediately stood with perfect military posture, cold sweat streaming down his face as he stared straight ahead.
Perhaps seeing that his companions were still baffled, he had no choice but to shout:
"Good afternoon, Major General!!!"
"Huh?!?!"
At those words, even the slowest among them understood. The soldiers hurriedly got to their feet, not even caring when the stools beneath them toppled over, and assumed standard military stances.
We're done for, we're done for, we're done for, we're done for...
Cold sweat trickled down every soldier's face.
They had openly criticized headquarters' orders and been caught on the spot by a Major General. They would not be punished for undermining military morale, would they...
Especially the one who had been drinking and shouting the loudest. By now, he regretted it so much his guts had turned green.
And standing before them,
The so-called Major General who had come to eat at a restaurant in the residential district instead of going to the officers' dining hall,
Could only be Austin.
"Uh..."
He was somewhat speechless. He had only come here for a meal—how had he run into this?
"Um, keep eating. Don't mind me."
"Ah... Yes!!!"
Seeing that Austin had no intention of bothering with them and instead went straight to the counter to order before seating himself by the window to enjoy the view,
The soldiers finally let out breaths of relief and cautiously sat back down.
Only after confirming that Austin truly had no intention of making trouble for them did they finally relax and resume eating.
"Thank goodness. We ran into a tolerant officer. That's great~"
"Yeah, I thought we'd definitely be punished. I've heard some officers are extremely strict, like Major General Sakazuki."
"But I've been at headquarters for so many years, and I don't think I've ever seen this Major General before. Strange..."
"What are you talking about? I just think that officer looks really familiar, like I saw him not long ago."
"Right, right, I feel the same way. It feels like I saw him somewhere recently, but I just can't remember where."
As they chatted, Austin heard every word without missing a thing.
Maybe they had seen his Bounty Poster, Austin guessed.
But from the very beginning, their perception had been misled. They had associated the familiarity they felt toward him with a Marine identity, so naturally they would never find a matching person.
But even a minor figure from the ship like me has already entered the public eye?
The New Era Captain Roger had stirred up truly had far-reaching consequences...
Before you continue