"Boss, you—you still remember?" Gregory asked, visibly agitated. Even his hollow eyes had regained their spark.
"Weren't you the one who said, back then, while standing among a pile of corpses, that you'd sell me your life from then on?" Longinus asked with a smile.
Gregory nodded excitedly, then immediately fell to his knees and said, "But Admiral Akainu wasn't wrong, either. I really was the one who killed Kahn. I should pay for it with my life!"
Was Gregory convinced? Of course not!
Kahn had clearly been the one to provoke him. That pirate had clearly been manipulating things from behind the scenes. Gregory had restrained himself from beginning to end, yet in the end, he could only die together with Kahn.
Having been forcibly framed, he naturally refused to accept it.
But he knew that only by dying could he minimize the impact of this incident on Longinus.
"You were the victim in the first place. You shouldn't have to shoulder all the responsibility for this matter!" Longinus said, then turned to Akainu. "Admiral Akainu, Gregory was indeed at fault, and I don't mind you punishing him. But he was influenced by someone else. The death penalty is too harsh!"
"What? You haven't even become Fleet Admiral, and you're already trying to order me around?" Akainu narrowed his eyes, his tone hostile.
"This isn't an order. It's only my personal suggestion!"
"Is that so? Then I refuse!"
Longinus took a deep breath, his expression solemn. "There's really no way to mediate this?"
Akainu said coldly, "He killed Kahn, so he should die!"
Seeing the atmosphere between the two grow increasingly tense, the oppressive air making it hard to breathe, Gregory blamed himself and shouted, "Boss, don't worry about me anymore!"
However, Longinus didn't even turn around as he