Marine Headquarters, Marineford—the top floor of the Fortress of Justice, the Fleet Admiral's office.
Fleet Admiral Kong stood by the window, looking at Justice Harbor on the edge of the island. "Garp's ship has stopped."
There were also two other Marine bigwigs in the room: Chief Staff Officer Tsuru and Admiral Zephyr.
Zephyr held a folder he had just received from the Fleet Admiral, filled with detailed intelligence reports on Bane Ortolan.
Clearly, this intelligence file had come from the Chief Staff Officer.
"Overall, it isn't much different from what he told Garp. At the very least, he didn't hide anything from Garp," Zephyr said as he looked through the file.
"Imagine this: if you were the child of a pirate but wanted to join the Marines, would you choose to conceal that fact when facing Garp's questions?" Fleet Admiral Kong asked sharply.
Zephyr paused for a moment, and uncertainty appeared in his gaze as he looked at Fleet Admiral Kong.
That was true. He was only an eighteen-year-old kid. He knew full well that pirate blood ran through his veins, yet he had confessed it all when trying to join the Marines. Wasn't that... a little too rational?
Being honest was a good thing, but precisely because it was too good, didn't it feel somewhat unnatural?
At that moment, Chief Staff Officer Tsuru set down her teacup. "When you suspect someone, everything they do is wrong. When you trust someone, everything they do can be explained. That is pride and prejudice, Fleet Admiral."
Fleet Admiral Kong smiled, and the sharpness in his expression softened. He nodded. "As expected of you, Little Tsuru. Are all intelligence officers as wise as you?"
Zephyr seemed to understand something as well. He laughed and said, "That's right. From a suspicious perspective, he seems overly rational, almost calculating. But from a trusting perspective, couldn't it be that he truly wanted to join our Marines with a clean record, so he had repeatedly thought through these matters and thus appeared so thoughtful?"
Calculating and thoughtful clearly described the same thing, yet changing the wording slightly made the entire matter sound completely different.
Words were like that, and weren't people the same?
"If we keep going, I'll start looking petty and intolerant as Fleet Admiral. Hahaha. Still, there are some things I need to remind you of—especially you, Zephyr. As a teacher, make sure you properly guide these new Marine recruits. If anything goes wrong with them in the future, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!" Fleet Admiral Kong warned.
"Don't worry, Fleet Admiral," Zephyr said confidently with a wave of his hand. "Even if he really is a crooked sapling, he's only an eighteen-year-old seedling. A military camp is the best place to temper people."
"A furnace," Chief Staff Officer Tsuru said with a smile in her eyes.
"That's right, a furnace. Even if there really are impurities, a few years will melt them away. No need to worry!" Zephyr said, giving Chief Staff Officer Tsuru an approving look.
Fleet Admiral Kong watched as Garp led that unfamiliar figure to the base of the Fortress of Justice. Then he said, "The two of them are coming up. Go get back to your work."
Fleet Admiral Kong had his own work to continue with. As for Ortolan, it was enough to take a distant look at him from the window. He was the Fleet Admiral of the Marines; he wasn't about to rush off to meet a new Marine recruit, even if that recruit was somewhat special.
Still, since Garp thought highly of him and intended to introduce him to Zephyr as a disciple, there would likely be plenty of chances to see this new recruit in the future.
Zephyr rose to his feet. "Then I'd better go see whether the sapling Garp thinks so highly of is really that impressive!"
"I still have some unfinished business to deal with," Chief Staff Officer Tsuru said. "I'll be leaving first."
Soon after Zephyr stepped out of the office, Garp's Den Den Mushi called.
"Hello? Zephyr? Are you in your office? I'm back at Marineford. I brought the person I mentioned before, the one I want you to meet in person..." Garp said carelessly.
Zephyr smiled at Chief Staff Officer Tsuru, then spoke into the Den Den Mushi. "I just left the Fleet Admiral's office and was about to head back. Go directly to my office."
"Got it." Garp hung up the Den Den Mushi immediately after speaking.
Before long, Garp led Ortolan into the Fortress of Justice. Marine Headquarters itself was the core of the entire Marine system, while the Fortress of Justice could be called the core of that core. Every Marine who could come and go freely here was at least an officer. Even the sentries standing at the entrance wore at least the rank of Lieutenant Commander on their shoulders.
The many Marines hurrying through the lobby with documents in their arms were, at a glance, mostly colonels or above. Commodores and Rear Admirals were everywhere, and from time to time, one could see a Vice Admiral lecturing a group of Marine officers.
Garp carried considerable weight. When he led Ortolan inside, no one stopped them for inspection. Moreover, every Marine they encountered showed him great respect. Whenever they met him, they had to greet him politely before daring to leave.
It was clear that although Garp was often disliked among the Marine higher-ups—everyone felt that trouble followed wherever he went, and that he was an incorrigible old rogue—in the overall atmosphere of the Marines, the word Hero carried absolute weight!
The entire Fortress of Justice had nine floors. The lower three were extremely busy, housing most of the shared offices of the basic Marine departments, such as the Liaison Department, Logistics Department, Support Department, and Security Department.
Ortolan learned this from the signs in the corridors. The middle three floors held more high-end offices, including the Intelligence Department, Strategic Command, Criminal Investigation Bureau, and various conference rooms. Compared with the noise of the lower three floors, the higher one went here, the quieter it became. The sixth floor in particular was entirely occupied by one massive conference room, which was currently closed.
According to Garp, whenever a major situation arose, Marine Headquarters would immediately summon all members currently at headquarters with the rank of Commodore or above to hold a meeting here and discuss the situation.
As for what counted as a "major situation," Garp said it varied by circumstance. In other words, there was no standard. If everyone thought it was major, then it was major!
The upper three floors contained private offices. The seventh floor belonged to Rear Admirals, the eighth to Vice Admirals, and the ninth housed the offices of the three Admirals and the Fleet Admiral!
As for anyone below Rear Admiral?
Sorry, but those below Rear Admiral weren't qualified to have private offices in the Fortress of Justice. If they were lucky, they could become the head of some shared office on the middle or lower floors and enjoy a certain amount of private space.
If they were unlucky, they would work in one of the other Marine buildings. After all, Marineford had more than just the Fortress of Justice.
As a Vice Admiral, Garp's office should technically have been on the eighth floor. However, he was also a Marine Hero, and in terms of seniority, he was not particularly far behind the Admirals or Fleet Admiral. He had also rejected promotion to Admiral multiple times.
For whatever reason, the vacant Admiral's office on the ninth floor was now being used by Garp.
"I told you the Marines offer great benefits, and I wasn't joking. This is especially true for headquarters officers. Once you reach Lieutenant Commander, you can be assigned a single-person dormitory. Once you become a Commodore, you get your own private residence."
"As for Vice Admirals and above, people like me even have a standalone courtyard on the back street. But the courtyard is too big, and I don't feel comfortable living there alone, so most of the time, I just stay in my office," Garp said as he walked alongside Ortolan.
It wasn't just those benefits. Garp had previously mentioned that food and lodging at Marine Headquarters were basically free, so long as one did not have demands that differed from the norm—such as insisting on eating local specialties from a particular place every meal. Then food and accommodation were truly completely free.
Of course, special benefits existed as well. Big shots like Garp could make special requests. Garp needed to drink high-quality green tea and eat the finest rice crackers every day... though Ortolan did not really understand what qualified as "the finest rice crackers."
Admiral Zephyr, meanwhile, was said to be a cigar enthusiast. Ortolan strongly suspected that was where his asthma came from.
Ortolan did not know what peculiar habits Admiral Sengoku had, but Garp had mentioned him during a previous chat. He said Sengoku liked raising goats in his office. Those goats either ate a particularly expensive type of Chinese herbal medicine or special Marine document paper, both of which were costly.
In any case, Garp's point was that once one became a Vice Admiral, one could enjoy benefits that most people would never receive. And if one became an Admiral Candidate or even an Admiral, then aside from noble authority, one's living conditions would surpass those of most Kings.
Once one became Fleet Admiral, that was truly... the pinnacle of benefits. The only people likely to receive better treatment were the Five Elders of Mary Geoise, the Fleet Admiral, and certain high-ranking Celestial Dragons.
In short, serving in the Marines was a career with a very bright future!
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