The rewards for Gigue and the others were soon announced throughout Headquarters. When people saw what they had received, their jaws nearly hit the floor.
The three female cadets led by Lucia were all granted the rank of colonel, while the four male cadets led by Gigue received even more outrageous promotions. Kuma, the lowest-ranked among them, was made a brigadier general.
Gigue, Akainu, and Kizaru were all granted the Rear Admiral Rank, though Gigue, who had earned the greatest merit, was a special case.
Since they were still cadets, these ranks were essentially honorary appointments. They were not yet allowed to command their own fleets or subordinates.
Gigue was different, however. The Navy's higher-ups granted him a special privilege: he had the authority to mobilize part of the military force. He could put to sea whenever he wished and submit the report afterward.
Thus, Gigue was currently the only genuine Headquarters rear admiral among them.
Of course, even honorary positions without actual authority like Akainu's were enough to make countless Marines—who had spent decades without even reaching the threshold of officer rank—green with envy. Not to mention that this group of cadets had started out as Headquarters colonels.
There was a saying on Blue Star: "An official in the capital outranks one elsewhere by three grades." The same applied in the Navy.
A Headquarters officer sent to a branch might not outrank others by three whole grades, but among those of the same rank, aside from the Grand Line branches beginning with G, Headquarters officers crushed those from the Four Seas branches in both strength and status.
Don't be fooled by how unremarkable Headquarters rear admirals seemed in anime. This was a rank many Marines could never attain in their entire lives.
On the wall of the four-man dormitory