"On the Concept and Practical Principles of Plain Justice"
Vice Admiral Tsuru gave Sakazuki a disdainful look, as if he were a homeroom teacher looking at a student with the worst grades.
With just one glance, Vice Admiral Tsuru made Akainu Admiral realize that he was a complete idiot.
The hot-tempered Sakazuki said nothing and conceded.
In terms of status, Vice Admiral Tsuru is a senior naval officer of the same generation as Genji Sengoku, Garp the Hero, and Instructor Zephyr.
In terms of intelligence, Vice Admiral Tsuru is on par with Fleet Admiral Sengoku as one of the Sengoku's intellectual leaders. Sakazuki doesn't feel insulted that she considers him an idiot.
Because that's the truth.
If it weren't for her slightly weaker strength, less effective Devil Fruit ability, and the negative impact of being a woman, Vice Admiral Tsuru would never have stopped at the position of Chief of Staff, nor would she have stopped at the rank of Vice Admiral.
Sakazuki asked earnestly, "Vice Admiral Tsuru, how do you think we should handle this?"
Vice Admiral Tsuru glanced at Sengoku, and in the instant their eyes met, he understood that the other was thinking the same thing.
Sengoku nodded, Vice Admiral Tsuru said, "Shazo handled this matter almost perfectly. The Marine Headquarters didn't need to do anything; they just needed to send one person to go through the motions with the Cipher Pol."
"The biggest hidden danger right now is Brigadier General Xia Zuo himself."
"In this matter, he demonstrated top-notch strength and intelligence; he could even be used as Admiral. His only flaw is his lack of reputation."
"Is he still willing to accept his current Commodore general rank, and is he still willing to continue serving in the 77th Branch the East Blue?"
"If Brigadier General Xia Zuo doesn't—"
Garp interrupted Vice Admiral Tsuru, stating decisively, "I've made a promise with Shazo; he'll keep an eye on Luffy for me in the East Blue."
"Shazo Zuo is a real man; he never goes back on his promises."
Upon hearing Garp's words, Vice Admiral Tsuru, Fleet Admiral Sengoku Akainu, and Admiral Akainu all breathed a sigh of relief.
Vice Admiral Garp's judgment is extremely trustworthy; countless examples over the decades have proven that Garp, who is known for his unreliability, has never misjudged anyone.
"Hmm, that solves half the problem." Vice Admiral Tsuru took out several sheets of white paper and distributed them to all the high-ranking naval officers present. "This is the biggest problem we need to face."
Sakazuki read the title on the paper, "On the Concept and Practical Principles of Plain Justice —is this Shazo's concept of Justice?"
"There are so many words! What did he write?"
Vice Admiral Tsuru said irritably, "Sakazuki, read it carefully before you speak."
"Vice Admiral Tsuru is right, this content must be read carefully." Kuzan pushed open the door, holding the same piece of paper in his hand, his face showing no trace of laziness. "Moreover, reading it once is completely insufficient."
Seeing that his old rival also said the same thing, Sakazuki stopped talking and began to read carefully.
This shows that Sakazuki values Kuzan even more than Vice Admiral Tsuru.
A few minutes later, Sakazuki abruptly stood up, his face flushed with shame and indignation. He muttered, barely suppressing his anger, "I did it for the order of the sea! I wasn't just making baseless assumptions, absolutely not!"
Akainu Admiral paced back and forth in the Fleet Admiral's Office, his anxiety growing stronger and his pace quickening, like a tiger trapped in a cage.
But his eyes remained fixed on the paper, staring at the words on it, looking at them over and over again.
This is the written version that Shazo compiled with Bellemere's help after he formally and publicly explained his philosophy during the return voyage.
Because of more systematic thinking and organization, the writing naturally becomes more concise and the logic more rigorous.
Furthermore, examples were included to support this claim, such as Sakazuki's indiscriminate attacks on refugee ships during the execution of the Buster Call Ohara.
Shazo described this incident as: the highest level of self-righteousness.
He argued that since Nico Robin, the person involved in Ohara, has been on the run for so long and is still carrying a bounty of 79 million, detailed information about her has been leaked all over the world, yet it has still not caused any major disturbances at sea. This shows that Sakazuki's initial judgment was absolutely presumptuous and not even worth a piece of shit.
Upon seeing this, Sakazuki was naturally furious, wishing he could punch Shazo to ashes.
But what terrified him was that Shazo's writings were irrefutable.
The danger of the Ohara Incident lies not in its power, but in the leak of historical information, which could lead some to explore the Void Century of history.
However, the World Government made a mistake. Despite intending to cover up information, they raised Nico Robin's bounty so high, making her the most eye-catching star.
It's easy to imagine that people who were previously unaware of and indifferent to the existence of Ohara were drawn in by the 79 million Beli bounty and went to great lengths to gather information.
Ohara, a previously unknown secluded place and a temple of Tree of Knowledge, has thus become known to all.
Even concepts like the Poneglyph, which were originally well-concealed, and the Void Century, have been spread everywhere thanks to Nico Robin's information.
But Sakazuki's confident prediction that even the escape of one person would cause a terrible collapse of the order of the sea did not come to pass.
In this era of great piracy, aside from the World Government and the Celestial Dragons' high command, nobody cares about the Poneglyph or the lost 100s.
Year.
The common people suffered greatly from the pirates, and even survival was extremely difficult for them. They had no time to think about history.
Those with some skill either become pirates or desperately try to join the World Government for a government job; they have no energy to care about history, which is meaningless to their lives.
Great pirates, high-ranking government officials, and naval officers all strive and fight fiercely in the Great Pirate Era, either climbing the ranks or maintaining order on the seas.
The elites of the sea are so engrossed in their battles that they have no energy left to care about trivial historical matters.
Only the Four Emperors of the Sea, the Marine Admiral, and the Five Elders of the Celestial Dragons, who stand at the pinnacle of the seas, have enough leisure to ponder such questions and enough power to intervene in this matter.
The problem is, which of these people doesn't know about the existence of the Poneglyph?
Even Kaido and Big Mom possess some of the most crucial pieces of the Poneglyph.
So, while the Buster Call of Ohara might make some sense in targeting insane historians, what exactly was the point of ruthlessly slaughtering a group of refugees who knew nothing?
As he looked around and pondered, Sakazuki actually asked himself this question. His head was buzzing, and his thoughts were in complete disarray.
But his will was as firm as steel. He quickly admitted that he had made a mistake in the past and swiftly got rid of the regret caused by the mistake, turning these emotions into pressure.
For Sakazuki, the pressure was a driving force that spurred him on to continue moving forward and pursuing Justice.
He secretly resolved to revise his "Absolute Justice" to make Justice more perfect and feasible, to truly implement it throughout the navy, and to change the situation at sea.
Kuzan's original "Lazy Justice" suddenly collapsed, and the "Burning Justice" that he had once abandoned was rekindled in his heart.
Kuzan's despair at witnessing the Navy forced to submit to the World Government and endure or even aid the Celestial Dragons ' evil deeds was completely overturned at this moment.
It turned out that it wasn't true despair, but rather that from the navy's perspective, they couldn't see any hope.
In Shazo's view, the future of the Navy was promising.
Hope is a flame, and a flame is burning. Burning can consume all the filth in the world, bringing ultimate salvation.
As Marine Admiral, Akainu and Aokiji greatly admired Shazo's "Plain Justice," but they had no intention of blindly worshipping him. Instead, they used Shazo's philosophy to correct their own flaws or shortcomings.
This is the normal situation. A firm will is an essential component of top-tier strength. If someone could change their mind so easily, even Marine Admiral would be the weakest of the weak.
For example, Ryokugyu, who will join the Navy in the future, and Zephyr, whose strength has been severely diminished.
Vice Admiral Tsuru, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and Vice Admiral Garp all read Shazo's article many times, but they had more experience and a more comprehensive understanding of their own sense of Justice.
In addition, due to their advanced age and severely rigid thinking, they only felt a deep shock but were unable to shake their beliefs.
But everyone agreed: Zephyr must not see this thing.
Then they worried together again.
Shazo has publicly proclaimed his ideas, deeply moving even high-ranking naval officers like himself; one can imagine their appeal to other naval personnel.
Such an appealing concept of Justice would surely spread dramatically within the Navy; it seemed nothing they did could stop Zephyr from seeing "Plain Justice."
Vice Admiral Tsuru sighed, and said with considerable pain, "I have a way to delay the contact between Zephyr and Shazo as much as possible."
Garp asked in surprise, "What method is it?"
Sengoku sighed, "Borrowing the name of 'Plain Justice,' they've fabricated a completely different concept of Justice, making Zephyr feel disgusted just by looking at it."
Vice Admiral Tsuru added, "It's not that I feel aversion, but rather disdain and disgust, the kind that Zephyr wouldn't even want to talk about."
Sengoku said, "This is not a good idea."
"One day Zephyr will find out that we lied to him, and then we won't even be able to be friends anymore."
Garp made the decision. "It's decided then. Even if we can't even be friends with him in the end, it's still better than watching Zephyr die a violent death."
"As long as people are alive, there is hope."
Kuzan agreed, "Garp is right. As long as Zephyr is alive and well and continues to work in the Navy, there is still hope."
Sakazuki nodded and said, "This method may not be perfect, but it's the least bad one."
Vice Admiral Tsuru nodded: "Since everyone agrees, then I'll write a fake, Plain Justice," and then let Zephyr "find out" of it unintentionally.
"Hopefully we can keep this a secret for a few more years, ideally until we defeat one or two Emperor of the Sea and completely change the situation on the seas."
The naval high command nodded in unison, "That would be perfect."
No one informed Kizaru or Borsalino about this.
On the one hand, it's to avoid interfering with his mission; chasing after Jack the Drought, the All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates, is no easy task.
On the other hand, everyone was somewhat wary of Borsalino, and they always suspected that this kid was connected with Dragon, who betrayed the Navy.
There's even a tiny, albeit slight, possibility that these two are putting on a show.
In short, minimizing contact between Borsalino and Shazo was a consensus among the five of them.
The Five Elders also obtained the "Concepts and Practical Principles of Plain Justice," which shocked the Navy's top brass.
The Five Elders ' attitudes toward Shazo have become deeply divided, and each of them has a different opinion.
The Warrior God of Finance, dressed in a white Daoist robe, bald, and wearing glasses, Izanbaron V. Saint Nusjuro the most vehement stance, vehemently criticizing Shazo's behavior and thoughts, and suggesting that three Admiral- level combatants be immediately mobilized to eliminate Shazo.
Shepard X. Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, the Warrior God of Agriculture, dressed in a dark red suit and with blond hair and a golden beard, strongly agrees with Shazo's behavior and thoughts. He believes that Saint Nusjuro is a zombie with a rigid mind.
The Warrior God of Justice, Topman Saint Warcury, who wears a dark green suit, is bald with a mustache and a birthmark on his forehead, has a conflicted attitude towards Shazo.
--
He was deeply disgusted by Shazo's Carnage of the nobles of the Goa Kingdom, believing it undermined the authority of the World Government.
However, he also partially agreed with Shazo's principles of Justice, believing that they could be used as a reference by the World Government.
The Warrior God of the Environment, Marcus Saint Mars, dressed in a dark blue suit and sporting long white hair and Whitebeard, also had a conflicted attitude towards Shazo.
He admired Shazo for suppressing the seas in the East Blue and ensuring calm on the surface, but he was also worried about his disregard for the bounty issued by the World Government.
The God of Scientific Defense, dressed in a black suit, with white curly hair and a bushy beard, wearing a flat cap, and a scar on his left cheek, Jaigolusia Satan Saint, was completely indifferent to Shazo.
Shazo's duties were irrelevant; even the need for high-speed, mobile warships wouldn't reach Saint Saturn.
As the highest-ranking official in the World Government's science system, his focus was on steam-powered warships, specifically those made of Seastone.
How fast can a high-speed sailing warship really go?
The Five Elders could not agree on Shazo's attitude, nor could they discern any particular inclination towards him, so naturally they were unable to make a decision.
Although Shazo is strong, he is not even Admiral. Although his influence is beginning to emerge, it is limited to a few high-ranking naval officers and a corner of the East Blue.
In other words, Shazo's matter is too minor to warrant Lord Imu's judgment, so it can only be temporarily shelved.
After all, Shazo didn't make a fuss about getting a promotion; he just stayed and patrolled the East Blue obediently.
He seems like an honest, harmless person by all accounts.
The Five Elders all found this acceptable.
Produce