Justice as One Pleases

The war in the Golden Sea continues, but Teach arrives alone on a small island in the Calm Belt.

This Calm Belt is located in the southern part of the Night Sea Domain, connecting to the West Blue. It is a very safe place, with the Night Pirates above and a portion of the West Blue below Night Pirates controlled by them.

This is Dark Night Island No. 1, an island used by the underground organization "Black Hole," controlled by Teach, to train spies and intelligence personnel. Since there is a No. 1, there must also be a No. 2 and a No. 3.

However, Island 01 is the most important one because it is where spies are trained, unlike intelligence personnel.

These are important spies, mainly planted in the Navy and the World Government. They need talent and great strength; without strength, it is impossible to reach the top.

Although it has not been established for long, it has already shown initial results in just two years.

Among its members are those who stood out from other Dark Night Islands, as well as those who performed exceptionally well at the Dark Night Military Academy.

Although their numbers are small, only seventy or eighty, and their strength is not particularly high, their potential is unmatched by others, and most of them have the potential to become officers.

Of course, this isn't a standard; potential is unpredictable, and no one knows when a person's potential will be unleashed. Sometimes, it's possible to miss out on some geniuses.

The Night Pirates' method for assessing potential is based on innate physical constitution. Some people are simply more physically gifted than others, possessing physical talents far exceeding those of ordinary people.

If something looks ordinary and doesn't stand out, then the key factor is the speed at which its capabilities grow.

The faster their strength increases after training, the greater their potential.

The Night Pirates don't need to train assassins like the World Government does; assassins are meaningless. What they need are powerful spies who can infiltrate the upper echelons of the Navy.

Even if they can't reach the top ranks of the Navy, they can still shine in other areas and help the Night Pirates control other forces.

The World Government, especially Teach, also had its own ideas. Although they knew about some of the World Government's spy training facilities, the World Government was very concerned about them, making it extremely difficult to plant spies.

This requires the power of the Memory-Memory Fruit, which can be used to erase part of the memories of the spies secretly trained by the Night Pirates.

It would be perfect to restore it after joining the World Government.

The power of the Memory-Memory Fruit is only so important; it is not omnipotent. To completely turn the World Government and Navy spies hidden in the Night Sea Domain against their cause is actually very difficult. Anyone would notice something strange about it, and it would require at least a long period of experimentation.

Moreover, it's very difficult for the Memory-Memory Fruit to alter a person's memories; at most, it can only change or delete a small segment of the memory.

Those spies were mostly trained from childhood and had been loyal to the World Government and the Navy for many years.

The first batch of spies can now be said to have been fully trained. Although time has been short, their talent and learning ability are naturally faster than that of ordinary people.

With proper training, he could become a core member of the Night Pirates, or even a member of the Seventy-two Demon Pillars.

Of course, it's only a possibility; at the very least, one would need a Devil Fruit with decent abilities and the ability to develop various uses for it.

However, the Night Pirates are not lacking in such individuals. In the arena and the Combat Pyramid, people are constantly rising and improving their strength. As time goes by, the Night Pirates will have more and more strong and core fighters.

Moreover, in Teach's eyes, ordinary spies are not very meaningful. For example, the Night Pirates only need to send out one of their officers to wipe out an ordinary Marine Branch. In the face of absolute power, everything is meaningless.

Of course, intelligence is still very important, but it's all handled by Mostima or others.

Only the spies on Island Number 1 were personally overseen by Teach, because they were the first batch of elites sent by the Night Pirates to infiltrate the Navy, and their strength and potential were unmatched by ordinary pirates.

Among these seventy-three spies, the youngest was twelve years old and the oldest was only eighteen; they were all very young.

Among them, there was one who was particularly valued by Teach. He was quite talented, and in Teach's eyes, anyone with good talent was at least capable of reaching the level of an elite naval Vice Admiral.

With wheat-colored skin and a rugged face, he was only fifteen years old, but his height had already reached two meters. Given more time, reaching the height of a "Admiral" would be no problem at all.

Although it was the first time Teach had seen him in person, information about him had already begun to surface in his mind: Ian Novoya, born into a fallen noble family in the North Sea. He studied in his youth, but when he was eight years old, due to a conflict between nobles, his family was destroyed, and he was the only survivor.

To escape the pursuit of nobles, he left his hometown and wandered the seas, eventually arriving at the West Blue.

However, she accidentally becomes a slave and is then rescued by Teach, who is constantly buying slaves. In reality, the Dark Council is helping Teach collect slaves.

Then, through the Calm Belt at the territory of the Night Pirates and regained their freedom. It was at that time that the Night Pirates began to train spies, many of whom were slaves from all over the world.

After becoming slaves, they were taken to the territory of the Night Pirates, whose whereabouts were difficult to trace, giving them a lot of room to maneuver.

This was Novoya's own choice; he could have chosen to be an ordinary person, a citizen of Teach, living in the Night Sea Domain.

However, after learning that the Night Pirates were training spies, he resolutely decided to become one himself. He was an ambitious person, perhaps due to his childhood experiences.

Teach freed him from slavery, making him undoubtedly his benefactor. Moreover, Teach is now one of the World's Strongest, a regional overlord.

Although the training process for spies is tough and tiring, it is not oppressive. Apart from not being able to contact the outside world, they also have a certain degree of freedom, and the Night Pirates can meet many of their requests.

Moreover, it allows one to understand the outside world and not limit one's thoughts. In Teach's eyes, loyalty is important, but freedom is equally important.

Giving these elite individuals too many restrictions will only create a rebellious mentality.

Therefore, their treatment is like paradise compared to the agents within CP9 and CP0.

Besides, they all did it voluntarily, and Rediat witnessed it himself, so naturally there wouldn't be anyone with ulterior motives.

Teach stood there quietly, exerting an invisible but powerful sense of pressure on them. Each of them stood solemnly, resisting Teach's pressure.

The look in their eyes as they gazed at Teach was filled with reverence and fervor, as well as shock and delight.

They knew who Teach was, of course, but this was the first time they had ever seen Teach in person.

Even Novoya found it hard to believe.

"I am Teach. Although this is the first time I've met you all, I know the name of every single one of you." Teach looked at them and smiled, like a breeze that dispelled all the pressure on them and made them relax.

For some reason, they felt very excited and valued after hearing Teach's words.

Indeed, everyone's breathing became heavy.

"Spies aren't scary. You just need to do your job well. We've never asked you to forget your names, so we haven't given you any useless code names."

"You don't need to hide in the shadows, but you must remember your identities, or rather, from this moment on, you are members of the Night Pirates."

Teach said casually, trying to ease their pressure, since they knew their next task was to join the Navy and become spies planted by the Night Pirates within the Navy.

This is a daunting task.

"You are all people who are unwilling to live a mediocre life, and you are the elite of the Night Pirates. You have stood out from millions of people. Even if you don't become spies, you can still have a decent position in the Night Pirates."

"If you can, treat this as a game, a role-playing game. Even if you fail, you can quit. Whenever you feel suspected or in danger, you can defect from the Navy and return to the Night Pirates."

This was the assurance that Teach provided for them.

Spies don't know each other, so they all wear masks when they're together, only removing them at their respective training grounds.

The Night Pirates had already planned their strategy: they would disperse across the four seas, along the first half of the Grand Line, to find an opportunity to join the Navy.

"Bailan, it's up to you," Teach said to a scholarly-looking man beside him.

"Yes, Captain." Bailan smiled, then looked at the crew members who were standing ramrod straight and used her ability directly.

Bailan is Mostima's assistant. He is intelligent but lacks combat talent and is quite ordinary. He serves as a civil servant in the Night Pirates. His ability is the Memory-Memory Fruit.

The Memory-Memory Fruit has been obtained by the Night Pirates from a small organization in the Underworld.

As for this organization, it was naturally wiped out.

Novoya and the others were a little nervous, but they also knew what was going to happen next. Their memories during this period would be sealed and slightly altered, and would be restored after a while.

The ability to alter memories is undoubtedly Devil Fruit power, but it sounds rather frightening.

However, their abilities related to the Memory-Memory Fruit will undoubtedly be removed.

In the instant the power was applied, they all collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

Then Bailan stepped forward and began to modify their memories one by one, which would take some time.

Only Novoya remained standing there, and he didn't know why he hadn't gained any power.

"Excuse me, what kind of justice do you mean?" Teach asked with a smile as he approached Novoya.

Novoya was taken aback for a moment, then quickly realized that Teach was asking him about his attitude as a member of the Navy. Every member of the Navy's high command had his own understanding of justice, and Novoya naturally needed his own set of justice, or style of doing things.

He fell into deep thought. What was the Navy's style of doing things? Information about other high-ranking Navy officers flashed through his mind. If he wanted to spy on the Navy, he naturally needed to have some understanding of it.

Reigning supreme, absolute, languid, ambiguous, pure.

Suddenly, he couldn't help but ask himself, if he were a navy officer, what would he want to do? Would it be to uphold justice? No, for him, that was just a mission, a job.

What he wanted was freedom. He was young and adrift at sea. He had thought about joining the navy, but the navy is not an orphanage; it won't take in a child who has no fighting ability.

Moreover, he had witnessed much of the navy's depravity, and being of noble birth, he knew even more.

Freedom, freedom is what he wants.

Novoya raised his head and said firmly, "Do whatever you want, Justice as one pleases!"

As if remembering something, Novoya added, "To do whatever one pleases outside the rules."

It's important to understand that the Navy's internal rules are extremely strict these days. With the establishment of the Inspection Department, and Admiral Akainu in charge of it, the Navy's rules must naturally be followed.

"Oh!" Novoya's words surprised Teach, who burst into laughter, looking at him with satisfaction.

This is what he wants to see. What's the point of a peaceful and stable navy? A strong person should have their own personality.

Justice as one pleases to do whatever one wants sounds intriguing, and it even gets Teach's blood pumping.

"Then we'll see how you perform. I'm waiting for your good news," Teach said with a smile.

"Yes, Captain." Novoya nodded excitedly, having received Teach's approval.

"Then prepare accordingly. It won't be long before we send you to the first half of the Grand Line."

At this point, Novoya seemed to realize something, turning his head to look at his fallen "colleagues" behind him, then at himself.

"Could it be?"

"No need." Teach looked at Novoya and smiled. The necessary trust should still be maintained, and besides, Teach didn't think the Navy was more attractive than the Night Pirates.

This is also Teach's confidence.

He, on the other hand, was rather curious about how Novoya would perform in the Navy and what position he would rise to.

"Take it, burn the other one after you've read it."

A dark vortex materialized in Teach's hand, and a pre-prepared box emerged from it. Novoya instinctively reached out and caught it.

Upon opening it, one finds a precious Devil Fruit inside, along with a notebook on the side.

"What is this?" Novoya's hands trembled involuntarily, overwhelmed with surprise. He hadn't expected Teach to give him such a wonderful gift.

With just a quick glance through the notebook, he knew what kind of Devil Fruit it was: the precious Logia Devil Fruit, the Steam-Steam Fruit. The notebook contained the development direction and methods for the Steam-Steam Fruit, which would allow him to avoid many detours, quickly build up his combat power, and develop this Devil Fruit.

This notebook not only contains Birka's methods for developing the Steam-Steam Fruit, but also includes additions from some scientists in the Night Pirates.

Birka's development of the Steam-Steam Fruit represents the extremes of cold and heat, but there are other directions she can explore. The knowledge of Sky Island is very different from the knowledge of the sea.

With the Steam-Steam Fruit, Novoya can grow rapidly. Next, the Navy will have a large shortage of combat power and will need to expand and recruit more people.

With Novoya's abilities and potential, he can definitely rise rapidly in the Navy. Before that, he needs to undergo training at the Marine Elite Training Camp.

Teach had already made plans, and the others also needed to enter the Marine Elite Training Camp.

To enter the Marine Elite Training Camp, one must either be specially recruited by the Marine Headquarters or recommended by Marine Branch.

To strengthen the navy, the number of students from each Marine Branch who go on to study at the Marine Headquarters each year has increased significantly, giving each individual a much better chance.

This is also a good opportunity to plant spies at Marine Headquarters.