Never Keep Blessings to Myself, Bear Responsibility Alone!

As they watched the palace guard toss aside his helmet and step into the elevator, Shamrock and the others standing nearby looked utterly grim.

They had never imagined that Akira's influence had already seeped into the Holy Land, enough to make a palace guard who had only just met him defect on the spot.

In the past, they would have executed him without hesitation. What the palace guard had done was even worse than treason.

However, Shamrock and the others dared to be angry but not speak out. Akira was currently at the height of his power. At a time like this, let alone executing that palace guard, even the slightest dissent could provoke Akira's fury and turn these negotiations into another war.

They were not exaggerating. Akira really was capable of doing such a thing.

According to the intelligence they had gathered, back when Akira had still been a colonel at Marine Headquarters, he had once gotten into a fight over a disposable soldier who had only just joined his ranks. In the end, he had shouldered all the blame himself and been confined by Marshal Sengoku for a week.

He answered every request, repaid every kindness, never kept blessings to himself, bore responsibility alone, and fiercely protected his own without reason. That was Akira.

Like Shamrock and the others, Gion, the Three Admirals, Sengoku, Zephyr, and Garp, who stood behind Akira, all turned to look because of the palace guard's sudden action.

Everyone present had once been Akira's superior or commanding officer. They all knew, to varying degrees, what Akira had done at headquarters over the years, yet they still had not expected his influence to be so great that a palace guard who had merely heard of his deeds would make such a shocking choice.

One had to understand that the status of a palace guard in the Holy Land far surpassed that of a palace guard in any World Government member nation. This was the Holy Land, the center of the world!

For many, becoming a palace guard was an unattainable honor. Not only ordinary people—even among the Marine soldiers stationed in the Holy Land, many dreamed of being chosen as palace guards.

Making someone who had already become a palace guard give up that hard-won honor was no different from asking for their life.

Yet that palace guard had not only defected on the spot, but also hoped to become Akira's subordinate in the future. That alone was enough to show that the image Akira had built over the years had long since taken root in people's hearts. He influenced not only the Marines from top to bottom; even atop the vast Red Line, there were surely many who regarded him as their faith.

"What's wrong with everyone?"

Noticing that the area had suddenly fallen silent, Akira swept his gaze over the crowd somewhat unexpectedly after watching the palace guard leave. Then he looked at Shamrock and said with a genial smile, "Choux, what kind of expression is that? Don't tell me you're unhappy because I let that soldier leave. There's no need. He only wanted revenge for his parents and younger sister. He didn't do anything wrong! Even if he did, it isn't your concern. He's my soldier now!"

At those words, Shamrock's facial muscles twitched violently. Suppressing the anger in his heart, he corrected him, "I am not Choux. My name is Figarland Shamrock."

"My apologies. I'm not very good at remembering things." Akira nodded, then abruptly changed the subject. "How long will it take you to bring Spandam here?"

Shamrock immediately frowned. "Are you truly determined to wipe them out completely? Spandam has already paid the price for his actions—"

"Hm?"

Before Shamrock could finish, Akira's gaze turned sharp. Gone was his earlier warm smile as he said in a low voice, "Shamrock, just because I exchanged a few words with you, don't tell me you think you're something now? You have ten minutes. Bring his head before me in ten minutes, or bear the consequences yourself!"

With that, Akira stopped wasting words on Shamrock and turned away decisively.

Seeing this, Gunko quickly winked at Shamrock, then led several other Knights of God members after Akira at a brisk pace.

Just then, a group of palace guards suddenly came running over. Every one of them wore heavy silver armor, and with their numbers, their approach carried the overwhelming force of an army charging in for the kill.

However, these palace guards did not approach Akira. When the lead guard was about to reach Akira's group, he immediately split to either side, and they lined up neatly along both sides of the moving walkway.

Before long, hundreds of palace guards had spread out and taken positions along both sides of the moving walkway.

Then, a group of people appeared on the moving walkway. At their head was none other than Kong, the World Government's Fleet Admiral.

Behind Kong were dozens of soldiers stationed in the Holy Land, as well as Tsuru, the Marine Headquarters strategist who had come to the Holy Land for an emergency meeting but had been unable to return in time because of Akira's mutiny.

Having just followed Kong to stand opposite Akira, Tsuru—once a beautiful young Marine who had fought alongside Garp and Sengoku, now transformed by the passage of time into a little old woman—immediately stepped forward and looked up at Akira. Her calm voice carried a trace of complicated emotion. "Akira, you..."

"Akira, well done!"

Before Vice Admiral Tsuru could finish, a pink figure suddenly leaped out from behind the burly Kong.

The one who jumped out from behind Kong was a young woman with strawberry-blonde hair.

She wore a pink hat and a pink dress, pink from head to toe, with an intangible air of charm about her.

Peacock, Vice Admiral Tsuru's granddaughter, had just turned twenty this year. She was a Paramecia Whip-Whip Fruit user, capable of commanding anything she had whipped, including buildings.

Of course, none of that was important.

What mattered was that before becoming a Devil Fruit user, Peacock had been an adorable little girl in pink. But as she grew older and obtained the Whip-Whip Fruit ability, Peacock gradually became Akira's nightmare.

Back when Akira had been in the officer training camp, he would occasionally visit Tsuru's home to mooch meals, and he gradually became familiar with Peacock.

After Akira left the officer training camp, Peacock would drop by his office every few days, waving her steel whip around and causing all sorts of trouble. Her behavior grew increasingly bold, leading many colleagues to misunderstand their relationship.

On top of that, Vice Admiral Tsuru's favoritism toward Akira allowed a rumor to spread through Marine Headquarters without prompting. At first, people said Akira was the grandson-in-law Vice Admiral Tsuru had chosen. Then the rumors grew more and more absurd—claims that Akira and Peacock had secretly married when Peacock was eighteen, or that a newborn in the family housing complex was actually their child, emerged one after another.

Left with no choice, Akira decisively used a few small means to send her to a classified special unit, so he could finally have some peace.

As far as Akira was concerned, marriage was absolutely out of the question. Women would only become burdens on the road to his great ambition.

Before his great ambition was fulfilled, how could he speak of a family?