Marine Headquarters, Fleet Admiral's Office.
Ron sat in the seat of honor without a trace of ceremony, while the assembled officers took their places on either side of him.
None of them had ever imagined seeing this, least of all Chaton, who spent a good while pulling faces.
Ron turned away, choosing not to warn Chaton that Akainu's face had gone black with anger. "I'm here for two things."
"First, I'm handing over my posts."
"I still hold command authority over the Assassination Unit and the Airship Force. I don't need it anymore."
It wasn't that he truly had no use for them. The World Government understood the importance of armed forces well enough to have established the intelligence organization Cipher Pol, which answered directly to the government. Even Kong, commander-in-chief of all its forces, had no authority over it. No one would turn down more people at their disposal.
The real issue was that Ron's position had changed. To put it bluntly, he was part of the Marines in spirit, but not in office. Officially, he was an outsider.
If he kept control of those Marine forces, he would set a dangerous precedent for government officials. People were greedy; once they got their hands on power, they were reluctant to let go.
Keep that up, and one day they might end up with the absurd spectacle of useless civilian officials commanding troops, as they had in the Song dynasty. What would become of the military's fighting strength then?
Standing on the shoulders of giants, Ron knew better than to make such a basic mistake.
Everyone perked up when they heard he had come to surrender his command. The Assassination Unit was no longer the handful of people it had once been. It had become a major force within the