The zombie handling the broadcast had long since been surrounded by Marine soldiers.
At least, that was the scene Akainu found when he arrived.
The soldiers surrounded the figure with its head bowed, rifles at the ready. Their white Marine caps were pulled low, hiding their faces in shadow.
They did not act.
"Your Excellency Sakazuki... is what they said true?"
One Marine soldier kept his head lowered as he cautiously asked the question in a painfully restrained voice.
Those selected for postings in Mary Geoise were upstanding young men the Marines had carefully chosen from the various Member Nations.
Yet the broadcast ringing out right beside them had shaken the faith they had held for so long.
Yes, faith.
For any army with a long enough history, faith was vital to maintaining its cohesion and fighting strength.
For the Marines, that enduring faith was a justice founded on top-down order, derived from the very concept of the Creator.
But now, the soldiers suddenly realized
that this faith had betrayed them.
Or rather, this faith had been stringing them along all this time.
Humoring naive fools like them while standing above the world, shitting and pissing on it.
"They are invaders!"
Akainu's cold voice did not waver in the slightest. It was as merciless as his magma powers.
"They are also challengers to justice. Everything that Joker has done serves only to shake your faith in justice.
And through that, to achieve his own dark, unspeakable ends!"
He did not directly answer whether the claims were true. Instead, he defined what Buggy was.
An invader, a provocateur, a pirate, a criminal...
The antithesis of justice. Their enemy.
And therefore, his words could not be trusted.
Rather than refuting the other side's evidence, attacking their identity was a better approach.
"But,