More than a dozen years later, except for older-generation figures like Garp and Tsuru, almost all Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals came from Teacher Zephyr's Elite Squad... And the three Admirals were the first three students personally taught by Zephyr, excluding Wright.
However, out of the four individuals, Sakazuki and Borsalino were classmates in the same term and could still hold a conversation; Kuzan was several classes behind them, and his personality clashed with Sakazuki's. The two of them had not even interacted much despite being at headquarters for so many years.
What about Wright? He was a full dozen classes behind Kuzan! But because of Kuzan's personality, his relationship with Garp, and his relationship with Smoker, Kuzan and Wright were actually the first to have a connection—
It was just that Wright's status and position were not high enough at the time, so Kuzan did not mention it, and Wright would not take the initiative to claim this "senior-junior" relationship.
Now that Wright had been rapidly promoted to Brigadier General, he had already proven his influence, strength, and potential, qualifying him to stand on equal footing with these "monster" senior brothers—it was only a matter of time before Wright reached their height.
However, Borsalino, who had the most strained relationship with Teacher Zephyr, was actually the first to bring this up to Wright, which Wright had not expected—it seemed truly as he said, that as a light-attribute user, he was very interested in his Holy Light Power.
The Marine Headquarters residential area was a place for Marine soldiers to live, relax, and unwind. There was a huge cafeteria here, and there was no shortage of various specialty snack stalls—the operators included Marines who possessed culinary skills and Marine family members from the inner city.
A common feature of the various stalls was that they ignored military rank. Whether it was a Seaman Recruit or the Fleet Admiral, anyone who came to the snack stall had to abide by the stall owner's rules!
In front of the most popular ramen stall at headquarters, Wright watched with dark lines on his face as Borsalino, a dignified Vice Admiral, tried every possible means to get the owner to add a soft-boiled egg for him. The noodle stall owner, however, completely disregarded the face of this famous monster Vice Admiral of headquarters, repeatedly stating that authentic miso ramen only came with one soft-boiled egg, and any more would affect the flavor of the noodles, firmly refusing to add one!
Gently rubbing his temples with both hands, Wright felt that his understanding of Borsalino was still far too poor—Senior brother, you are showing off like this, does Teacher Zephyr know?
Junior brother will buy you two eggs, can you just eat your noodles properly?
"Hmm~ The boss is really strict~ How~ terrifying~" Borsalino hit a brick wall, and fearing that the noodles would not taste good if he delayed any longer, he could only carry the bowl of noodles, mutter under his breath, and sit down, grinning at Wright across from him.
"Have a taste, junior brother~ This place is the absolute--best noodle stall in headquarters~"
Wright nodded stiffly and laughed awkwardly, "Haha... Since the boss is so persistent about the flavor of the noodles, he must have extreme confidence in them... Junior brother is quite full of admiration!"
"Slurp~ Slurp~"
Wright and Borsalino ate the piping-hot ramen and praised it endlessly. As a ramen stall at Marine Headquarters, it had to deal with the extremely hearty appetites of Marine soldiers—this noodle bowl could hold two of Wright's heads!
With half a bowl of noodles down, Borsalino let out a comfortable sigh. "Ah~ I really missed this~ Running around everywhere recently~ handling the matter at Mary Geoise~ I didn't even have time to eat a hot bowl of ramen~"
"Mary Geoise? Is that about the Fish-Man... freeing the Celestial Dragon's slaves?" Wright had been busy acting as manual labor recently, but such explosive news was something he naturally understood after it broke out.
Borsalino slurped a mouthful of noodles, took a sip of the broth, slowly and carefully savored the treasured half of a soft-boiled egg, and then said leisurely, "That's right~ That Fish-Man, how terrifying~ He actually climbed right up the Red Line, which is so~ high. Truly amazing~"
"If it were you, senior brother, flying up there would only take the blink of an eye, right?" Wright smiled. "But that's not the point... He actually freed slaves of various races and even set fires in Mary Geoise... Just thinking about it feels thrilling. The Celestial Dragons probably got so angry they fell ill."
"HOHO~ It's not just getting so angry they fell ill~ This is the very first person in history~ to make a ruckus in Mary Geoise, and at the same time the very first one~ who dared to challenge the World Government~" Borsalino maintained his unhurried tone, speaking of rich content.
"As a Glint-Glint Fruit user~ my mobility is the best~ so I get sent to do all sorts of cleanup and pursuit work~" Borsalino put down his chopsticks and stretched. "Rea~lly someone who doesn't let people rest easy, my planned vacation has gone down the drain~"
"Is senior brother in charge of pursuing that guy?" Wright narrowed his eyes and slowly said, "Senior brother... what do you think of that daring fellow?"
"Hmm~ What he did, I don't really want to care about~" Borsalino also narrowed his eyes, continuing slowly and leisurely, "But your senior brother is still considered a dedicated person, after all~ Running away after slapping the boss in the face doesn't look good for my reputation as someone who draws a paycheck~ If this mission isn't handled well and my bonus gets docked, that would be teerrri~ble~"
"What a unique way to put it, senior brother, you really are... carefree!" Wright looked as though he had expected this—just as he said of himself, Borsalino, who punched in for work to collect a paycheck, steadily coasted to a position as an Admiral more than a decade later. As for his attitude toward the Celestial Dragons, he truly was a dedicated employee.
However, he was merely a dedicated employee. The legendary Kizaru Borsalino, who would "kick the Four Emperors to scrap once the paycheck arrives," had never truly displayed his terrifying strength, only taking the initiative to go into battle and slack off out of fear that his bonus would be docked—probably because the Celestial Dragons didn't give him any extra bonuses?
"Care~free?" Borsalino slowly swallowed the last mouthful of ramen and wiped his mouth with satisfaction. "HOHO~ Junior brother, you are the very first one~ to make such an evaluation~"
"Your senior brother here~ originally thought that you, a young man who exterminates pirates mercilessly~ would be like Sakazuki~ talking about how evil must be completely eradicated~ and then accuse me of being lazy in my work~"
Hearing this, Wright picked up two strands of noodles, was silent for a moment, and slowly said, "Everyone has their own justice in becoming a Marine... The pirates I wipe out completely all deserve to die."
"Capturing pirates alive yields the full bounty, while dead pirates only yield seventy percent. As a pirate hunter in the East Blue where my strength completely overwhelmed them, very few pirates survived under my hands—I can tell the difference between true wickedness and being driven to desperation."
"The crimes committed cannot be erased, but whether they were driven to desperation is a guideline for my judgment. If it is true wickedness, or lacks the immense value to offset their own crimes, then under my hands, they will undoubtedly die—conversely, if they were driven to desperation and their own value is sufficient, I can give them a chance to redeem themselves."
"For world peace."
"Oh~ Junior brother~" Borsalino widened his eyes, genuinely surprised now. "You really are~ beyond senior brother's expectations~"
"Judging like this~ it seems~ that Fish-Man..."
Thanks to the bosses for the tips~ Promoting at 14:00 this afternoon, would it be feasible to save recommendation votes until after 14:00? Haha~
Before you continue