Aokiji had been a genius in his youth, too. Akainu, from the class two years ahead of his, had Kizaru as a rival, but Aokiji had no competition. He had always been in a league of his own, the undisputed top of his class.
Though he had encountered no obstacles when learning the Six Powers at Zephyr Training Camp and had picked them up with ease, it had still probably taken him a few months. At any rate, it had definitely taken longer than a week.
This kid's talent probably wasn't any less than his own.
Looking at Conrad, Aokiji saw a reflection of himself and felt a faint sense of kinship. He took another sip of sherry and remembered the fiery years of training when he had taken the initiative to ask Garp to teach him.
The sails bearing the Marine warship's Blue Gull and Scales Emblem billowed in the wind.
Around dusk, they finally crossed the West Blue and arrived at the remote Marine 80th Branch.
The walls of the branch base were gloomy, and the striped paint was peeling. It was nowhere near as bright or grand as Marineford. Bullet holes of varying depths riddled the weathered cracks, clear signs that the base had been attacked many times.
The most glaring damage was the fresh, charred blast marks on the dock gates, likely left by cannon fire.
The Marine warship pulled in and docked. The Marines from the branch stood waiting to greet them, saluting, but their leader was only a lieutenant colonel. The officer in charge of a branch was supposed to be at least a colonel.
As soon as the ship dropped anchor, the lieutenant colonel hurriedly sent men to take the mooring lines. But there wasn't even a bollard, so they tied the lines around a naturally arched stone outcrop instead.
The gangplank was lowered. Aokiji gripped his cloak in both hands and led his crew ashore.
"Marado, deputy officer of the 80th Branch! On behalf of all 190 members of the branch, I welcome Vice Admiral Aokiji of headquarters for an inspection!"
He had an ordinary, square face with a neat mustache. He wore a Marine cap and a blue-and-white sailor uniform, with no coat. At headquarters, he would have looked like a third-class soldier.
Most of the Marines from headquarters remained aboard the ship. Only a few, including Conrad and Prince, followed Aokiji as Lieutenant Colonel Marado led them toward the records conference room.
The corridors inside the base were also in a state of disrepair. Rusty pipes ran along the ceiling, and water dripped from the many spots patched with sheet metal.
Aokiji entered the conference room and took the seat at the head of the table. He propped his long, reed-thin legs up on it, rested his head on one hand, and asked, "What's the situation?"
Marado saluted, then stood at attention with the report he had prepared. "As we reported earlier, our branch has suffered nineteen attacks of various scales over the past three years. Most were meant as intimidation, and the attackers never actually set foot on the island."
"But last month, Colonel Jess had just taken a patrol ship out of the dock when an unknown force suddenly opened fire. He was killed on the spot."
By the time Colonel Marado finished speaking, his voice had begun to tremble. He looked at Aokiji with desperate hope in his eyes. "Colonel Jess was supposed to get married next month."
Aokiji rubbed his head. What he dreaded most during missions was hearing about tragedies. When he was young, every time he heard one, he would burn with indignation and dig into the matter.
But he had heard such stories far too many times. It seemed every island had some tragic past, and he had realized that hearing about them only put him in a bad mood. He had grown reluctant to listen.
"Let's stick to the facts. Do we have any concrete leads?"
Marado gripped the report tightly. "Yes, sir. This may be our lead: Colonel Jess's fiancée is Victoria Cindry, a very famous stage actress in the West Blue."
Aokiji raised an eyebrow. He had been sent here because of the heinous crime of killing Colonel Jess right outside the Marine base. He nodded slightly. "Go on."
Conrad blinked. The actress's name sounded familiar. He closed his eyes and searched his memory.
Marado continued. "Although Cindry was a star, she never put on airs. She was a kind woman who often brought food to visit the colonel and sang and danced for us. Sometimes, when our clothes were torn, she even mended them for us."
"Colonel Jess was an excellent man, too. He often said, 'Even though the West Blue is a mess, someone has to uphold justice out at sea. Otherwise, the forces of evil will only run more rampant. The world can't be ruled by scum.'"
"I stayed at the 80th Branch because of what he said. They were a perfect couple, and every one of us was looking forward to their wedding."
"But the colonel died..." Marado's eyes filled with tears. In an instant, the tragic news had shattered his warm memories.
Conrad opened his eyes. He remembered the actress. On the Thriller Bark of Gecko Moria, one of the Shichibukai, there was a strange doctor named Hogback.
The zombie maid that strange doctor had made bore the actress's name.
"Is Cindry dead?" he asked suddenly.
"No." Marado froze, then shook his head.
Conrad remembered that although the strange doctor had been in love with Cindry, he had nothing to do with her death. After learning she had a fiancé, he had given up on confessing his feelings. He had only stolen her body after learning of her death.
In other words, after the colonel, Cindry would soon die, too.
Aokiji picked up where the conversation had been interrupted. "Who killed him?"
A spider had spun a web in the corner of the conference room ceiling. It made his scalp tingle, so he raised a hand and froze both the spider and its web into ice chips.
"It's only a suspicion." Marado gritted his teeth and fell silent for a few seconds. "The Marlon Family, once the leading family among the five Mafia families."
"A suspicion?" Aokiji pressed all five fingers of one large hand against the table.
Marado lowered the report. "Before Cindry met the colonel, she dated the Marlon Family's boss for a while. Not long before the colonel's death, there was a clash at one of her stage performances."
That was the end of his account.
"How could anyone do something like that? What a bunch of scum!" Kujaku's eyes were red-rimmed. Her mouth curled into an angry smirk. "Uncle Kuzan! Order them arrested!"
"Kujaku, use my title when we're on duty." Aokiji scratched his fluffy curls.
Kujaku saluted with her whip held crosswise. "Yes, Vice Admiral!"
Back when her grandmother had chatted with Grandpa Garp, Aokiji had been training on the shore, punching a warship. Little Kujaku had cheered him on.
Aokiji didn't give the order. Though the target of the mission was mostly clear, the case involved powerful interests, and they had to follow procedure. Even a crackdown on crime needed a pretext.
After all, the five families' gambling and prostitution businesses were spread throughout the West Blue, contributing huge sums in taxes each year. The Four Blues were the World Government's main recruiting grounds, so the authorities wouldn't have left them alone otherwise.
If they had been allowed to operate unchecked for so long, the profits the Mafia brought in must have exceeded what the World Government could have collected in ordinary taxes.
If the dockside murder hadn't been so egregious and caused such a scandal, they wouldn't have sent him here.
But his orders from above were to find the killer and punish them with appropriate severity. What counted as appropriate severity? Aokiji hadn't decided.
The easiest option was to do what the useless prosecutors of the past had done: pay a visit, go along to get along, haggle over the price, and settle the matter by handing over a few scapegoats.
Aokiji had no desire to deal with them. "Get some rest first. Tomorrow, split into teams and go out to seal the casinos. Be careful when securing the scene and making arrests."
"Yes, sir!" Prince, Drake, and the others saluted and left.
"Vice Admiral, I have a question." Conrad stepped forward and raised his hand to report.
"Hmm?" Aokiji glanced sideways at him.
"If the criminals resist..." Conrad made a chopping motion with his hand. "Can we kill them on the spot?"
Before you continue