A news gull with a crossbody bag soared over the sea and tossed out several newspapers. They fluttered down onto the deck of the headquarters warship.
At the very tip of the sail mast, Conrad stood on one leg, crouched with the other tucked up, absorbing the vigor of the sunrise.
Eyes closed, he looked like a motionless statue. Then his hand shot out without warning and snatched a newspaper from the air.
He opened it to the front page.
<Bloody Atrocity! Devil Sheriff Laffitte Teams Up with a West Blue Mafia Family to Slaughter the King of the Ilusia Kingdom!>
Below the headline was a picture of a pale face wearing a sinister grin.
In the bottom-right corner was another photo, this one showing him with red hair.
The caption read: Aokiji Buster Force Makes a Name for Itself! Rising Marine Star and Little Hero Conrad Leads the Second Demon-Slaying Army in a Desperate Battle against the Mafia at the Opera House, Saving Countless Kingdom Notables from Mortal Danger!
Conrad's eyelid twitched.
He read the full story and found that while the broad strokes of the incident were unchanged, the reasons behind it had been twisted beyond recognition.
The article claimed that Laffitte, Tony Marlon, and Capone Bege had joined forces.
They planned to kidnap the king and all the kingdom's dignitaries, seize control of the country, and drain its wealth before heading to the Grand Line to form the Wicked Pirate Crew.
But Conrad had seen through Bege and the others' scheme in advance. Before they could finish arranging their forces, he launched a surprise attack on the Mafia and successfully rescued the many dignitaries.
Then, as a thousand armed Mafia thugs arrived, Conrad chose to hold them off alone, buying his fellow Marines time to escape.
Finally, in an effort to save King Lucas, who had been taken hostage by Laffitte, Conrad had charged in, risking his life.
But the ruthless Laffitte had used the king as a shield and secretly planted a bomb. Conrad's desperate attempt to save him had failed, leaving Conrad gravely wounded in the blast.
Still, Conrad's unrelenting efforts had bought enough time for Aokiji to arrive with the main Marine force, delivering a powerful blow to the Mafia's scheme.
Conrad folded the newspaper, his scalp prickling as he scratched his head.
He leaped from the mast to the deck, where Marines already up for their morning exercise were reading the paper too.
A tall, burly figure came up to him and bowed. It was Shuzo of the Longarm Tribe.
"I'm sorry, Conrad. I misunderstood what you were doing." Shuzo clutched the newspaper, his voice thick with regret. "I thought you were acting recklessly. I never realized everything was part of your plan."
Conrad didn't know how to handle this. He raised a hand and offered an awkward, reassuring smile. "Uh... actually..."
"No need to explain! I understand!"
Shuzo crumpled the newspaper in his grip. Tears spilled from the eyes of the battle-hardened man. "With my intelligence and foolishly old-fashioned ways, you'd never be able to make me understand! Even if you could, it would only waste precious time!"
By then, his whole body was trembling with remorse. His voice shook as he continued, "And yet, even so, you didn't explain a thing. You were ready to sacrifice yourself for us!"
Thud!
Shuzo dropped to one knee and pressed his right hand hard against his heart. Tears streaming down his face, he stared at Conrad and roared at the top of his lungs, "Conrad! You're a true hero among men!"
His voice rang across the deck, drawing every Marine's attention. His fellow members of the Second Division came over too, eyes reddened.
Conrad was usually a broad-minded man, but this affection was distorted and mixed with falsehood. There was no way he could accept it.
"Everyone, there are some things I can't explain—"
"Conrad! Hero! A true hero!"
The Marines swarmed toward him, arms raised, exaggerated expressions on their faces as they charged through the tears. Their boots pounded the deck, sending dust billowing into the air.
Conrad honestly had never seen such an enthusiastic scene before. But if everyone was happy, then as a man of the world, he wasn't about to spoil the mood.
The rights and wrongs could be sorted out later. For now, they could just enjoy themselves.
He planted his hands on his hips and threw his head back in a hearty laugh. "That's right! I'm the man destined to become the greatest hero in the world!"
Shuzo wiped away his tears, then used his two long arms, ending in wrist joints, to grab Conrad by the ankles and hoist him more than five meters into the air.
His black-tipped red hair streamed behind him as if combed straight, revealing his broad forehead and handsome, spirited features. His eyes looked out at the people and the sea, his smile warm and confident.
"Up you go!"
They tossed him high into the air. He gazed down at the golden waves piled up along the shore, then landed in the Marines' outstretched hands and was thrown up again.
His body stayed perfectly upright. At first, his arms were folded across his chest, but at some point he had clasped them behind his back. His face and upper body met the vast sunlight shining in the warship's direction without the slightest hesitation.
It wasn't until the horn sounded for training assembly that the Marines finally let go and ran off at once. Conrad dropped from a height of about seven or eight meters, landing straight-legged on the deck.
But with his current physique, that was nothing. He stomped once, using Soru, and reached the assembly point first.
After morning training came breakfast. Conrad went to find Kujaku as usual and bring Baby-5 back.
But outside the dining hall stood a man in purple, wearing Seastone Handcuffs and leaning on a cane-sword. He looked up as Conrad arrived, clearly waiting for him.
"Could I speak with you in private?"
"Let's talk while we eat." Conrad went straight into the dining hall. The table where Kujaku usually waited for him was empty, with only a black-silk spear laid across two chairs.
He frowned and hurried over. Picking up the spear, he carefully wiped the places where its shaft had touched the chairs with his sleeve, then stood it upright beside him.
"You're a man who takes good care of his weapons too, I see." Issho sat across from him and took a purple cloth from his sleeve. He wrapped Gambler's Fireline in it and set it on the table.
Conrad finished the mountain of food heaped in front of him, took chopsticks from his pocket, and started digging in. "Go ahead."
"Ever since boarding this ship, you haven't once come to see me. I've been uneasy, so I came to meet you."
Issho touched the purple cloth on the table. "Your courage and your gambling skills both earn my admiration. But I've somehow become your debtor. I'd like to know what you intend to have me do."
Conrad ate without looking up. "How did you go blind?"
"It's rather laughable." Issho gave a self-mocking smile. "I cut out both my eyes myself."
"Why?"
Issho touched the scar that crossed his forehead and ran over his eyes. "Sigh... You know that I was a war criminal from a kingdom that had fallen. I was a guilty man. I had seen too much darkness in this world. I couldn't bear to look anymore."
"That's the problem!" Conrad pointed his chopsticks at Issho, a bone-in piece of meat between them. He swallowed a huge mouthful of food, his throat bulging.
Nearly thirteen years remained before Issho would become the Admiral Fujitora in the original story. At this point, he was probably still consumed by inner conflict, unable to move on.
Issho nodded. "Please, go on."
Conrad spoke bluntly. "Are you using the gambling house to escape reality? Just because you're living in a garbage heap, does that mean you can tell yourself the whole world is a garbage heap? That there's no hope?"
Issho sighed. "Even if that's not the case, what can I do by myself? How many people can I save...?"
Conrad slapped his chest. "There are people who can do great things!"
Issho froze, his open, sightless eyes showing two narrow lines of white.
"You—save one person at a time!" Conrad tossed the meat into the air and caught it in his mouth. He slammed his chopsticks on the table and said, "Just do good deeds! Don't worry about what comes next! As a swordsman, do I really need to teach you such a simple truth?"
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