Keep Bluffing

A dazed Tashigi sat on a barstool, eating breakfast with Kael bite by bite.

Breakfast was actually quite simple, nowhere near as nutritious as the meals at the Marine base cafeteria.

There was only an instant sandwich and a cup of hot milk.

Yet this was the most memorable breakfast Tashigi had eaten in recent years!

She watched Tiga occasionally teleport around beside her, her little face full of amazement.

After breakfast, she ultimately could not suppress the doubts in her heart and looked curiously at Kael.

"Who exactly are you people?"

"And..."

"What did you mean by that test you mentioned before!?"

"..."

Kael took out a napkin and wiped the crumbs from his mouth, speaking in an even tone:

"A test naturally means exactly what it says."

"Perhaps you still don't know what happened yesterday?"

As he spoke, Kael took a fresh newspaper out from beneath the table.

It was the East Blue Daily. Though it was not as authoritative as the World Economy News Paper, it was still one of the daily sources of information for people in the East Blue.

Tashigi frowned slightly and picked up the newspaper from the table in confusion.

On the front page, a bold, black headline immediately caught her eye:

[Shocking! Pirates Run Rampant, Brazenly Attack Loguetown Marine Base in Broad Daylight and Kidnap a Beautiful Female Marine!!!]

Directly beneath the headline was an accompanying photo of the incident.

In the picture, Kael stood beneath the Tiga with his gun pressed against the head of an unconscious girl. His eyes gleamed with killing intent, his face was cold as ice, and he looked every bit the typical criminal.

Facing off against Kael was Marine Colonel Smoker, whose eyes burned with fury!

It had to be said.

Reporters and paparazzi in this pirate world were truly outrageous. They could even be described as omnipresent.

The angle of this photograph was simply perfect.

It not only highlighted the central figures of the incident, but also conveyed the urgency of the situation through the expressions of the civilians at the scene.

Even Kael could not help giving it a thumbs-up!

If Marine intelligence officers were all this capable, why would they ever have to worry about building up their intelligence network!?

The report detailed Kael's criminal acts from the previous day.

It covered how he had deceived the Marine soldiers, used a famous blade to lure out Tashigi, and then threatened the Marines with Tashigi's life at the harbor to secure his escape.

Strangely enough...

The entire report was extremely fair and impartial, favoring neither side.

Even Kael's mockery of Smoker before leaving had been faithfully recorded.

Kael guessed that this was because a large portion of the newspaper's customers were also pirates, so its articles had always focused on recording the facts.

In just a few minutes, Tashigi seemed to have undergone some kind of life-changing upheaval.

After putting down the newspaper, her eyes had gone unfocused.

"Th-then what exactly is going on?"

"Obviously, this was a test."

Across the desk, Kael wore a solemn expression. As he answered Tashigi's doubts, he stood and extended a hand toward her.

"Allow me to introduce myself..."

"I am an agent of the intelligence organization directly under the Fleet Admiral, currently responsible for intelligence work in the East Blue."

"To be honest, your performance has greatly disappointed me."

"From beginning to end, I never even used much force during the entire test."

"And yet the Loguetown Marine base, entrusted with the important duty of stopping pirates from entering the Grand Line, was so easily dismantled by someone else, even losing a key base officer!"

"If this is how you guard the East Blue, then I have reason to suspect that you have long been lax in carrying out your mission and duties."

Kael's tone grew increasingly stern, and a suffocating pressure bore down on Tashigi.

"B-but we really have intercepted a lot of pirates!"

As though overwhelmed by Kael's imposing presence, Tashigi actually believed what he said. She could not help standing up to defend Smoker and the Marines of Loguetown.

After all, they truly had worked hard.

Ever since they had arrived in the East Blue, they had taken down countless pirate crews.

But hearing this, Kael merely shook his head.

"Effort in the wrong direction is poison with sugar added!"

"You have failed to recognize the severity of the problem."

"The small-fry pirates you capture, even if you let them enter the Grand Line, will ultimately end up as corpses at the bottom of the sea..."

"But those who evade your pursuit instead gain greater preparation and knowledge after witnessing true power."

"Those are the ones who become a genuine headache for the Marines and the Government once they enter the Grand Line."

"You have become accomplices to the pirates, helping them filter out the true elite!"

"Is this what all your efforts have amounted to!?"

Kael slammed both hands onto the table and suddenly shouted at Tashigi.

"Th-this..."

"How could... this be..."

Thump.

Terrified, Tashigi collapsed back into her chair, the light completely vanishing from her eyes.

"..."

Seeing this, the corners of Kael's mouth immediately curled upward, though he quickly concealed it.

If one thought about it carefully, it was obvious that what Kael had said was nothing but sophistry.

While Smoker and the Loguetown Marines did indeed play some role in filtering out the stronger pirates, without them, the situation would only become worse.

Forget the pirates on the Grand Line—even the civilians of Loguetown would never be able to live peaceful lives.

But in order to make Tashigi willingly board the ship and become a member of the Dusk Pirates, he could only first use such methods to break through her psychological defenses.

She was still too young, after all.

At this point, Tashigi's experience and courage were far inferior to those of the female swordswoman she would become three years later, after weathering countless storms and waves.

Seeing that she had begun reflecting on her own mistakes, Kael knew the verbal assault was about enough.

If he kept going and gave the girl some kind of psychological trauma, that would not be good.

"Ahem..."

He cleared his throat. When Tashigi looked over, he immediately adopted a serious expression.

"Of course, while your methods may be somewhat mistaken, your sense of justice is beyond doubt!"

"You are all the future pillars of the Marines!"

"Therefore, in order to help you become even more outstanding, I have decided to apply to the Fleet Admiral for some personnel reassignments for you."

"Consider it both punishment and encouragement."

As he spoke, Kael directly took the Den Den Mushi he had brought from Marineford out of the safe in front of Tashigi.

He had brought out two sets of Den Den Mushi in total.

One set was for contacting his most reliable backer, his second uncle Kizaru...

The other could directly contact Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

This time, he had taken out the set for Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

One large and one small Den Den Mushi were placed on the desk.

The large one was for communication, while the small one was for preventing eavesdropping.

Under Tashigi's watchful gaze, Kael picked up the Den Den Mushi receiver.

A busy signal came from the other end first...

After quite a while, there was a click.

In an instant, the Den Den Mushi's expression changed, forming a stern frown.

"Hello, is that Kael?"

The moment the call connected, the first person to become agitated was not Kael, but Tashigi, who had been sitting there in a daze.

She recognized it immediately...

That voice belonged to the Fleet Admiral!

Though she had only heard it once during recruit training, she could never mistake that voice.

In an instant, she held her breath, not daring to make the slightest sound.

Seeing this, Kael immediately laughed inwardly.

Tashigi's current state was exactly what he wanted to see.

"It's me, Fleet Admiral!"

Kael began answering in a serious tone.

On the other end, Fleet Admiral Sengoku seemed equally puzzled as to why Kael was calling and asked:

"Is something the matter, Kael?"

"Mm..."

Kael pondered for a moment before answering:

"There have indeed been some problems."

Without waiting for Sengoku to ask further, he continued:

"Fleet Admiral, didn't you previously ask me to investigate intelligence on the underground arms dealers in the East Blue?"

"There are some matters I need to report to you regarding this."

"...Go ahead."

Sengoku's steady voice came through.

Kael nodded toward the empty air before saying:

"I wonder if you are aware of what happened yesterday in Loguetown, East Blue?"

"Loguetown!?"

Hearing the name of that particular town, Sengoku was clearly taken aback before saying:

"Yes, there has been some unrest in the New World recently, so I've been busy dealing with matters over there."

"Did something happen in Loguetown?"

After all, as the Fleet Admiral overseeing Marines across the entire world, if he had to learn about every incident caused by every minor pirate, he would have died of exhaustion in this position long ago.

So he truly did not know much about Kael's actions the previous day.

"Something did indeed happen."

Kael had long expected Sengoku's response.

"Yesterday afternoon, in the name of the Dusk Pirates, I kidnapped the deputy officer of the Loguetown Marine base."

"Oh?"

Sengoku murmured, but did not say much else.

He believed Kael must have had his reasons for taking such action.

Kael then offered his explanation.

"After arriving in the East Blue, I carefully considered the intelligence you provided."

"In particular, I focused my research on the matter of a single cannonball piercing through a Marine warship."

"The conclusion I eventually reached was..."

"Our Marine forces in the East Blue may have developed a serious problem!"