A few days later, on the great Plaza before the Headquarters Fortress.
Early that morning, countless Marine soldiers had been kicked and herded out of beds that seemed harder and harder to leave. While dawn was still dim, they assembled in the Plaza.
Their officers had a reason for calling them out so early. Today, the Marines' seventeenth Vice Admiral would be born.
This was a genuine momentous event!
Just think: how many years had Marine Headquarters maintained its roster of sixteen Headquarters Vice Admirals? Countless seasoned fighters had fallen short of that number, spending their lives as Rear Admirals or Branch Vice Admirals, unable to rise any further.
Only the sixteen most outstanding among them had earned the honor of becoming Headquarters Vice Admirals.
But today, to avoid wasting Loa's talent and strength, the World Government had broken precedent and created another Headquarters Vice Admiral position!
What a government, to care so deeply for its subordinates!
What a glorious moment!
Long live the World Government! Long live the Marines!
Across the Plaza, countless soldiers standing at attention fought down the urge to shout. Instead, they showed their finest discipline for the inspection.
Of course, all that was Sengoku's official line. He had agreed to Loa and Zephyr's plan because he trusted his old comrade and worried about the situation, but that did not mean he opposed the World Government.
On the contrary, Sengoku was among the Marines' staunchest defenders of the World Government. Otherwise, he would never have become Fleet Admiral.
The twists and turns behind that seventeenth Headquarters Vice Admiral seat could not be made widely known. The reputations of the World Government and the Dragon People were at stake. As Fleet Admiral and commander of the World Government's strongest institution, Sengoku would never allow that to happen.