Adding Fuel to the Fire

Hades recognized Vic at first glance.

Vic recognized Hades just as quickly.

"Brat! Did that weapon give you confidence? It won't change what's coming. Face the judgment of justice!"

Vic glared at Hades with murder in his eyes.

Most people would have struggled to understand such hatred. So Nyx had scarred his face—plenty of Marines looked far stranger than that.

Who would have guessed that Vic had once taken more pride in his face than anything else? He had even been considered one of the most handsome men in the Marines.

As a Marine Vice Admiral with a bright future, he had been on the verge of courting a beautiful officer from a noble family. If he had succeeded, he could have climbed straight into a higher social class.

Nyx had ruined it. Vic had lost not only love, but his future.

And that really had been his future. His potential had already taken him as far as it could.

Becoming a Marine Admiral was nearly impossible for him now, unless an extraordinarily powerful Devil Fruit—one capable of transforming him completely—happened to fall into his hands.

Losing that romance had also made him a laughingstock in the Marines. After all, plenty of people had once envied him.

The experience had turned a hawk into an absolute, even extreme, hardliner.

Hades did not know why this Marine Vice Admiral hated him so much, but the intensity of Vic's feelings was unmistakable. Nor did Hades need to care what a dead man thought.

He glanced at the other two Marine Vice Admirals. Mediocre. Neither was particularly strong. Was that what he should expect from officers out of the Four Seas?

"Titan, I'll leave the others to you."

"I'll deal with this one myself."

Hades spoke calmly, as though the rest of the