"Sengoku, has the World Government gone mad?! They actually want to cooperate with pirates? Then what does that make us Marines? Their accomplices?!" Black Arm Zephyr demanded, his face dark with anger.
"This was the Five Elders' decision. I have no authority to interfere!" Sengoku sat listlessly in his chair.
No one in the Marines was more disappointed than he was. The moment that order had come down, he had known that it might spell the end of the Marines.
Sure enough, at his dejected words, the expressions of more than half the Marine officers gathered below, waiting for his answer, changed.
"If the Marines are going to sink so low as to collude with pirates, then there's no reason for me to wear this uniform anymore. I cannot accept justice like this!" Zephyr's eyes were bloodshot, and he made no effort to conceal his fury.
He thought of the students the pirates had killed, the arm he had lost, and the Marines into which he had poured his heart and soul. Now, his heart felt like cold ashes.
Sengoku watched his old friend take off his Marine uniform. He opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, he could find no reason to stop him. He reached out, then let his hand fall helplessly.
The officers below watched Zephyr's actions. Then more than half of them took off their own uniforms and followed him out of the Meeting Room without looking back.
The remaining officers watched Marine Headquarters suddenly fall apart. Though they could not yet bring themselves to relinquish the power they held, their hearts were filled with uncertainty.
And that was only the reaction of the Marines' senior officers. The rank-and-file soldiers found it even more intolerable. After all, most of them had joined the Marines