Gawain's Career Plan

"Morgans is dead! Surrender, and you will be spared!"

With one slash, Gawain sent Morgans's head flying.

His voice was not loud, yet both sides locked in battle came to a halt at the same time.

The Marines who had been fired up only moments ago felt as though they had fallen into an icy abyss upon seeing Morgans's headless corpse.

The desires Morgans had stirred with just a few words vanished completely in an instant. The scene before them was simply too far removed from what they had expected.

"Major Morgans... is dead?"

A Marine's face turned deathly pale. If not for the blade wound on his arm, he would have thought he was trapped in a nightmare.

"You've got to be kidding!"

"How can we bow our heads to pirates?!"

Sshk!

Before he could finish speaking, Gawain cut off his head with a single stroke. Blood sprayed in every direction, splattering the surrounding Marines.

"Warm, salty, with a metallic taste..."

"This isn't a dream, I..."

The Marines who had once been brimming with confidence, hoping to take Gawain's head and build their fortunes upon it, were now trembling uncontrollably with fear.

After all, if even Morgans was no match for Gawain, what meaning was there in their resistance?

Clang~!

Accompanied by the sound of metal striking the ground, the Marines present gave up resisting and crouched down where they stood.

The battle on the island came to an end.

It was not until Gawain ordered his men to tie up the Marines that the pirates finally came back to their senses. They looked at Morgans's corpse, then at Gawain, whose clothes remained spotless.

It was as though flames burned within their eyes.

"The captain actually... really defeated Morgans?"

"Defeated?"

"That was an instant kill!"

The hooded man stared at Morgans's corpse, reaching up to touch his own neck, his gaze filled with reverence.

"This time, the captain is going to become famous throughout the East Blue!"

"Even those monsters on the Grand Line might not be a match for the captain!"

"Yeah."

"I have that feeling too. The East Blue can't hold him—not just that, it can't accommodate him."

"Lancer's death completely transformed him!"

"His mindset, strength, and will are all completely different from before. It's... it's like he has become another person!"

As the pirates watched Gawain's back, there was reverence in their eyes, along with a confidence they had never possessed before.

With Morgans's defeat, the situation on the island was quickly brought under control.

All the Marines who had followed Morgans onto the island were gathered in one place with their hands bound.

The warship left at sea was also easily seized after Gawain intervened, and every Marine aboard was captured by Gawain.

By the time the unrest on the island had been quelled, a red sun had risen over the horizon.

Gawain stood on the deck of the warship, the captured Marines before him.

"Captain, what should we do with these people?"

The hooded helmsman walked up to Gawain and asked respectfully.

After Lancer's death, he had become Gawain's temporary second-in-command. His abilities were fairly outstanding within the pirate crew as well.

Gawain swept his gaze over the captives. After pondering for a moment, he said,

"Leave them on the island."

"Captain, these men have the lives of quite a few brothers on their hands. Are we really letting them go just like that?"

The helmsman instinctively objected.

"Are you telling me how to do things?"

"I wouldn't dare!"

The helmsman hurriedly dropped to his knees, panic filling his eyes.

Only then did he realize that the man before him was no longer the softhearted Knight he had once known, but the true pirate Gawain.

The man who had once chased them down could not even withstand a single move from Gawain.

And for the past month, Gawain had spent most of his time guiding them in training. That only proved that Gawain had been hiding his strength all along!

He wasn't weak. He simply had no desire to fight. It was us and the Marines who snuffed out that kindness and created this monster together!

For a moment, countless speculations flashed through the helmsman's mind. The more he thought about it, the harder it became to suppress his fear of Gawain.

"Good that you know."

Gawain's tone was indifferent. He glanced at the helmsman before turning his attention to the captives on the deck.

Killing Marines in battle and massacring captives were two entirely different matters. There was still room for reconciliation in the former, while the latter would mean complete, irreconcilable hostility.

He was not prepared to completely fall out with the Marines yet. At least, not now.

Looking across the world of pirates, aside from extreme cases like Hawk Eyes, nearly every great pirate would inevitably embark on the path of carving out territory and ruling as a king.

Crocodile occupied Alabasta, Doflamingo controlled Dressrosa, and the New World Yonko—Kaido, Whitebeard, and Big Mom—were kings in every practical sense, ruling over entire territories.

Even Red-Hair had gathered a grand fleet of his own beneath him.

There was only one reason these great pirates had all chosen this same model of operation:

Stability.

Living solely by plunder, never knowing where the next meal would come from, was acceptable during the early stages of building a crew.

But anyone who still operated that way in the later stages was either truly stupid, or a crew like Straw Hat's, which was more adventurer than pirate.

Yet even in that case, Straw Hat had gathered a large number of followers beneath him.

From Fish-Man Island to Wano Country, every place flying the Straw Hat flag had, in reality, become Straw Hat's sphere of influence, whether they wished it or not.

And for Gawain, who possessed the Captain System, the more stable his pirate crew became, the faster his subordinates—the crops he could harvest—would grow, and the faster he himself would grow as well.

To build a stable force, create a virtuous cycle, and at the same time avoid the endlessly irritating harassment of the ever-present Marines—

Either he had to become a Yonko so powerful that even Headquarters would have to think twice before taking action, or he had to become one of the Shichibukai, granted a license to plunder by the World Government.

Thus, after seeing this clearly, Gawain had his first objective:

Rebel first, then accept amnesty!

As for how to become a Shichibukai, Ace and Blackbeard had already provided two examples.

Either rely on hard power, pull a Shichibukai from his position, and have someone influential backing you. Then the position would naturally fall to you.

Or wait for a vacancy among the Shichibukai, then recommend yourself.

Both paths had their merits and drawbacks, but both required sufficient personal strength.

Gawain, who had yet to even leave the East Blue, clearly did not possess such qualifications. Still, that did not stop him from putting the plan to join the Shichibukai on his agenda for now.

However.

His foremost task remained improving his strength as quickly as possible.

After leaving the captives on the island and conducting some basic repairs on the ship, Gawain confirmed that there were no problems. He then led his men onward, following the direction marked on the sea chart toward a nearby town to restock supplies.

Gawain did not replace the Marine flag on the warship either.

After all, if they wanted to enter ordinary towns to resupply or do anything else, that flag was far more useful than a Jolly Roger.

Several days later.

Marine East Blue Branch.

The conference room was Smoke filled, and the atmosphere was oppressive and solemn.

Marine Officers from Branch Bases throughout the East Blue had gathered there. Their expressions were grave as they stared at the two Wanted Posters on the table.

One wore an orange leather cap, freckles scattered across his face, and bore a sunny smile.

The other wore black leather armor, with handsome features and a tall build. Even his posture was incomparably elegant, like a Knight who had stepped out of a storybook.

Headquarters Lieutenant Commander Brandnew stood before the crowd, his tone exceptionally grave.

"Everyone."

"The situation in the East Blue is more severe than we imagined."

"The Logia Devil Fruit User Fire Fist Ace caused havoc at Marine Branch 151, resulting in countless casualties."

"Knight Gawain even killed Morgans, the commander of the Branch Base. According to the Marines present, Gawain only made one move from beginning to end!"

"The Bounties for these two need to be revised!"