Building his own hype

Three days later, at Marine Branch 133 in the West Blue.

Inside the branch commander's office, Asahi rubbed his hands excitedly, the fat on his face bunching up around his exaggerated grin.

"Hahaha!"

He eagerly spread out the newspaper. Printed prominently on it was a shot of Gern's back as he stood amid Ashport's ruins, beneath an eye-catching headline.

"Rising star of the West Blue! Marine 'Heavenquake' Gern single-handedly slays a seventy-million-Beli pirate!"

"Gern! Have you seen this?!" Asahi slapped the desk excitedly, splashing water out of a teacup. Better still, beside the article was a photo of Asahi himself being interviewed.

"The whole West Blue is talking about you! I'm sure Marine Headquarters has already started taking notice!"

Gern leaned against the window, his calm gaze sweeping over the newspaper.

Outside the window, on the branch's training grounds,

the recruits were pushing themselves through extra training, occasionally glancing his way with fervent eyes.

In the year since Gern had obtained his fruit, his basic training had been no different from theirs, so his strength had barely improved.

Had his fruit's power not been so formidable, he would have been the one to die at Ashport...

"Gern?!"

"I only killed a pirate." Asahi's voice brought Gern back to the present, and he answered indifferently.

"A pirate?!" Asahi's eyes widened. "That was 'Blood Spear' Logot, with a bounty of sixty-nine million Beli!

"A vicious bastard who came back from the Grand Line!

"Do you realize that even at Headquarters, an achievement like that would be enough to get you promoted to a field officer?!"

Gern did not answer. He merely lowered his head and looked at his palm.

His palm glowed faintly white, the vibration particles as pliable as clay under his control.

He had won that battle, but it had also exposed a fatal weakness-his lack of Haki.

Logot's Armament Haki had barely scratched the surface, yet it had still been able to hurt him.

If he encountered a true powerhouse, such as a future Marine Admiral, one of the monsters of the New World, or a pirate with a bounty over a hundred million...

His Logia powers would no longer give him an absolute advantage.

"Gern?" Seeing his silence, Asahi assumed he was thinking about his promotion. He immediately lowered his voice and leaned closer.

"Don't worry. I've already submitted your promotion request!

"With your current fame and achievements, Headquarters can't possibly turn it down!"

"Mm." Gern gave a brief reply and turned his gaze out the window.

"Oh, right!" Suddenly remembering something, Asahi slapped his thigh excitedly.

"I've already contacted a reporter from the West Blue Daily. They'll be here tomorrow to interview you! This is a perfect chance to build some hype!"

"An interview?" Gern frowned slightly.

"Of course!" Asahi rubbed his hands, a shrewd gleam in his eyes. "You're the hero of the West Blue now!

"The people need a role model like you, and the Marines need this kind of publicity! Especially that line of yours..."

At that, Asahi cleared his throat and imitated Gern's tone, low and forceful.

"Justice that comes too late... doesn't deserve to be called justice."

"Damn! How are you so clever?" Asahi grinned. "That line was brilliant!

"Civilians all over the West Blue are repeating it. They call you a true hero of the West Blue, someone who fights for the weak!"

Gern fell silent for a moment, then gave a cold laugh.

"They're wrong."

"Huh?" Asahi froze.

"I didn't kill Logot for justice." Gern's voice was soft, yet as sharp as a blade.

"I simply needed his head as my ticket into Headquarters."

Asahi's smile froze on his face.

Silence settled over the office.

A few seconds later, Asahi gave a couple of awkward laughs and waved his hand. "Come on, you can't say that in public!

"The result's the same, anyway. You wiped out pirates and protected civilians. That's enough!"

Gern did not explain further.

He knew Asahi would not understand.

In this corrupt West Blue, justice had long since become an empty slogan. Sometimes, the only difference between a Marine and a pirate was a uniform.

But that did not matter.

His goal had never been to become some "hero" here.

"Oh, right!" Asahi suddenly lowered his voice and mysteriously pulled a document from his drawer. "Take a look at this."

Gern took the document and scanned it, his gaze sharpening slightly.

"Marine Headquarters special recruitment order"

"This is..."

"Shh!" Asahi held up a finger for silence and glanced around. Only after making sure no one was eavesdropping did he whisper, "Admiral Zephyr personally issued this!"

"Zephyr?" Gern's pupils contracted slightly.

"That's right!" Asahi nodded excitedly. "The official transfer orders haven't come through yet, but word has already spread internally!

"I pulled some strings and found out that Admiral Zephyr is very interested in your performance!"

Gern unconsciously rubbed the edge of the document with his fingertips, his heartbeat quickening slightly.

Finally... the moment I've been waiting for!

If I could receive his guidance...

"But..." Asahi suddenly sighed, his expression turning complicated. "There's some bad news."

"Tell me."

"The World Government... has some 'questions' about your fruit's powers." Asahi lowered his voice.

"You can't really blame them for being suspicious. Your 'Tremor-Tremor Fruit' does resemble the 'Tremor-Tremor Fruit' used by Whitebeard, a remnant of the Rocks Pirates."

"That sort of thing doesn't bother me at all." Gern smiled.

He had known this day would come.

The powers of his Logia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit were too conspicuous for the World Government not to notice.

Especially since his vibrations resembled those produced by Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.

But Gern was certain that his fruit was not one of the prizes the Celestial Dragons had offered on God's Island.

Besides, there was a vast difference between Paramecia and Logia fruits, and Devil Fruits themselves had superior and inferior counterparts.

"Exactly! The World Government is just a bunch of people with nothing better to do." Asahi joined in with a complaint, then returned to their earlier subject.

"Now that Zephyr at Headquarters has noticed you, and from what I've heard,

"he's the most likely to be promoted to Marine Admiral next year. A thirty-eight-year-old Admiral at Marine Headquarters!

"He's noticed you now, but I still don't think that's enough."

Looking at Asahi's earnest expression, Gern fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "So?"

"Gern, don't laugh!" Asahi slapped his thigh. "How long has it been since our West Blue produced a 'rising Marine star'?!

"You're the pride of our West Blue Marines now! So we need to hype you up like crazy!

"And..." Asahi, a head shorter than Gern, reached up and patted his shoulder.

"I believe in your strength, so from here on out, I'm going to brag about you for all I'm worth."

Watching Asahi talk away, Gern said nothing and merely smiled.

Hype meant reputation, the foundation for his future rise through the Marines... This was exactly what he wanted.

"Asahi." After a long while, Gern slowly rose, holding the Black Blade: Eight Desolations in his hand. "I'll attend tomorrow's interview."

"Huh? That's great!" Asahi exclaimed delightedly. "Don't worry. I've already arranged everything. The reporter will only ask favorable questions. They definitely won't..."

"No." Gern cut him off, his lips curving into a dangerous smile. "Let them ask."

"What?" Asahi was stunned.

"Especially questions about my fruit's powers." Gern's voice was soft, but his resolve left no room for doubt. "The sharper, the better."

Asahi opened his mouth, unable to process it for a moment.

Gern had already turned and walked to the door. As his hand settled on the handle, he turned his head slightly and left him with one last remark.

"If we're going to build hype... then let the storm rage even harder."

He would make the whole world remember his name!

Gern Reginald Sigma!