Gern had barely left the Training Ground when he rounded the corner of a building and paused.
In the shadow of a towering wall nearby, a man stood with his back against the stone, almost as though he had become part of the darkness.
His distinctive Marine Cap was pulled so low that it hid nearly his entire face, leaving only tightly pressed lips and the lines of a jaw that looked utterly resolute, even cold.
It was Sakazuki.
Clearly, he had not simply happened to pass by. He seemed to have been waiting there for a while.
"Sakazuki." Looking at him, Gern sighed softly and spoke first, his tone complicated.
"You two... were in the same class, after all."
He meant Sakazuki and Kuzan.
Though their beliefs had long since diverged completely, they had once trained and grown together as classmates.
Seeing Kuzan now so disheartened, so close to a walking corpse,
perhaps Sakazuki's heart was not entirely unmoved either. (See Akainu telling Kizaru, "Sorry, brother," on Egghead Island.)
At Gern's words, Sakazuki did not lift his head. His low voice came from beneath the brim of his cap.
"'Justice'... is not a compassionate compromise, but the absolute will to eradicate evil."
He seemed less to be answering Gern than reaffirming his own unshakable creed.
"Kuzan wasn't wrong. I don't deny that!" His voice abruptly grew forceful, carrying an almost obsessive conviction.
"I ordered the refugee ship shelled.
That act was indeed... cold, even cruel."
"But, Gern..." At this, Sakazuki finally raised his head slightly, meeting Gern's eyes beneath his cap.
"Under those circumstances, someone had to do what was 'right' yet 'cruel'!
Because justice has never been a comforting fairy tale!
No one could guarantee with absolute certainty that not a single 'scholar' from Ohara had slipped aboard