With Issho's appointment and Aramaki's posting settled, everyone went their separate ways.
Gern and Zephyr went alone to the side room beside the office, where Zephyr temporarily handled his work and rested.
The moment he entered, Gern relaxed. He casually pulled up a chair and sat down, then spoke to Zephyr with a hint of teasing in his voice.
"What is it, Teacher Zephyr? Do you think my arrangements for Aramaki...
Oh, sorry, for 'Ryokugyu,' were inappropriate?"
Zephyr did not answer immediately. Instead, he gently set the clipboard he had been holding on the desk.
Then he slowly turned around, his eyes behind his sunglasses resting calmly on Gern as he said evenly,
"No. You handled it very well."
He walked to the window and gazed out at New Marineford, which was still under construction. "After the trauma of the Paramount War, the Marines are now at a critical stage of rebuilding themselves.
Our internal principles need to be unified, and our culture needs to be put in order.
The kind of 'justice' Aramaki believes in, where the strong prey on the weak and power is the ultimate goal,
really has no place in our inner circle at a time like this, especially in a sensitive region like the New World."
A trace of approval entered Zephyr's voice. "You used him to silence the World Government's demands to place their own people in our ranks,
then put him under Sakazuki and restricted him to Paradise. You made full use of him without letting him disrupt the bigger picture."
"That was a mature way to handle it."
Gern smiled at Zephyr's approval.
But he also knew that Zephyr would never have called him in alone just to offer a few words of praise.
"Then, Teacher Zephyr, why did you specifically call