"Talk?"
Blackbeard repeated the word, the flesh on his rugged face twitching with suspicion.
He looked at the laid-back yet unfathomable former Admiral before him, rapidly running through everything he knew about Kuzan.
One of the Marines' greatest fighting forces, a man who upheld "Burning Justice," yet had lost to Akainu in the contest for Fleet Admiral after the Paramount War.
He had ultimately chosen to leave the Marines, and his whereabouts had become a mystery...
Until now, when he had appeared in Blackbeard's own stronghold in such an overwhelmingly forceful and hostile manner-at least on the surface.
"Kuzan!" Blackbeard's voice rose sharply, questioning and probing. "Whose side are you on now?!"
As he spoke, he stepped forward, an invisible pressure spreading alongside the Dark-Dark Fruit's gravitational field as he tried to regain the upper hand.
"Former Marine Admiral 'Aokiji'! Heavenquake Gern has already led the Marines to complete independence and broken openly with the World Government!
If this is about the 'justice' in your heart, about the Marines' future,
shouldn't your first move now be to return to New Marineford immediately,
take up your old position, and help that Gern consolidate his 'new justice'?!"
Blackbeard's logic was blunt and incisive. This was also what puzzled many outsiders most about Aokiji's whereabouts.
Given his personality and ideals, there seemed to be no reason for him to remain outside this epoch-making Sea-Splitting Revolution.
At Blackbeard's questions, the eyes behind Kuzan's small, round sunglasses darkened for an instant, but it passed just as quickly.
Then...
"Hey, hey!" Kuzan let out a low laugh, his shoulders shaking as though he had heard something utterly ridiculous.
"What nonsense are you spouting, you pirate who thinks of nothing but plunder and betrayal?"
His laughter stopped abruptly, and his languid expression turned cold and hard.
"Justice?