Kakarot's words were like earth-shaking thunderbolts, mercilessly battering Sakazuki's once ironclad, unshakable will and values.
In the One Piece world, educational resources were desperately scarce, and people generally lacked systematic guidance in their thinking.
Even in the Navy, the higher-ups merely demanded that they uphold justice, without ever teaching them in depth what true justice meant.
Everyone's understanding of justice depended entirely on what they gleaned from their own lives and experiences, leading to vastly different perceptions.
Kakarot's words were like a magical key, opening a door to a new world for Sakazuki.
In an instant, his mind seemed to break free of its shackles. He could consider things from more, broader angles, and saw problems more clearly than ever before.
As a candidate for the next generation of Admirals, Sakazuki had previously been deeply involved in many operations led by the World Government.
Through those experiences, he had already realized that the World Government was by no means as just as it publicly claimed, but was filled with appalling evil.
Yet back then, as a member of the Navy-or, more precisely, of the Navy under the World Government-he had never entertained the thought of resisting.
After all, as far as he understood, only the Navy had the power to stand against pirates and bring a measure of peace to these seas.
Before traveling to this world, Kakarot had heard several accounts of why Akainu hated pirates so intensely.
One widely circulated account claimed that, as a boy, Akainu had personally witnessed pirates brutally murdering his family before his eyes.
That bloody scene had branded itself deep in his heart like a nightmare, drastically changing his personality and leaving him with zero tolerance for pirates ever since.
Kakarot's words just now had, in fact, carried an implicit yet profoundly awakening