Chapter 264

He walked beside Carl toward the East Blue Marine Leader. He hadn’t expected the commander and the former Marine HQ Chief Instructor to appear here in person to greet a wandering blind man. Issho gripped his shikomizue and followed in silence, offering no interruption as Carl rushed to report. He watched from the side, observing Dante’s bearing and listening to their exchange.

"Boss."

"Good work."

"You really pulled it off, kid! Hahaha!"

"Not at all!"

Praise from both Dante and Zephyr drew a sheepish, happy grin across Carl’s face.

"I sensed there was more to Issho than meets the eye, but I never expected him to be this unbelievably strong. Plus, he boarded the ship of his own accord. If it weren’t for his help..." Resignation crossed Carl’s face as he remembered the black-suited men. "We’d either be slaves or fish food by now."

He fell silent, letting the weight of the near-miss hang.

"..."

Zephyr said little, only patting Carl’s shoulder firmly. He already knew the young officer’s situation. For an East Blue Petty Officer to take a stand to protect civilians against elite slavers in those circumstances was remarkable courage. As a teacher, he wished to prevent past tragedies from repeating, but on this brutal sea, such things were often unavoidable.

"Carl, you did good."

"Hahaha~"

Faced with Zephyr-sensei’s unreserved praise, Carl’s brief melancholy vanished. He scratched his head and laughed. A moment later, he remembered something important. His expression turned strictly professional.

"Boss, how should we handle those captured slavers?"

"You haven’t dealt with them yet? Why bring them back? For fertilizer?" Dante froze, then snapped, "Just sink them to the bottom of the sea and feed them to the fish."

"The identities of those slavers might be complicated. There were guys in black suits commanding them, and..."

Before Carl could finish his warning, Dante cut him off coldly.

"What do you mean ’complicated’? You ran into a bunch of ruthless slavers and took them out, right?" Dante’s voice hardened as he stared at his subordinate. "As for the rest... you don’t know a thing. What, do you need to investigate a slaver’s political identity before killing them?"

Carl froze. He smacked his forehead in sudden realization.

"You are right! We just took out a bunch of ruthless slavers, that’s all. Seriously, why did I even bring that trash back? We’re just dirtying our own turf, aren’t we?" He looked at Dante with renewed, lethal determination. "Boss, I’ll go deal with them right now."

"Go. Clean it up."

"Yes... sorry, Boss, there’s one more thing." Carl, ready to dispose of the human garbage, stopped. He looked incredibly sheepish. "Boss, on our way back, we ran into Captain Smoker."

"Smoker?" Dante frowned. "What, did he give you trouble?"

"He didn’t." Carl shook his head quickly. His tone turned resigned and utterly baffled. "Captain Smoker just boarded our ship and asked some questions about the Pirate Guild, and..." He hesitated, bitterness edging his voice. "Captain Smoker said detailed combat information about him appeared in the Pirate Guild forums."

’What the hell?’

Dante froze again. How did the Pirate Guild leak highly classified intel on Smoker? He hadn’t even authorized any moves against the Loguetown commander yet.

Before Dante could demand an explanation, Zephyr, who had been waiting quietly for the conversation to end, stepped forward. He was completely unapologetic.

"I posted that."

Everyone stared in sheer disbelief at the legendary instructor. He stood there with a clear conscience, head held high, hands clasped behind his broad back.

’Wait, Zephyr-sensei... you’re screwing over your own student just like that?’

They had suspected their own Boss of pulling a dirty trick like this, but it never crossed their minds that Zephyr-sensei, the honorable Director of the Academy, would be the culprit. Even Issho, standing quietly to the side, "watched" him with genuine surprise. He seemed just as shocked that the once-renowned Chief Instructor of Marine HQ would pull a stunt like this against a fellow marine.

"This isn’t screwing him over."

Zephyr sighed in resignation and shook his head, easily guessing what everyone was thinking. "I merely wanted to test the brat’s current strength, to see if he has grown complacent after all this time stationed in the weakest sea."

His voice went hard, vibrating with tough love. "That intelligence was accurate from when I first arrived in the East Blue. If he hasn’t made any progress by now, he’d be better off getting beaten up by local rookies right now and waking the hell up, rather than dying senselessly in the Grand Line later."

He shook his head again, consumed by a teacher’s heavy resignation. "Am I wrong for doing this? If that punk wants to blame someone, he can come blame me."

Hearing Zephyr’s explanation, the group finally understood. His extreme efforts were well-intentioned. So it was to temper his beloved student.

However.

Just as everyone marveled at Zephyr’s sense of responsibility and painstaking efforts,

"You’re wrong. You’re dead wrong, Zephyr-sensei."

Dante denied the old man’s actions without a moment’s hesitation.

This left everyone staring in bewilderment all over again. Even Zephyr looked at Dante in confusion. What was the boy doing?

Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Dante spoke, a calculating edge to his tone. "If Zephyr-sensei hadn’t sent it directly, it might have had some effect. But now that Smoker has noticed the leak, it probably won’t be of much use. After all, Smoker is a Logia Devil Fruit User, no matter what. Even if he hasn’t grown during this time, once he’s on guard, his baseline strength is more than those East Blue pirates can handle, let alone now that he expects an attack."

Dante continued smoothly, "Zephyr-sensei’s intentions are indeed painstaking, but a simple forum post is not enough pressure."

Zephyr nodded slowly. "That’s true. Those rookies really can’t give Smoker even a little bit of trouble. It’s just..." He paused in thought. "I’ve already sent the intel out. What else can I do?"

"Leave that to me."

"You have another way?"

"I guarantee Smoker will deeply appreciate Zephyr-sensei’s painstaking efforts to train him."

"Then I leave it to you."

"Hehehe."

Before everyone’s eyes, both men wore pointed, vaguely sinister smiles.

Carl stared at them, resignation on his face, wondering if he should just step away for a moment. These were the highest authorities of the East Blue Marines, Leader and the Director of the Academy. Could they maybe restrain their villainous plotting a little? There was an esteemed guest right here listening to everything.

Carl noticed Issho frowning slightly at the exchange. He hesitated for a moment, then bit the bullet and formally introduced them to break the tension. "Boss, this is the Issho I mentioned in my report."

"*Cough* *Cought* Ahem! Almost forgot!" Dante gave two fake coughs, instantly dropping the scheming smirk and snapping back to reality. He looked at the towering blind man before him, straightened his posture, and spoke with genuine gravity. "Welcome to our ranks."

Did he ever say he wanted to join?

Issho studied the man standing before him. He had a pretty good idea of what kind of person Dante was. He fell silent, the grip on his cane tightening as his tone turned serious.

"I have yet to decide whether to join the East Blue Marines."

"Is that so?" Dante leaned back in his chair, keeping his smile. ’You already followed Carl here, and you still claim to be undecided?’ "Thank you for saving Carl group. The East Blue Marines will never forget your kindness."

"It was merely a trivial effort on my part." Issho shook his head, the wooden beads on his neck clacking softly. "I am also grateful for the meal. Without it, I would likely have starved to death."

’You? Starve to death? Who would believe that?’ Dante didn’t take the joke seriously. He rested his elbows on the desk and cut straight to the point. "I heard you are looking for work, Issho. Would you consider us? Don’t worry, we might have just started out, but our benefits are quite good. They rival Marine HQ. If you join, we’ll give you the treatment of a Marine Headquarters Admiral right off the bat."

He waved a hand. Robin stepped forward, her heels clicking against the floorboards, and smoothly handed over a crisp document.

"You can take a look first. If there’s anything you’re unsatisfied with, bring it up. We truly hope you’ll join."

Issho fell silent, staring straight ahead at Dante. He wasn’t quiet because of the bluntness, but because of a much simpler reality.

"My eyes..." He paused slightly, a self-deprecating edge to his voice. "Cannot read the words."

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