Chapter 45: Rotten Marine

(T/N: Please consider reviewing this Fanfic, Thanks and appreciate all who support me)

(T/N: Enjoy!!)

<><><><><><>

Just as Byakuya was lost in thought, Fergus's voice rang out, "Rear Admiral Byakuya, we've arrived at Sabaody Archipelago Number 27." 

Byakuya sat up from his reclining chair, and Quake skillfully draped the Justice cloak behind Byakuya. 

"Let's go. I want to see what kind of chaos Sabaody Archipelago is in." 

According to Sengoku, Byakuya's predecessor was a Rear Admiral who was killed by pirates while pursuing them.

And this place was less than half a day's journey from Marine Headquarters. 

Being so close, the public killing of a Rear Admiral was undoubtedly a serious challenge to the Marines. 

Afterward, the Marines pursued the pirate crew responsible for the killing of the Rear Admiral, but they didn't catch up. That's why Sengoku transferred Byakuya to this place.

Sabaody Archipelago is made up of 79 giant trees, each tree being its island, with the ground being the roots, and bubbles occasionally emerging from the ground. 

Each tree is numbered, and Byakuya is responsible for guarding islands 27, 28, and 29, known as the lawless zone. 

Byakuya immediately sensed the unusual nature of the lawless zone upon arrival. 

Looking around, various pirate ships, slave ships, merchant ships, or private vessels were docked at the port. 

Most of the people walking the streets were pirates and bounty hunters, with locals making up less than half.

The chaos was visible to the naked eye. The arrival of the Marine Rear Admiral's ship attracted the attention of many, and many pirates quietly left to avoid this place. 

After all, the Marine Rear Admiral was also a senior officer in the Marines, not someone they could mess with. 

As Byakuya and his crew disembarked, they saw two rows of neatly lined up Marine soldiers, a legacy left to him by his predecessor. 

A bulky officer in a lieutenant commander uniform stepped forward from among the soldiers, with a four or five-centimeter scar on his right cheek, giving him a somewhat fierce appearance.

Lacy looked at the somewhat overly confident young man in front of him and asked, "Are you Rear Admiral Byakuya?" 

Byakuya smiled, "Isn't my Marine Rear Admiral uniform enough to prove my identity?" 

"Well... it does confirm your identity." Lacy saluted Byakuya and said, 

"Lieutenant Commander Lacy, along with all the soldiers of the 7th Marine Branch of Sabaody Archipelago, greets Rear Admiral Byakuya!"

"Greetings, Rear Admiral Byakuya!" The loud shout of over a hundred people echoed through the port, and even the nearby streets could hear it. 

Some pirates who were closer to Byakuya were shocked when they saw his appearance. Was there such a young Marine Rear Admiral? 

This kid looks like he just came of age, right?

Some people were disdainful of this, thinking that becoming a Rear Admiral at such a young age was probably the result of having connections in the family. 

They estimated that Byakuya was probably just a figurehead. Arriving in a place like this, they didn't know how many days they would survive. 

Byakuya wasn't aware of how others viewed him, and even if he did, he didn't care. 

As the saying goes, when a new official takes office, they must make a mark. Byakuya was here to do something significant and set things ablaze.

Byakuya led his team back to the branch base. It was called a base, but it was similar to the base Byakuya had on Squall Island.

 It was roughly the size of a football field, surrounded by twenty-meter-high walls, with a three-story building in the middle for their daily affairs and rest.

Entering his own dedicated office, which was spacious but simply decorated with only desks, chairs, and filing cabinets, Byakuya found a bedroom attached to it for resting when needed. 

"Lieutenant Commander Lacy, tell me about the current situation in the base." 

"Yes, there are still one hundred and thirty-seven soldiers in the base, with one officer and five warrant officers." 

"Is that all?" Byakuya frowned. The number of personnel was too low. 

Typically, a Marine base would have at least around three hundred people. The number here didn't even reach half of that.

Lieutenant Commander Lacy's eyes dimmed as he said, 

"Over two hundred people died with Rear Admiral Hardy at the hands of pirates, and recruitment hasn't been carried out yet, so the numbers are as they are." 

Curious, Byakuya asked, "Which pirate crew is it exactly? I heard that the headquarters once sent a Rear admiral to chase the pirates, but they returned empty-handed." 

Hearing Byakuya's question, Lacy's eyes reddened instantly, and his fists clenched involuntarily, showing a desire to speak but also a fear of doing so. 

Byakuya immediately understood that there was a story behind this!

Unexpectedly encountering such an event upon arrival, Byakuya was even more eager to know the truth. 

"What exactly happened? Just tell me." Seeing that Lacy was still hesitant, 

Byakuya continued, "My mentor is Chief Instructor Zephyr. If I can't handle it, I'll consider telling Zephyr about it." 

There was no other choice. Byakuya saw that Lacy didn't really believe in him, so he couldn't just claim to have the strength of an Admiral, right?

He had to bring up Chief Instructor Zephyr first.

"Chief Instructor Zephyr is your mentor?" Lacy asked in surprise. 

"Yes, so you can tell me without worry," Byakuya replied confidently. 

Hearing Byakuya's resolute words, Lacy didn't doubt their authenticity. 

After all, such things could be easily verified by asking around the Marine Headquarters. No Marine would lie about something like this.

Lacy spoke slowly, "Actually, that day Colonel Hall wasn't going to chase pirates but was conducting routine patrols on the island." 

"Not chasing pirates?" 

"Yes, that day Rear Admiral Hardy and his soldiers were patrolling the island as usual." 

"They must have inadvertently stumbled upon a secret transaction involving one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the Donquixote Family." 

"Then they were all silenced by the Donquixote Family."

"How do you know it was the Donquixote Family?" 

"Because I found this at the scene where Colonel Hall was killed." 

Lacy took out a blood-stained cloth strip the size of half a palm from his pocket, which bore the emblem of the Donquixote Family. 

Unlike the symbols of other pirate crews, it was easily recognizable by a circular black smiley face with a diagonal slash from the upper right to the lower left.

Lacy continued, "Later, the Rear admiral dispatched by the headquarters should have also traced it back to the Donquixote Family." 

"But because their status is recognized by the government as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, to avoid unnecessary chaos, the matter was left unresolved." 

Speaking of this Lacy felt extremely painful. 

The pirates had slaughtered over two hundred Marine soldiers, yet they didn't even have the right to seek revenge.

Not only that, but encountering members of the Donquixote Family on ordinary days also required avoiding them, to prevent a second conflict. 

This feeling of knowing who the culprit is but being powerless, only able to watch others flaunt their strength in front of you, makes one feel like life is not worth living. 

Byakuya sighed, "Marine is rotting to the core!"

<End Chapter>

If you want to support me, join my patr**on. Have 10 advanced Chapters for you guys.

patr**n.com/saitamablast > OP:OPM NOVEL TIER