SS- Sengoku's Dillema

After the death of Whitebeard, the world descended into chaos once again due to his statement about One Piece, compounded by shocking news of the destruction of Marie Joa, further weakening the power and influence of the World Government and the Marines.

Sengoku himself, after the Marineford War, decided to resign as Fleet Admiral. However, the Gorosei rejected Aokiji as the candidate he recommended and chose Akainu because they believed Akainu was more suitable for the position.

Fortunately, the weakening of the World Government's position due to the incident gave Sengoku some freedom. He did not immediately accept the rejection and follow the orders of the Gorosei.

In the Fleet Admiral's office, Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru were currently facing Sengoku because he wanted to convey something important.

"Previously, I have communicated my intention to the Gorosei, and they have accepted it, which is my resignation as Fleet Admiral."

Sengoku paused to see their reactions.

Aokiji looked surprised as he did not expect Sengoku to resign, while Kizaru, always wearing a sarcastic expression, remarked, "How scary!"

Lastly, Akainu seemed delighted by Sengoku's resignation.

'Hmm, I expected their reactions to be like this,' thought Sengoku, becoming even more somber as his prediction proved true.

"To be honest, I myself recommended Aokiji to be the Fleet Admiral—"

"Wha- what?" Akainu, initially pleased with Sengoku's resignation, became shocked and angry upon learning that Sengoku chose Aokiji as his successor.

"Calm down, Akainu. Sengoku-san hasn't finished speaking yet!"

"Quiet, Kuzan! Sengoku-san, why not me? Am I not more suited for this position?"

Seeing Akainu still emotional and unwilling to calm down, Aokiji who got scolded by him immediately intervened to silence him.

"Yes, you are indeed suitable, but you got beaten up to a pulp by a kid!"

"Wha- what? But I defeated Whitebeard while you all were lounging around!"

"Yes, you did defeat Whitebeard, but you got beaten up to a pulp by a kid!"

Akainu, taunted, grew even more furious.

"Grrrr, but I contributed the most to this war!"

"Yes, that's true no one disagree with your contribution, but you got beaten up to a pulp by a kid!"

Reminded of his defeat by Kaoru, Akainu grew even angrier, his hand starting to turn into lava.

"KUZAN!!!!! I'll beat you!!!!!!"

"Come on, besides, I haven't liked your overly cruel attitude in a long time."

"How scary! A duel between two admirals!"

*BOOM

Seeing the situation escalate, Sengoku couldn't remain silent.

"I am still the Fleet Admiral, or have you all forgotten that?"

Since the beginning, Akainu had been provoked by Aokiji, and he struggled to contain his anger, though his hands remained clenched tightly, with a little magma still oozing out.

On the other side, Aokiji, who only wanted to provoke Akainu, raised both hands and stopped talking.

And Kizaru, who was just enjoying himself, finally understood why Garp was so happy watching them being scolded by Sengoku.

Although the World Government had lost much power and influence due to the attacks launched by the Fifth Emperor, Sengoku still could not ignore the orders of the Gorosei.

Therefore, to ensure that no one was offended, Sengoku decided on the best way to choose a new Fleet Admiral.

"While I did recommend Aokiji, to ensure his selection is fair, I have decided on a competition. The three of you must fight, and whoever wins will be the Fleet Admiral."

"But remember, this is just a competition; there's no need to kill each other for a position. The Marine's strength has weakened significantly due to the Summit War, and I don't want the Marine to lose its admirals... Do you hear that, Sakazuki?"

Sengoku, who understood the attitudes and behaviors of the three admirals very well, emphasized the rules, especially to Akainu, who had often taken morally questionable actions.

Upon hearing Sengoku's directive that they needed to fight in a competition, they realized that this selection was not as straightforward as it seemed. As admirals, they were intelligent enough to guess that the Gorosei did not agree with Sengoku's recommendation.

If the Gorosei did not agree, it meant they were choosing between Akainu or Kizaru. However, with Kizaru's occasionally suspicious behavior in the eyes of the World Government, such as kicking Luffy towards Whitebeard, which was clearly the safest location during the Summit War, it could be inferred that they chose Akainu, who was like a loyal dog to his master.

But because the World Government's power was weakened, it meant Sengoku had a little more leeway and chose to hold this competition.

After understanding this, the admirals agreed to compete, although Akainu was slightly reluctant because if not for Sengoku's idea, he would have definitely gotten the position of Fleet Admiral.

Sengoku then let them leave his room to prepare after informing them that the location of their competition would be a former Marine research island now destroyed due to a failure, namely Punk Hazard.

*Sigh

"Hopefully, there won't be any more problems, and why until now the whereabouts of that person still haven't been found?"

Unfortunately, Sengoku's hopes would never come true. He would be very surprised to learn that Akainu went berserk by mercilessly beating Aokiji, causing Aokiji to nearly die and choose to leave the Marines, and Kizaru, who surrendered in the middle of the fight, chose to leave and relax with Garp while enjoying tea and rice crackers.

And all of that would happen in the future.

(A/N: just like what I said before, this kind of short story is just bonus spices to increase the flavor, and since I feel it's a bit strange that Sengoku dare to ignore WG's order to not immediately make Akainu as the fleet admiral in canon when they still hold the highest authority, that's why I make such a celebration for Marie Joa to make sure that Sengoku's action that ignored those old fools order is more make sense)