Kets Port Town, the Son of the Sea Restaurant.
The meal was neither long nor short.
For Major Mouse, every second was excruciating. Sephiroth, however, finished his lunch at a leisurely pace.
"Boss, the check."
The restaurant owner hurried over, waving his hands in a fluster.
"No, no! Please, it's on the house, sir—"
"Boss. Don't group me with them. Just tell me the price."
The owner pulled out the menu, did a quick calculation, and gave a total.
"That comes to seventeen thousand, one hundred and twenty Berries."
Sephiroth opened his wallet, counted out eighteen ten-thousand Berry notes, and laid them on the table.
"Keep the change."
He stood and drew the butcher knife from his waist.
The movement sent a visible shudder through Major Mouse and the Bearded Soldier. They braced themselves, half-expecting to be cleaved in two with a single stroke.
"You two, head back first. I have business here."
Sephiroth gave the knife a light slash, opening a spatial door that led back to the villa.
"Don't go easy on these creeps!"
Perona scooped up her little bear doll, then stepped through the door with Uta and Iska.
Once the girls were gone, Sephiroth retrieved a Visual Den Den Mushi from his personal space. He set it on the table and activated its recording function.
"Alright then... Major Mouse.
You just pointed a gun at my head. Attempted a military coup, by my reckoning. Care to offer a defense?"
"No! I didn't—I wouldn't!"
Major Mouse shook his head like a rattle-drum, refusing to engage with the accusation. In his current position, admitting anything would be a death sentence. Sephiroth would cut him down on the spot.
"Oh? So I'm falsely accusing you? You never pointed a gun at my head?"
"It... it was a misunderstanding! I couldn't see Rear Admiral Sephiroth's face clearly in the moment, that's all! Please, sir, be magnanimous. Let this go!" Major Mouse pleaded, his face a mask of tearful desperation.
"Heh. To borrow your earlier words, 'This matter isn't something that can be easily settled.'
So. What are you prepared to do?"
"This... I..."
Major Mouse's face cycled through shades of pale and green. Then he gritted his teeth. With his left hand, he snatched up the pistol he'd dropped, aimed it at his own right palm, and fired.
***Bang!***
The pistol clattered to the floor. He clutched his bleeding hand, his cheek twitching.
"Rear Admiral Sephiroth... is this acceptable?"
"Heh. You might find that sufficient. I do not."
Sephiroth's expression was playful, his eyes full of mockery.
"What more do you want? I'm part of Vice Admiral Mozambique's faction. Rear Admiral Sephiroth, don't push your luck."
Seeing no peaceful resolution, Major Mouse played his only card: a thinly-veiled threat, hoping the name would give the young man pause.
"Oh? So Vice Admiral Mozambique is aware of your protection racket? Or perhaps he's been protecting you?" Sephiroth pressed, a half-smile on his lips.
Major Mouse said nothing.
He couldn't answer. In private, the racket was a matter for negotiation and profit-sharing. To acknowledge it here, on record, would force the Vice Admiral to publicly disavow him first.
Watching Major Mouse stand there, silent and defeated, Sephiroth gave a light chuckle and shifted gears.
"We'll set aside the gun-to-my-head incident for a moment.
Let's discuss your protection racket instead. Operating under the cover of your Marine identity.
How do you explain this?"
Major Mouse still refused to admit a thing. He raised his left hand, pointing at the Bearded Soldier beside him.
"I knew nothing about this," he scolded. "It was all Lieutenant Commander Buck's doing. He's been abusing his Marine status to stir up trouble—"
"Oh?" Sephiroth turned to the Bearded Soldier still prostrate on the floor. "Lieutenant Commander Buck… what do you have to say? Useful testimony could earn you some leniency."
"I… I…"
Buck stuttered, but nothing coherent came out.
Sephiroth's patience thinned. If this dragged on, it could take all night.
*If you won't cooperate, I'll just pull the truth out of your minds.*
A faint mist, invisible to ordinary eyes, drifted swiftly into the nostrils of Major Mouse and Lieutenant Commander Buck.
"Stop struggling," Sephiroth said. "The whole town knows about your extortion. Witnesses are everywhere. Just confess."
Lieutenant Commander Buck's eyes glazed over. His voice turned dull.
"All the officers at the base took protection money… Major Mouse was the ringleader."
…
"I kept a ledger. Every month's collection, every embezzled sum… it's all written down."
Under Sephiroth's influence, Major Mouse held nothing back. He laid out his own embezzlement and named every corrupt officer in Navy Branch 16, concise and direct.
The surrounding guests listened, stunned. They'd had no idea the branch that governed them hid so much filth.
Sephiroth finished jotting their confessions in his notebook, then canceled the mental hypnosis and switched off the Visual Den Den Mushi.
"Alright." He stood up, slowly drawing the butcher knife from his waist. "Now for the matter between you and me."
"Spare me! Rear Admiral Sephiroth, I'll never do it again!"
Major Mouse, freshly conscious again, didn't remember his confession—but Sephiroth's dark expression was enough. He begged on instinct.
"You pointed a gun at my head with this right hand, correct?"
Sephiroth's face was blank, his eyes indifferent.
Truthfully, he didn't care much about Marine corruption. He wouldn't go out of his way to purge it; he'd even work with it if it served his goals.
But for those who came seeking death themselves? He showed no mercy.
He had the strength now to follow his whims. No more caution. He could afford to be impulsive.
As long as he didn't cross the Marine or the World Government's bottom lines, they'd let him be. Indulgent. Tacitly approving.
*Swish.*
A crimson blade-light cut the air, leaving a graceful arc.
Major Mouse's right arm fell cleanly to the floor. Blood sprayed from the stump.
"Ahhhhh—!"
The pain twisted his face. He collapsed, clutching the wound with his left hand, wailing.
Sephiroth flicked his butcher knife through the air, opened his personal space, and withdrew his white 'Justice' coat. He draped it over his shoulders.
Sheathing the blade, he spoke, unhurried.
"Seeing as your attitude of admitting fault was so good just now, I won't kill you…"
"You will face trial at Marineford."
"Under military law, your actions have severely damaged the Marine's reputation. The sentence is hanging, followed by public display."
"Enjoy your few remaining days."
With that done, Sephiroth knew he'd just created another major incident. He couldn't possibly wait until his official appointment tomorrow to handle the fallout.
He glanced at the Bearded Soldier, still kneeling on the ground, too afraid to move. Sephiroth pointed at Major Mouse, who lay writhing and wailing.
"Lieutenant Commander Buck. Bring him. You're coming with me to the 16th Branch."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Terror-stricken, Buck scrambled to haul Major Mouse up and followed Sephiroth out of the restaurant.
Hundreds of soldiers crowded the entrance. Seeing the rank of Commodore on his uniform, they recoiled as if from a monster, scrambling back to clear a direct path.
Back at the Navy base, Sephiroth produced his officer's ID and appointment letter. He summoned every officer of the 16th Branch to a conference room and placed them under group hypnosis, compelling them to write detailed confessions of every dirty deed they'd ever committed.
Then, Sephiroth read each confession.
The more he read, the more he shook his head.
This branch was utterly rotten, a den of vipers. There was no shortage of crimes here—exploitation, coercion, violence against men and women...
Destroy it!