The first half of the Grand Line.
On an island spanning over ten square kilometers, a military base stood tall. The building's blue exterior bore the large black letters "G-4," marking it as the G4 Branch of the Marines.
Besides the Marine base, the island had no civilian buildings, no villages or towns. It wasn't located on any of the seven routes in the first half of the Grand Line.
However, the Marine G4 Base on this island was responsible for the sea areas of eighteen islands, including Alabasta, Etol Island, Lulucca Island, and Asuka Island.
Over three thousand Marine soldiers were permanently stationed within the G4 Base, ready to reinforce the directly managed Marine branches on the other eighteen islands at any time. If necessary, the Base Commander could also issue orders to directly mobilize the forces of the eighteen Marine branches.
The G4 Branch of the Marines had over three thousand troops, and the other island branches had varying troop numbers from three hundred to five hundred. Combined, the total number of Marine soldiers reached over ten thousand!
It could be said that if the Marine G4 Branch were to assemble all its forces to attack a medium or small-sized island, they could completely destroy the entire island with artillery fire overnight!
Therefore, all the G-prefixed Base Commanders held immense real power. They could be considered high-ranking officials, and even the King of a country would need to treat them with courtesy.
G4 Base Naval Port.
The white seagull flags on the warships fluttered in the wind, and the vessels were quietly docked alongside the pier.
In the front square of the G4 Base Naval Port, thousands of upright Marine soldiers stood. They were arranged neatly in formations.
The thirty people standing at the very front were all high-ranking officers wearing Colonel's cloaks. They were either the Commanders of other island branches or the department heads of the G4 Base.
The reason these Marines were standing in the naval port square was simple: to welcome their superior, the Commander of the Marine G4 Branch.
A warship sailed into the naval port from the distant horizon at a steady pace, docked alongside the pier, and lowered the gangway.
Sephiroth, wearing a Vice Admiral's cloak and a black suit, walked down the gangway with firm steps, leading Kuro and other Marine soldiers, and stood at the very front of the naval port square.
"Salute!"
As a grizzled Colonel shouted, the thousands of people in the square immediately raised their right hands in unison, palms inward, and saluted him.
Seeing this, Sephiroth could only raise his right hand and return the salute to the Marines.
"Didn't I just ask for the Base officers and officers from other branches to come welcome me?
Why is there such a big display...?"
Sephiroth turned his head and asked Kuro, who was beside him.
"This... I did convey it that way...
"This must be a display they put on themselves, right?"
Kuro raised his right wrist and pushed up his glasses. Confusion flickered across his face.
"Oh~! I see....."
Sephiroth nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face.
How could such a command be misinterpreted? Did some people want to give him a warm welcome?
Or were they trying to subtly push back against him?
None of that mattered; he didn't care anyway!
He had long passed the stage in the Marines where he needed to be cautious and think things through. In the Marines, except for a few individuals, he didn't need to show his face to anyone else.
If those guys didn't provoke him, he wouldn't actively provoke them either. Both sides could just coexist peacefully...
But if they tried to cause trouble, he wouldn't mind crushing them directly!
"Ahem!"
Sephiroth cleared his throat and spoke with a loud voice, laughing heartily.
"Hahaha-! Seeing you all put on such a grand display to welcome me, I truly feel a sense of shame! I'm sure everyone has been busy with this for a long time. You've truly gone to great lengths! I appreciate the gesture! Also, I'm very happy that you can welcome me with such a ceremony, but... I don't like this way of doing things! Therefore, don't engage in such boring formalism next time. This is a one-time occurrence, never again!"
After speaking, Sephiroth, with a smiling expression, turned to the grizzled Colonel who had just shouted the salute and said:
"Let the soldiers below do what they're supposed to do! Don't let them just stand around here... Also, have the department heads of the base and the Commanders of the other branches come with me to the conference room for a meeting."
"Yes!"
Upon hearing this, the grizzled Colonel saluted first, then turned to instruct the other mid-level officers to lead the soldiers in gradually leaving.
After giving his instructions, Sephiroth turned to look at a woman among the thirty Colonels. She had long pink hair that reached her waist and a cold, yet somewhat alluring, face. He said with slight surprise:
"Why are you here!?"
"Tina reported to Vice Admiral Tsuru and applied to be transferred from the Staff Headquarters to serve at the G4 Branch. Therefore, I was appointed as the Commander of the Alabasta Branch. Do you have any objections to this...?"
Tina, wearing a white cloak of justice and a red women's suit, spoke as she took out a pack of women's cigarettes from her trouser pocket, pulled out a cigarette, put it in her mouth, lit it, and took a light puff.
Her gaze toward him seemed somewhat evasive; she slightly turned her head away, not daring to look at him.
Seeing this, Sephiroth immediately burst into hearty laughter:
"None at all, you're very welcome!"
"You left earlier than Tina, yet you arrived later than me....."
"Hahaha! A lot happened along the way..." Sephiroth laughed, offering no further explanation. The trip from Marineford to the G4 Base should have taken him just over twenty days, but it had taken more than forty. To earn Kuro military merits, he'd traveled at a leisurely pace, setting sail in the morning and resting at sunset. When they encountered pirates, he let Kuro handle them. They'd faced several waves of pirates along the way, though they were all weaklings. Still, the combined merits were enough for Kuro to be promoted to Ensign! That meant Kuro would be a low-ranking officer, able to help him manage the base's daily affairs... Led by the grizzled officer, Sephiroth and the others arrived in a spacious conference room. After taking the main seat, he wasn't in a hurry to speak. He scanned the high-ranking officers in attendance before he slowly began.
"As for me, I'm easy to get along with... As long as you're diligent and don't cause me any trouble, I won't deliberately make things difficult for you. If you achieve merits, I won't suppress you; you'll be rewarded according to your contributions... Of course, if you cause trouble, don't expect me to cover for you..."
Sephiroth said a lot during the meeting, but it boiled down to one sentence:
Work hard, don't cause me trouble, or you'll face serious disciplinary action!
His business-like attitude caused the officers, who had originally harbored other ideas, to hold back for the time being, planning to observe before deciding how to proceed.
Since there were no towns or villages on the island, there were naturally no civilian residences or villas. Therefore, after the meeting, Sephiroth went directly to the sixth floor of the base's officer dormitory building to move in.
However, because he was the Base Commander, his living quarters were larger than those of other officers: a three-bedroom, one-living room apartment of one hundred fifty square meters, fully furnished and ready for immediate occupancy.
It was precisely for this reason that Sephiroth had taken Perona and the others to live on the Sky Island.
Living with five people in one hundred fifty square meters wasn't impossible, nor was it cramped.
But...
This was a military base, after all. As Base Commander, openly living with several girls would look problematic no matter how you viewed it.
Furthermore, the noise he often made when partying was not small!
If the other officers living in the same building heard it, he believed it wouldn't be long before Sengoku personally called him to discuss disciplinary issues or something...