Zephyr didn't actually know much about the Celestial Dragons' so-called 'summer camp activities,' or more accurately, their triennial human hunting games.
When the catastrophic God Valley incident occurred, he was only a Vice Admiral. His fame and raw combat power were not quite as great as Garp's. Coupled with his humble, grassroots origins, his lack of political connections, his lack of a Devil Fruit ability, and his intense, painfully naive sense of justice, he naturally wasn't being groomed by the World Government to be the next Fleet Admiral like Sengoku. Consequently, he was never privy to the darkest inside information of the world.
Thus, leaning against the cold iron bars, York proceeded to calmly tell Zephyr the entire, unfiltered bloody history of the God Valley incident. And naturally, Sakazuki, listening intently from the adjacent cell, was included in the audience as well.
"You're talking nonsense!!"
No sooner had York finished his grim tale than Sakazuki impatiently and loudly retorted from the darkness.
"You are twisting the truth to justify your own sins! The truly evil one that day was Rocks!"
To this, York merely sneered, not even bothering to look at the young Marine.
"What business is it of an ignorant rookie to interrupt when the adults are talking? I am simply stating a historical fact! Whether or not to believe it is for Zephyr himself to decide, not a lapdog who wasn't even there!"
Upon hearing this, Sakazuki immediately looked through the bars at Zephyr with a tense, urgent expression.
"Teacher Zephyr! Do not believe the one-sided, manipulative words of a pirate! He is intentionally shifting the focus to break your resolve!"
Zephyr did not respond to Sakazuki. He only looked at York calmly, his eyes heavy with years of duty, and replied in a deep, unwavering voice: "The Celestial Dragons are the World Nobles. Their authority is absolute."
"Hahahaha..."
York seemed to have just heard the most ridiculous, pathetic joke in the world and laughed loudly up at the dungeon ceiling.
"So... you are just going to unconditionally obey their every order?! Act as their obedient attack dogs for the rest of your life?!"
Zephyr remained stoically silent. Clearly, he could not logically understand why a powerhouse like York held such deep, unadulterated contempt for the very concept of the Celestial Dragons.
York laughed for a while. Seeing that Zephyr seemed to genuinely, unquestioningly accept the Celestial Dragons from the bottom of his heart—or perhaps instinctively felt that there was fundamentally no problem with a ruling class possessing absolute privileges—the amused smile on the Emperor's face gradually faded into cold steel.
York's expression returned to absolute seriousness. He stepped closer to the bars and asked Zephyr in a deep, piercing voice: "I ask you, Zephyr: Why are the Celestial Dragons allowed to enjoy such absolute privileges? Why are they legally allowed to keep humans as slaves? Why is it not illegal for them to slaughter innocent people at will in the streets? Where is the fundamental, legal basis for this so-called 'Justice'?"
"That is, of course, because..."
Zephyr instinctively opened his mouth to give a textbook answer, but the words suddenly caught and died in his throat.
He was stunned for a moment, his brow furrowing as he seemed to finally realize a terrifying blind spot. He had been heavily indoctrinated since childhood that the Celestial Dragons were the divine masters of this world and that they legitimately owned everything in it. But strangely, it seemed that no one in his entire life had ever actually logically explained why they were entitled to possess all of this.
Is it because the Celestial Dragons are the divine creators of the world?
Yes!!
Zephyr's eyes suddenly lit up with a flash of desperate realization. He answered York with conviction: "The Celestial Dragons are the direct descendants of the Creators of this world! They formed the World Government! They deserve to possess every privilege in this world as their divine right!"
York let out another harsh scoff.
He suddenly realized that Admiral Zephyr was truly, tragically naive to an extreme degree.
'No wonder he ended up so utterly miserable in the original timeline,' York thought coldly to himself. 'Not only did he lose his wife and children in his prime, suffer a severed arm in his old age, and have his beloved students slaughtered... but at over seventy years old, he was ruthlessly betrayed by the very Marines he had served his entire life, ultimately dying a pathetic death at the hands of his own disciple.'
As the ancient saying goes, there is something hateful about every pitiful person. While Zephyr was not inherently evil, his blind, unquestioning naivety was undeniably one of the major, fatal reasons for his eventual tragic fate.
So, York asked Zephyr another question, his voice dripping with venom.
"Assuming the Celestial Dragons really are the divine 'Creators'... then is it logically impossible for the creator to be killed by the very beings it created?"
Zephyr frowned. "Theoretically, we humans are all subjects created by the Celestial Dragons' system, so where would we even get the strength or ability to kill a Celestial Dragon?"
"But what is the actual reality of the sea?" A dark, playful smile hung on York's face. "Those arrogant Celestial Dragons who claim to be untouchable 'Creators' seem exceptionally, terrifyingly afraid of us pirates! They hide in Mary Geoise and summon Admirals the second they are threatened!"
York leaned in. "What is the reason for this fear, Zephyr, if they are truly gods?"
Zephyr completely stopped speaking, his jaw clenching.
In the next cell, Sakazuki opened his mouth to fiercely retort. But just like Zephyr before him, when the fiery words reached his lips, he suddenly didn't know how to speak them. The logic was an impenetrable wall.
York waited in the silence for a while. Seeing that neither of the proud Marines offered a response, he continued his verbal onslaught.
"There is absolutely no such thing as an innate, divine privilege!"
York's voice echoed through the dungeons. "I could accept that the Celestial Dragons have societal privileges, but the absolute premise must be that they have made massive, undeniable contributions to the world and to humanity! And the scope of any privilege should never include slaughtering people at will or treating other human beings as livestock!"
"Kings and nobles... are they inherently any better than the common man?!"
"The law must apply to everyone equally, or it isn't Justice at all! It's just oppression!"
"Why can't the Celestial Dragons be subject to the exact same laws as commoners when they commit horrific crimes?! Where are their grand contributions?! Where is the legal basis for their atrocities?! Do they magically become 'Creators' just by declaring it with their own arrogant mouths?!"
This specific set of egalitarian ideals—in York's previous life on Earth—if not known to every household, was at least understood as a basic, universal human right by almost everyone.
However, in this twisted, monarchical world of pirates, it was clearly highly heterodox and dangerously radical.
Even with Zephyr's wealth of life experience, under York's continuous, ruthless questioning and skepticism, the "Justice" he had always blindly adhered to could not help but begin to violently waver at its foundations.
Yeah... why? Why should the Celestial Dragons be born with such absolute, unchecked power to inflict suffering?
Zephyr was still only silently questioning himself internally, but Sakazuki in the next cell felt a massive, psychological shockwave hit his core.
Sakazuki had always violently pursued "Absolute Justice." Even if he had never spoken this extreme view of justice to anyone yet, the ruthless thoughts in his heart were already deep-rooted. In his early years as a recruit, it wasn't that he hadn't noticed or thought about the glaring problem of Celestial Dragons committing atrocities.
It was just that he couldn't find a realistic answer to the problem. Or rather, he knew the answer but didn't have the political power or courage to implement it, so he chose to willfully shelve it. He began to pursue a hypocritical view of justice where anyone other than the Celestial Dragons who committed a crime had to be thoroughly, brutally judged and executed.
However, right now, York had ruthlessly pierced through this fragile layer of paper with just a few logical words. He shattered the illusion entirely, changing the look in Sakazuki's eyes from previous, mindless, dogmatic hostility to something entirely different.
It was the kind of complex hostility that said: You make absolute sense, but we are still on opposing sides.
"Think about it very carefully, Zephyr!"
York stood up from the wooden stool, turning his back to the Admiral.
"If you are truly pursuing the 'Justice' of the innocent people... don't stay in the Marines and act as a mindless attack dog for the Celestial Dragons!"
"It's not that I must have your help to build my Empire," York said casually, looking over his shoulder. "I just don't want to see a warrior of your caliber meet a miserable, pathetic fate."
"The 'Justice' of the World Government is nothing more than the justice of slave owners! The Marines are just an army of loyal dogs raised by those slave owners to protect their property!"
"If a dog does not blindly obey the slave owner's orders, then it becomes entirely meaningless to the master! To put it more clearly, Zephyr: your moral compass is not the 'Justice' the World Government actually needs!"
"And the only end for a disobedient, moral dog... is to be butchered and served as meat on the slave owner's table!"
After delivering this devastating psychological blow, York raised his hand, releasing a swarm of ethereal Holy Light Tentacles that gently wrapped around Zephyr's body while the Admiral was still lost in profound, agonizing thought.
The overwhelming, comforting joy of sleep flooded into Zephyr's body once again, forcing him under to let his subconscious carefully process the revelations in his dreams.
Turning his head to look at the completely silent, wide-eyed Sakazuki, York deliberately did not use his abilities to make the young recruit fall into a deep sleep as well.
York's radical words had clearly left a massive, indelible impact on Sakazuki's worldview.
As York walked away, ascending the dungeon stairs, the corners of his lips curled up slightly into an amused smirk.
He was actually looking forward to seeing what would happen next.
If Sakazuki—under the relentless offensive of York's political theory—really started to pursue a truly absolute and thorough justice, eventually shouting the slogan that the Celestial Dragons must be subject to the exact same lethal laws as commoners when they commit crimes... how incredibly interesting would the Marine ranks become?
'If things play out right,' York thought, chuckling softly. 'This future Fleet Admiral might really start down a path of radical, bloody redemption, just like some of those online fanfictions I read in my previous life.'
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Give me powerstones.
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