Outside the auction house, the smoke of chaos had not yet dissipated.
Kain was squatting on the ground, holding a piece of high-grade silk, slowly wiping a smear of blood off his leather shoes. Beside him, Borsalino was holding a small notebook, conducting a friendly post-war liquidation with the auction house owner, who was pale with fright.
"Borsalino, did you include my clothes? This is my first uniform, and I've worn it for so long that I've grown attached to it. Now that it's stained with blood, it won't wash clean, so this bill needs to be counted as mental distress compensation."
Kain spoke without looking up, his tone matter-of-fact.
"Yeah~ It's already been added, Brother Kain."
Borsalino pushed up his sunglasses and pursed his lips, looking at the numbers on his calculator: "Adding in warship wear and tear, ammunition consumption, and the appearance fees for several of our Marineford elites... the boss says he's willing to sponsor Marineford with 30,000,000 Berries~"
"30,000,000?"
Kain stopped wiping his shoes and slowly stood up, casually tossing the blood-stained silk onto the trembling owner's face. He flashed a brilliant smile: "Boss, I saw several fish that slipped through the net running toward your underground vault just now. For the sake of your property's safety, I think it's necessary for me to conduct a carpet search in the vault."
The owner's legs went weak, and he almost knelt: "No! No need! 50,000,000! I'll go get the cash right now! Please don't go in to search!"
"Oh, that's so embarrassing, making us look like bandits." Kain patted the owner's shoulder with satisfaction, "Hurry up, I'm in a rush."
Just then.
BOOM—!!!
A terrifying aura, like an erupting volcano, instantly enveloped the entire street. Heavy footsteps rang out, each one sounding like it was stepping on everyone's heartbeats: Thump, thump, thump.
Zephyr wore his coat of justice, and his resolute face was now filled with thunderous rage. He strode forward, and the Marine soldiers behind him were all as quiet as cicadas in winter, not even daring to lift their heads.
Zephyr walked to the edge of the 10 meter wide crater, glanced at the pile of flesh at the bottom that no longer looked like Galdo, then looked at the severed limbs scattered on the ground, and finally locked his gaze onto Kain. In that instant, Kain felt like he was being stared down by an ancient tyrannosaurus.
"KAIN!!!"
A roar erupted, sound waves rolling, causing even the masts of the warships anchored in the harbor to tremble.
"Is this the justice I taught you?!"
Zephyr pointed at the bottom of the pit, his finger nearly poking Kain's nose, veins bulging on his forehead: "A Devil Fruit user! If sent to Impel Down, it would be permanent imprisonment! Now that he's killed, that fruit will be reborn elsewhere after a while and eaten by a new villain to cause chaos! I have taught this countless times in class!!"
Facing this overwhelming pressure, Kain appeared exceptionally calm. He straightened his slightly crooked tie, stood at attention, and gave a standard military salute.
"Teacher, let me explain."
Kain sighed and pointed at the bottom of the pit: "This really was an accident. The situation was extremely critical at the time, and this guy threatened to break the support pillars and take everyone down with him. To protect the hostages, I was in a hurry, and the force of my strike was just a tiny bit too much."
"A tiny bit?" Zephyr laughed from pure anger, pointing at the torn corpses around them, "Then what about these people? Was that a slip of the hand too?"
"They were... resisting arrest."
Without changing his expression, Kain spoke nonsense with a straight face: "And the floor of this auction house was waxed so slippery that they couldn't stand steady and insisted on throwing their necks against my Finger Pistol. I'm quite helpless about it too."
"You bastard! Do you take me for a three-year-old child?!"
Zephyr finally reached the end of his patience.
BOOM!
Zephyr's right arm was instantly covered in pitch-black Armament Haki as he smashed it down toward Kain's head! This time, Zephyr was truly enraged. If he didn't give this brat a profound lesson, he would fall into darkness sooner or later!
The strong wind hit his face, making Kain's cheeks sting. But he didn't dodge. Just as Zephyr's fist was 10 centimeters from the tip of Kain's nose, a fist of rolling magma thrust in, forcefully blocking Zephyr's path.
BANG!!!
Air currents surged, and the surrounding glass windows shattered instantly. Zephyr's pupils shrank. Looking at the person blocking him, a look of bewilderment appeared on his face for the first time.
"Sakazuki? You're going to stop me?"
Normally, Sakazuki would be the first person to stand up and criticize Kain for violating discipline. But now, he was actually standing in the way?
Sakazuki maintained his blocking posture, his cap pulled low, hiding his expression, but the heat radiating from him was more intense than ever before.
"Teacher Zephyr."
Sakazuki slowly raised his head. His eyes no longer held their usual irritability; instead, they were filled with a chilling calm and fanaticism.
"Kain's methods may be radical, but he is not wrong. That pirate had countless lives on his hands. If he's allowed to go to prison alive, what about the civilians who died? Where is the deterrent power of justice?"
Zephyr was stunned. He looked at his prized disciple as if he were seeing him for the first time.
"Do you know what you're saying, Sakazuki?! We are upholding justice, not acting as bloodthirsty executioners!"
"The evil that justice cannot handle, we will handle!" Sakazuki's voice was low, each word hitting Zephyr's heart. "Rather than letting evil linger on in Impel Down, it's better to let them be annihilated right here. This is... Absolute Justice."
Zephyr opened his mouth, looking at that resolute face, momentarily speechless.
"Ara ara... although I also think the scene is a bit unsightly."
A lazy voice sounded. Kuzan scratched his curly hair and walked over slowly, standing to Kain's left. He looked at Zephyr and shrugged: "But the result is zero hostage casualties. Teacher, the process may be crude, but the efficiency is indeed very high."
"Yeah~ Such scary killing intent, Teacher."
Golden light condensed. Borsalino appeared to Kain's right with his hands in his pockets, his mouth twisted as he spoke: "If we hadn't acted, those explosives would have gone off. Brother Kain was also thinking of the big picture~"
Under the sunlight, Kain stood in the center, still wearing that punchable smile. Sakazuki was at the front left, magma rolling. Kuzan was at the back left, chilling air frosty. Borsalino was on the right, golden light flashing.
The future Three Admirals stood beside Kain all at once for the first time, forming a solid wall. Watching this scene, Zephyr's heart twitched violently. He took a deep breath, looking at these four geniuses.
One was a liar who spoke nothing but nonsense. One was a fanatical radical. One was a slacker who only wanted to fish for leisure. One was a lazy bum who hated trouble.
Is this the future of the Navy? Is this the damn elite class I raised?!
Zephyr suddenly felt very tired. That sense of powerlessness was more exhausting than fighting a battle with Roger back in the day. His justice, in the end, had failed to be passed on to these monsters. They had grown up, grown their own fangs, and were ready to use them to tear apart this chaotic world.
"Good, good, good... you've all grown capable."
After a long time, Zephyr slowly withdrew his fist, the Haki on his body dissipating. In this instant, the Admiral Who Does Not Kill seemed to age 10 years. His gaze swept over these four young and defiant faces with complexity, finally settling on Kain's face.
"Your wings have hardened; I can no longer teach you."
Zephyr turned around, his coat of justice fluttering in the sea breeze. His back looked a bit lonely, yet carried a trace of relief.
"All units! Withdraw and return to headquarters! Since you're so opinionated, don't stay in the training camp and corrupt the other New Recruits! I will apply to Fleet Admiral Kong to have you bastards... all get out!"
Looking at Zephyr's departing back, the smile on Kain's face gradually became more genuine.
It worked. Not only did he fool Sakazuki, but he also directly catalyzed the early debut of the Monster Generation.
And... [Ding! Successfully sowed discord between teacher and disciples, causing Zephyr's convictions to waver! Ding! Facilitated the preliminary formation of the Marine F4 rogue group, severely distorting the future Three Admirals' style! Subversion level extremely high, calculating discipline points... A bumper harvest! +15,000 points! Current discipline points balance: 45,500 points.]
This was a huge sum of money; he was getting closer and closer to the lucky draw. Kain suppressed the urge to laugh out loud, turned around, patted Sakazuki's shoulder, and said earnestly:
"Great job, Sakazuki. It seems you've also understood the true essence of Justice."
Sakazuki disdainfully swatted Kain's hand away and snorted coldly: "Shut up. I was only stating facts."
"Hey, don't be so heartless."
Kain leaned in, rubbed his fingers together, and lowered his voice: "That... it seems the boss has already brought over that 50,000,000. Although I'm taking the lion's share, since you also helped out, I can reluctantly give you 10 percent to support the renovation of your future branch."
Sakazuki stopped in his tracks, veins throbbing on his forehead: "Get lost!!"
"20 percent? I can't give any more!"
"I told you to get lost!!"
----------------
You can read advanced chapters here: patreon.com/GregariousLion