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"So, what about the previous batch of slaves..." Phoenix Palace asked tentatively.

Upon hearing this, Saint Charmaco finally remembered that he had recently acquired a batch of slaves.

"You're still thinking about those slaves?" Saint Charmaco frowned. He remembered what his niece had been obsessed with last time—a...male corpse.

"I will take this batch of slaves to the market to sell, and then I will give you a batch that is easier to obtain."

Phoenix Palace then took her leave, but after she left, her gaze was somewhat deep and thoughtful.

During this time, she had already discovered the matter of the missing Marine Admiral after the Buster Call incident in Water 7.

"The Admiral Akainu described in the documents is a stubborn and steadfast hawk."

How can someone as stubborn as him be changed?

"The opportunity has arrived; let's see if he can seize it."

Phoenix Palace didn't care much about Marine Admirals or Celestial Dragons; she just did it casually.

........................

Night falls.

Even under the cover of night, the Sabaody Archipelago remains bustling with activity.

The Celestial Dragon Charl Marco Saint rode atop a tall fish-man slave, strolling through the streets, while dog leashes on his hands were connected to the collars of several other slaves, who were being led around.

The black-suited agents followed him expressionlessly, step by step.

suddenly.

As the night deepened, a commotion arose, accompanied by hurried footsteps. It seemed a disturbance was brewing somewhere in the Sabaody Archipelago.

Meanwhile, the Celestial Dragons and their CP agents were distracted.

Akainu, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly sprang up. He slammed into the stomach of the CP agent next to Charles Marco Saint, and at the same time snatched a bunch of keys from the CP agent's waist.

The sudden impact caused the CP agent to instinctively arch his back, and also caused the Charmaco Saint to be pulled off the back of the merman slave.

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Under the shackles of the Seastone, Shiki only had the strength to cut off his own legs, while Akainu was only capable of putting up a fight.

He had rehearsed this scene countless times in his mind, and his movements were swift and fluid.

By the time the crowd on the street gasped in surprise, the stone shackles on his hands had been removed and fell to the ground with a clang.

He raised his head, his expression quickly turning cold, the numbness of a slave that had been there before vanishing completely.

"You dare---" The CP agent quickly reached for the pistol at his waist.

With the double protection of the sea stone shackles and the explosive collar, there had never been a precedent of a slave breaking free... Their reaction was also a little slow.

Akainu casually removed the collar from his neck, and his Armament Haki subtly destroyed the inside of the collar.

boom!

The violent explosion blasted the CP agents away, scattering keys all over the ground, and Akainu was nowhere to be found.

..............

"What? The Celestial Dragons' slaves have escaped?"

"Let's keep it a secret for now. It would be bad if Lieutenant General Garp found out. We have other military business on this trip."

"This is not our responsibility."

In the alley.

Akainu, completely shrouded in a robe, coldly watched as the Marines who had come to the street upon hearing the news scattered again.

Only after they left did Akainu lift his robe.

Aside from the whip and knife wounds, the most striking feature is the dragon hoof pattern on his left chest and his overall righteous aura.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his instinct to become an elemental being, and with his fingers forming a spear, he pierced his own chest, forcefully digging out all the flesh and blood around the pattern.

Blood flowed down, staining his robes red.

This wound is already deep, and now it's only getting worse. Doing this might not be a very wise choice.

But he's not a robot that's always rational.

The moment he escaped, he removed all the markings from his body. It was as if doing so would cover up this dark past and allow him to return to his former glory as a general.

Akainu took a few deep breaths and walked into the night.

Elsewhere in the night, a large, obese bat swept across the sky, and the high walls of the slave auction house collapsed with a crash, from which slaves of all shapes and sizes fled, amidst a cacophony of noise.

This scene slightly surprised Akainu, who had also just escaped from slavery.

This is a strange man in a tight-fitting suit who is overweight and doesn't have a particularly strong aura.

The black, tight-fitting night suit didn't give him any sense of mystery; instead, it looked somewhat inexplicably comical, like a Thai guy's low-budget cosplay had wandered onto the street and was now seriously acting out a superhero drama.

............

"JOKER, you're too arrogant. Only the weak need to weigh things up..."

"And I... want them all!"

The sudden burst of Conqueror's Haki caused the floor to collapse, instantly stunning Gladius. The shockwave also radiated outwards, stunning Charmaco Saint, who appeared in front of Akainu, once again.

"I want them all...is that the choice?" Akainu was slightly dazed.

During the Olaha incident in his youth, he was still Lieutenant General Sakazuki.

The order to slay the demon was issued by the then-naval admiral Sengoku.

The three lieutenant generals who carried out the orders all made their own choices.

Vice Admiral Saul of the Giants brazenly defected and resisted the Navy.

Akainu chose to bombard the refugee ship that might be hiding Robin, resulting in the deaths of all the civilians on the island who were seeking refuge.

After witnessing Akainu give the order to fire, Aokiji froze his friend Saul and released Robin.

In this operation, Akainu's actions went far beyond simply obeying orders.

The Buster Call targeted the scholars of Ohara and the Tree of Knowledge; otherwise, there would have been no need for something as redundant as the Refuge Ship.

Sengoku, who was not present at the scene, did not order him to bombard the refugee ships; it was a choice he made himself while on the scene.

True justice means eradicating evil completely.

We will not overlook any possibility of evil hiding, and regardless of whether there are civilians or deserters in front of us, they are all targets that can be sacrificed for the greater good.

only....

When a naval admiral is reduced to a slave worse than a commoner, becoming just another bargaining chip on the scales of justice, can he still remain a high and mighty judge?

By the time Akainu came to his senses...

The Bat King's enormous figure had already appeared before them, and he had forced back all the CP0 agents who were chasing him.

"You're a pirate, aren't you?" Akainu lowered his head, his face hidden in the shadow of his hood. "I'm a Marine."

Bat King's voice was equally deep: "There are no marines or pirates here, only liberators and the oppressed."

............

More than a month later.

On Scarborough Island in the New World, the Mountain Bandit King shattered the void and became a legend.

On that day, treasure maps from Anotherpiece flew around like snowflakes, resembling a grand funeral.

Some say he died in battle, and the bandit group fell apart from that point on.

Some say he has simply left and will return one day.

Following the Shattered Void incident, waves of important figures flocked to this thriving commercial island, attempting to uncover the so-called mysteries of the Shattered Void.

Several days after the Void Shattering Incident, on Scarborough Island, a tall and imposing figure, about three meters tall, was shrouded in a robe. The robe could not conceal his robust physique, which resembled a silent volcano.

“Sieg is gone, but this era has not become any better…” he murmured.

Akainu held a treasure map in his hand, looking directly at Monkey D. Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, who was facing a formidable enemy.

"What business does the missing admiral have with our revolutionary army after two months of absence?" Long asked in a low voice.

In this era, the Revolutionary Army does not yet possess the power to overturn the table and can only quietly lie dormant behind the scenes. The Revolutionary Army's direct opponents are the World Government and CP0, not the Navy.

"Just out of curiosity," Akainu said in a low voice.

He raised his head and gazed at the distant horizon where the sea met the sky, where the red earth continent was faintly visible.

This is a vast, red continent, reaching the clouds above and the sea below, stretching to the horizon on both sides.

From another perspective, the Red Earth is also an incredibly vast mountain range.

The admirals of the navy each have their own sense of justice.

Akainu's justice, on the other hand, is the so-called "complete justice," which is to uphold justice to the very end and eradicate evil completely.

In order to achieve complete justice, he can kill innocent civilians or deserters with wavering will without hesitation!

only....

Akainu has been a Marine for decades.

He certainly couldn't be unaware of the existence of Celestial Dragons and slaves.

"If we turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by the Celestial Dragons, we call it putting the greater good first. But we strike hard against the weaker pirates, civilians, and deserters."

"Is this kind of justice genuine justice, or justice that bullies the weak and fears the strong?"

Akainu's fingertips turned a fiery dark red as he lit a cigar and put it in his mouth.

Thorough justice, eradicating evil completely.

For his sense of justice to be put into practice, there is still a vast and despair-inducing mountain ahead of him...

'As long as the Celestial Dragons are above us, there will never be true justice!'

'The very existence of the Celestial Dragons and the World Government is the greatest trampling of justice!'

Akainu's rage burned like a raging fire, and his aura grew increasingly dangerous, yet his face remained impassive.

His past experience has made him more patient and tolerant than ever before.