Late at night in the North Blue office, two figures were still bustling about at their desks.
"Raleigh, this old man really can't keep going. Why don't you take over for now, and I'll come back tomorrow morning." Borsalino said weakly.
He usually slacked off, leaving these matters to his adjutant to organize before reporting the results to him.
Essentially, piles and bundles of documents, after being sorted by his adjutant, could be summarized in just over ten minutes, allowing him to obtain the information he needed.
Now, having to read everything word by word himself, Borsalino was truly struggling to keep going.
"Brother, I don't want to make things difficult for you either, but this concerns our own interests. I'm not comfortable leaving it to subordinates to handle."
Raleigh yawned while flipping through the documents in his hand.
He, too, was accustomed to slacking off.
But this time, the situation was different.
These confidential files stored in the North Blue could only be accessed by those with the rank of Rear Admiral or higher.
Neither Borsalino's adjutant nor Raleigh's adjutant, Cleveland, could participate in this matter.
All the documents had to be read word by word by Raleigh and Borsalino themselves.
"Sometimes, I really can't figure out what you're thinking. Clearly, these matters have nothing to do with you. Clearly, you're used to slacking off. So why have you suddenly become so diligent?"
Borsalino couldn't quite understand his younger brother.
From the time he first met him to their interactions in recent years, he had almost never seen Raleigh take something so seriously.
Raleigh lifted his head from a pile of documents, his expression turning serious.
"Normally, I slack off because I'm confident I can handle the situation. No matter what kind of enemy we face, I can deal with it."
"But this time, we're up against the World Government. Neither your strength nor mine can pose a threat to them. If we don't handle this matter properly, we might lose our status in the marines."
Raleigh certainly didn't want to lose the marine uniform he wore, and Borsalino felt the same way.
Both of them had worked hard for many years to reach their positions as officers in the marines.
Asking them to give up their status now would be worse than killing them outright.
No other identity on the high seas could compare to being in the marines.
High pay, low risk, and the freedom to slack off happily.
All they needed to do was learn how to maintain good relations with their superiors and head to the Grand Line to capture pirates.
It was practically the perfect job for slackers.
"Take a look at this record. I feel like there's something off about it."
Raleigh pulled out a document from the densely packed pile in front of him.
Gently pinching a corner of the document with his right hand, he tossed it onto the table in front of Borsalino.
Borsalino opened the aged file—it was a document from about 50 years ago.
It recorded an incident that had occurred in the North Blue back then.
Due to its involvement with the Celestial Dragons, the confidentiality level was quite high.
A marine officer, while serving in the North blue, had rescued a slave belonging to a Celestial Dragon.
The incident originated from the marine's former Fleet Admiral, who, during his tenure, implemented strict measures against pirates and severely cracked down on human trafficking pirate crews.
Due to the marine's intervention, very few slaves were sent to the human auction houses on Sabaody Archipelago.
Because of this, the Celestial Dragon nobles residing in the Holy Land Mariejois often chose to personally travel to the four seas to select their preferred slaves.
At that time, a young officer, unable to tolerate the situation, attacked the guards protecting the Celestial Dragon nobles and rescued the slave.
Afterward, the Celestial Dragon were furious and forcibly dismissed the marine officer from his position.
After Borsalino finished reading the document, Raleigh dug out a few more files from some corner.
Pointing at them, he said.
"Following this incident, there were several more cases where Celestial Dragons expressed dissatisfaction with marine officers across various regions.
Subsequently, the World Government held a meeting and replaced the still-serving Fleet Admiral with a moderate.
From then on, after this moderate Fleet Admiral took office, pirate forces around the world began to grow increasingly powerful.
Even toward the end of this moderate Fleet Admiral's term, the pirate forces gave rise to a pirate named Rocks.
The escalating strength of the pirate forces forced the World Government to reconsider its stance towards the marines. They began searching for hardliners among the admirals.
Thus, among the previous generation of marine admirals, the one known as 'Steel Bone' became the current marine Fleet Admiral."
Raleigh shared his analysis with Borsalino.
Borsalino opened his thermos, took a large gulp of hot goji berry water, and then said.
"No one can guess the World Government's intentions, but based on your analysis, after Fleet Admiral Kong's term ends, the next Fleet Admiral should be a moderate admiral."
Borsalino was somewhat puzzled.
In his impression, neither Sengoku, Garp, nor Zephyr could be considered moderates.
If he had to pick one, he thought Garp might be the moderate, since Garp had chased Roger for so many years yet repeatedly let him escape.
Raleigh didn't mention it, because since his transmigration, he could no longer be certain whether it would affect future events.
He was a very cautious person; unless something was absolutely certain, he wouldn't speak up even if he knew.
It was rather strange—most people in the marine assumed Zephyr was a moderate.
After all, Zephyr was known as the "Non-Killing Admiral," and his conduct in the marine seemed moderate.
But sometimes, the World Government's appointments aren't based on achievements or one's disposition toward pirates.
Because Sengoku, who employed ruthless methods and showed no mercy toward pirates and criminals, would be that moderate.
Even if Raleigh revealed this, many would find it hard to believe, as in their view, a moderate could never awaken Conqueror's Haki.
It could be said that the Conqueror's Haki possessed by Sengoku was the strongest evidence against him being a moderate.
Only Raleigh knew that this hardline hawkish leader would so obediently follow the World Government's orders.
Moreover, Raleigh didn't believe that Sengoku, later known as the "Resourceful General," would fail to see through the World Government's intentions.
After the Rocks Pirates were defeated by Garp and Roger, Sengoku unusually did not strongly recommend leading troops into the New World himself.
In fact, that was the best time for the marines to advance into the New World.
A dominant figure had fallen, and his crew's several commanders had not yet fully developed.
With so much territory in the New World that could serve as outposts for the marines, establishing more branches along the Grand Line was certainly achievable.
But then something bizarre occurred.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator