Carnival City, a vibrant island in the first half of the Grand Line.
As its name suggested, this was an island of entertainment and pleasure.
The small assault ship slowly docked in the harbor. Finn's tall figure descended the gangplank.
He wasn't wearing his usual Marine Admiral attire.
Instead, Finn wore a floral shirt, beach shorts, and a pair of black sunglasses. He held a glass of juice in one hand, the straw between his lips, while a newspaper was tucked under his other arm.
He blended perfectly into this cheerful island, indistinguishable from the tourists coming and going around him.
The only thing that stood out was his height.
But even that wasn't particularly notable. After all, there were plenty of tourists on the island, and he wasn't the only tall one.
Following behind him was his secretary, Hina.
Hina wore a light yellow sundress, a large-brimmed sun hat over her long pink hair, and sunglasses. Unlike Finn, she didn't have juice in her hand. Instead, a half-burned cigarette dangled from her lips.
Originally, Gion was also going to vacation with Finn.
But plans couldn't keep up with changes. Just before departure, an important mission had come through the Intelligence Department, and Gion had been obligated to help her old friend, Chief of Staff Tsuru.
So in the end, it had worked out well for Hina, the little secretary, to enjoy a vacation with Finn instead.
They hadn't gone to the New World. After all, the New World was still in chaos. With Finn's identity, if he were recognized there, it would definitely cause another storm.
So after careful consideration, the two had decided to visit Carnival City for some fun.
"Has the Sea Train project finally been launched?" Finn said with some emotion, standing at the port and looking at the train station under construction not far away.
Several years ago, Smoker had already begun contacting Master Tom and had indeed obtained the Sea Train technology.
Originally, they'd wanted to deploy it in the Calm Belt, but that had been put on hold.
Because the Sea Train technology at the time wasn't particularly mature. It could only be said to have just achieved success.
The first generation of Sea Trains couldn't slow down at all. They just kept rushing forward.
At the same time, there were problems with the railroad track technology. It was difficult to lay them on the sea surface. Additionally, the sound waves couldn't be properly adjusted to drive away Sea Kings.
Later, Finn had assigned all these technical matters to Momonga, and he'd stopped paying much attention to them.
It seemed the Sea Train technology had matured now. If nothing unexpected had happened, Momonga had already started laying regular Sea Train routes in the Calm Belt, right?
Once a network of Sea Trains could be established within the Calm Belt, the entire development plan for the southern Calm Belt would be fully realized and mature.
"Admiral, do you want to experience it? I heard Water 7 has opened a train line to Spring Queen Island." Vergo said with a smile.
That's right. Vergo had also come on vacation with Finn.
Doflamingo was ready to completely surrender to Finn, so Vergo's identity no longer seemed particularly awkward.
If Doflamingo could truly clean up his act and bind himself firmly to the Marines through concrete actions, then Vergo wouldn't have to worry about his previous undercover identity at all. He could be a Marine officer in earnest.
Finn had previously asked him whether he planned to return to the Donquixote Family to help Doflamingo or stay in the Marines to continue working.
Vergo had thought about it for a moment and given a firm answer.
He wanted to continue in the Marines.
This had surprised Finn. He didn't know what was going on. Could it be that years of Marine service had actually activated this guy's "sense of justice"?
That was outrageous.
But since Vergo had made his choice, Finn had given him another opportunity.
He'd been transferred from the port dispatcher position and brought back to Finn's side.
After this vacation was over, he'd be sent out to serve as Doberman's deputy.
By the way, Doberman had been assigned by Finn to serve as G-5 Marine Base Commander.
Originally, Finn had planned to assign this position to Gion, but for various reasons, it had eventually fallen to Doberman.
It was no wonder. Doberman had done a pretty good job in G-5, the Marines' so-called garbage dump.
Doberman's career trajectory had been changed by Finn from the very beginning. As soon as he'd graduated from the officer training camp, he'd been recruited by Finn and made adjutant. Later, he'd presided over the labor reform program for Impel Down pirate prisoners in the Calm Belt. Following Finn closely, accepting Finn's ideas and teachings, he'd already become a die-hard Finn loyalist.
He'd also thrived in the G-5 garbage dump. After all, could these so-called "problem children" really be more brutal than the hundreds of thousands of prisoner laborers from Impel Down?
Impossible. In just over half a year, Doberman had completely brought G-5 under control.
What was lacking now was a competent deputy, and Vergo was the deputy Finn had prepared for Doberman.
"That's not necessary." Finn waved his hand dismissively.
Then he looked at the bustling Carnival City and smiled. "Experience the atmosphere here while you can. You may not be able to enjoy this kind of excitement in the future."
Hina was stunned for a moment after hearing this. "Admiral, is there a problem in Carnival City?"
"No." Finn said calmly.
"So what you're saying is Carnival City is going to be ruined." Hina rolled her eyes.
"Once our Gran Tesoro project launches, entertainment cities all over the world will be greatly affected, including Carnival City. This is inevitable. According to Tesoro's plan, Gran Tesoro will launch at the end of next year... That's why I had this thought." Finn said with some emotion.
Although Smoker had just opened a channel to Mary Geoise for the Gran Tesoro Project and obtained support from the Holy Land, in reality, preparations for this plan had already begun when Tesoro joined Smoker. Even construction of Gran Tesoro had been ongoing for a long time.
Therefore, according to the current schedule, Gran Tesoro would begin operations at the latest in early Sea Circle Calendar 1516.
At that point, Finn would have fully arranged all the components supporting the Marines' economy and military expenditures.
Chatting and laughing, the three of them walked into the port district.
Just as Finn bought a watermelon and was about to find a place to cut it up for everyone to share, the Den Den Mushi Hina was carrying rang.
"Admiral, it's Vice Admiral Yamakaji." Hina said after checking the transponder snail.
Finn chopped the watermelon in half with a single strike of his hand, beckoned Vergo to come eat, then raised his hand to take the Den Den Mushi. "Yamakaji? What's going on?"
"Something happened in the Science Unit again, Admiral." Yamakaji's gentle voice came through the transponder snail.
Is Borsalino having an unlucky year? Why is it that every internal problem the Marines have had lately always stems from this guy?
"What's wrong? Don't tell me Dr. Vegapunk was kidnapped?" Finn teased with a smile.
"There's been a leak of raw materials for weapons of mass destruction on Punk Hazard Island. Dr. Vegapunk has already evacuated urgently, but the entire island has been contaminated. It can basically be determined that it's been 'destroyed.'" Vice Admiral Yamakaji said helplessly.
He was a member of the Finn faction, but he worked in the Intelligence Department. This was normal. Factions were factions, and work departments were departments.
Because he worked in the Intelligence Department, Yamakaji was well-informed about much of the Marines' internal information.
"Punk Hazard is finished?" Finn said after a moment's pause.
"Yes, the losses are enormous. Another great scientist from the Science Unit, M. Caesar Clown, is the culprit of this incident. He was secretly researching a powerful weapon of mass destruction without Dr. Vegapunk's knowledge. The Punk Hazard incident was caused by the leakage of raw materials for his weapon. At the same time, he chose to defect immediately and actually took advantage of the chaos to escape from Punk Hazard." Vice Admiral Yamakaji reported.
Finn frowned slightly. He remembered that although Caesar had caused such a tragedy in the original timeline, he'd been captured by the Marines and was about to be sent to Impel Down for imprisonment.
In reality, that kind of imprisonment was just a way to save face. Caesar was a very valuable talent to both the Marines and Mary Geoise. It was impossible to truly sideline him because of one incident.
Serving a few years in prison was a way of giving everyone an explanation, and then he'd be reinstated soon enough.
But in the original story, he hadn't seemed to understand this truth. He'd been terrified and was kidnapped by Doflamingo on the way to Impel Down. Then he'd changed allegiance and followed Doflamingo.
Later, leveraging his achievements from the Science Unit, he'd secretly helped Doflamingo research new weapons and equipment, sold new munitions, and started a business in artificial Devil Fruits. He'd also conducted human gigantification experiments with Charlotte Linlin. Basically, he never did a single good thing.
But he'd actually escaped this time?
"What happened to Borsalino? Can't he catch Caesar?" Finn asked.
"When the incident occurred, Admiral Borsalino was attending a meeting at headquarters..." Yamakaji said somewhat awkwardly.
Finn laughed loudly upon hearing this. "Hahahaha! Borsalino's luck really is running out." After a brief pause, Finn asked, "What's headquarters' stance?"
"Specific measures haven't been announced yet, but it's estimated Admiral Borsalino is in trouble. Fleet Admiral Sengoku was very angry. During this morning's meeting, he severely reprimanded Admiral Borsalino." Yamakaji said.
"He's been too idle lately..." Finn complained.
But he also knew Borsalino really couldn't be blamed for this matter. The Science Unit was an extremely complex organization. Nominally, it was affiliated with Marine Headquarters, but in reality, all parties were involved. The CP agencies, Mary Geoise, and even some of the Seven Warlords had operations within it. Especially regarding some of the lead scientists, Borsalino had no real control at all.
It was precisely because of this complex structure that Fleet Admiral Sengoku had handed the science forces over to Borsalino, a shrewd veteran who could say one thing to one person and another to someone else.
But now something had happened. It obviously wasn't Borsalino's fault, but he could only step up and take the blame.
Really miserable.
"How severe were the losses?" Finn asked again.
"Several tens of thousands, probably." Vice Admiral Yamakaji said quietly.
"Several tens of thousands?" Finn was surprised. This meant tens of thousands of billions of berries.
"All of Punk Hazard is a scientific research island. Over the years, the Science Unit and Mary Geoise have invested enormous research funds into Punk Hazard. Not to mention this incident destroyed many research results, the cumulative cost of that high-end scientific research equipment and machinery alone is in the tens of thousands of billions." Vice Admiral Yamakaji explained quietly.
Finn slowly suppressed his shock. Scientific research equipment was incredibly expensive. Often a single, seemingly unassuming machine could cost hundreds of billions of berries. Punk Hazard had been operating for so many years as a scientific research island, and the investment was immeasurable... This was truly a staggering loss. Both the Marines and Mary Geoise would be heartbroken!
"Your Intelligence Department should keep close watch on Caesar. He's such a dangerous bastard, we can't afford to ignore him. We need to apprehend him as soon as possible," Finn said after a moment's thought.