"Alright,"Sengoku said, voice heavy. "You'll be stationed at Sabaody Archipelago, Area 62. Handle things however you want. As for personnel…"
His eyes shifted toward Kuro, Jango, and Ain.
"You take these three. And before you complain I'm stingy — I am giving you subordinates."
He leaned forward, brows furrowing.
"The previous base commander in Area 62 was dismissed for corruption. I don't want the next one to be you, Jin."
Jin smiled lazily.
"Come on, Sengoku. I've never embezzled anything."
"When you pillage pirates for so-called 'war spoils,' that's not exactly a moral high ground," Sengoku muttered. "Just go."
Jin shrugged. "Got it."
Gion escorted them out of the office and down toward the docks.
"Here we are," she said as they arrived at the entrance of the Area 62 Marine Base.
The bubbling soil and floating soap bubbles of the mangrove grove drifted upward around them — Sabaody's trademark scenery.
Kuro and Jango stared, wide-eyed at the strange forest-island.
Ain remained composed.
Jin didn't react at all, like he'd just stepped outside for a smoke.
"This is where I leave you," Gion said. She leaned closer to Jin, her voice lowering into a tease. "Don't forget about me, Jin. Or I might get upset."
The three behind them instantly looked away, all at once, suddenly fascinated by the sky, wall, and bubbles.
Jin scratched his cheek.
"Honestly? Pretending I'm not interested would be a lie."
"Oh?" Gion's eyes sparkled. "So what's stopping you?"
Jin sighed.
"Our paths are too different. Even if we start walking together, we'd never end up in the same place."
"Sure, sure," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "Believe your own excuses."
He waved a hand and stepped inside the base.
A young officer rushed over.
"Are you Rear Admiral Arakaki Jin?"
"That's me," Jin said. "Lead me to the office and explain the situation on the way."
The officer saluted. "Yes, sir! I'm Lieutenant Ryder. The previous base commander was removed for corruption. A number of personnel were dismissed with him. We currently have just over one hundred marines."
Ryder hesitated.
"And?" Jin prompted.
"Sir… because this base has had so many corrupt commanders, Headquarters gradually stopped supplying us properly. Our equipment is outdated… and our manpower… well…"
"So everyone here is leftovers?" Jin deadpanned.
Ryder wilted.
"You don't have to say it," Jin sighed. "I get the picture."
Inside the commander's office, Jin sat down in the primary seat.
"Kuro, paperwork is yours."
"I knew it," Kuro sighed, already accepting his fate.
"Ryder, you'll coordinate with him. I'll give you new duties later."
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
"Jango, Ain — you're in charge of training."
"Yes, sir!"
Jin placed several pairs of cuffs on the table.
"Seastone cuffs — ten, thirty, sixty, and ninety-nine percent purity," he said. "All Devil Fruit users will train with these on."
Jango gulped.
Kuro's eyebrow twitched.
Ain simply nodded.
They put them on one by one. The drain hit instantly.
Jango sagged like his soul had just escaped his body.
"Endure it," Jin said flatly. "If you don't build resistance now, you'll die later."
Kuro's knees almost buckled, but he clenched his jaw and stayed quiet.
Ain snapped on the thirty-percent pair. Her expression tightened, but she remained standing.
Ryder watched in stunned silence.
Right before that, Jin had casually handled all four sets of cuffs barehanded — no gloves, no twitch, no reaction.
Ryder didn't notice.
Kuro did.
Immune to sea-stone? Impossible. No one's immune.
So what was it? He'd followed Jin for years and never once seen him weakened by seawater or sea-stone.
Is his body just that monstrous…?
Jin caught his look and mentally rolled his eyes.
He didn't feel like explaining his… special case.
Over the next few days, he toured every inch of his new "domain."
"Domain" was generous.
The armory was full of old, rusty weapons. The few decent guns and blades they had were barely enough to outfit a platoon.
There were technically over a hundred marines on the roster.
In reality, more than twenty were injured or chronically unfit for combat.
The rest were undertrained, underfed, and soft.
When he counted the ones who could actually fight…
Ten. Maybe fifteen, if they don't trip over their own rifles.
If they marched out like this, pirates would die laughing.
Still, there were a few bright spots.
"One-two! One-two!"
Jango was already drilling a squad around the yard, his roar echoing under the mangrove roots.
Muscles you can fix, Jin thought. Garbage hearts, though…
The invalids he reassigned to clerical and logistics work.
The ones who could move, would move.
"Rear Admiral!" Ryder jogged up, saluting with more energy than before.
"We received a report — pirates are causing trouble at Grove 58, the coating workshop!"
Jin stood.
"Jango stays here with the rookies. Ain, Kuro, Ryder — you're with me."
"Yes, sir!"
Grove 58 – Coating Shipyard.
Gunpowder still lingered in the air.
"I'm the great Captain Firebrand!" a pirate with flame patterns on his coat bellowed, gun shoved against a worker's forehead. "A future ruler of the New World! Paying for coating? Hah!"
He cackled.
"You should thank me for choosing your shop!"
A pistol shot cracked.
A worker screamed, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
The captain pressed the barrel to the man's head.
"Afraid of the Marines? Please. The Area 62 Marines are famous for being cowards!"
Jin's voice drifted in, mild and bored.
"That reputation ends today."
A flick of his finger.
"Gale Shot."
Wind compressed into a bullet and snapped the pirate's pistol in half.
"Take them," Jin ordered. "Don't remove your sea-stone cuffs."
"Yes, sir!"
Kuro lunged with a predator's grin, claws flashing.
Ain became a whirlwind of twin blades, her sea-stone–dulled body moving on pure training and will.
Ryder hung back in the second line, rifle barking with precise, surgical shots.
The pirate crew collapsed in minutes.
"Captain's down! Run!" someone screamed.
"No survivors," Jin said calmly.
When the fighting ended, the shipyard was quiet except for ragged breathing and the groans of the dying.
Jin surveyed the pile of chests and crates.
"Same rule as always — forty percent to the squad, forty percent to me, the rest to the base."
"Rear Admiral, isn't that… improper?" Ryder asked timidly. "These should be turned over—"
Jin waved him off.
"Relax. I'm not selling government equipment or pocketing Marine funds. These are war spoils."
"If Marines risk their lives, they deserve compensation. If HQ has a problem, I'll take the heat."
Ryder swallowed and nodded.
Jin turned to the stunned coating workers.
"The pirates are dead. Their treasure is now Marine property," he said.
They flinched.
Jin jerked his chin toward the harbor.
"The ship itself is yours."
He walked away without looking back.
The workers stared, then their eyes lit up.
"Thank you, Marine-sama!"
They bowed deeply to his back.
Kuro jogged up, arms full of loot.
"One million in cash," he reported. "About another half in gems. And—"
He held out a small box.
Jin opened it and raised a brow.
A Devil Fruit. Zoan, Water Buffalo model.
"Not bad," he said. "See if anyone here fits it. Otherwise we sell it and split the cash."
He turned away.
"Move out."
"Yes, sir!"
Back at the base, he tossed the report on his desk.
"Pirates at Grove 58 are clear," Kuro said later. "We've logged the fruit. No obvious candidates yet."
"Good," Jin replied. "We'll decide later whether to sell it or hand it off."
Outside, marines were already cheering.
"Boss is awesome!"
"Long live the new CO!"
Jin sank into his chair and looked out the window.
The base that had been half-dead when he arrived was starting to look… alive.
"We'll do it like this from now on," he told Kuro.
"As long as I don't sell weapons or skim HQ funds, Sengoku won't care."
"All spoils from pirate hunts get split. They eat meat every day at Marineford. No reason we choke down scraps here."
"Yes, Boss," Kuro said. "Understood."
He left to scrub the blood off his uniform.
Only Ain was left in the office.
"Don't understand?" Jin asked when he felt her still standing there.
Ain nodded honestly.
"Yes, sir. It feels… different from the justice I've always been taught."
Jin snorted softly.
"'Justice'? What's that?"
"Stick close to me and figure it out yourself."
"Yes, sir. I'll be in your care… White-bro," Ain said, bowing before retreating, ears red.
Jin leaned back, eyes half-closed.
Justice. What a joke.
It's something they wave in front of rookies to fool them.
Only strength matters.
He opened his right hand.
Golden dragon scales shimmered briefly along his fingers as he took out a near-pure seastone cuff — ninety-nine percent.
He wrapped his fingers around it.
"Let's see if I'm right."
Crack.
The cuff snapped.
Jin smirked, looking at the fragments in his palm.
"Thought so."
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