This was Diarmuid's first time entering the New World.
To be honest, he never expected to come here so soon.
With his current strength, he might survive in the first half of the Grand Line.
But in the New World—the paradise of monsters—
He was nothing more than a small fry.
The Marine fleet moved quickly.
The ships led by Sengoku didn't need to coat themselves and pass through Fish-Man Island.
Instead, they sailed from Marineford to the Holy Land Mariejois.
There they switched ships and departed again from the New World side of the Red Line.
Soon, they entered the New World.
On the deck of the warship, Borsalino was chatting casually with Diarmuid.
Before this, Diarmuid hadn't been very familiar with him.
If given the choice, he would have preferred hanging out with Kuzan.
Unfortunately, Kuzan and Vice Admiral Garp were on Tsuru's ship.
Sengoku's fleet only had Borsalino and Sakazuki.
And Sakazuki hadn't even come out of his cabin since they entered the New World.
Even when they crossed paths earlier, he looked completely unapproachable.
Despite having the fiery Magma Fruit, his aura felt even colder than Kuzan's.
Still, Diarmuid didn't resent him for it.
After all—
If he were Sakazuki, he probably wouldn't bother talking to some random junior Marine either.
"So the Marines barely control the New World," Diarmuid asked curiously.
"If that's the case, why haven't the World Government's allied nations here withdrawn from the alliance?"
He was discussing the New World with Borsalino.
Although they hadn't been familiar before, after spending some time talking, Diarmuid realized something.
Borsalino was actually very easygoing.
He didn't put on airs.
He wasn't arrogant about his strength.
And he had a surprisingly entertaining sense of humor.
Sometimes he was even more interesting than Kuzan.
Diarmuid himself was good at adapting to people.
Combined with his perspective from another world, his conversation style fit Borsalino's taste quite well.
Originally Borsalino had only been curious about him because of Sengoku.
But now—
He genuinely enjoyed chatting with Diarmuid.
Borsalino's concept of justice was extremely vague.
In fact, no one could really understand how he defined justice.
And Diarmuid?
He hadn't even found his own sense of justice yet.
In that sense, they had no ideological conflict.
Diarmuid openly admitted he wanted greater strength, higher status, and more power.
Borsalino didn't find that strange at all.
"Because they have no other choice," Borsalino replied calmly.
After a brief pause, he continued.
"Actually, many allied nations in the New World accept protection from powerful pirates to some degree."
"The World Government mostly turns a blind eye to it."
"The Marines don't bother interfering either."
"But in the end, you need to understand something, Diarmuid."
"The New World's allied nations will never truly unite with pirates the same way they do with the World Government."
"Because of justice and evil?" Diarmuid asked.
Borsalino chuckled.
His face always looked slightly sleazy when he smiled, even if he didn't mean anything by it.
After laughing, he shook his head.
"Justice and evil aren't that easy to distinguish."
"And many things in this world…"
"aren't actually defined by justice or evil at all."
Diarmuid nodded.
He understood that much.
He wasn't naive enough to see the world in simple black and white.
"Well," Borsalino continued thoughtfully,
"what I'm about to say is just my personal opinion."
"Take it as idle conversation."
He himself hadn't fully figured out these things either.
At this point he hadn't yet moved toward the Marine neutral faction.
"In my view…"
"Justice and evil aren't the essence of things."
"They're just decorations applied to one's position."
"If I had to define it differently…"
"I'd call it order and chaos."
"Like I said earlier—New World allied nations can never truly unite with pirates."
"Because those nations represent order."
"Pirates represent chaos."
"So no matter how much the World Government's control over the New World declines…"
"Those nations will never completely rely on pirates."
"They need a powerful force of order as their backing."
"And we…"
"…are that order."
As he spoke, Borsalino seemed to be thinking through his own words as well.
Diarmuid looked at him with surprise.
He hadn't expected such a thoughtful perspective.
Yet hearing it—
He suddenly understood something about Borsalino's future stance.
His "unclear justice" wasn't the absence of justice.
Rather—
He simply valued order more than justice.
As long as the order he wanted to preserve remained intact, many things simply didn't matter to him.
Of course, this was only Diarmuid's guess.
Still—
He found himself agreeing with Borsalino's words.
Justice and evil were merely decorations of perspective.
Order and chaos were the real foundation.
Seeing Diarmuid lost in thought, Borsalino smiled.
"Maybe it's too early to talk about this with you."
"To understand the world…"
"You really need to experience it yourself."
"Maybe," Diarmuid nodded.
Then he grinned.
"But Vice Admiral Borsalino…"
"What you just said isn't exactly something a Marine should say."
"Hehe," Borsalino chuckled strangely.
"Is that so?"
"I'll keep it a secret," Diarmuid joked.
Borsalino didn't really care whether his words were inappropriate.
Still, he smiled and nodded.
"Well then…"
"Thank you, Major."
After changing the subject, Diarmuid asked,
"So when exactly did the Marines—or the World Government—lose control of the New World?"
Borsalino shrugged.
"That's a long story."
"In fact, over the past eight hundred years, the World Government has never truly controlled the New World."
"The balance between justice and evil has always risen and fallen on the seas."
"So it's not the first time we've lost control here."
"There's nothing surprising about it."
Diarmuid nodded seriously. That was indeed the case. The Marines had lost control of the New World before, so the current situation wasn't truly disastrous. If anything, it meant the Marines already had experience dealing with it, which was why they weren't overly anxious.
"About ten years ago… maybe closer to twenty," Borsalino suddenly said.
Diarmuid turned to look at him.
Borsalino continued, "I hadn't joined the Marines yet at the time, so I don't know every detail. But judging from the current situation, the decline of Marine control over the New World began around then… and it's continued ever since."
A flash of realization crossed Diarmuid's eyes.
"The legendary Rocks Pirates?"
Borsalino laughed.
"You really know quite a lot, kid. That's right—the Rocks Pirates."
"The rise of that powerful crew completely shattered our Marine strategic deployment in the New World. The relatively stable order that existed here collapsed soon after."
"Even though the Rocks Pirates themselves were destroyed during the God Valley Incident, their former members…"
"…none of them were easy to deal with."
"And after they went their separate ways, they actually became even more dangerous."
"That madness forced Marine forces in the New World to shrink drastically—until we ended up in today's situation."
"I see," Diarmuid said thoughtfully.
"That more or less matches what I guessed."
A moment later, another thought clicked in his mind.
"In that case… this mission really is extremely important for the Marines, isn't it?"
"Of course," Borsalino replied, nodding approvingly. He seemed to appreciate Diarmuid's quick understanding.
"Whether it's Admiral Sengoku or Fleet Admiral Kong, the Marines as a whole hope to regain control of the New World."
"That's been our goal for more than ten years now."
"And this…"
"…might be the perfect opportunity."
"The Roger Pirates are small in number, but every member is elite."
"Meanwhile Golden Lion Shiki commands the most powerful pirate force currently in the New World."
"If those two sides clash, it definitely won't end quickly or easily."
"If we arrive in time and wipe them out in one move…"
"…it would deal a massive blow to pirate forces across the New World."
Borsalino paused for a moment.
Diarmuid immediately finished the thought.
"And that would allow the Marines to turn the tide of momentum…"
"…and sound the horn for a full counterattack into the New World?"
"You're absolutely right," Borsalino said with satisfaction.
At that moment, a Marine colonel approached and saluted.
"Vice Admiral Borsalino, Admiral Sengoku requests your presence in the command room for an urgent meeting."
Borsalino nodded.
"I understand."
Then he glanced at Diarmuid, thought for a moment, and said,
"You should come too, Major Diarmuid."
Diarmuid was briefly stunned, but quickly responded seriously.
"Yes, Vice Admiral."
Normally, he had no qualifications whatsoever to participate in a meeting of this level.
But it was obvious that Sengoku intended to take care of him.
And Borsalino had already grown somewhat familiar with him.
Pulling a small favor behind the scenes like this was hardly a problem—as long as no one made a fuss.
And on Sengoku's ship, who would dare cause trouble?
Of course, Diarmuid understood perfectly well that Borsalino wasn't expecting him to provide brilliant strategies.
Most likely, he simply wanted him to experience the atmosphere of Marine high command early.
Still…
Diarmuid silently remembered this favor.
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