Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In his spacious office, Sengoku was handling the mountain of documents piled on his desk. The busy work made him sweat profusely, and even the cute little white goat beside him was working nonstop, chewing on countless discarded papers, its mouth completely full.
Ever since "Steel Bone" Kong's battle with Redfield, he had been recuperating in the hospital, and all the matters within the Marines had fallen on Sengoku's shoulders.
As the only active Admiral, Sengoku was already busy with all sorts of important and trivial matters. Now, he was temporarily taking on most of the Fleet Admiral's duties, which meant that he had to handle all kinds of official and miscellaneous affairs, to the point where he was practically living in his office.
Fortunately, he had Tsuru, the Chief of Staff, to help him and take on a lot of the work; otherwise, he would have been completely overwhelmed.
Knock, knock, knock~
A knock on the door sounded. Sengoku looked up and saw a serious-looking man with a fashionable mohawk and his long, dark purple hair tied back in a topknot walk in.
"Momonga, what is it now?" Sengoku asked with a headache.
"The Jimmy Trading Company has filed a protest with the World Government, claiming that Cross of Branch G-2 ignored the law by breaking into the company's headquarters without solid evidence, arrested President Jimmy Myers's brother, Capo, and left him severely injured," Momonga said in a low voice.
"What exactly happened?" Sengoku frowned, confused. "Why would Cross break into the Jimmy Trading Company's headquarters and forcefully arrest Jimmy Capo?"
"It's about the substandard medical supplies case that happened at Branch G-2!" Momonga's eyes were cold and serious. "According to the Jimmy Trading Company's complaint, Cross considered Jimmy Capo the mastermind behind the substandard medical supplies case, but since he couldn't find any solid evidence, he used force to arrest Jimmy Capo. This is completely against the rules, so the Jimmy Trading Company is hoping that Marine Headquarters will release Jimmy Capo and severely punish Cross!"
Sengoku was a little angry, and he said with displeasure, "Arresting someone without evidence... How did Cross investigate the case? Did he fail to find the real culprit and just found a scapegoat to fool everyone? Wait, that's not right!"
He abruptly stopped speaking, then mumbled to himself, "If he just wanted to find a random person to blame, he wouldn't be foolish enough to provoke an influential company like the Jimmy Trading Company, especially since the one he arrested was the president's younger brother..."
"Has Branch G-2 sent any documents regarding the substandard medical supplies case?" Sengoku asked Momonga in a deep voice.
"A document from Branch G-2 arrived this morning. I've already put it on your desk. You probably didn't notice it because you were too busy!" Momonga said.
"Is that so? Let me look for it... Ah, found it. Let me take a look!" Sengoku lowered his head and began searching through the mountain of documents on his desk. He quickly found the document from Branch G-2 from that morning.
Sengoku opened the document and read its contents carefully while Momonga stood silently in the office, waiting.
The document detailed Cross's investigation into the logistics department of Branch G-2 as a patrol officer. It also mentioned the death of the former manager of the Jimmy Trading Company, who was found with eight bullet wounds in his back, which was ruled a suicide. It also contained Capo's confession after his arrest, in which he admitted to selling a large quantity of substandard medical supplies to Branch G-2.
In the document, Cross did not hide the gross negligence of the Branch G-2 logistics department, nor did he conceal the fact that he used force to arrest Capo without solid evidence.
"Hmph." After finishing, Sengoku's face was grim. He angrily cursed, "That damn leech! I think Cross was being lenient by just crippling his limbs!"
"You've already read this document, haven't you?" Sengoku asked.
"Yes. I read it before I brought it in this morning. But since Cross arrested him without solid evidence, Capo's confession alone is not enough to form a complete chain of evidence. If the Jimmy Trading Company and Capo retract their statements in court, they can claim that we tortured him to get the confession and framed him," Momonga said with a slight frown, feeling that the aftermath of this incident would be troublesome.
"That kid, Cross, is not stupid. What he found is likely the truth. However, as a high-ranking member of the Jimmy Trading Company, it's too easy for Capo to destroy evidence and kill witnesses, which is why Cross resorted to such extreme measures," Sengoku sneered.
As the man known as "The Strategist," Sengoku had long seen through the methods of the upper echelons of power—nothing more than coercion, bribery, and killing witnesses. Unfortunately, sometimes, you can see through it, but that doesn't mean you can find evidence; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many outlaws running free.
"So, what should we say in response to the Jimmy Trading Company and those World Government officials?" Momonga asked.
"Ignore them. Make a copy of this document and send it to Enies Lobby. Have them make a ruling, put Capo on trial, and then sentence him to be hanged!" Sengoku said decisively.
"If we handle it like this, the Jimmy Trading Company and those World Government officials probably won't let it go," Momonga said with a hint of hesitation.
"I said, ignore them!" Sengoku snorted, his voice full of anger. "Do they think that just because they destroyed the evidence and killed the witnesses, the Marines can't do anything about them? Nonsense! It was just Capo who did this. If the entire Jimmy Trading Company was involved, I would have fabricated the evidence and flattened the entire company!"
A week ago, the substandard medical supplies case occurred, but since Base Commander Borsalino was out on a confidential mission, Branch G-2 was without a leader. A few Rear Admirals jointly reported the matter to Marine Headquarters.
When "Steel Bone" Kong heard the news, he was furious and prepared to send a special prosecutor to Branch G-2 to investigate. However, before he could select a suitable candidate, his battle with Redfield happened, causing the matter to be put on hold and not handled in a timely manner.
Later, Borsalino returned to Marine Headquarters for his report and learned about the substandard medical supplies incident at Branch G-2. He also happened to run into Cross, who hadn't returned to Branch G-2 yet.
Borsalino also knew that Cross was about to be transferred back from the New World but was unwilling to serve as the base commander of the Sabaody Archipelago. So, Borsalino asked for him to serve as the patrol officer for Branch G-2, responsible for investigating the substandard medical supplies case, a matter Sengoku was aware of.
In truth, the investigation was simple: either the logistics personnel at Branch G-2 were corrupt, the supplier was using substandard goods, or both.
The only difficult parts were identifying the people involved and finding the evidence. It was something no one expected that Cross would just stop looking for evidence when he couldn't find it and, in a "I know you're the killer, but I have no evidence" scenario, use force to arrest him and coerce a confession.
Although the method was crude and did not comply with legal regulations, Sengoku still supported it. Why should the Marines be bound by their rules? When dealing with people like this, you have to use overwhelming force to let them know that their "rules" don't apply to the Marines. You have to let them know who's truly the unreasonable one! If you do the crime, don't be surprised when you have to face the consequences!
Hearing Sengoku's words, Momonga's expression became serious. He said earnestly, "In that case, I will handle it, Admiral Sengoku!"
"Good, I'll leave it to you!" Sengoku nodded and gave another order. "Also, effective today, all Marine branches and sub-branches, as well as their related institutions, are forbidden from any dealings or transactions with the Jimmy Trading Company! Those who violate this order will be court-martialed!"
"I can't control the World Government, but I can still speak for the Marines!"
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