The news that Rengoku, the hero who stopped the Buster Call, had returned to Marine Headquarters spread quickly.
Vivi, upon hearing it, immediately ran all the way to his office.
But no matter how much she knocked on the door, there was no response.
"Did he go straight to make his report…?"
As Vivi wondered, several high-ranking officers suddenly came rushing past, visibly flustered.
"Justice!"
They ignored Vivi's salute. Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, and even a number of Commodores were sprinting in haste. Each of them was a pillar of the Marines, yet here they were, all with anxious expressions, running together toward some unknown place.
Curious and unsettled, Vivi decided to follow.
The place they arrived at was none other than the underground training hall—the same place where Rengoku had once put 3,000 marines through hellish special training. Normally, aside from that occasion, the hall was rarely used. Yet today, it was overflowing with people.
"What are you doing, Vice Admiral Rengoku!"
"Have you lost your mind? Stop this at once!"
"Vice Admiral, why are you doing this?!"
Even men who held ranks above most could only shout in panic, trying to stop him.
Pushing her way through the crowd, Vivi's eyes widened when she finally saw what was happening.
"Vice Admiral… Rengoku?!"
There he was, kneeling at the very center.
His long hair had been swept back and tied into a single ponytail. He wore only white trousers, leaving his upper body completely bare, the word "Justice" emblazoned across his marine coat draped over his shoulders.
Rengoku knelt upright, posture rigid, before a small ceremonial table. Upon it rested a sake bottle, two cups, a simple spread of food—and three blades.
One was his demon blade, Enrin Kitetsu.
Another, one of the twenty-one Ō Wazamono, the eternal black blade Shusui.
And lastly… a dagger without a guard.
"Vice Admiral!"
Vivi cried out instinctively.
Anyone could see this was gravely serious.
But she hadn't realized—her presence would become the spark.
The moment Rengoku saw Vivi before him, he bowed his head low.
BAM!
His forehead struck the marble floor with such force that the stone cracked into pieces. He hadn't used Tekkai or Haki—this was raw, unrestrained.
"I am ashamed before you, Vivi!"
"Why are you doing this?!"
Even as Vivi tried to pull him up, Rengoku refused to lift his head. His voice thundered through the hall.
"Five years ago, during the Smuggling Island operation, I knew of Nico Robin's existence—and I did not arrest her! One year later, she joined Baroque Works, scheming to overthrow your homeland, the Kingdom of Alabasta, inciting civil war and bringing untold suffering! The only reason she could do so… was because I, in violation of the law, spared her!"
"And just seven days ago, during the Enies Lobby incident, I was given yet another chance to capture Nico Robin! Yet I let her go once more! To overlook her crimes not once, but twice—this is a great sin!"
"But instead of punishment, the World Government and Marine Headquarters gave me nothing! No censure, no sentence! Even if the upper echelons had their reasons, this is nothing but an insult to me—and a desecration of the 132,505 innocent Alabastan citizens who lost their lives!"
'The only reason they treat a criminal like me with such leniency… is because of my strength! Where is Justice in that?! Where is Fairness?! The guilt that gnaws at me day and night is beyond words! This lenient indulgence is shameful!"
"What Vice Admiral? What future Admiral? I am nothing but a sinner who broke the law and escaped punishment! I no longer have the face to stand before you!"
Having finished his plea, Rengoku slowly raised his head.
Vivi saw blood streaming from the gash on Rengoku's forehead. The bleeding was severe, trickling down the contours of his face and dripping onto the Marine coat laid beneath him.
Without hesitation, Rengoku reached for the sake bottle before him and filled both cups to the brim. Lifting one cup, he drank in measured sips—two swallows per cup, four in total.
Clack.
He set the empty cups down, then grasped the dagger with his left hand, slowly drawing the blade free. The naked steel gleamed with a deadly, merciless light.
Facing the gathered admirals and officers, Rengoku spoke his parting words.
"I am grateful to all of you who have stood with the Marines until now. So long as you remain, the justice of the Navy shall never fall. I entrust the peace of this world to your care!"
Then came his final testament.
"When I die, cast Enrin Kitetsu into the sea. As for Shusui, deliver it to Captain Tashigi—she has true affection for swords, and will not let it go to waste!"
With that, he placed his right hand over his left and began to drive the blade toward his own abdomen.
Thwack!
Vivi, tears streaming down her face, seized both his hands with all her strength and cried out:
"No! I will not allow this! As Princess of Alabasta, I cannot permit you to die like this! If you feel shame, then live! Live and devote yourself to this world that still needs your strength! Live for the Justice that upholds this world! Please—you must not die! You cannot!"
Her plea was no mere protest; it was a desperate, broken wail.
"Please… I beg you, do not end your life like this…"
"Lieutenant Vivi…"
The underground hall fell silent.
At her words, the iron resolve in Rengoku's heart wavered.
It was then that Fleet Admiral Sengoku entered, carrying a sealed envelope in his hand. At his arrival, the assembled officers stepped back, leaving only three within the hall: Rengoku, Vivi, and Sengoku himself.
Sengoku extended the envelope toward him.
"Vice Admiral Rengoku. I will not accept this letter of resignation."
"…Fleet Admiral…"
"If it is punishment you desire, then hear me. From this moment until the coming war, you are suspended from duty. All wages you have received until now will be confiscated. Regardless of any future promotion, you will be subject to indefinite salary reduction. The entirety of your confiscated and reduced wages will be donated, under the Navy's name, to the Kingdom of Alabasta. And when the war begins, you will return not as an officer, but demoted to the rank of Seaman Recruit."
Suspension until the war with the Whitebeard Pirates—stripped of all authority.
Every coin of salary he had ever earned, confiscated.
A permanent 30% reduction to whatever wages might come.
And when he returned to the battlefield, it would be not as a vice admiral, but as the lowest enlisted man.
For an ordinary officer, such punishment would mean certain resignation.
"Does this still not satisfy you? Do you truly wish to atone only through death? Or would you rather I throw you into Impel Down's Level 6? Is that the 'just punishment' you believe you deserve? The world would laugh harder to see a Marine officer—who has saved millions of lives—cast into Level 6 alongside the worst of monsters."
Clack.
Rengoku let the dagger fall from his hands.
Then, bowing low, he slammed his forehead into the floor before Sengoku.
BANG!
"Thank you, Fleet Admiral!"
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