Marine Headquarters, Marineford!
Captain Dick's patrol warship slowly returned and dropped anchor at the port.
Without paying attention to Dick, who was busy searching for a high-ranking officer, Orin quietly vanished from the warship before anyone could notice.
Strolling across the soil of Marine Headquarters, hands in his pockets, Orin walked at a leisurely pace as if he had returned home.
"This is Marineford, huh? There really are a lot of powerful guys here."
Within Orin's exaggerated Observation Haki range, several auras inside the central headquarters building were on par with Rayleigh and Captain Roger.
If it came down to a direct clash, Orin wouldn't necessarily have the upper hand. After all, people like Garp and Sengoku should still be at Marineford.
But Orin had no intention of making a scene today.
His goal was simple: to find a warship headed to Impel Down transporting prisoners, quietly sneak aboard, and then meet with Captain Roger.
After all, Marineford was quite close to the underwater prison Impel Down, and as the Marine's most heavily concentrated and elite zone, the number of captured pirates here was naturally massive.
So the ship he was looking to board didn't necessarily have to be one transporting high-level criminals.
Most of the prisoners on Levels 1 and 2 of Impel Down were small fry with bounties of just a few tens of millions of Belly—no need to have an admiral accompany them or the warden personally monitor every trip.
Sweeping the nearby naval harbor with his Observation Haki, Orin didn't find any ships currently escorting prisoners.
In that case, he'd just wait a bit. No way the massive Marine Headquarters wouldn't have even a single ship heading to Impel Down.
While he could always force his way in with pure strength or just Warp-Warp Fruit himself over, it'd be way more convenient if he had Marine cover—just like how Luffy snuck in under Hancock's cloak.
If it came to it, he could always teleport in by force.
Thinking this, he decided to take a stroll through Marineford.
Maybe it was because he had intentionally messed up his hair when disembarking—creating a couple of bangs that changed his appearance—but surprisingly, instead of being attacked or questioned, he received quite a few salutes from Marines.
"Good afternoon, Rear Admiral!"
"Hello." Orin looked down at the Marine and nodded.
This was already the tenth soldier to salute him.
Guess this really is the world of One Piece—everyone's brains are made of muscle. Just changing a hairstyle and clothes, and no one recognizes him.
Walking across this island, recognized by pirates worldwide as a forbidden zone, Orin realized it wasn't exactly the massive military fortress portrayed in the manga.
Rather, the official Marine offices and operation areas only occupied a portion of Marineford.
In addition, the island also housed many Marine families and ordinary civilian zones: residential buildings, markets, restaurants, taverns…
Thanks to its proximity to Marine Headquarters, this was probably the most livable city for ordinary people that Orin had ever seen.
Unlike other countries or islands—no matter how prosperous—they could still be turned into a hellscape by a single violent pirate.
...
As evening approached,
In a restaurant within the residential district, groups of Marines who had finished their duties or missions arrived in threes and fives, arms around each other's shoulders.
While eating dinner, they also ordered a few barrels of beer and drank heartily.
"Gulp gulp… ah!!! So good!!" A Marine in a navy tank top chugged down an entire barrel and let out a satisfied sigh, a look of absolute bliss on his face.
They chatted casually, complaining about the intensity of recent work.
"This is the only time of day we get to relax. I'm dead tired!"
"Can't be helped. There's only about a week left until Pirate King Roger's execution. Headquarters has ordered a complete lockdown..."
"Tch… If you ask me, there's no need to be this nervous. Pirate King? He still got caught by Vice Admiral Garp. We've got a hero in the Marines!"
The group of soldiers gossiped and boasted, speaking freely. After a few more drinks, they even started criticizing orders from headquarters.
Just as one Marine was about to say something more, another—who'd been casually drinking—glanced toward the restaurant entrance and suddenly froze, eyes wide with disbelief. He spat out a mouthful of beer.
The soldier sprayed with beer was visibly annoyed.
"What the hell are you—"
"Shut up!!!"
Before his buddy could finish, the first Marine immediately snapped to attention in perfect military posture, sweat dripping down his face as he stared straight ahead.
Seeing his confused comrades, he quickly shouted:
"Good afternoon, Rear Admiral!!!"
"Eh?!"
Even the densest of them understood now. A group of Marines sprang to their feet in a panic, not even bothering to pick up their fallen chairs as they stood at attention.
We're so screwed, so screwed, so screwed…
Cold sweat streamed down every soldier's face.
Badmouthing HQ orders and being caught red-handed by a rear admiral—were they about to be charged with undermining morale?
Especially the one who had shouted the loudest and drunk the most—he regretted everything.
And standing before them, the so-called rear admiral who came to eat in a civilian restaurant instead of the officers' mess…
Could only be Orin.
"Uh…"
He looked a bit speechless. He had only come for a meal. How did it turn into this?
"You guys can just keep eating. Don't mind me."
"Y-Yes, sir!!!"
Seeing that Orin had no intention of reprimanding them and instead went straight to the counter to order food before sitting by the window to enjoy the view,
The group of Marines finally exhaled and carefully sat back down.
Only after confirming Orin really wasn't going to cause trouble did they relax and start eating again.
"Thank goodness… We ran into a forgiving officer. That was close~"
"Yeah, I thought for sure we were screwed. I've heard some officers are super strict—like Rear Admiral Sakazuki."
"But I've been stationed at HQ for years and never seen that rear admiral before. Weird…"
"What are you saying? I think he looks really familiar. Like I just saw him recently."
"Yeah, me too. I swear I've seen him somewhere not long ago—but I just can't remember where."
They chatted away, unaware that Orin could hear every word.
Maybe they'd seen his wanted poster, Orin guessed.
But from the very beginning, their perception had been misled—mistaking the familiarity for someone in the Marines, so naturally, they wouldn't find a match.
Still… even someone like me on Roger's ship has already entered the public eye?
Captain Roger's new era really is far-reaching...
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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