Dragon's defection wasn't a particularly unusual event for the Marines. As they say, to each their own. Every year, a few members would choose to leave the Marines, either by resigning or by defecting to become pirates. None of this was hard to accept.
However, Dragon's situation was different. He was the most promising Vice Admiral in the Marines, the top dog of the younger generation. Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan were all slightly inferior to him. As for Diarmuid, he couldn't compare to Dragon yet, either.
On top of all that, he was the son of Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp. He was surrounded by too many halos and had the expectations of too many people resting on his shoulders. He was, by all accounts, the pride of the Marines.
When a symbol like that suddenly defected without a word, it was a massive blow to the Marines' reputation. The bastards in the New World would be laughing their heads off. That's why Fleet Admiral Kong immediately declared this a top-secret matter. No information was to be leaked to the public until a solution was found. Anyone who did would be court-martialed.
It was clear that Kong had no intention of debating the justice of the Marines or the flaws of the World Government. After a brief explanation, he said in a low voice, "Effective immediately, all of Dragon's duties and permissions are suspended. We will publicly announce that Dragon is on an extended leave for health reasons. Tsuru, I want the Intelligence Division to do everything in their power to find his whereabouts. Once you find him, bring him back to Marineford at all costs. Even if that brat wants to leave, he needs to submit a resignation letter first!"
Tsuru nodded. "Understood."
She was annoyed. She had a mountain of things to do to rebuild the Intelligence Division, and now that brat had to go and defect at a time like this, causing her more trouble.
The others also understood what the Fleet Admiral was saying.
While Dragon was considered a deserter for the time being, they weren't going to treat him like a normal defector by issuing a bounty and hunting him down.
On the contrary, they were covering up the truth by saying he was on sick leave. By doing this, if the Marines could bring Dragon back in time, they could still mediate the situation. If they could get him to change his mind, this whole incident could be quietly swept under the rug.
There was no doubt that Dragon had this much influence. Everyone in this room had watched him grow up! Even if he had defected, as long as he returned soon, he would be forgiven. The perks of being a legacy officer are something else!
After deciding how to handle the situation, the meeting was over. It was already morning, so there was no point in going back to sleep. Everyone went to their respective jobs. Diarmuid was about to leave with Tsuru when Kong suddenly asked, "How is your body doing?"
Diarmuid knew he was talking to him, so he smiled. "I've made a full recovery."
"Keep up the good work. We are all looking forward to your growth, Diarmuid. Don't pay any mind to the rumors outside. I know what kind of person you are," Kong said, giving a rare smile.
Diarmuid felt a weight lift from his chest. The Fleet Admiral truly was broad-minded. It seemed that Garp's antics hadn't ruined his reputation after all. "Yes, Fleet Admiral, I won't let you down."
After Diarmuid and the others left, Kong looked at a lonely-looking Garp sitting on the couch and sighed helplessly. "Garp, you are not to get involved in this matter."
Garp didn't even raise his head. "I know."
The Fleet Admiral was telling him to stay out of it, and it made sense. Since his own son had defected, he had to recuse himself. After a moment of silence, Garp said, "I always saw him as my pride. I never thought that brat…"
The Fleet Admiral didn't say anything back, only looking at Garp with sympathy. For them, the Marines had only lost an excellent Vice Admiral. For Garp, he had lost his son. It was a tragic sight.
Just then, Garp turned to Fleet Admiral Kong. "Kong-aniki, do you think our justice is really as useless as he said?"
"Garp!" Fleet Admiral Kong's eyes flashed with anger as he yelled at him. Before Garp could say anything else, Kong said in a low voice, "You are a veteran of the Marines. You know exactly what the Marines stand for and what we do. You should know better than anyone that to the people of this world, we represent justice!"
Garp's wavering gaze solidified. He was right; no one knew what the Marines were better than him. "I'm taking a leave," Garp said in a lifeless tone.
"Approved. But you are to stay within Marineford during this time. You are not to leave," Fleet Admiral Kong said without hesitation. He wondered if he should find a professional to counsel Garp to keep that troublemaker from getting into a funk.
Over in the Intelligence Division, Diarmuid had already told someone to get him all of Dragon's recent whereabouts. Tsuru was at a desk next to him, and as she sorted through her documents, she said, "That guy won't be easy to catch. We should be prepared for failure."
"He knows our methods of operation so well. I doubt we'll find him," Diarmuid also chimed in. After a short pause, he said, feeling annoyed, "That bastard is a total scammer."
Tsuru laughed. "I'll leave this matter to you for now. I have other things to do."
While the Fleet Admiral had ordered them to put all their effort into finding Dragon, it was clearly impossible. The Marines had too many other important things to do to focus on just him.
Tsuru clearly had no intention of delaying her plans to rebuild the Intelligence Division. After giving Diarmuid a few more instructions and gathering her documents, she left to go discuss her previous ideas with Sengoku.
Diarmuid began to read through Dragon's file.
"Non-ability user?"
Diarmuid was surprised when he saw how Dragon was categorized. He suddenly realized that Dragon might have been hiding something from the Marines for a long time. He was certain that Dragon was a Devil Fruit user, but he didn't know what his ability was. It was rumored to be related to wind.
On second thought, that didn't seem right. Maybe Dragon hadn't eaten the fruit yet. The Dragon he knew was the future Dragon, after all.
Diarmuid didn't know that Dragon had disappeared into the air like the wind last night. In fact, he had been hiding his ability from the Marines, and even Garp didn't know about it!
He flipped through the file page by page. There wasn't any useful information.
"Why would that guy leave any clues in these files… Heh," Diarmuid said to himself, looking through the documents.
Just as he was about to turn to the next page, he frowned. He flipped back to the current page.
In the year 1496 of the Sea Calendar, during a World Council security assignment, he had close contact and a conversation with Emporio Ivankov, the captain of the Kamabakka Kingdom's guard.
It was a simple sentence. To a normal person, there was nothing wrong with it. As a Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters, it was only natural for Dragon to have contact with the guard captain of a kingdom participating in the World Council.
But Diarmuid knew that in six or seven years, Emporio Ivankov would overthrow the current regime and become the Queen of the Kamabakka Kingdom. And before that, he had already joined the Revolutionary Army, becoming one of Dragon's most important allies.
The fact that these two names were on the same page was enough evidence. Perhaps Dragon had been having doubts about the Marines and the World Government more than two years ago, in 1496. And after participating in that security assignment for the Celestial Dragons, he had finally made up his mind.
He didn't just have doubts; he had been planning to leave the Marines for a long time. It was possible that his recent emotional instability was an act he put on to see if he could find any like-minded companions in Marineford.
"That guy is a cunning one," Diarmuid said with a smile. If his suspicions were correct, Dragon's first stop after leaving Marineford would be the Kamabakka Kingdom, where he would find Ivankov and convince him to join his cause. It was possible that the Kamabakka Kingdom was overthrown as part of Dragon's plan.
However, Diarmuid didn't report this information. On the contrary, he acted as if he hadn't seen it and flipped the page, continuing to read.
"Dragon, this is the most I can do for you," Diarmuid said softly.
If he were to capture Dragon now, the Revolutionary Army would most likely fall apart, and that wouldn't be in Diarmuid's best interests. After all, while he didn't have any issues with the World Government right now, and there were no conflicts of interest, the situation was bound to change as he continued to climb the ranks.
Sometimes, keeping a rival around was necessary. Even if he couldn't use Dragon, he had to have a backup plan. A way out for himself.
As for whether or not the Revolutionary Army would succeed, Diarmuid didn't really care. He knew that Dragon understood that the Marines were indispensable. So, no matter how much of a revolution he started, he would only be going after the World Government. It wouldn't have much of an impact on Diarmuid.
——————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my patreon ——— patreon(.)com/JuanFiction [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are over 100 advance chapters available for you!