With a single sentence, Diarmuid unleashed a slash. The invisible force of gravity carried the attack, instantly tearing up the palace floor and smashing into Kuma with a brutal momentum.
Diarmuid expected Kuma to either block it, deflect it, or dodge it. But instead, Kuma stood perfectly still, a look of deep loneliness on his face. In the next moment, the powerful slash struck him, sending him flying backward, where he slammed into his throne and shattered it.
The gravity-infused attack continued, completely destroying the back wall of the hall.
The entire hall was now a ruin. Stussy was dumbfounded. This was Kuma, the man said to be the strongest in the South Blue. The CP agency had sent countless assassins to deal with him over the past year, and every single one was sent on a one-way trip to oblivion.
The title "Tyrant" wasn't just for show. Stussy knew that Kuma was incredibly powerful. And yet, he was taken down by Diarmuid in a single move? Was Kuma too weak, or was Diarmuid too strong? Or… were they playing a trick on me?
Diarmuid slowly sheathed his Nagasone Kotetsu. He didn't look happy; in fact, his brow was furrowed, and he seemed annoyed.
When he accepted this political mission in Marineford, his plan was twofold: to earn some brownie points with the World Government and to get a real fight with Kuma to test how much he had improved over the past two years.
Instead, it seemed that Kuma had no will to fight at all. It was an incredibly frustrating feeling, like punching cotton. He finally understood what Dragon meant. Was it because Kuma had a country that he refused to win?
"Are you insulting me, Kuma?" Diarmuid said, walking toward the broken throne. He looked at Kuma, who was bleeding from the corner of his mouth and was clearly injured. The full force of Diarmuid's undefended attack was a heavy blow.
Kuma didn't get up. He didn't even move. "No. I chose to do this precisely because it was you, Rodriguez Diarmuid. Your strength is great enough to be my final opponent, and you have preserved my dignity… As for why… You destroyed this palace with a single slash. That is the reason," Kuma said softly.
Diarmuid looked at his calm face. His anger boiled for a moment before he decided not to attack again.
Kuma's meaning was clear: Diarmuid's destructive power was too great. If a full-out fight broke out, the entire capital would be destroyed.
Kuma was unwilling to see that happen, so he only fought once as a symbol before calmly accepting defeat. After all, he could never have won in the first place, could he?
"The Sorbet Kingdom should have been proud to have a king like you," Diarmuid said, looking at Kuma. With that, he turned and left, without another word.
Kuma lay motionless on the rubble. Nobody knew what the Tyrant was thinking.
Stussy looked at Kuma and then at Diarmuid as he left. She quickly pulled out her Den Den Mushi and gave an order. "CP0, tell Bartholomew Kuma-san to leave Sorbet Kingdom."
After giving the order, she didn't dare to stay behind. It was safer to follow Diarmuid. She quickly ran after him. "Vice Admiral-sama, wait for me!"
Diarmuid walked out of the crumbling hall without looking back. "Stussy-san, shouldn't you be staying here to clean up?"
"There's no need for me. Bartholomew Kuma has given up. Our CP mission is complete as soon as he leaves the Sorbet Kingdom and never returns. As for the new king and the restoration of order, that's for other departments to handle. Our CP agency is only responsible for overthrowing, never for rebuilding," Stussy said with a smile.
"What a vile organization," Diarmuid muttered.
"You're too kind, Vice Admiral-sama," Stussy said.
Diarmuid didn't tell her to leave. He continued to walk toward the port where his warship was docked, chatting with her.
"Stussy-san, honestly, aren't you interested in joining the Marines? We have a lot of room for you to excel. If I'm not mistaken, you've probably reached your limit within CP0, right? It's not like they're going to let you become the Head of the Agencies, is it?" Diarmuid said suddenly.
Stussy was stunned for a moment, then laughed it off. "Diarmuid-sama, didn't we agree to talk about this when you became an Admiral?"
But Diarmuid was right. She knew that, unless something major happened, she had hit her ceiling in the CP agency. She was a senior operative, on par with a Marine Admiral Candidate. There were still two positions above her: the Director and the Head of the Agencies. The Director commanded all the senior operatives, and the Head of the Agencies commanded the entire CP from CP0 to CP9.
The Head of the Agencies only answered to the Gorosei, not even to regular Celestial Dragons. However, Stussy felt that she had no hope of reaching either of those positions. So, just as Diarmuid said, she had probably reached the end of her career in the CP agency.
In the future, the reason Stussy would accept the secret mission to establish the Pleasure District in the underworld was that she believed she had to find another path to gain more power and status in order to become a Director.
In the end, even though she didn't become a Director, she held so much power as the Queen of the Pleasure District that she became an important member of CP0. Even the Directors wouldn't dare to look down on her, and she had even had hope of being promoted to a Director herself.
"Is that so?" Diarmuid said softly, then smiled. "What a shame. I was thinking that if you were willing to join us in the Marines, I could have helped you make a fortune."
"Make a big one?" Stussy was intrigued. She didn't doubt that Diarmuid was bluffing, as there was no point in such a lie. "How big?" Stussy couldn't help but ask.
"Probably the biggest one in the last twenty years," Diarmuid said with another smile.
Stussy was visibly tempted. Diarmuid saw the look on her face and knew that she was the kind of person who was never satisfied. It wasn't that she had a problem with the Marines, but that she had a problem with the CP agency.
When they first met, Diarmuid didn't know her well. He only knew that she would eventually become the Queen of the Pleasure District and control one of the most important intelligence organizations in the world. Her power wasn't bad, either. But he didn't really know her as a person. So, when he first tried to poach her at the Orphanage, he was really just testing her.
The test proved that Stussy had no real loyalty to the CP agency. She didn't firmly reject his offer; instead, she left some room for him to keep asking. So, what kind of person would do that?
Diarmuid knew the answer: a self-serving opportunist, because he was one, too. For example, he gave Dragon an easy out when he confronted him. He didn't completely turn Dragon into an enemy.
Why? Simply put, he wanted to use Dragon, and he wanted to leave himself an escape route. What if something happened, and he couldn't stay in the Marines anymore? He could just join the Revolutionaries!
Stussy's feigned indifference was the same logic. She was reluctant to leave the CP agency because of the years of experience and achievements she had accumulated, not because she was loyal to them.
In fact, Diarmuid believed that the higher you got in the CP agency, the less loyal you were to the organization, because they were the ones who knew just how dark it was. In contrast, the brainwashed agents at the bottom were probably the truly loyal ones.
It was a twisted, pathological deformity of the CP agency, just like the problems within Marine Headquarters. There was nothing to say.
After his test of Stussy's character, Diarmuid decided to have two plans ready. The first was to poach her and make her his subordinate in the Marines. Having her as his subordinate would be very beneficial, not just for her beauty… ahem. But because Stussy was very capable and skilled.
His second plan was to become an ally and a partner to Stussy. This wouldn't be a partnership between the Marines and the CP agency but a partnership between himself and Stussy.
The terms of this partnership would be decided by their own abilities. Currently, Diarmuid was in a stronger position, and Stussy was a bit subdued. But what about the future?
As Diarmuid envisioned it, the benefits of this partnership were obvious. He could use CP0's intelligence network for his own private purposes and get information in time to seize new opportunities. He wouldn't have to get his own hands dirty, which would help him maintain his image as a just Marine.
As for Stussy, having a powerful ally like Diarmuid would give her more freedom to act and would allow her to gain some credit. For example, Diarmuid was on his way to capture Pirate King Gol D. Roger. If he could bring Stussy along, it would be a huge achievement for her, one that could help her get a promotion to a Chief.
At present, Admiral Sengoku and Chief of Staff Tsuru had created a secret organization, but the Pleasure District project had stalled because they felt uncomfortable with the Marines getting involved in a business like that.
But such a good plan couldn't be shelved. He could get Stussy to set it up and give her some guidance. If she succeeded in establishing the Pleasure District, wouldn't that also benefit Diarmuid?
As one of the heads of the "non-existent organization," Diarmuid had a lot of power. The Marines might not want to touch the Pleasure District, but Diarmuid could get Stussy to do it for him and insert his organization into the Pleasure District to grow it quickly. It was a win-win-win situation!
Looking even further into the future, if Diarmuid became a top-tier Marine like an Admiral or Fleet Admiral and Stussy became a top-tier official in the CP agency like the Head of the Agencies... on the surface, the CP agency and the Marines would still be rivals, but the two leaders would secretly be partners. How exciting would that be?
If Diarmuid ever decided to go against the World Government, he would have a powerful ally in the heart of the system.
——————
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!