"Hm? Admiral Aokiji of the Navy? What's he doing here?" Karl blinked as he spotted Aokiji pedaling leisurely toward them on his bicycle.
"An admiral?" Hancock's brows furrowed. "Lord Karl, should I go back and bring Enel and Bansen here?" The Admirals were the Navy's highest combat power, and she worried a fight might break out.
"No need. That guy doesn't look like he's here to fight. Hancock, you can go back first. He must have something he wants to talk about with me." Karl smiled faintly. He didn't think any admiral would be stupid enough to take on an entire force equivalent to an Emperor's crew alone.
"Alright… but please be careful, Lord Karl~" Hancock nodded softly. She knew well that, being pregnant now, this wasn't the place for her to linger.
"Don't worry. Enel has probably already noticed—he'll come."
Hancock turned back three times before finally leaving.
The moment she disappeared from view, Enel arrived, crackling with electricity.
"Yehahahaha! Captain, are we fighting?" Enel grinned, his gaze locking onto the Navy man approaching on a bicycle. He could feel the strength radiating off him.
Right now, Enel and Bansen could fight evenly only when both were going all out with their Devil Fruit powers. He'd been itching for a chance to test himself against a real opponent.
He couldn't beat Karl—that shadow still loomed large in his mind—so this Navy admiral seemed like the perfect target.
"Fight? There's no need. He's not here to throw hands. Relax, sit down, have some tea," Karl said, pulling out two beach chairs and a small tea table with casual ease.
Karl looked at Aokiji's abilities and couldn't help thinking that this man had truly developed his Devil Fruit along the path of leisure. Wherever he wanted to go, he just rode his bike—no ships required.
Since the tragedy of Ohara, this admiral had been living in quiet confusion. Some might ask, What's there to be confused about? It's just another World Government cover-up involving the Celestial Dragons. But those who really understood One Piece's world knew: people here understood good and evil, yet what they truly followed was their own conviction. Many would die for what they believed in without hesitation—a single-mindedness that bordered on madness.
"Ah la la la~ Hello, Mr. Karl." Aokiji parked his bicycle by the shore, walked over, and greeted him in his usual lazy tone.
"Hello, Mr. Aokiji. Please, sit down. Have a cup of tea first~" Karl poured him a cup.
"Thank you, Mr. Karl. This tea smells wonderful~" Aokiji lifted the cup, inhaled the aroma, and smiled slightly.
"So, Mr. Aokiji, what brings you here to Gaya Island to see a wanted man of the World Government like me?" Karl asked, curious. After all, for a Navy Admiral to come alone into enemy territory wasn't exactly rational behavior.
"Actually, it was Fleet Admiral Sengoku's idea," Aokiji replied. "After Vice Admiral Garp returned, we held a meeting about you. Garp believes you aren't the same kind of criminal as other pirates, and that we shouldn't treat you as such. But others in the Navy disagree. They say a criminal is still a criminal, no different from a pirate, and must be dealt with.
"And since you've turned Gaya Island into your base—well, you know it's located in the first half of the Grand Line. If we don't take some kind of official stance, both the Navy and the World Government will look bad."
"So Fleet Admiral Sengoku hopes to establish a small Navy branch here on Gaya. Purely symbolic, of course—it wouldn't interfere with you in any way. Would you be willing to allow that?"
Karl's smile faded. "Mr. Aokiji, you should know that's impossible. I won't allow any outside power to station itself on my territory, not even the World Government."
He chuckled. "If I let the Navy set up a base here, what would people think of me? Everyone knows this island belongs to me. Letting the Navy move in would be a huge blow to my reputation."
"Ah la la la~ As Garp said, you'd refuse." Aokiji wasn't disappointed—he'd known it was a long shot.
"Honestly, as long as the World Government doesn't mess with me, I won't mess with them. Take the agents on the island, for example—I know exactly who they are. But as long as they behave, I won't kill them. Killing one batch just brings another. Too troublesome. You can tell both the Navy and the Government that for me," Karl said evenly.
"I can pass that on to the Navy," Aokiji replied. "But as for the World Government… I can't make promises there. To be honest, I mainly came because Garp told me you're someone who holds a sense of justice in your heart, yet you don't hesitate to strike against the Celestial Dragons. I wanted to see for myself."
He gave a faint, wry smile. His own sense of justice had been wavering lately.
"Mr. Aokiji, you were part of the Ohara incident—you carried out the orders yourself. What do you really think of what happened there?" Karl asked quietly.
Aokiji fell silent for a long time.
"It's actually a simple question," Karl said. "It comes down to the Navy's purpose. Does the Navy exist to protect the people—or, as those five old men of the World Government say, is it merely to serve as the Government's enforcers and protect its image? Once you figure that out, everything else becomes clear."
"Then, Mr. Karl… do you think the Navy is just?" Aokiji asked.
"In my eyes, whether the Navy is just or not depends on its actions. The Navy was meant to protect the lives and property of ordinary people. That's what commoners believe too. When pirates attack them, they pray for the Navy to come. If the Navy doesn't, they curse it. That's the simplest truth."
"But look at things now—the Navy has become the World Government's, or rather the Celestial Dragons', attack dog. Everything it does serves their interests. Tell me, is that justice?"
"Mr. Aokiji, remember this: it's not the World Government or the Celestial Dragons who feed the Navy—it's the common people of every nation."
"To exist for the protection of the people's lives and property… that's a bold idea," Aokiji murmured. The words struck him deeply. For eight hundred years, no one had ever spoken of the world in such terms. The World Government and its noble class had never cared about the suffering of commoners—only their own privileges.
Seeing Aokiji's thoughtful silence, Karl didn't press further.
It really was a simple matter, in the end. This world's problem lay in the minds of its people. The commoners accepted being ruled and enslaved by nobles as natural—as long as it wasn't too excessive, they wouldn't resist.
And the nobles, of course, felt the same way.
In Karl's eyes, that was something almost impossible to change. Far too difficult.
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