"I'm sorry, Your Excellency Guernika, I cannot make this decision. If an Admiral is truly needed to serve as a bodyguard for Saint Ross, it must be done by order of the Five Elders."
Fleet Admiral Kong was a seasoned veteran; he easily deflected the question with a single sentence.
Kong sat calmly in the Fleet Admiral's seat, his gaze sweeping over his somewhat uncomfortable subordinates below, secretly chuckling to himself.
That's why he's a Fleet Admiral, while the people below him are only Admirals and Vice Admirals.
It's not like we've never seen what the Celestial Dragons are like before, so why bother arguing with them?
It's impossible to actually recruit an Admiral as a private bodyguard; the Five Elders and the World Government wouldn't agree to that.
However, Kong was unwilling to offend the Celestial Dragons.
If nothing unexpected happens, he will be promoted in a few years.
When he went to Mary Geoise, he would inevitably have to deal with these people.
"Fleet Admiral Kong, is that right?"
The Den Den Mushi on the conference table suddenly changed its appearance, and the voice it emitted became Ross's voice.
"Yes, may I ask who you are?"
Kong's gaze became slightly more serious at this moment. The fact that the other party would temporarily change people meant that this was the real person.
"Saint Jaygarcia Ross. Fleet Admiral Kong may not have heard of my name, but you are probably familiar with my surname," Ross said calmly.
"Your Highness, God of Scientific Defense is your..."
Kong's expression changed slightly; he hadn't expected the Celestial Dragon who sought him to have this identity. As an ambitious Marine Fleet Admiral, he was somewhat familiar with the Five Elders' surnames.
Even among officials at various levels of the World Government, the Celestial Dragons are viewed differently.
If it's just someone who only knows how to enjoy life, they only need to superficially cater to them. Any excessive requests can be reported and that's it; there's no need to take them too seriously.
Of course, only Admirals or people of Garp's rank can handle such situations. If a Rear Admiral or other Marine is perfunctory in dealing with a matter, he should be imprisoned or executed.
Even someone like Ross, a Celestial Dragon with the backing of the Five Elders, needed to be handled with caution.
They are not Celestial Dragons and have no idea about the true situation within the Celestial Dragons; they can only speculate based on conventional thinking.
The direct descendants of the Five Elders, aren't they the future Five Elders?
"The God of Scientific Defense is my grandfather."
Ross knew this, which is why he gave his surname and incidentally linked himself to the Five Elders.
In reality, everyone within the Celestial Dragons knows that, apart from a small elite group, the rest of the Celestial Dragons are no different from pigs in the eyes of the Five Elders, and blood ties are irrelevant.
There are only 20 families of Celestial Dragons in total. One of them left at the very beginning of the World Government. Over the past 800 years, only the offspring of 19 families who intermarried are considered Celestial Dragons.
This selection process has continued for 800 years, resulting in each family having some blood relation to the others.
Don't say we're from the same family; maybe we're from the same family two generations back.
However, this is only known within the Celestial Dragons themselves; to the outside world, all Celestial Dragons are supreme.
Furthermore, since Kong was not yet the future commander-in-chief of the three armed forces stationed permanently in the Holy Land, he would never even consider this possibility.
"Your Highness, is it your grandfather's idea to have an Admiral serve as your bodyguard?"
Kong asked cautiously, while incidentally shifting the blame to someone else.
Regardless of whether it was Saint Saturn's idea or not, as long as Ross dared to agree, this matter would have nothing to do with him.
Even if Ross later impersonates Saint Saturn, that's still a Celestial Dragon's family matter.
"There are only two Admirals in the Marines right now, and one of them is semi-retired, is that correct?"
Ross did not give a direct answer, but instead steered the conversation back to the question of the Admiral.
Originally, he planned to use the excuse of being a senior Admiral to win over some new generation members and cultivate them slowly.
But since Guernika happened to call the Marine Headquarters, and given the reaction from Kong, he might be able to be a little bolder.
"That's right. Admiral Sengoku will be in charge of the safety of Paradise and the four seas, while Admiral Zephyr will be in charge of training new Marine personnel."
Kong cursed inwardly at the cunning youth. When did the Celestial Dragons start using rhetoric?
Aren't all Celestial Dragons straightforward?
Just say what's on your mind. You Celestial Dragon, you're getting all arrogant.
What Kong fears most isn't the arrogance of the Celestial Dragons, since he could just back down when they're arrogant and at most receive a minor punishment afterward.
But if he got scammed out of a large sum of money, and something really went wrong, he was finished.
"The Admiral is using this money to train new Marine recruits. When did the Marines become so extravagant?" Ross said calmly. "Anyone can train new Marine recruits, and they wouldn't do it badly either."
"I heard that Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan, who are very famous in the Marines recently, were all trained by him, but does that mean that without Zephyr, these three wouldn't have their current strength?"
"This..."
He was speechless.
Seeing that the three Sakazuki below looked slightly relieved by the praise, Kong felt even more distressed in his heart.
Did they actually think the Celestial Dragons were praising them?
This was clearly a threat!
If you don't let Zephyr go, then the three of you can fill in.
Now, Sakazuki and his two companions had begun to show their talent. At just over 30 years old, their strength had reached its peak, and they were in no way inferior to a Marine Admiral.
With a semi-retired instructor Admiral and three future Admirals, the choice was obvious.
"Your Highness, I can arrange for Admiral Zephyr to meet with you."
As for the outcome of the meeting, that's none of his business.
It's Ross's skill to stay; if he couldn't and Zephyr ran away, that's not his fault.
"Sure. Have the Marines been on any major operations lately?"
Ross agreed without hesitation; once they met, he knew how to keep the man there.
Everyone has weaknesses, especially someone like Zephyr, who was at the peak of his strength but had become a semi-retired Admiral due to his mindset.
In return, since the Marines were so cooperative, he didn't mind using his position to do something for them.
Dealing with the Marines also has its advantages; if the Marines captured pirates in the future, he could take them over and execute them.
If he wanted to increase his combat strength, killing powerful opponents was definitely the fastest way.
Slaughtering an island with 100,000 inhabitants was probably less effective than killing a B-rank expert.
If you want to kill more powerful individuals, the fastest way is through the Marines.
The World Government did have a way to deal with him, but he was just an ordinary Celestial Dragon, not one of the Five Elders or the commander of the Knights of God, so he couldn't mobilize the World Government's power at all.
"Your Highness, the scholars of Ohara intend to fabricate history that is detrimental to the Celestial Dragons. The World Government recently issued the Buster Call. Would you be willing to become the executor of this Buster Call and let your fame spread throughout the world?"
Others might not have understood, but after a moment, they grasped Ross's subtext and were overjoyed.
Isn't that a coincidence?
Sending the Marines to carry out the Buster Call alone, and destroying the historic site of Ohara, left Kong still worried about how to handle the subsequent public opinion pressure.
If Saint Ross were leading the team, the problem would be solved immediately.
News of the Celestial Dragons destroying islands happened a few times every year, but it never caused a sensation. The Marines were always an accomplice, and no one seemed to say anything about it.
Working for the World Government meant the Marines had to take the blame. Working for the Celestial Dragons meant the Celestial Dragons treated destroying islands as a great achievement; the nature of these actions was completely different.
"The Buster Call..."
Just as Kong was about to respond, Ross casually said:
"I've never seen a Buster Call before, so I'll just treat it as a sightseeing trip."
"With your presence, this grand event will surely shine!"
Ignoring the strange looks from his subordinates, he immediately offered sincere praise.
He didn't know anything. Kong was doing this for him.
If it weren't to protect him from public pressure, would he have let Ross get involved in the Buster Call?
Did he think Kong wanted to carry out the Buster Call?
A Buster Call was a military order led by at least five Vice Admirals to eliminate or even completely destroy an island or country; only a select few were qualified to initiate it.
Normally, even a Celestial Dragon like Ross wouldn't be qualified to launch a Buster Call.
However, if a Celestial Dragon was injured, in order to save face for the World Government, it was highly likely that a Buster Call would be launched to erase the injured area.
This was not 20 years from now; the World Government and the Marines were at their peak then.
The current Buster Call foreshadowed a catastrophe.