So "vicious"!
Strawberry only felt that Vane had taken things too far—step forward and he would further offend the World Government; step back and he would damage the Marines' image.
Offend the World Government and the Marines' road ahead would most likely be ruined; damage the Marines' image and the Marines' road ahead would probably be ruined as well.
And if they didn't save these slaves, it would go against the justice ideals of most Marines. Many Marines who couldn't accept the collapse of those ideals wouldn't even need the pressure of public opinion—their own inner turmoil would make them break down.
It could be said that Vane had successfully pushed these Marines into a dead end where they couldn't advance or retreat.
"What are you waiting for! Is the Marines' justice only about protecting the interests of nobles while ignoring the life and death of civilians?!"
Vane showed that look one uses when staring at trash.
And this group of Marines really couldn't lift their heads in front of a pirate right now. The way the other side looked at them like trash made them unbearably ashamed.
Those with severe inner turmoil were already hesitating, wondering whether this was a betrayal of justice.
Vane turned to face the many would-be slaves and spoke in that sarcastic, villain-like tone.
"Everyone, it seems our Marines are afraid of the World Government and don't dare to let you out. It even looks like they might personally deliver you into the World Government's hands and let you become slaves."
Stoking the flames, pouring oil on the fire.
"Sigh, the Marines' justice… guess it's just that, huh."
Whether they saved them or not, Vane could achieve his goal of disgust-ing the Marines anyway. And he would release the slaves on the ship—they were excellent tools for publicity to show how 'unjust' the Marines were.
"Shut up! Don't insult the Marines' justice."
There are never any shortages of hotheaded rookies in a young Marine team. Hearing Vane use the Marines' justice to mock them like this, those hotheads finally couldn't take it anymore.
Ignoring their officers' warning looks, they began taking the cage keys and releasing the would-be slaves.
"Good, good, good. Worthy of the Marines—commendable."
Vane's smile was brilliant as he also had someone steady the Den Den Mushi.
"I've already thought up the headline for you: Under the leadership of Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral Strawberry, the Marines successfully struck down an evil slave trade in the West Blue."
Just hand the photos and related text to the newspaper-selling seagulls.
These seagulls were all raised by Morgans, the king of the underground news.
And Morgans himself is a Bird-Bird Fruit, Albatross Model user, which lets him raise huge numbers of newspaper-delivery seagulls.
This guy values the newspaper business more than his life. He counts as a real man who dares to oppose the World Government. For things like World Government ships running slave trade, other news outlets wouldn't dare report it—but he truly would.
Because he exposed many of the World Government's problems, he's also been regarded by the World Government as a thorn in their side.
In public, he always appears in his human-beast form, afraid that if people saw his human form, he wouldn't have any private life left.
"Your way of doing things is really…"
Strawberry didn't know how to describe Vane's methods. This was a straightforward open scheme: whether they saved the slaves or not, either the Marines or the World Government would definitely be hurt.
And the prospects of this group of Marines would also become bleak.
"Isn't this just wanting to see your justice? You can't blame me for this. You Marines and the World Government put up a virtuous façade on the surface and do filthy business in the dark—and you got caught."
"If you cut off the rotten part yourselves, salvage your image, and then commend you Marines who are 'upright and incorruptible'… then your futures will be bright. Maybe you'll even thank me then."
Strawberry frowned. "You plan to let us go?"
"In batches. Each time you save some slaves, I'll release a few dozen people… Of course, you won't be able to finish releasing them that quickly."
If ordinary Marines offended the World Government even once, they might be ordered to split up and chase pirates alone.
Strawberry, a Headquarters Rear Admiral, had a bright future. Even if he offended the World Government once, as long as he didn't directly offend the Celestial Dragons, there was a high chance the Marines would still protect him.
So he had to be kept around to lead the Marines to do this kind of justice that offended the World Government a few more times.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"I thought I'd never get rid of these shackles in this life. Thank you, truly thank you!"
"No need to thank us. Go thank the Marines. The Marines are your heroes."
Vane didn't steal any credit at all. He kept pushing these rescued refugees toward the Marines, and took the opportunity to record many photos of the Marines and refugees together in happy scenes.
"Your expression is awful… Do you think your future looks grim? It's fine—someone with your abilities will have a future even if you can't be a Marine and become a pirate instead. Of course, if you can't make it, you can also consider defecting to me."
"I really welcome warriors who dare to oppose the dark side of the World Government."
As he spoke, Vane slapped a photo into Strawberry's hand.
This world has equipment similar to instant cameras, so the tech really is very disjointed.
Looking at the photo in his hand, Strawberry only felt it weighed 500 kilograms. At this moment, in his heart, he would rather have died in battle with Vane.
"Re-Rear Admiral… did we turn from being stubborn into blocking both ends?"
The branch Captain was an old hand after many years. He also knew what it meant to offend the World Government. His position as branch Captain definitely wouldn't be kept when he got back; he'd be thanking the heavens if his rank didn't get demoted.
"At least… everyone gets to live."
After thinking it over, Strawberry could only find that one benefit. Being captured by pirates and then released already exceeded ninety-five percent of captured Marines.
...
"Fleet Admiral, come take a look. This newspaper is a serious problem."
The office door of the current Fleet Admiral of the Marines, Kong, was pushed open hard.
The current Admiral of the Marines, Sengoku the Buddha, walked in holding a newspaper.
But as soon as he reached the desk, he found that there was already the same newspaper on the other man's desk.
The content of the paper was exactly about how the Marines in the West Blue had struck down a ship organizing the slave trade, and the paper even specially marked that this slave ship carried the flag of the World Government.
It didn't directly say it was the World Government doing it—Morgans still had to give the World Government a tiny bit of respect—he just used the World Government flag to hint at them.
"Strawberry… wasn't he clearing out pirates? Why did he suddenly go and interfere in the World Government's affairs?"
Compared to Sengoku the Buddha, the future Fleet Admiral, Kong personally leaned a bit more toward the World Government.
"Actually, reports from the branch say they've been missing for several days."
"And just now, the missing Marines contacted the branch. They claimed they were captured by pirates, and those pirates took them around everywhere to look for slave trade ships."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo