Luffy and Kuina walked side by side through the grand halls of Marineford, their steps steady, unbothered by the looming reprimand awaiting them.
Kuina glanced at Luffy. "You do realize Sengoku is going to tear into us, right?"
Luffy grinned lazily. "Yeah. And?"
Kuina sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know why I even bother."
Upon reaching the massive doors of the Fleet Admiral's office, Kuina moved to knock out of habit. But before she could, Luffy had already shoved the door open.
Bang!
"Yo! What's up, old man?" Luffy greeted, grinning as he strolled in without a care.
Inside the room, the tension instantly thickened.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat behind his desk, his veins nearly popping from his forehead. Beside him stood Vice Admiral Tsuru, her wise, calculating eyes narrowing at Luffy's audacity.
To the side, Garp was snacking on senbei, laughing as if nothing was happening. Vice Admiral Gion observed with amusement, her arms crossed, while Admirals Aokiji and Akainu stood nearby, both watching with starkly different expressions—Aokiji, indifferent but intrigued; Akainu, frowning in displeasure.
Sengoku slammed his palm on the desk. "You reckless BRAT! Do you even understand what you've done?!"
Kuina straightened beside Luffy, but he remained relaxed, only tilting his head. "Yeah. I got Zephyr a get-well gift."
Sengoku's temple throbbed. "A get-well gift?! You disobeyed orders, went on a rogue mission, and took a fellow Marine with you—without permission! Do you have any idea how reckless and irresponsible that was?!"
Luffy shrugged. "Rules are meant to be broken."
Silence.
Sengoku's face twitched violently.
"YOU LITTLE—"
Garp burst into laughter, slapping his knee. "Bwahaha! That's my grandson!"
"SHUT UP, GARP!" Sengoku roared.
Garp grinned, stuffing another senbei into his mouth.
Tsuru sighed. "Luffy… You must understand that we have rules for a reason. We cannot allow anyone, regardless of talent, to simply act on their own. You've made a dangerous precedent."
Luffy's grin faded. His eyes sharpened, his tone turning cold.
"Oh? And what about Zephyr?"
The room fell silent again.
Luffy took a step forward, hands still in his pockets. "One of our own lost his arm. He lost his students. And you? You just let it happen. No retaliation, no justice. You let him suffer alone while pretending everything is fine."
His voice dripped with disdain. "Aren't you ashamed?"
Sengoku's fists clenched.
Luffy continued, his words cutting through the tension like a blade. "You sit here, talking about rules—but what about justice? You don't even have the courage to seek it for your own people. You expect me to follow your rules when you can't even follow your own beliefs?"
His words stung.
Hard.
Aokiji let out a slow sigh, rubbing his temple. "Man… this is getting troublesome."
Akainu, however, scowled. "You're still just a brat who knows nothing about real justice."
Luffy turned his head, his expression unreadable. "Is that so?"
Sengoku exhaled deeply, trying to regain control of the conversation. "Regardless of your reasons, you broke protocol. There has to be punishment."
Luffy snorted. "Yeah, yeah. Just get it over with."
Sengoku eyed him before speaking. "Both you and Kuina will receive official demerits on your record. Additionally, you're both under house arrest for a week."
Kuina nodded respectfully. "Understood, Fleet Admiral."
Luffy merely shrugged. "Sure."
He turned to leave, but a sharp snort from Akainu made him pause.
"This is why you're too soft, Marshal Sengoku." Akainu's deep, gravelly voice filled the room. "A mere week for disobeying orders? Had it been anyone else, they'd be thrown in Impel Down for such insubordination."
Luffy's eye twitched. His logical mind told him to ignore it. But his heart—his gut—refused.
Slowly, he turned, his gaze locking onto Akainu.
"Oh? Then tell me, Akainu…" His voice was eerily calm. "What punishment did you receive when you bombarded a ship full of refugees?"
The air in the room froze.
Sengoku stiffened.
Garp stopped chewing.
Tsuru's eyes flickered with sharpness.
Even Aokiji's lazy expression shifted slightly.
Akainu's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Where did you hear that?"
Luffy smirked, but his eyes held no humor. "Don't question my intelligence."
He folded his arms. "Did you really think I've just been training all this time? I've read all the Marine logs. Studied the reports. And when the reports had gaps, I asked people who were there."
His smirk deepened. "The only trick is knowing what buttons to press."
Akainu's face darkened.
Luffy took another step forward, voice like a blade. "Tell me, Akainu—do you really think the words 'justice' and 'rules' sound good coming from someone like yours mouth?"
Akainu's fingers twitched, but he said nothing.
Luffy continued, voice thick with disgust. "You talk about 'absolute justice'—but tell me, what's the difference between you and the pirates you claim to hate?"
Akainu scowled. "The people I killed were necessary sacrifices for justice."
Luffy's grin returned, but it was sharp, predatory.
"Ohhh." He tilted his head. "So when you kill innocent people, it's a 'necessary sacrifice'—but when pirates kill people during a raid, they're criminals?"
He scoffed. "Isn't that just being double standards?"
Akainu's jaw tightened.
Luffy's voice grew colder. "It's because you have the word 'justice' on your back that you think you can justify any crime, isn't it? But guess what?"
His eyes burned. "Justice doesn't need an adjective."
Silence.
Luffy sneered. "All this talk about 'Absolute Justice,' 'Lazy Justice'—it's pathetic. Justice is justice. It doesn't need cowards like you twisting it into something disgusting."
Akainu's fists clenched, his volcanic anger barely restrained. "You dare—"
"I dare," Luffy interrupted, stepping right up to him. "Because, unlike you, I actually know right from wrong."
The tension in the room was suffocating.
Sengoku finally exhaled, rubbing his temples. "Enough."
Luffy snorted and turned away. "We're done here."
Without waiting for dismissal, he walked toward the door, Kuina following behind him.
As they stepped out, the Justice coats draped over their shoulders fluttered in the wind, catching the sunlight—one worn lazily, the other neatly pressed.
Even in their departure, their figures were striking.
Inside the grand office of Marine Headquarters, an almost eerie silence loomed over the gathered high-ranking officers. The weight of what they had just witnessed—of him—hung thick in the air, suffocating, undeniable.
Aokiji let out an exaggerated, weary sigh, rubbing his temples as if nursing a migraine. "Man… that kid's a catastrophe waiting to happen."
His usual indifference wavered, replaced by something rare—genuine unease.
Gion leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, but her fingers twitched, betraying her inner chaos. Her breath felt shallower than before, her pulse erratic, her body betraying her.
That damn boy was a walking disaster, Her throat felt dry.
She forced a smirk, masking the war waging inside her. "No, he's more than that. He's a revolution incarnate… and God help us all, because it's already too late to stop him."
Tsuru simply chuckled, shaking her head with the kind of amusement only someone who had seen far too much could muster. "I think you're mistaken, Gion."
She leaned forward, her aged eyes twinkling with knowing mischief. "He didn't start a revolution. He is the revolution."
Garp, in stark contrast to the somber mood, exploded with unrestrained laughter. "BWAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S MY GRANDSON!"
His voice boomed like a war drum, filled with pride so overwhelming it nearly cracked through the tense atmosphere.
Sengoku's eye twitched. His face turned red—part frustration, part barely-contained hysteria. "GARP, YOU BLITHERING IDIOT, SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE I—"
His words devolved into incoherent spluttering as he clutched his forehead, stress radiating from every pore.
And then… there was Akainu.
A barely restrained volcano of pure, seething fury. His body trembled—not with fear, but with rage so deep it could carve through mountains. His clenched fists crackled with molten heat, his very breath turning the air around him thick with smoldering hate. His teeth ground together with a force that could shatter steel.
"That brat…" He growled, voice low, dangerous.
The room, once filled with the presence of legends, suddenly felt small. Because, for the first time in a long time, they all knew and felt the truth.
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The titles of the next three chapters! (🔥Spoiler🔥)
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Chapter 89: The Demon's Crucible
Chapter 90: Birth of the Divine Fist
Chapter 91: Awakening a New Sense
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