Sakazuki no longer paid attention to those few pirates; he turned his head to appreciate the astonished expressions of Sengoku and the others.
"What do you think?" Sakazuki softly asked for Sengoku's opinion.
The Great Buddha, however, did not answer Sakazuki's inquiry. He noticed that when those prisoners, used as test subjects, exerted force to run, the prison wall lamps did not cast shadows beneath their feet.
For the first time, he seriously sized up Moria, never expecting the Kage Kage Fruit to have such a bizarre and terrifying ability.
"It's simply like personally experiencing a terrifying legend, Moria. Those pirates lost their own shadows. In the sunlight, is their disappearance permanent?" Sengoku gave him high praise.
This pale-faced strange man laughed loudly: "Kishishishishi, of course! Mr. Admiral, no matter who it is, as long as they lose their own shadow, once exposed to sunlight, only death awaits them."
"So that's how it is," Sengoku finally understood Sakazuki's plan. This was undoubtedly a win-win cooperation. Moria, hunting pirates in the first half of the Grand Line, obtained a tool to enhance his strength, while the Great Deep Sea Prison gained a trump card powerful enough to overturn the table.
Even Red and that frozen Momo Momo Fruit user, once their shadows were taken by Moria's fruit ability, unless they willingly chose death, the sunlit world would forever bid them farewell.
For prisoners who lost their shadows, this great prison is a hell that confines them, and also the last sanctuary allowing them to barely survive.
But in Sengoku's view, the most brilliant aspect of this move lay in the Navy's benefit.
Moria seemingly benefited from the shadows of these strong individuals, but these prisoners who lost their shadows simultaneously became his constraint.
The Navy would gain a Warlord under its control, and a Great Deep Sea Prison that had completely settled down.
"Sakazuki, I've discovered, compared to your sinister schemes, the trickery and deception among those pirates are just child's play!" Kong sighed lightly, he couldn't help but be curious: "How did you think of this?"
"Are you... praising me?" Sakazuki turned the Fleet Admiral's words over in his mind twice but couldn't figure out whether Kong's words were praising him or criticizing him.
He pinched the bridge of his nose: "Over these years on the front lines, I've had many dealings with pirates. I discovered that during their evil deeds, these pirates always like to find some high-sounding reasons to arm themselves, to soothe their uneasy consciences."
"Freedom, that's what they say." Sakazuki looked at the pirate prisoners hiding in the shadows of the prison gate with lingering fear.
"For the sake of so-called [Freedom], they can attack a peaceful town without reason, disrupt others' lives; for [Freedom], they can unscrupulously kill innocents, destroy the peaceful order; [Freedom] became a shield for wrongdoing, seemingly all bullying and thuggish behavior can be explained with these two words." Sakazuki seemed to recall something, his expression turning somewhat unpleasant.
He pointed to the light that didn't shine into the prison entrance: "I want to teach these bastards one thing—freedom without order is nothing but pure chaos and death!"
"Indeed, freedom, this word is most easily distorted by those with ulterior motives." Tsuru, as the Navy Headquarters' Great Staff Officer, besides fighting at sea, spent more time digging through tens of thousands of documents and data to excavate the causes and driving forces of the Great Pirate Era.
Roger was certainly the fuse that ignited the Pirate Era, but in this process, those who fanned the flames and added fuel to the fire were not few.
She sighed lightly: "In reality, those low-level petty thieves fundamentally don't know what they are pursuing. Blindly following the earth-shattering slogans shouted by others, they brought countless families ruin and death upon civilians."
Sakazuki remained silent. This was the sorrow of an era, and also the sorrow of this generation. And in his original world, countless similar tragedies and atrocities had also occurred.
Freedom, this definition, was interpreted one-sidedly, then lauded to the skies by certain countries with ulterior motives, noble enough to split an originally prosperous and happy nation, noble enough to disregard homes still engulfed in the flames of war.
The World Government under the rule of the Celestial Dragons was already riddled with deep-seated problems. Roger was like a sudden major illness, causing various problems accumulated over decades, even centuries, to erupt all at once.
"For Freedom!" The pirates were like brainwashed, shouting words they didn't even know the meaning of, indulging in hedonistic abandon amidst chaos and confusion.
Minor problems that could have been adjusted and eased over time became increasingly prominent under the wanton impact of the pirate groups, while those major problems rotten to the core became heart-attacking poison in the increasingly deteriorating situation.
Sakazuki looked around at the surrounding prison cells. Just as he detested pirates, in his heart, he lacked even half a shred of goodwill towards the privileged group formed by the Celestial Dragons.
However, it must be objectively acknowledged that the World Government, formed by the alliance of over 170 countries, strives in every World Conference held to make this chaotic world a better place.
Sakazuki couldn't, because of the Celestial Dragons' brainless actions, condemn all kings with one stroke, classifying them as tyrants or incompetent rulers.
"Sakazuki! Stop zoning out, they've already gone far!" Tsuru raised her hand exasperatedly, waving it in front of this puppy's eyes.
Just as Tsuru said, Sengoku and Kong, bringing Moria, accompanied by the two prison heads, had already boarded the elevator between floors. Gion was escorting Brook, who had chosen to turn over a new leaf, and was almost out of the prison gate.
The Navy Headquarters Vice Admiral gave a self-deprecating bitter smile. It had been a long time since he had zoned out like this during work.
Unconsciously, in the blink of an eye, he had already spent his fifth year in this world.
From the Buster Call, Little Garden, Fish-Man Island to the North Blue, only now did Sakazuki realize he had walked for so long, walked so far.
He had a beautiful woman who admired him, had Navy brothers like Kuzan and Borsalino, and also Robin and Ace, these two children whose life paths he had directly or indirectly influenced.
Gradually, he began to truly like this colorful world, like the bunch of muscular goofballs at Navy Headquarters, like the feeling of helping others and upholding justice.
After so much previous rambling thought, only today did Sakazuki realize that he actually wanted to do more for this beautiful world.
Sakazuki turned, wanting to quicken his pace to catch the elevator, in order to confirm which unlucky fellow from Level 6 Sengoku and the others planned to give Moria as a "starter pack".
But a hand grabbed his coat from behind—it was Navy Headquarters Great Staff Officer Tsuru.
Tsuru's lips tightened slightly. As a veteran officer, she had watched this group of children who joined the Navy grow up bit by bit, mature bit by bit.
Although she didn't know what wicked schemes this little guy, who liked poisonous plots and insidious tricks, was cooking up now, it didn't stop her from wanting to sort out this stupid dog who dared to poach her family's cabbage!!!
"Let's go, Sakazuki," Tsuru mimicked Sakazuki's previous expression towards pirates, pointing towards the gate with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "Let's talk about your problem of playing with fire."
Sakazuki froze completely. Although Sengoku had mouthed something to him earlier, he truly hadn't expected the Great Buddha to sell him out so thoroughly.
Tsuru glanced at Sakazuki's wooden expression and sneered: "Stop playing dumb. When I asked Sengoku what happened earlier, he had this same expression. He was interrogated by me using the Woshu Woshu Fruit for half an hour, and then confessed everything."
Damn... Sakazuki's first reaction was that Tsuru really knew how to play; the heart-cleansing effect of the Woshu Woshu Fruit was forcefully turned into a truth serum by her.
The second reaction was that he himself was probably, possibly, perhaps, maybe already done for.
Neither spoke, walking onto the warship in silence all the way.
Taking advantage of this gap, Akainu carefully recalled the phone information from the past few days and suddenly felt the desire to survive.
He was the one hit by the ball, okay!
Before he could figure out how to explain, Tsuru had already pushed open the door to the infirmary, looking expressionlessly at Sakazuki: "Please enter."
"I think there might be some misunderstanding between us, Vice Admiral Tsuru." Sakazuki still had that deadpan face; no emotional change could be seen from his expression.
Tsuru twitched the corner of her mouth. Whether it was Garp the treasure or Sengoku the old timer, she had ways to make them submit obediently.
Through years of observation and understanding, this little puppy with a strong survival instinct before her was actually the Sengoku type.
"Aren't you feeling 'heated' [Shang Huo - internal heat/inflammation]? Sakazuki, I have tea here to clear heat and detoxify." Tsuru deliberately said 'heated' instead of 'playing with fire' [Wan Huo]. She was betting this steel-straight man wouldn't be shameless enough to say the words 'playing with fire' on a warship full of female soldiers.
Sakazuki indeed fell for the trick. He hesitated for a moment, then still followed Tsuru into the medical room.
He sat quietly on the chair, just feeling somewhat conflicted. Why would tea on a female soldier's warship be kept in the medical room? Sakazuki couldn't help but secretly raise his guard, fearing this protective Great Staff Officer might pull a fast one on him.
"Here, Oolong tea. Slimming, beauty-enhancing, detoxifying, anti-aging." Tsuru walked out from the medical cabinet holding a transparent glass, which contained a light brownish liquid.
Sakazuki picked up the glass, carefully examined it for a moment, and then his face twitched violently.
Even from a distance, a pungent smell of alcohol could be detected from the cup.
"Sister Tsuru... what is your definition of tea?" Sakazuki asked expressionlessly this veteran Vice Admiral who was clearly planning to mess with him to vent her anger.
Tsuru smiled: "As long as the color looks like tea, it's fine. Don't mind too much."
"Oh? Then why is it flammable?" Sakazuki expressionlessly extended a finger, the fingertip lightly brushing the surface of the "tea soup," and subsequently the [Tsuru Brand Oolong Tea] immediately caught fire from the high temperature of his finger..
"You child, isn't it common knowledge that Oolong tea is flammable?" Tsuru frowned. "The Navy has regulations against drinking alcohol during missions. Did you think I would harm you with alcohol?"