Chapter 8. Take That Last Part Back!
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At this moment—
Everyone was staring at the so-called Marine Hero.
Especially Nami, who had been a little nervous earlier. Her mind involuntarily recalled Captain Nezumi and the Arlong Pirates from years ago, and her gaze toward Garp turned both furious and scornful.
This guy's a Marine Hero?
He's no different from Captain Nezumi.
As for Dante... in her heart, he was different. At the very least, he hadn't done anything outrageous or cruel.
He even saved Cocoyasi Village!
Even Smoker, who had originally intended to question Dante about justice, now looked deflated. His expression was complicated as he glanced at Garp, then at Dante, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know where to begin.
His face was dark.
His own boss's ass was not clean—what right did he have to interrogate a Captain who just wanted to make sure the villagers had enough to eat?
Though Dante's rank wasn't as high as Vice Admiral Garp's, and he understood that such a "black spot" was probably meaningless to someone like Garp—or even to Fleet Admiral Sengoku—it was still...
Garp was supposed to be a Marine Hero!
In the Marine Headquarters, he was a symbol of what all Marines aspired to—faith, example, belief.
And now…
What a joke.
They had come here to investigate collusion between Marines and pirates, and now? The Inspection Team had been compromised!
Didn't they see that even the pirates they were supposed to arrest were now looking at them with scorn?
As for Tashigi... sensing that the mood had shifted, she wore a confused expression. Unlike Smoker, she was someone who would even give evildoers a second chance, and she didn't believe that Captain Dante had betrayed so-called justice.
To her, Captain Dante was also a Marine who bore the weight of justice.
And in her heart, she knew that after learning everything the 16th Branch had done, Smoker probably didn't really want to arrest Dante. He was just angry that Dante had cooperated with pirates.
But now what were they supposed to do?
Just then—
Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Garp froze for a second—then quickly recovered, breaking into his usual carefree grin as he scratched his head. "Ahh~ I've been found out, huh?"
As he spoke, he lowered his head and calmly met Dante's gaze.
"Boy, how did you know that?"
"It's just the information I got by chance," Dante replied with a light smile, now that the atmosphere had shifted in his favor. "So... Vice Admiral Garp, do you have anything else to say?"
As soon as he finished speaking—
Before Garp, who was scratching his head and wondering what to say next, could respond—
Smoker abruptly stood up. Worried that things might spiral even further out of control, he cut straight to the point.
Expressionless, Smoker stared at Dante and said coldly, "Dande Shacher, you colluded with pirates and defrauded Marine Headquarters of military funds..."
"Eh, wait, wait, wait—what do you mean 'colluded with pirates'? Our 16th Branch has never done anything like that." Dante immediately raised both hands like he was playing innocent. "Don't frame us. As for the funds... every request we made was fully documented and lawful. Otherwise, do you think Headquarters would have approved them? If you don't believe me, ask Udo~."
"Yes! Our 16th Branch has never defrauded any military funds," Udo chimed in seriously after Dante signaled him. "Every requisition I submitted went through proper channels and was completely within the legal and compliant procedures!"
"Captain Smoker, please don't falsely accuse us!"
"Exactly, Captain Smoker—our 16th Branch is poor. What's wrong with asking for a bit more money?"
"You're still trying to weasel your way out of this?!" Hearing Dante and Udo's tag-team defense, Smoker's face darkened even more. "Captain of the Mok Pirates—"
But before he could finish—
"Thank you, Captain Smoker, for assisting the 16th Branch in successfully capturing the Mok Pirates," Dante suddenly interrupted, speaking solemnly. "This ruthless band of vicious pirates has been a thorn in our side for years. They're extremely cunning. Who would've thought—we finally caught them today."
As he said this, he turned to Udo.
"Hey, Udo, why haven't you thrown the Mok Pirates' Captain into the 16th Branch prison yet? Don't let him escape!"
"Yes, Captain!"
"…"
Was this guy seriously treating them like fools?
Watching Dante and Udo continue with their farce, Smoker's face darkened even more. He slammed his hand down on the table.
"Are you mocking the Marines, Captain Dante?! Have you forgotten what Zephyr-sensei taught us? Forgotten the justice you're supposed to uphold as a Marine?!"
"Justice of the Marines?" Dante glanced at the nearby Garp, who was grinning like he was enjoying a show, and raised an eyebrow.
Seriously? It had come to this and the old guy still wasn't going to say anything?
Wasn't he worried they'd actually start fighting?
As someone who had reincarnated into this world, Dante didn't buy into the so-called "justice" of the Marines. Not when the World Government at the top was already rotten to the core!
When the roots are rotten, what justice is there to speak of?
What, you going to kill him? Fine—he'd just go back to being a Level-4 Senior Clerk.
That's enough.
He wasn't afraid in the slightest.
Dante sat back down, looking expressionlessly at the scowling Smoker. "What exactly is this 'justice' the Marines uphold?"
"To preserve peace and order in the world, and drive out the evil that threatens the seas!"
"Drive out the evil that threatens the seas? And what exactly counts as that evil, Captain Smoker?" Dante sighed as he looked at him. He understood—not every Marine knew the truth about the World Government or the Marines' darker secrets.
Dante stood up and looked Smoker directly in the eye.
"Is it the ones who pillage and burn? The slavers who hunt humans? The agents who kill innocent pregnant women for the sake of stopping a single child's birth? Or the people who caused the destruction of God Valley...?"
Before he could finish—
Sure enough—
"Shut up!"
He was cut off.
He was cut off by Garp!
The smile vanished from Garp's face. He frowned deeply and looked sternly at Dante. "Dante boy, although I don't know how you found out about those things, some secrets... it's enough to know them, but you can't speak about them out loud."
"Of course~ I was just scared by Captain Smoker earlier."
He wouldn't dare say these things in front of just anyone, but there was no avoiding these two if he wanted to continue developing in East Blue.
Raising his head, Dante looked at Smoker, who was now frowning because of what he had said. After a moment of silence, he added: "Captain Smoker, maybe the justice the Marines bear isn't as righteous as you think. In this era... there's no such thing as absolute justice!"
As his words fell—
Before Smoker could say anything—
"I knew Sengoku would dump a troublesome case on me," Garp muttered as he rubbed his head, clearly annoyed. "I thought he was just a Marine colluding with pirates. Who'd have thought this brat knows even more than I thought? Now what should we do? How about we just pretend that we have never met?"
"Vice Admiral Garp..." Smoker looked speechless as he glanced at him. He didn't fully understand what Dante's words had meant earlier, but he could tell—it was something heavy and troublesome.
The Marine Hero was trying to bail now without taking any responsibility?
How can it not be troublesome?!
But before he could say anything further—
"Let's leave it at that for now!" Garp said, picking his nose, and then looked over at Dante's hand that was still gripping his sword hilt. Grinning, he added, "I'm old and I don't want to cause trouble for myself now! And besides, you... don't really want to arrest him either, do you?"
"Hmph!" Smoker snorted coldly, his secret intentions exposed. But he didn't argue further.
With a dark expression, Smoker turned to Dante and said, "The Mok Pirates must be brought to justice. I will arrest them and send them to Loguetown Prison."
"Then go ahead and arrest us!" Mok, still stubborn, lifted his chin and said defiantly, "As long as the boss is fine, I, Mok, don't care even if I get locked up!"
But—
"Shut up!" Dante scolded the foolish kid, speechless.
The negotiations were going smoothly—why was he trying to get himself killed?
Mok was someone he'd brought up himself, and he had no intention of just handing him over like that.
When he first met this kid, he had been skin and bones, with a yellowish face. Who would've thought that in just a few years, he'd bulk up so much?
He was even taller than him now.
But all he did was grow in size—not in brains?
Of course~
Even if he was a bit dense, Mok was extremely obedient. As long as it was an order from him, Mok would carry it out seriously. That was exactly why he had no worries about letting him go be a pirate in the first place.
There is no need to worry about him turning bad.
Dante turned away from Smoker and looked at Garp. "Thirty percent."
"???"
"From now on, thirty percent of the military funds allocated to the 16th Branch in the future!"
As soon as those words fell—
Everyone froze, then turned to glare at Dante with darkened faces.
Was this guy trying to bribe the Marine Hero?
And doing it right in front of everyone? He was too bold!
Especially Smoker… his face turned ashen. Was this guy not taking him seriously?
Bribing the Marine Hero right in front of him?
And that's the Marine Hero we're talking about!
As if someone like that would be bought off by a mere thirty percent of a branch's military funds?
Sure enough...
Before Smoker could even open his mouth to object, Vice Admiral Garp was already staring coldly at Dante.
"Boy, what do you take me for?"
However—
Before Smoker could let out a sarcastic laugh—
"At least fifty percent!"
At once—
"…"
Everyone fell into silence again.
Before anyone could speak—
"Deal!" Dante looked a bit surprised too, seemingly not expecting Garp to actually agree. He'd been ready to threaten him with Ace's secret if he refused!
He immediately slapped the hand Garp extended.
"Should I hand it to you next time, or pass it to your grandson?"
"What would I give it to that kid for? He's already grown up—he needs to stand on his own!" Garp replied cheerfully, completely ignoring his grandson, and added with a grin, "You don't need to give it to me either. You know the Goa Kingdom, right? There are some refugees there too."
Once that was said—
"…"
Dante instantly understood why this old man had agreed. No wonder he had accepted so quickly—so that's what he had in mind.
It makes sense. He hadn't really done anything wrong. Or rather, for this old man with a not-so-clean record himself, what Dante had done didn't even count as a problem. Instead of letting him run off at the mouth—or worse, run off and become a pirate who might speak too much—it was better to keep him right here, nice and quiet.
Besides, he didn't want to wander around for now anyway, so this worked out just fine.
As for the Goa Kingdom...
Hiring workers was hiring workers, no matter where it was!
A smile crept onto Dante's face. "Happy cooperation!"
"Happy cooperation!"
The two of them shared a meaningful smile.
Only…
"Is this about percentages?!" Smoker grabbed Garp by the collar and shouted, "Do you even realize what you're doing, Vice Admiral Garp?!"
"Ahh, come now, Smoker boy, don't get so worked up. I know what I'm doing. That Mok Pirates didn't really do anything, right?" Garp, still being held by the collar, just laughed and picked his nose, giving Mok—who still looked confused—a cheerful and rather meaningful look. "Letting them go isn't a big deal!"
"Do you even hear yourself?! You're in the Marines—they're pirates!"
"Ah, right, I almost forgot. Take that last part back!" Garp laughed again, clearly unconcerned about his slip of the tongue. Then he let out a long sigh, shook his head, and continued picking his nose, his eyes wandering as he spoke. "I never thought the Mok Pirates would be exactly like what Captain Dante said—so cunning. To think they actually slipped right from me and the others! We must inform Marine Headquarters immediately!"
As his words fell—
Smoker: …
Looking at this utterly shameless Marine Hero, Vice Admiral Garp, he had a sentence in his heart he didn't know whether to say aloud or not.
Did this old man take him for a fool too?!