I Punch the Tailed Beast Ball

Smoker looked at Tina in surprise after hearing her words.

"That doesn’t sound like something you’d say," Smoker said as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Unlike him, who openly opposed his superiors whenever he disagreed with them, Tina was a very rational person. Even if she disliked her superior, she wouldn’t openly show it. Instead, she would quietly obey on the surface while acting differently behind the scenes.

Tina thought for a moment before saying, "How should I put it... He’s the kind of person who’s difficult to describe. But in a certain sense, he’s quite similar to Admiral Kuzan in one respect."

"That guy..." Hearing Kuzan’s name, Smoker fell into thought.

Smoker had always gotten along well with Aokiji. When he heard that Aokiji had left the Marines after losing the contest for Fleet Admiral against Akainu, his feelings had been complicated.

Smoker couldn’t help becoming even more curious about Nagasawa.

Similar to Aokiji in some way...

What exactly was similar? Their sense of justice?

Carrying that question in his mind, Smoker followed Tina to meet Nagasawa.

Smoker sized Nagasawa up.

Nagasawa wasn’t particularly tall. By Smoker’s estimate, he was only around 180 centimeters tall, making him the shortest among the Admirals.

However, Smoker didn’t question Nagasawa’s strength because of his height.

In this world, being taller didn’t mean being stronger. Otherwise, the Giants would already rule the world.

Killing Four Emperor Kaido was the best proof of Nagasawa’s strength.

While Smoker was observing Nagasawa, Nagasawa was also observing Smoker.

Nagasawa was quite familiar with Smoker, the man who couldn’t beat anyone in the early stages and still couldn’t beat anyone later on.

As the first Logia Devil Fruit user to appear, Smoker had possessed tremendous pressure in the early days, but he gradually fell behind and could no longer keep up with Luffy and the others.

Smoker was an unconventional Marine.

Defying orders from above was as routine for him as eating and drinking.

It wasn’t that Smoker had some problem and simply enjoyed disobeying orders.

Rather, with his personality, he was destined to be a thorn in the side of the current Marine organization.

If someone else received credit for something they hadn’t done, they would probably be delighted.

Smoker was different.

If it wasn’t his achievement, then it wasn’t his achievement.

When the World Government tried to give him the credit for Luffy’s accomplishments, Smoker wasn’t pleased at all.

He directly told those old men in the World Government to go to hell.

Smoker was also one of the people Nagasawa intended to recruit into the Revolutionary Army.

Because Smoker had convictions.

He had his own sense of justice.

As long as Smoker realized that he couldn’t uphold his justice within the Marines, but could do so in the Revolutionary Army, recruiting him would become simple.

"I heard you’ve wanted to transfer me back to Marine Headquarters for quite some time. Why?" Smoker asked directly.

Nagasawa smiled.

"Because you’re strong. I want to build a force capable of eliminating every pirate on the seas."

"Eliminate every pirate... That’s quite an ambitious idea."

The cigarette hanging from Smoker’s mouth trembled slightly.

"Admiral Nagasawa, you’ve never mentioned this to me before," Tina said as she held her forehead.

She was already getting used to it.

Nagasawa was always like this.

She didn’t know whether it was because he deliberately didn’t want to tell her for some reason, or because he had simply made it up on the spot.

"Really? Well, now you know," Nagasawa replied with a grin.

Tina rubbed her forehead and began wondering whether such a unit would ever receive approval from above.

Before Nagasawa defeated Kaido, there was naturally no chance of approval.

Now...

That wasn’t necessarily the case anymore.

Because Nagasawa might actually be able to accomplish it.

Just then, someone knocked on the office door.

A Marine walked in and said, "Admiral Nagasawa, it’s time for the meeting."

Nagasawa nodded before saying to Smoker and Tina,

"I’ll go attend the meeting first. We’ll continue talking after I get back."

After saying that, Nagasawa patted Smoker on the shoulder.

"Keep up the good work. I have high expectations for you."

Watching Nagasawa leave, Tina sighed before sitting down and beginning to write another report.

Over the past few days, she had nearly gone numb from writing all kinds of documents.

After all, something this significant had happened, and since Nagasawa wasn’t going to write them, she naturally had to.

"Has he always been like this?" Smoker asked.

Although they hadn’t met for long, he could already tell that Nagasawa was an extremely easygoing person.

The way Tina interacted with Nagasawa felt more like friends talking than a subordinate speaking with a superior.

In that regard, he really did resemble Aokiji’s relationship with him.

"Mm."

...

By the time Nagasawa arrived at the conference room, nearly every seat had already been filled.

All of the current Admirals were present, along with many powerful Headquarters Vice Admirals.

Even Sengoku, who was practically retired, had come.

Without question, judging by the participants alone, this was an extremely important meeting.

"Haha, Nagasawa, you’re here. Come sit over here."

Seeing Nagasawa arrive, Garp immediately waved him over to the seat beside him.

Nagasawa nodded and sat down next to Garp.

Although this was an extremely high-level meeting, with two generations of Fleet Admirals, the three Admirals, the Admiral candidates, and several heavyweight Vice Admirals present...

The meeting itself wasn’t particularly meaningful to Nagasawa.

Overall, it was simply about discussing the impact of Nagasawa’s defeat of Kaido, what actions the Marines should take next, how to suppress the Great Pirate Era, and how to bring it to an end.

None of that had much to do with Nagasawa.

He wasn’t really a Marine.

Nagasawa had never forgotten his original purpose.

He was an undercover agent for the Revolutionary Army.

So throughout the meeting, Nagasawa mostly chatted casually with Garp, discussing which shop made the best donuts and what kind of tea paired best with different foods.

"If you ask me, donuts should always be eaten with a sip of strawberry milk," Nagasawa said.

Garp burst into laughter.

"I can’t get used to that stuff. Sengoku’s tea suits me much better."

Sengoku couldn’t take it anymore.

"No wonder I’ve been wondering why my tea has been disappearing so quickly lately. So it was you! Go buy your own tea!"

Garp merely smiled without saying anything.

Why buy it himself when free tea tasted better?

Akainu, who had been standing at the front explaining how the Marines would end the Great Pirate Era, unconsciously clenched his fists after hearing their conversation.

Yet there was absolutely nothing he could do.

He could only be angry in silence.

None of those three were easy to provoke.

One was Garp, the Marine Hero who had defeated the Rocks Pirates.

One was Nagasawa, the new Marine Hero who had just destroyed the Beasts Pirates and killed Four Emperor Kaido.

The last was the former Fleet Admiral.

Two Marine Heroes and one Fleet Admiral.

Who could possibly handle that?

No matter how dissatisfied he was, he could only endure it.

By the end, Akainu had completely lost the mood to continue speaking.

He said flatly,

"Admiral Nagasawa, you’re the central figure of this incident. Why don’t you share your opinion?"

Hearing Akainu’s words, Nagasawa paused for a moment.

But he didn’t refuse.

He stood up cleanly and said,

"My opinion is simple—strike pirates as hard as possible."

"A major reason the Great Pirate Era continues to intensify is profit."

"People see so many individuals going to sea, becoming famous, becoming Pirate Emperors and renowned great pirates."

"So they begin to admire them."

"That’s why we must target those pirate crews with the greatest reputations."

Akainu glanced sideways.

Those words suited his own thinking quite well.

Many of the Marines present nodded in agreement.

Sengoku also nodded.

That had been one of the purposes behind the Summit War.

To publicly execute the Pirate King’s son and then destroy Whitebeard’s crew, one of the Four Emperors.

Had it succeeded, it would have dealt a devastating blow to pirates and slowed the growth of the Great Pirate Era.

Unfortunately...

He had failed.

Ace had been rescued during the live broadcast.

People only saw the pirates’ heroism.

They didn’t see the Marines’ strength.

Instead, it had accelerated the Great Pirate Era.

"Besides suppressing pirates, we also need to strengthen the rule of law," Nagasawa continued.

"Many people don’t become pirates because they dream of becoming pirates."

"They become pirates because they’re oppressed until they have no other choice."

The Marines present all froze.

How had the topic suddenly shifted to strengthening the rule of law?

Nagasawa then went even further, saying that nobles should not possess privileges beyond those of ordinary citizens.

Akainu had no choice but to stop him.

He felt that if Nagasawa continued speaking, CP0 might burst into the conference room at any moment.

Although the Marines were the World Government’s military force, they themselves were also watched carefully by the World Government.

The organization the World Government trusted most was its own Cipher Pol.

"Admiral Nagasawa, those aren’t matters we should concern ourselves with. Those are issues for the World Government officials to consider. Let’s focus on how to eliminate pirates," Akainu said.

Although Akainu stopped Nagasawa in time, some of the Marines present still fell into deep thought over his words.

Fujitora was one of them.

After thinking carefully, he realized that Nagasawa’s words sounded remarkably similar to some of the Revolutionary Army’s ideals.

This time, Nagasawa gave Akainu some face and didn’t continue.

Instead, he dropped an even bigger bombshell.

"The Pirate Emperors must disappear."

"My next target is the Big Mom Pirates."

Instantly, the entire conference room exploded into discussion.

Everyone began talking at once.

Nagasawa’s words clearly meant he intended to destroy the Big Mom Pirates just as he had destroyed the Beasts Pirates.

"The young really are full of energy. You just destroyed the Beasts Pirates, and now you’ve already set your sights on the Big Mom Pirates."

Sengoku stroked his beard with a smile.

"As an Admiral who was promoted through the World Military Draft just like Admiral Nagasawa, I’ve accomplished nothing so far. It’s truly embarrassing."

Fujitora looked at Nagasawa with admiration.

He liked Nagasawa’s personality.

He also believed Nagasawa was a Marine who took his work seriously and possessed his own sense of justice.

The two had a good relationship.

Garp simply gave a thumbs-up and grinned.

"As expected of the Marine I recruited."

Garp genuinely felt fortunate that he had gone out that day and brought Nagasawa into the Marines.

The Marines had gained such a powerful Admiral because of it.

Nagasawa’s words also made Gion nod inwardly.

She had finally acknowledged Nagasawa as a Marine Admiral.

Originally, as an Admiral candidate, she had felt that promoting someone directly through the World Military Draft was inappropriate.

Making a newcomer who had just joined the Marines into an Admiral was simply too much.

But Nagasawa had proven himself.

Gion had no choice but to admit that compared with promoting her, promoting Nagasawa allowed the Marines to accomplish far more.

"The Big Mom Pirates? I think the Whitebeard Pirates would be a better target," Akainu said after some thought.

"The Whitebeard Pirates brought us a humiliating defeat."

"If we eliminate them, we’ll erase the negative impact from before."

"It will prove the Marines’ strength."

"Moreover, the Pirate King’s bloodline is within the Whitebeard Pirates."

"If we allow them to continue developing, they’ll become a major threat in the future."

After Akainu spoke, many Marines who had just been shocked by Nagasawa’s proposal found his reasoning convincing.

Although both the Big Mom Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates were Four Emperor crews...

The Whitebeard Pirates had dealt the Marines an enormous humiliation.

They had practically rubbed the Marines’ face into the dirt.

Defeating the Whitebeard Pirates would therefore carry a completely different significance.

It would inspire the entire Marine organization.

At that moment, Nagasawa spoke.

"I don’t agree with you, Sakazuki."

"Destroying the Beasts Pirates has already proven the Marines’ strength to the world."

"Compared to the Whitebeard Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates pose a much greater threat to ordinary people."

"Charlotte Linlin is cruel by nature."

"Even within the territories under her own pirate crew, if people fail to provide enough sweets, entire nations are destroyed."

"Meanwhile, although the Whitebeard Pirates are pirates, they do not massacre civilians."

"They are far less dangerous than the Big Mom Pirates."

"So why ignore the more dangerous Big Mom Pirates and choose to attack the Whitebeard Pirates instead?"

Nagasawa would have to be an idiot to attack the Whitebeard Pirates.

They were future allies of the Revolutionary Army.

"That’s only the surface."

"The Whitebeard Pirates pose a far greater hidden threat."

"If we don’t crush them now, they may seize this opportunity to expand their power and become even stronger."

"That would have a tremendous impact on the stability of the entire world," Akainu replied.

For Akainu, compared to the people of a single island or nation, maintaining the stability of the entire world always came first.

In Akainu’s eyes, Nagasawa lacked the bigger picture.

If Whitebeard rapidly expanded while only two Pirate Emperors remained, the consequences would be far worse than anything the Big Mom Pirates could cause.

"I support Admiral Nagasawa’s proposal," Fujitora said, making his stance clear.

Fujitora always first considered how many people needed protection and how to protect civilians.

He didn’t first think about how many enemies there were or how many could be killed.

That was his justice.

"Whitebeard..." Akainu wanted to continue emphasizing the Whitebeard Pirates’ threat, but Nagasawa interrupted him.

"Since Fleet Admiral Akainu is so eager to eliminate the Whitebeard Pirates, why don’t you personally lead the operation against them?"

"I’ll stay here at Marine Headquarters and wait for your good news."

The meaning was simple.

If you think it’s so easy, then do it yourself.

Akainu fell silent.

He really couldn’t.

If he had possessed Nagasawa’s strength, the Summit War would never have ended in the Marines’ defeat.

Akainu touched the scar on his chest.

Had Kizaru and Aokiji not been beside him that day, he might have died at Whitebeard’s hands.

The rest of the discussion became much simpler.

Because of Nagasawa’s strength, almost no one doubted whether the campaign against the Big Mom Pirates would succeed.

The real question was how to maximize the Marines’ deterrence.

In the end, everyone agreed that the assault on the Big Mom Pirates should be broadcast live.

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