One Piece : From Slave to Fleet Admiral

"Brrr brrr."

The sound of the Den Den Mushi rang out in the Fleet Admiral office.

In less than ten seconds, the call was answered.

The voice on the other end carried a hint of exhaustion, but the joy in his tone was unmistakable.

"Jake?! You brat finally decided to come down from that bastard Whitebeard's ship! If you'd stayed any longer, I'd have really started to wonder if you'd defected!"

Listening to Sengoku's words, Jake chuckled on his end and replied.

"Sengoku-san, you must be joking. How could I ever betray the Marines? I have no desire to fall from being a popular Marine to become a despised Pirate. But to be honest, spending this time with the Whitebeard Pirates has given me a slightly different perspective on Pirates—at least it's not the same as before."

"Jake, I knew you'd feel this way, but I also believe you have the judgment to understand. Entities like the Whitebeard Pirates are few and far between in this world. So don't mistake a villain for a good person just because he does one good deed, and don't label a good person as evil for a single misstep."

Jake took Sengoku's advice to heart.

He was well aware that the Marines in this world weren't entirely clean—in fact, they had aided the Celestial Dragons in committing numerous atrocities.

But if one were to weigh their merits against their faults, the ratio would at least be 70-30.

Seventy percent merit, thirty percent blame.

The vast majority of Marines in this world, at the very least, genuinely sought to protect civilians and uphold justice.

As for Pirates, if their merits and faults were compared, it would be more like 1-99.

Pirate crews like Whitebeard's and Luffy's, which leaned more towards being adventure groups, weren't just one in a hundred in this world—they were scarcely one in ten thousand.

Therefore, Jake merely smiled in response to Sengoku's admonition.

"Rest assured, Sengoku-san, the vast majority of Pirates are beasts. That's a perspective I'll never change. However, the reason I'm calling you this time is mainly to conduct some internal purging within the Marine. I'm currently at the Marine branch base on 'Sladepar,' where I've discovered some... let's say, rather disappointing scenes."

Hearing Jake's words, Sengoku's brow furrowed slightly.

He stood up, turned to look at the world map behind him and focused his gaze on "Sladepar" in the North Blue while asking softly.

"That branch base has been problematic for a long time. Currently, most marine branch bases have been assigned numbers. Except for some extremely remote branch bases that haven't undergone reform yet, most places have already implemented changes. The island you're on is one of those branch bases that hasn't been systematically managed yet—it's even still using the island's name as the base name, an outdated practice. What exactly has happened there?"

Jake nodded in understanding at Sengoku's words.

After all, it was currently the year 1509 of the Sea Calendar.

The Great Pirate Era hadn't been around for long and while the Marines was exhausted from capturing Pirates, it was only natural that many things hadn't been reformed yet.

Even the dormitory conditions at important bases like Water Seven hadn't been improved, let alone such remote areas.

"The commander of the Base here is suspected of colluding with slave traders, capturing nearby islanders and rare races for sale. At the same time, he's privately selling the base's prison cells and dormitories to slave traders as holding areas for slaves and taking a cut from the slave traders' profits."

By this point, Sengoku's face had already begun to turn pale.

For Sengoku, the Marines under his command could uphold different forms of justice—he understood and acknowledged varying interpretations of justice.

But there was one prerequisite: what you upheld had to be justice.

What Jake described—the actions of the base commander—had absolutely no connection to the word "justice."

Such behavior had always been Sengoku's bottom line.

But it didn't end there.

Jake's voice continued without pause.

"At the same time, I've discovered that it's not just the base commander engaging in this behavior. All the soldiers in the entire base are complicit, working together with the commander to provide convenience for those slave traders. Using the money provided by the slave traders, they've opened casinos, taverns, and brothels within the base, even spending millions of berries to hire numerous dancers to reside permanently at the base."

"According to the testimonies of those dancers, the entire base has become another hub for human traffickers. Even these dancers, whom they paid to hire, end up being taken away by the traffickers. Meanwhile, the majority of the income from the island of 'Sladepar' is embezzled by this base and never reported to Marine Headquarters."

With each sentence Jake spoke, Sengoku's face cycled through shades of pale, red, purple, and finally black.

By the time Jake finished listing all the crimes, Sengoku's face had turned as dark as the night sky.

His voice trembled with such fury that even through the Den Den Mushi's somewhat dopey expression, Sengoku's rage was unmistakable.

"Jake, hand that Den Den Mushi to that scum base commander! I'll interrogate the bastard myself! And every last person in that Marine branch—I'll throw them all into Impel Down!"

Listening to Sengoku's roar, Jake slowly entered the room while holding the Den Den Mushi.

The moment Jake stepped inside, the women paused their torture tools, gazing at him with eyes full of admiration.

As for the slave traders and Wild dog, their faces had turned deathly pale, consumed by terror.

Especially Wild dog, who continued pleading with Jake.

"Jake-sama, please spare me! I'm willing to give you all the money I've saved over these years! Although I'm just a branch commander, I've managed to accumulate about 20 million Berries. If you're willing to keep this quiet, I'll give you everything!"

Faced with the panicked self-exposure of Wild Dog, Jake merely shook his head.

He then placed the Den Den Mushi in front of the man and said softly.

"You'd better say all this to Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

Hearing Jake's words, Wild Dog looked at the now grimacing Den Den Mushi, his voice turning shrill.

"F-F-Fleet Admiral Sengoku?! Is that Fleet Admiral Sengoku on the line?!"

Wild Dog was trembling so violently he'd lost all self-control.

He stared at Jake with eyes full of despair and madness.

"'Wild Dog', real name Slixus, joined the Marines in Ocean Calendar 1492, currently 47 years old. Am I correct?"

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