You can read the advance chapters here : patreon.com/Vigilante04
---------------
Inside the brightly lit marshal's office, as bright as day.
Akainu, young and full of energy, stood firm, his sharp eyes locked onto Kong without hesitation.
Kong didn't intend to reprimand him. With a solemn expression, he spoke in a deep voice, "I'm also responsible for this matter..."
"Tsuru, Sengoku... You should listen as well. The truth is, I've kept this buried in my heart for a long time."
As he spoke, Kong looked at Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru, a bitter smile appearing on his face. "Are you all blaming me for what happened to Z?"
Sengoku, serious as ever, looked at his superior—the man who had upheld justice and dedicated decades to the Marines. He spoke firmly, "Marshal Kong, I don't know all the details, but I believe you never intended to suppress Z. You must have had your reasons…"
"Marshal Kong, it depends on what you mean..."
Vice Admiral Tsuru remained calm, her expression unchanged.
She gazed at Kong, who now looked as if he had aged more than ten years, his face weighed down by guilt. Without hesitation, she said bluntly, "The truth isn't just that the higher-ups in the World Government ordered Cipher Pol to target and suppress Z… There were other forces involved, but in the end, the situation was completely out of your control, wasn't it?"
Logically speaking, a man like Black Arm Z—gentle by nature and without ambition for the position of fleet admiral—shouldn't have had any irreconcilable conflicts with the higher-ups.
Yet, Cipher Pol's involvement was undeniable.
Without orders from the top of the World Government, those CP agents would never have dared to act on their own—let alone orchestrate an assassination attempt on a close relative of a Marine admiral.
And for Kong, the Marine fleet admiral at the time, to be completely unaware? That was clearly impossible.
"When pirates attacked Z's hometown, it was done under orders from the highest levels of the World Government. Cipher Pol set it up… and I knew about it. I allowed it to happen."
"What!?"
Sengoku, Tsuru, and the others couldn't hide their shock.
Akainu's eyes sharpened, staring at the Marine leader in disbelief.
An admiral who had shed blood on the frontlines for justice—only for his family to be targeted by pirates under orders from the very government he served?
It was absurd.
Unacceptable.
He clenched his fists in silent rage.
"It's not what you think…"
Kong let out a bitter sigh.
He no longer hid the truth.
Cipher Pol's actions weren't meant to eliminate Black Arm Z, the proud and capable admiral in his prime.
It was because of Z's belief in "no killing"—his leniency towards pirates.
He was too soft-hearted. Too merciful.
He often let captured pirates go against orders.
Despite hunting down countless pirates throughout his career… he had never once taken a life.
Can you imagine?
An admiral of the Marines, yet unwilling to kill?
It sounded so absurd, so ridiculous, that even a child wouldn't believe it.
Yet, it was real.
Under orders from the highest levels of the World Government, Marine Fleet Admiral Kong, after careful deliberation, chose to acquiesce. Cipher Pol then orchestrated a scheme, deliberately or inadvertently leaking information about the family of Admiral Z. This lured in the very pirates Z had once spared out of mercy, seeking revenge.
Initially, the Marines had received advance intel from Cipher Pol and had made full preparations. The plan was simple: to shock Z—the admiral who refused to kill—into changing his mindset.
They wanted to force a confrontation.
To push him toward a new way of thinking.
At the very least, they hoped he would start acting like an admiral of the Marines—showing no mercy to the ruthless pirates he had once let go.
But things went horribly wrong.
An unforeseen mistake led to tragedy—the brutal deaths of Z's wife and children.
The Marines stationed near Z's hometown had received advance warning from Cipher Pol. Their orders were clear: deploy immediately upon detecting the incoming pirates and set up an ambush to eliminate them.
The plan itself was sound. The CP agents carrying it out had followed orders without error.
But the real issue lay with the Marine base's top officer.
A man who had joined the Marines after losing his own family to pirates.
His hatred for pirates was absolute—bordering on obsession.
He despised Z.
To him, the admiral's so-called mercy was nothing more than hypocrisy. He had long resented Z's habit of sparing pirates out of compassion.
And so, in his twisted logic, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
If Z experienced the same kind of loss he had, surely then he would understand. Surely then, he would no longer be soft-hearted.
So, in cold-blooded calculation—he deliberately delayed.
Because of this, the Marines stationed in that region failed to deploy in time.
And when Z, upon receiving the news, rushed back home as fast as he could—he was too late.
A disaster unfolded before his eyes.
After hearing the full truth from Kong, Sengoku, Tsuru, and Akainu all fell silent.
"This is how it happened," Kong admitted. "The orders came from the top of the World Government. Cipher Pol devised the plan. And we—the Marine leadership—allowed it to happen."
His clenched fists trembled with suppressed emotion. The veins on his hands bulged as he lowered his head, his voice tinged with bitter self-mockery.
"It should have been safe. The goal was simply to change the heart of an admiral who refused to kill. But we underestimated human nature… and in doing so, we turned what should have been a success into a tragic failure."
"Not only did we bring shame upon the Marines… we lost a brilliant admiral in the process."
"Marshal Kong… does Z know the truth?"
Sengoku's deep voice cut through the heavy silence.
As one of Z's longtime comrades, he had often felt that Z was too idealistic, too naive. Even Garp, who had his own carefree and reckless ways, wasn't as extreme as Z when it came to showing mercy.
Too many times, Z had hesitated, moved by the tears and pleas of pirates, letting them go against orders.
But never—never—did Sengoku imagine that Z's family would be slaughtered because of this very trait.
The thought of it was unbearable.
"Yes. He knows," Kong admitted, his voice heavy with guilt.
"I told him everything myself. Even gave him a gun. Told him that if he wanted revenge… he could shoot me right then and there."
Kong closed his eyes.
Slumping back in his chair, he let out a weary sigh.
"The truth is… I failed him. I failed Z."