After Ross and Gion finished their intimate moment and came out of the ship's cabin, they soon received a message from Kake.
Upon learning that Kake had left the warship an hour earlier and was currently missing, Gion's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Saint Ross, I'll go and kill him."
She knew very well why Kake had left. The soundproofing in the cabin was poor, and since Kake was already waiting outside, it wasn't difficult for him to hear anything.
Since she chose Ross, while Kake chose to leave, it already showed that they were enemies.
"Let him go. As long as he doesn't leave the Marines, I'll spare his life. Or perhaps you're not confident you can outperform him under my command?"
Since Gion had already entrusted herself to him, Kake was no longer that important.
Kake and Gion were the most outstanding students in this year's Zephyr Training Camp, and they were far ahead of the other students. Only the two of them were awarded the rank of Rear Admiral right after graduation.
Without that comparison, how could his favor toward Gion be highlighted even more?
"I will be stronger than him. If he stands in your way, I will kill him with my own hands."
Gion's face radiated confidence; she was by no means weaker than Kake.
If she still could not surpass Kake even with Ross as her backer, then she might as well become Ross's ornament.
Three days later.
As the warships drew closer to Ohara, the ships of the other Vice Admirals gradually joined them, and together they sailed towards Ohara in a grand procession.
"Master, aren't you afraid the people of Ohara will escape?"
On the deck, Stella gazed at the Marine formations on both sides, somewhat puzzled as to why the people of Ohara weren't running away.
"Gion, you answer this question."
Ross smiled and shook his head, leaving the task of answering to Gion.
If the Marine's Buster Call were so easy to evade, it wouldn't be considered a taboo on the high seas.
"Stella, you can't escape by running away."
Gion gently shook her head. She was part of the Marine system, and although she hadn't participated in a Buster Call, she had studied related cases.
"First of all, the information about the Buster Call was only disseminated among the Marines and the World Government's top officials, and people in those places had no way of receiving the news in advance."
"Secondly, the Buster Call fleet only met up the day before it arrived at its destination, which normally didn't give the local area any time to react."
"Even if it was necessary to evacuate civilians, it would have to wait until the Marines completely surrounded the area and eliminated all local armed forces."
"Finally, the Buster Call was a joint operation by the World Government and the Marines. The Marines carried out the destruction, while the World Government was responsible for deploying the CP organization in advance to cooperate in completing the Buster Call."
Ross had only a vague understanding of Gion before, but he had gained a real understanding of her in the last few days.
After she devoted herself to Ross, the World Government liaison duties that Ross had originally been in charge of were transferred to her.
In the past few days, CP9 Chief Spandane had been reporting on Ohara's situation to her daily, to the point that she knew everything about it.
CP (CIPHER POL) was a secret intelligence agency under the World Government's Enies Lobby. On the surface, only eight different departments, CP1-CP8, were responsible for investigating all affairs of the world.
In reality, the CP organization also had two violent agencies directly under the World Government: CP9 and CP0. The former was responsible for handling special incidents, while the latter was directly under the Celestial Dragons.
Simply put, CP9 stood above the CP organization, and CP0 stood above CP9.
As a person of Ross's status, he could mobilize everyone from CP1 to CP9, and some CP0 members also had to obey his orders.
Currently, Gion essentially served as his representative with CP0, with a status only slightly lower than Zephyr's.
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
A series of heavy footsteps approached, and Sakazuki and Zephyr appeared on the deck.
"Is there something you need?"
Ross glanced at the two of them; it was rare to see both of them come to him at the same time.
"Saint Ross, we just received intelligence that the defector Vice Admiral Jaguar D. Saul has appeared in Ohara and seems to have prematurely revealed the Buster Call plan."
Sakazuki, never one to mince words, got straight to the point.
"Saul, I think I've heard that name before."
Ross smiled and turned his gaze to Zephyr.
CP9 had informed him of this a few days ago, but the Marines received the news much later.
He knew of Saul's great reputation, but he was just a nobody in this Buster Call. He was curious about Saul's relationship with him, which led the two of them to come to him.
Ross still had a strong impression of this Buster Call, after all, it was Robin's flashback.
When Robin was 8 years old, the World Government discovered that Robin's mother and scholars from Ohara were researching the Poneglyphs, so they launched a Buster Call to destroy the entire island.
Saul was the first Marine to discover the whereabouts of Robin's mother, Olvia, and he had participated in several operations to capture and explore historical ships. As a result, he was dissatisfied with the actions of the Marine high command, so he released Olvia and refused to carry out the Buster Call plan.
After that, the Marines captured Saul, but he escaped. However, he was seriously injured by the Marines and drifted to Ohara.
Ultimately, thanks to Kuzan's mercy, Saul and Robin both survived, while only Olvia and the scholars of Ohara were completely wiped out.
"The Buster Call was originally planned to be carried out by Vice Admiral Saul, but he not only released the wanted criminal Nico Olvia, but also chose to defect. Saint Ross, those Marine families in your palace are implicated because of Saul."
Zephyr was indifferent to Saul. Most Marines would find the Buster Call unacceptable, and Zephyr could understand that.
However, because the defection also affected a large number of other marines, causing them to lose their families and lives, this outcome still made Zephyr somewhat upset, to the point that he didn't have a good impression of Saul.
He admired Saul's courage in refusing to carry out the Buster Call, but also loathed Saul's actions that implicated others.
People should not act impulsively; in the end, they would all pay the price for their actions.
Perhaps it was because Zephyr saw a reflection of himself in Saul that his feelings toward Saul were so complex.
At that time, his mercy in not killing allowed some pirates to act without restraint, which led to the deaths of his wife and children.
People like Saul were probably better off being fewer.
"That idiot has no idea how many more people his foolish actions will kill," Sakazuki sneered.
His assessment of Saul was simple: stupid and naive, and it was pure bad luck to be his colleague.
Originally, there was no need to carry out the Buster Call. The root of the problem was that Saul let Olvia escape, so the higher-ups decided to destroy Ohara to destroy the scholars' base, and then capture them one by one.
Moreover, in times of chaos, harsh measures were necessary.
Saul's act of kindness would not only fail to curb evil, but would also make others think that the Marines were weak, leading to more pirates flocking to the sea.
Only when everyone knew that being a pirate meant certain death, and that disobeying the World Government meant certain death, would there be fewer and fewer pirates in the world.
"What do you need me to do?"
Ross remained noncommittal and inquired about the purpose of their visit.
Ross would not comment on Saul's kindness.
As long as it did not become a burden to him, he still hoped there were more good people in this world.
Otherwise, he would not know who to point his gun at.
"Fleet Admiral Kong wants to ask you how to deal with Saul," Sakazuki said bluntly.
Sakazuki knew exactly what Kong was thinking: if they killed Saul directly, it would make the doves within the Marines have ulterior motives.
But in Sakazuki's view, those doves and idiots should all die in battles with pirates, and that Fleet Admiral Kong should get out of here as soon as possible, and that Sengoku, the hardline hawk, should be replaced as soon as possible.
During this period, Sengoku was truly dominated by hawkish officials who championed the righteous cause of ruling the world.
"What does Vice Admiral Sakazuki want to do?"
If Sakazuki could see it, Ross could see through Kong's intentions at a glance even more clearly.
Was it just because he was young that they bullied him and made him take the blame unintentionally?
If they asked Ross directly, he would not mind at all.
But if they tried to play dirty tricks, he would not take the blame.