Five old men stood there side by side, their faces grim as they stared at the man in front of them.

Their expressions varied: some were shocked, some were complicated, some were fearful, but most of all they showed was anger.

And the source of all these emotions lies with this man.

This man, who appeared honest and kind, seemed to understand them very well and was loyal to their orders.

"We must have misread it."

The old man with the map slowly said, "You've been hiding your ambitions for too long. Only now have you revealed them."

“I really didn’t expect that you could mobilize so many naval forces to follow you,” the long-bearded old man said.

"It's not just the D. clan; ordinary people can achieve this too. In comparison, the so-called D. clan hasn't reached this level in eight hundred years. Those who have ascended Mary Geoise are all ordinary people. Last time it was a fish-man, and this time..."

The curly-haired old man said, "They're from the navy."

"Kuro, why are you doing this? Isn't the Fleet Admiral enough for you?!"

The red-skinned old man's face was filled with obvious anger as he pointed to the side, "You are not worthy to sit in that seat!!"

Following his pointing finger, Kuro realized that the place he had excitedly run to was the very center of the Pangu Palace, with two steps leading up to it. Countless swords were stuck in the center of the steps, and at the very top was a huge, empty throne.

The Void Throne!

"Who said that?!"

Kuro pursed his lips, about to speak, when suddenly a voice sounded behind him.

Suddenly, a wolf rider appeared out of nowhere. Upon seeing the newcomer, the red-skinned old man's face visibly fell.

He appeared behind Kuro, his greatsword pointing directly at the Five Elders, and solemnly said, "On the contrary, in this world, on this sea, only you, Master, are qualified to sit on that throne!"

"David!" Kuro was even more surprised than the Five Elders.

"My lord, please rest assured, there is no need to endure any longer, no need to hide any longer. Now that things have come to this, we will do everything in our power to help you fulfill your long-cherished wish, even if it costs us our lives!"

"That's right!!"

A cloud of white mist rapidly approached from behind.

The white mist dissipated, and Lida, Crow, Cass, Wilbur, Smoker, Tina, Onigumo, Sentomaru, and Momonga...

The various high-ranking naval officers stood behind him like a wall of steel, forming an impenetrable barrier in front of the Five Elders, seemingly blocking their path.

Similarly, it also cut off Kuro's future.

"Only Mr. Kuro deserves that chair."

Cass roared, "No one else deserves it! Do you know Mr. Kuro's ideals? Do you know how hard he works?! I know!!"

What do you know?!

Stop talking!

Kuro turned his head, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

“Mr. Kuro, there’s no need to worry about it. I’m just saying what I’ve seen.”

Cass suddenly calmed down, as if reminiscing, and said, "More than ten years ago, when Mr. Kuro first joined the Navy, I was his colleague. Back then, Mr. Kuro was a very nice person, always smiling at everyone. Although he seemed lazy, I knew that he would go out to train every day and come back covered in sweat. Even back then, Mr. Kuro was already working hard for his ideals!"

no!

I was pursuing my own ideals back then, but not the kind of ideals you think I have!

I only started practicing for safety reasons!

"Even when it's windy and rainy, or even a storm, I've never seen Mr. Kuro stop. Even when he's dealing with pirates, he'll disappear in his spare time. He must be training. Even ten years later, when Mr. Kuro went to the Grand Line, I still felt that Mr. Kuro's training was useless. Only by going to the headquarters could he shine and become the light!"

"But now I understand. It wasn't that Mr. Kuro became stronger after going to headquarters. It was to take care of us. Mr. Kuro never revealed his true strength. He has always been taking care of us. Since he was young, he has been taking care of us, the lowest-ranking people!"

"And now, I've remembered something that I should have realized much earlier, instead of only slowly discovering it after Mr. Kuro arrived at the Grand Line..."

Cass's expression was lost in some kind of memory.

That was fifteen or sixteen years ago, when Mr. Kuro had just joined the Navy, and they had only known each other for a short time.

"Hey, Kuro, why are you staring at that island?"

At this moment, they had just found a pirate ship and driven it away. The young Kuro stared blankly at the island that had been plundered by the pirates, which made Cass curious.

"Ah... I just feel quite sad."

Kuro turned to look at Cass, "Don't you think that no matter how hard we try to deal with pirates, they won't disappear? In fact, they'll only get worse. And those islands, the civilians on those islands, are the innocent victims."

Cass nodded: "It's all because of the Great Pirate Era, otherwise pirates wouldn't be so rampant."

Kuro shook his head and smiled: "It has nothing to do with the Great Pirate Era. There would still be pirates even without the Great Pirate Era. That's just how the world is, that's how geography is. We... we're not actually that omnipotent."

Cass asked in confusion, "What do you mean? You don't want to be a navy man anymore?"

"How could that be? The navy is currently the safest profession. If I don't join the navy, am I supposed to go farming? I was just remarking..."

Kuro stared blankly at the sea: "Do you think it's possible that if the Navy ruled the world, and had a detailed policy, could they treat everyone equally? Wouldn't the number of pirates in this world decrease? Not that they would be eliminated, just reduced..."

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