The warm sunlight shone over the window sill and into the room, leaving its mark on the two young men standing in front of Jiguo Yuanyi.
Jiguo Yuanyi sat behind the desk, silently looking at Ace and Sabo with a faint smile on his face.
After not seeing each other for a few years, Ace and Sabo have lost some of their immaturity. Now, dressed in general uniforms, they look very heroic and exude a strong sense of confidence.
"Very good, you are growing really fast."
"After just a few years of not seeing each other, you already seem to be able to carry the weight of your shoulders."
After a while, Jiguo Yuanyi slowly praised with a smile on his face.
Ace and Sabo looked at each other, curiosity showing in their eyes.
This was the first time the two of them had met Tsugakuni Yoriichi in private since he regained his status as admiral.
They are different from ordinary navy. These two children have a close relationship with Yoriichi Tsugakuni. Before Ace and Sabo joined the navy, they were already familiar with Yoriichi Tsugakuni. Even the devil fruits that allow them to "make a living" now were deliberately prepared for them by the admiral in front of them.
It can be said that the reason why Ace and Sabo have achieved what they have today is inseparable from the help of Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
Originally, Ace and Sabo thought that they and Tsugakuinichi belonged to two different forces. Not to mention working with Tsugakuinichi in this life, it would be a very rare thing not to meet on the battlefield.
However, no one expected that the world situation would change so quickly. The "rebel leader" Tsugikuni Yoshiichiro suddenly regained his status as a navy admiral and became the chief of staff of the navy headquarters, becoming one of their immediate superiors.
At their age, Ace and Sabo have already realized the freeness of life.
"Mr. Jiguo, are you calling us to do something?"
Sabo spoke in a respectful tone, which was out of respect for Tsugakuni Yoriichi's status, and also out of gratitude for Tsugakuni Yoriichi's support for the two brothers.
At the same time, Sabo's inner excitement was revealed on his face.
The reason was simple: in the months since Tsugakuni Yoriichi returned to the Marine Headquarters, word had gradually spread about the actions of the Vice Admirals who had been sent out to the seas. By collecting Heavenly Gold, the Marine Headquarters had cracked down on the nobles who had been sucking blood from the people in many regions.
This not only deepened the prestige of the Navy Headquarters in the hearts of ordinary people, but also inspired some truly passionate young people in the headquarters.
Under the oppressive rule of the World Government, the Marine Headquarters has also been under high-pressure surveillance by the CP in recent years, which makes some young people in the headquarters who really want to do something extremely uncomfortable.
When what the Navy Headquarters wants to do is inconsistent with their own values, conflicts naturally arise.
The dark cloud that had been hovering over the Navy Headquarters had only now completely dissipated.
Ace and Sabo have been training new troops at the Naval Headquarters in preparation for going to the New World. The New World is different from the first half of the Grand Line, and out of caution, the headquarters has given Ace and the others ample time to prepare.
However, this plan was temporarily shelved when Yoshikazu Tsugakuni returned to the Naval Headquarters.
Ace and Sabo were not the type of people who could endure long periods of time. Such long and boring training had already worn out their patience. If it had not been Sengoku who had given the order, these two guys would have jumped out long ago.
Therefore, as soon as they received the summons from Tsugikuni Yoriichi, the two of them rushed over excitedly.
Sabo knew that a busy man like Yoriichi Tsugikuni would never summon them for no reason.
"Um."
"There are indeed some things for you to do, but please wait a moment, some people haven't arrived yet."
Ji Guoyuan spoke gently, pointed to the sofa in front of the desk, and motioned Sabo and Ace to sit down first.
After receiving a definitive answer, Ace and Sabo suppressed their excitement and sat down on the sofa. However, they had barely sat down when someone knocked on the door of Jiguo Yuanyi's office again.
"Come in!" Ji Guoyuan shouted softly and looked out the door. He happened to see a middle-aged man wearing a bronze helmet pushing open the door and walking into the office.
“Bang!”
The man walked into the office and stopped immediately, stepped forward with both feet, bowed directly to Ji Guoyuan, and then said loudly:
"Report!"
"T-Bone Penn, the garrison commander of Judiciary Island and captain of the Marine Headquarters, reports for duty!"
The middle-aged man who entered the office at this time was the officer T-Bone Peng En whom Brannew recommended to Jiguo Yuanyi. It must be said that T-Bone's appearance was really not that good. He had dry skin, a dull complexion, cold eyes, thin cheeks, and a ferocious look.
If an ignorant child saw this, he would think T-Bone was a bad guy at first sight.
T-Bone had a long sword tied around his waist and wore a light armor with the navy logo printed on it. The temperament he exuded was very different from that of most of the officers that Jigoku Yuichi had seen.
After a quick look, Ji Guoyuan waved towards T-bone and said:
"Colonel T-Bone, I've been waiting for a long time. Please come closer and talk."
"Ace, Sabo, you two come over here too, everyone is here."
As soon as Tsugakuin Yoshiichi finished speaking, Ace and Sabo stood up one after another and came to Tsugakuin Yoshiichi. At the same time, the two boys' eyes swept towards T-bone.
"Ace? Sabo?"
T-Bone couldn't help but be startled when he heard Jigoku Yoshiichi calling the two brothers. It was not until then that he noticed the other people in the office. Seeing Ace and Sabo approaching, T-Bone straightened his body and saluted Ace and Sabo.
Today, Ace and Sabo have been promoted to brigadier generals one after another. According to their strength, the rank of brigadier general is obviously not worthy of these two natural ability users, but in terms of age and qualifications, the speed of their promotion is far beyond the cognition of others.
You know, even Admiral Sakaski and Admiral Borsalino, who were called monsters in the Naval Academy, were just academicians when they were the age of Ace and Sabo.
Looking at the history of the navy, the only one who upgraded faster than these two guys was probably Yuichiro Tsugumi who was in the office at the moment.
But what is different about Tsugakuni Yoriichi and these two guys is that Tsugakuni Yoriichi was promoted entirely because he had accumulated enough merits, and countless super pirates had fallen at his hands.
However, Ace and Sabo would not be able to be promoted to brigadier general based solely on their achievements. The Navy made such an arrangement because they took into account their terrifying potential.
These two potential new stars are the poster children of the young generation of the navy. Everyone knows that they will become admirals one day.
The resounding reputation is well-known even to officers like T-Bone who don't pay much attention to world affairs.
Just as T-Bone was carefully sizing up the two potential rising stars beside him, Tsugumi Yoshiichi, who was sitting behind the desk, picked up three documents from the table and distributed them to the three of them. As he handed them the documents, he spoke:
"The information in your hands is the location of your mission this time."
"The purpose of the mission is also very simple, that is to collect the gold from the sky."
"Let's take a look at the information first. After reading it, if you have any ideas or suggestions for starting a war mission, please share them and let's discuss it."
Ji Guoyuan said this and sat back in his chair, then leaned back and waited quietly for the three to finish reading the information.
Ace was impatient and used a "quantum speed reading" technique to finish reading the information in two or three minutes. He then frowned and said with some doubt:
"General, should we levy heavenly gold on a country like this?"
While he was speaking, Sabo and T-Bone beside him had obviously seen some information from the document, and both had frowns on their faces. However, they did not ask any questions to Yoshikazu Tsugakuin, but just looked at the document in their hands intently, and their frowns grew deeper and deeper.
Tsugumi Yuichiro tapped the table lightly and then nodded.
Upon hearing this, Ace was speechless for a moment and just stood there in a daze, as if he had suffered an unbearable blow.
Compensate the Kingdom.
The information that Jigoku Yoshiichi gave to the three of them was the relevant national information about the Kingdom of Peipei, a big country located in the North Sea with a population of millions.
Although located in the North Sea, the Kingdom of Peipei is one of the few islands in the North Sea with distinct four seasons.
But unfortunately, for some unknown reason, the Peipei Kingdom, which is relatively rich in natural resources, is notoriously poor. People living on the island find it difficult to be self-sufficient, and even to have enough food to eat. According to naval intelligence, thousands of people starve to death every year in the Peipei Kingdom.
Ace had already taken a quick look at the information given by Yoshiichi Tsugikuni, and realized that the navy actually wanted to collect heavenly gold from such a poor country. His face immediately became a little ugly.
In his opinion, how could the navy, as a righteous navy, continue to levy taxes on a country that couldn't even be self-sufficient?
The atmosphere in the office was somewhat solemn. On the other side, Colonel T-gu, who had finished reading the documents, also had a heavy expression on his face. After taking several deep breaths, he mustered up his courage and placed the documents back on Ji Guoyuan's desk. He then bowed respectfully to Ji Guoyuan and said,
"General, I'm truly sorry."
"Can I refuse this mission?"
Although T-Bone's tone and demeanor were respectful, his words did not give Ji Guoyuan any face at all.
Tsugakuin is a high-ranking admiral in the navy, and now he is the chief of staff of the headquarters. How dare someone refuse the mission assigned to him?!
This kind of thing is absolutely not allowed in the military system. If T-Bone is facing Sakaski at this moment, he may have to face Sakaski's "Hell Dog" in the next second.
"reject?"
Yoshiko Tsugakuin looked up at T-Bone and couldn't help feeling a little surprised. Ace's resistance at this time was what Yoshiko Tsugakuin had expected. After all, he was a person who had awakened the Conqueror's Haki. Ace's strong sense of autonomy was far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
But T-Bone is different. This guy is an officer trained by the Navy itself. He should know very well what it means to refuse the orders of an admiral like Yoshikazu Tsugakuni in such a system.
Even if Tsugikuni Yoshiichi is not a petty person, a general who commands different subordinates will not be respected by others. Therefore, even for the sake of consolidating his own power and status, people like T-Bone will never be used again.
T-Bone's refusal meant that his future in the navy was completely cut off.
And this was simply because he saw the information in his hand.
Yuichiro Tsuchikuni stared at T-Bone for a long time, then suddenly chuckled and shook his head. T-Bone didn't understand why, but Yuichiro Tsuchikuni's smile made him feel tremendous pressure.
"Ace, T-Bone, is this what you two are thinking?"
"Well, I'm a little disappointed."
As he spoke, Tsugikuni Yoriichi's gaze fell on Sabo, and then he paused for a moment before continuing:
"Sabo, what about you? Tell me what you think."
When Tsugikuni Yoriichi said the word "disappointment", Ace and T-Bone did not show any shame on their faces.
Going to a poor country like the Kingdom of Compensation to collect heavenly gold is inconsistent with their simple values, and they cannot do such a thing against their conscience.
In a poor country where thousands of people die of starvation every year, why would the Navy Headquarters impose such a heavy burden on the people there?!
Just as Ace and T-Bone were immersed in such thoughts, Sabo closed his eyes after reading all the information. After a moment of thought, he said in a deep voice:
"General, the Kingdom of Peipei has a big problem."
As soon as he spoke, Tsugikoku Yoshiichi's eyes couldn't help but brighten up a little, and he uttered a surprised "Oh? What's the problem?"
Under the gazes of Ace and T-Bone, Sabo thought for a moment and explained:
"The Kingdom of Peipei has not been affected by any wars, and according to the data, this country has distinct four seasons and a very vast territory."
"With this kind of geographical environment, it's actually not very difficult to feed the people."
"Furthermore, the data from the Kingdom of Compromise does not indicate that they have suffered any major natural disasters."
"But in a place like this, thousands of people die of starvation every year. This is not normal."
"If the crop loss was caused by natural disasters, the number of people dying of starvation would be much higher. If it was due to the oppression of the Heavenly Gold in previous years, then the net result would be a rapid increase in the number of people dying of starvation each year."
"Because once the gold in the sky exceeds the country's capacity, the country will decline rapidly."
"But judging by the data, the Kingdom of Compromise is not a country in decline."
"So I conclude that the reason people are starving to death in this country is not simply because of a lack of resources."
"I'm afraid it's a distribution issue."
"Just like the Kingdom of Goa, prosperity and poverty coexist."
Sabo's words struck T-Bone like he was struck by lightning, and he froze in place. Ace also looked surprised, but in an instant, he understood what Sabo meant.
The reason why thousands of people died of starvation every year in the Kingdom of Pei Pei was not necessarily because of poverty.
Apparently, Ace was also recalling the days when he lived in the slums of the Goa Kingdom.
"Haha, not bad."
"Sabo, you are the lead officer for this mission. Ace and T-Bone, you two will assist Sabo."
"I'll have Brannew send you the detailed information later. Go back and prepare well."
Ji Guoyuan smiled. Only Sabo passed this little test of his.
As for the other two, they have good hearts but still need experience.
(End of this chapter)
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