Chapter 231: To Hell with Justice

Tsk!

Blood sprayed out like a thin mist.

Under the intense pain, Zeff's face turned deathly pale, yet his body had already instinctively evaded, retreating dozens of meters away in an instant.

After barely steadying himself, he did not immediately tend to his injuries; instead, his gaze fell upon Gao Wen in the distance.

Upon the blade of the Guanshi Zhengzong, streaks of crimson lightning clung, nearly condensed into substance, so much so that the very air distorted with the Conqueror's Haki.

The overwhelming presence in that instant made Zeff break out in goosebumps, and his slightly dry voice blurted out:

"Monster!"

Whoosh—!

Wind and sand howled; the world between heaven and earth grew dim.

The weather within the Bastan Realm should have been warm, no, unbearably scorching, yet the indifferent Aokiji standing aside felt not a shred of warmth.

He turned his stiff expression to look at Kizaru:

"This time you've really created something extraordinary..."

Conqueror's Haki Infusion!

Conqueror's Haki itself is one in ten thousand; those who can master it and release willpower impacts at will are even rarer.

And those who can fully master Conqueror's Haki, even attaching it to their attacks, can be counted on two hands across this Great Sea.

These people are either Emperors ruling a region, Navy Admirals, or legends who once roamed the seas.

If awakening Conqueror's Haki merely signifies the potential to become a King, then at this moment, Gao Wen, who has mastered Conqueror's Haki Infusion, has already secured a ticket to the throne.

Truly possessing the qualification to compete alongside the top overlords.

"Ko-wa-i-ne!"

Kizaru instinctively tried to crack a joke as before, but the voice that emerged was incredibly Solemn.

Having fought Gao Wen many times, he had long expected Gao to master Conqueror's Haki Infusion, yet he never imagined this day would come so urgently, so quickly.

"Has this guy been holding back all along? Or is it..."

Kizaru's thoughts returned to half a month ago.

The fierce Conqueror's Haki Gao Wen had suddenly unleashed that day had already shocked him greatly, yet it paled in comparison to the impact Kizaru felt at this very moment.

To the point that he began questioning again whether his actions over this period amounted to aiding the enemy; this time, the answer seemed clear...

Meanwhile.

A figure with red hair suddenly popped into Kizaru's mind, and he murmured:

"How old was he when Shanks claimed the title of Emperor a few years ago?!"

"..."

Aokiji opened his mouth, feeling dry and parched for a moment:

"I believe he was already over thirty."

"Senior Borsalino, a cellar full of wine now probably won't buy me over."

"Heh..."

Kizaru responded with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and Aokiji beside him couldn't smile at all.

At this moment, the issue before them was no longer whether to intervene and take down Gao Wen, crushing him in his cradle, but whether joining forces could even keep Gao Wen here.

"This isn't funny at all."

"Ah."

Aokiji nodded stiffly:

"I feel the same."

As they spoke, the wind and sand around them grew even fiercer, almost completely obscuring Gao Wen's vision.

However, Gao Wen had no mind to pay attention to anything else at the moment.

A system pop-up window appeared in Gao Wen's vision, and this time the marked target was himself:

"Host has comprehended Conqueror's Haki Infusion, potential increased, combat power increased, rating increased!"

Open the system panel.

Gao Wen's gaze swept over the various data points, which had changed little, finally settling on his personal rating:

【Rating - Legend:

Emperor of the Sea, Grand Admiral of the Army!

】

"Finally reached this step."

Gao Wen murmured.

Feeling the Conqueror's Haki surging endlessly in his hands, he felt that this time he had finally grasped reality.

Previously.

After consuming the Red Dragon Fruit, he developed the Demon Form based on the Luffy Theory; his Armament Haki and Observation Haki grew, gradually touching the limit of the Golden Grade.

He believed that facing the strongest like Admirals and Emperors, even if he couldn't win, he could escape calmly; under suitable battlefield conditions, he could even maintain invincibility by manipulating ley line energy with the Red Dragon.

Yet there remained an essential gap between him and the true leaders of an era on the Great Sea.

But now, after comprehending Conqueror's Haki Infusion, even without mentioning the Red Dragon's special abilities, Gao Wen possessed the qualification to confront Emperors and Admirals head-on.

If it were on Gao Wen's home ground, unless multiple people joined forces to exhaust the ley line energy in an entire region, the one who won in the end would certainly be Gao Wen.

"Hahahaha—!"

Unrestrained, arrogant laughter erupted from Gao Wen's mouth, momentarily even drowning out the sound of the wind.

Swish!

A blade qi blew away the dust and smoke surrounding Gao Wen, and as he reappeared before everyone's eyes, he glanced at his damaged prosthetic limb before lifting his gaze to look at Zephyr in the distance:

"Still fighting?!"

"..."

"I lost again, didn't I."

Zephyr let out a sigh, dispelling the Armament Haki Infusion around his body; immediately, an intense sense of exhaustion rushed to his brain, causing him to stagger back several steps before he could barely steady himself.

He lowered his head to look at his arm.

There, at the severed end, flesh and blood were a blur, even revealing half a section of snow-white bone.

"Hiss—!"

"This time, I was a bit reckless."

Zephyr shook his dizzy head, looked up at Gao Wen, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit:

"Next time, next time I will win!"

Looking at the Zephyr before him, Gao Wen was momentarily stunned.

It was because there was not a shred of frustration in Zephyr's eyes, only the resolve of one who, upon witnessing a towering peak, desires to climb it,

except that this time Zephyr had become the challenger, while Gao Wen had become that towering peak.

Approaching seventy years of age yet still possessing such resolve; on this point alone, he was worthy of Gao Wen's respect.

"I'll wait for you!"

With that, Gao Wen flicked the prosthetic limb on the ground toward Zephyr.

The latter raised his hand to catch it steadily, but after only a brief glance, he tossed it aside.

"Hiss—!"

After taking a deep breath, Zephyr calmed himself entirely; his body was exhausted to the extreme, with little strength remaining.

He simply plopped down onto the sandy ground, yet his gaze remained tightly fixed on Gao Wen in the distance.

A long while passed.

Zephyr gave a bitter smile and spoke:

"Come to think of it, when I left Raven Port back then, you had already guessed what I intended to do, hadn't you?!"

"Ah."

Gao Wen responded with a sound, shook the blood dry from the blade of Guanshi Zhengzong, and slowly sheathed it:

"Nothing more than sparking a revolution within the Marines, and thereby steering the Marines' direction to find the justice you believe they should truly uphold."

"The justice of humanity."

Zephyr voiced the conviction in his heart:

"Even if this world lacks absolute fairness and freedom, at the very least everyone should have the right to survive; the world as it is now is absolutely wrong."

"Your revolution cannot succeed." "Heh..."

Zephyr laughed in self-mockery:

"Sometimes I truly wonder how your brain is constructed, whether it differs from ours; otherwise, how could you possess insight transcending both era and status at such a young age."

"Exactly!"

"Launching a revolution from within the Marines to break free from the World Government and break free from Mary Geoise is simply impossible."

"After returning to Marine Headquarters, when I began trying to observe the true nature of the Marines from a higher perspective, only then did I discover..."

As he spoke,

Zephyr's voice gradually faded, and from Gao Wen's vantage point, he could even see his eyes gradually turning red.

In the distance, Aokiji and Kizaru also focused their gazes on Zephyr.

During this period, Zephyr had made quite a few moves within the Marines, but ultimately abandoned them all himself; this fact had already attracted considerable attention.

Naturally, they too were concerned about their teacher's thoughts.

What they were even more curious about was what views Zephyr now held in his heart regarding the Marines and the world, views that could cause this old man to regain vitality near the age of seventy.

!

But before Zephyr could continue, Gao Wen spoke the words he was about to say:

"The Marines are nothing more than a tool for the World Government to maintain stability in the current order."

"In essence, they are no different from pirates, merely one part of a grand cycle."

"The exorbitant Heavenly Tribute suppresses the development speed of member nations and their domestic military strength, while the existence of pirates forces them to rely on the World Government's protection."

"The more they depend on the World Government's military protection for their own safety, the more inevitably they will slide into poverty due to the Heavenly Tribute, and the more dependent on the World Government they will become."

"And for those common people crushed by the World Government's exploitation who can no longer survive, their only choice to stay alive is to set sail and become pirates."

"The expansion of the pirate population further exacerbates the unease of both member and non-member nations."

"The former, already impoverished by the Heavenly Tribute, naturally cannot leave the World Government's protection, forcing them to endure endless exploitation; when the nobility shifts this pressure onto the commoners, even more people are driven to the brink of survival."

"The latter, facing an increasingly massive pirate population without sufficient strength to survive, have only one option: to become member nations of the World Government, thereby falling into the vicious cycle of the former."

"At the same time, the Marines deployed across the world serve as a pressure relief valve."

"Under the absolute military might of the Marines,"

"most nations lack the courage to challenge the order established by the World Government, and even if they do, their final fate will be no different from Ohara's."

"Facing the Marines, any single nation possesses no power to resist."

"In this process, justice is the least needed yet most necessary thing."

Gao Wen glanced sideways at Aokiji and Kizaru, the corner of his mouth curling into a mocking smile:

"The World Government needs this banner to whitewash its own actions."

"Naval soldiers who hold the butcher's knife in their hands need an even more powerful reason to convince themselves, to overcome the morality rooted deep within their hearts."

"And to achieve this, there is no tool more useful than the banner of Absolute Justice."

"Killing the innocent is for justice, destroying member nations is for justice, drowning out a segment of history is also for justice..."

"Heh."

"To hell with your damn justice!"

As the voice landed, the three people present fell silent all at once; Aokiji's face was filled with an expression of sheer shock.

Decades of naval education made him instinctively want to open his mouth and refute, simply because what Gao Wen had said could be described as dragging the faces of the Navy and the World Government across the ground.

The darkness within this matter had reached a point that even he, as a Navy Admiral, could not accept.

"This..."

Aokiji opened and closed his mouth, unable to utter a single word.

He only felt the emotions churning within his heart were almost about to ignite him.

Yet after racking his brains for a long time, he could not find a single suitable reason to refute Gao Wen's viewpoint.

This precisely proved that Gao Wen's statement was very likely correct, truly touching upon the real side of this world.

The side he had never seen before.

Is justice really that important?

Of course it is important!

Even someone like Akainu needs an absolutely firm belief to support him in executing his nearly paranoid justice.

But if one day, the justice Akainu believes in completely collapses, and he realizes he is nothing more than an executioner in the hands of the World Government, what expression would he wear...

What expression would Sengoku, who has always firmly believed he personally created the current stable pattern of the seas, wear?

The more he thought.

The more Aokiji felt his scalp go numb.

"Hey, Borsalino, you..."

He turned his head to look at Kizaru, only to see the latter's pupils constantly contracting, with nothing but suppressed low murmurs escaping his mouth:

"Someone can actually accomplish something like this?!"

"Aside from Vegapunk, there is actually another person whose insight can reach this height?!"

"But Vegapunk relied on the Brain-Brain Fruit, storing countless bits of knowledge, and spent decades summarizing and inducing them before finally seeing this layer."

"What about you? How long did you spend? Or does there truly exist someone in this world who knows everything from birth?!"

Several breaths later.

Coming back to his senses, Kizaru only then realized Aokiji was standing right beside him; he turned his head and met Aokiji's shocked gaze.

"Senior, you knew about this kind of thing long ago? That is why your justice is the so-called ambiguous justice..."

Aokiji suddenly realized:

"Ambiguous can mean vague and unclear, but it can also mean not agreeing with anyone's justice, yet lacking the power to change the status quo."

"I finally understand why Instructor Zephyr valued Knight Gao Wen so highly."

"Damn it!"

"He is the one who should be in the Navy, the one truly capable of changing this world within the Navy!"

Aokiji couldn't help but curse loudly; truly, the amount of information he had absorbed today was far too much, almost directly overturning his worldview of several decades.

But he understood even more clearly that, accompanying Gao Wen's narration, he was peeling away the surface of the world to see its most real, most cruel aspect.

The level of thinking Gao Wen occupied had already surpassed his own by countless dimensions.

Today might just be the moment I find justice—not the false facade constructed by the World Government, but true justice!

Aokiji's premonition grew stronger and stronger.

His gaze also fell upon the two people still conversing in the distance, and subconsciously he took out a recording Den Den Mushi from his bosom.

"Beep—!"

The recording Den Den Mushi activated.

Zephyr, who had been silent until now, also spoke at this moment, his tone carrying an unmistakable sense of awe:

"That's right."

"Your intuition, your insight, have already surpassed this era."

"If it weren't possible to investigate your past, I would really suspect you are an existence who traveled here from the future—no, from that Great Kingdom of the past."

"This world, constructed by the World Government and dominated by the Celestial Dragons, is thoroughly rotten, but relying solely on the Navy's power makes it impossible to change."

"So..."

A trace of sincerity appeared in Zephyr's tone:

"If possible, I want to know exactly how you view the current Navy, and what expectations you hold for it."

"Only by reshaping the will of the Navy is it possible to truly take this world—!"

"Reshape the will of the Navy?"

Zephyr's words were not yet finished before Gao Wen interrupted him; the latter's gaze fell upon Zephyr, carrying pity.

(End of Chapter)