Sabaody archipelago, Grove 60, Marine Base.
Sephiroth, dressed in a dark blue suit with a large white Justice cloak draped over his shoulders, strode toward the marine base gate. His left hand rested on his chest, while his right held out his officer's credentials to the two guards on duty.
"Colonel Sephiroth!" the two soldiers exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening slightly in surprise. After confirming his identity, they promptly opened the base gate and saluted him crisply.
Sephiroth nodded slightly and stepped inside. The two soldiers watched him walk a considerable distance, then muttered in low voices. "By the way... do you think this Colonel looks familiar?"
"Uh!? Now that you mention it, I also feel as if I've seen him somewhere before. But I heard that he graduated from the Marine Academy and applied to serve here. We definitely haven't seen him before..."
After passing through the vast training ground, Sephiroth confidently entered the office building and headed for the second office on the left side of the fifth floor. He stood before the door, reached out, and knocked gently.
Dong-dong-dong!
"Come in!" A young man's voice echoed from within the office.
As soon as Sephiroth pushed the door open, he saw a handsome young man with sunglasses on his face and a scar over his left eye, his blond hair slicked back. It was Brigadier General Kesha! He had a cigar in his mouth and his back was reclined in the chair behind his desk. On the wall behind him hung a plaque that read: [Ambiguous Justice].
"Brigadier General Kesha! I am the newly assigned Colonel to this section, Sephiroth." The silver-haired youth stood at attention and saluted Kesha, who was seated.
"Hahaha! Don't be so polite, we'll be colleagues from now on. Please, have a seat! Have a seat! ...Cigar?" With a broad smile on his face, the blond-haired youth pushed a cigar box he had placed on his desk towards Sephiroth.
"Thank you, Brigadier General Kesha! I do smoke cigars." As he spoke, Sephiroth reached out to pull up a chair at the desk, sat down, and skillfully took a cigar, lit it, and placed it in his mouth. He also opened his briefcase, took out his official appointment and dismissal documents from Marine Headquarters, handed them to Kesha, and began the normal entry procedures.
"Colonel Sephiroth, I was actually a little surprised to learn that you applied to be transferred to the Sabaody Archipelago." Kesha gestured with his cigar. "After all, the situation here is somewhat complicated. I presume you know something about it, don't you?"
"Yes, I understand." Sephiroth nodded noncommittally, but he didn't elaborate or show off. The dark side of the Sabaody Archipelago, anyone with experience could detect the tricks within it. If he were still presumptuous enough to show off in front of others, he would appear rather foolish.
"It's alright! You'll be serving here in the future. You must be flexible when dealing with problems and not act on your whims, otherwise, you'll cause some unnecessary trouble..." Kesha continued, his expression serious. "According to headquarters' arrangements, Sephiroth will serve as the commander of the Special Mobile Unit at this base. He is usually responsible for handling emergencies, such as pirates causing trouble on the island, and undertaking certain special missions..."
"Speaking of which, Lieutenant Colonel Nick, the former commander of this department, was quite unlucky too. He obeyed Major General Doro's orders. Ah! No, it's time to call him Lieutenant D'Oro now." Kesha chuckled softly. "With the collapse of the Marineford Siege and bringing disgrace to the Marines, Nick has now been directly demoted to Private. He worked so hard for so many years, and in the end it all came to naught."
Brigadier General Kesha lectured Sephiroth for a while, saying many things, but concluding them in two sentences: Be smart in the future and don't get me into trouble! Solve the problems you cause yourself, don't harm me! While not expressed in those exact words, that was roughly the meaning. A cruel workplace!
Sephiroth perfectly understood Brigadier General Kesha's attitude. The other person didn't want to get involved and be punished! After all, the two had never known each other and had no friendship. No one wanted to ruin their future just because of a stranger! Besides, it wasn't easy for Kesha to rise to Brigadier General either.
There were 30,000 Marine officers at "Marine Headquarters," but there were thousands of Colonel-level officers alone. If you wanted to compete to become a prominent general officer, if you didn't have extraordinary strength or a powerful background, you might just be a Colonel officer for life. It was over. If you wanted to join top management at the Admiral level, it was basically wishful thinking!
For example, when launching a Buster Call, it was necessary to send five Vice Admirals, ten warships, and 10,000 soldiers. Among those people, there were two hundred people with the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel alone. A Colonel, at Marine Headquarters, was just a more senior soldier! If others didn't give you a chance, then you would just hang around on other people's boats your whole life until you retired! In fact, some, even worse, reaching the age of 40 or 50, could only be stuck in the rank of Lieutenant and never rise.
Of course, if your background was sufficiently strong, even if you held meetings every day and talked nonsense, you could be promoted to the top Admiral level. Reality was very cruel; you couldn't expect the Marines, a mercenary-like, stateless violent organization, to be full of integrity and justice. Such things could only exist in dreams. Therefore, in a sense, Sephiroth's current Colonel rank was the culmination of a lifetime of hard work for others!
It took about half an hour, and after Sephiroth finished receiving Brigadier General Kesha's reprimand, he took the briefcase and went to the first floor of the office building, heading to his new office.
As soon as Sephiroth entered his office, he saw a bearded young man in his twenties with messy black hair, who was mopping the floor.
"Hello! Colonel Sephiroth, I am Private Frank, from the Special Mobile Unit." After seeing him push the door open and enter, the brown-haired man saluted him with a slightly awkward military salute.
"Hmm! You don't need to clean yet, notify everyone in the department, and gather on the training ground!" Sephiroth commanded.
"Yes!" Frank replied crisply, lifting his mop and bucket, and quickly ran out of the office.
Sephiroth reached out and took off the large Justice cloak he was wearing, then removed his blue suit top, and hung both garments on the coat rack beside him. He then unclipped the Butcher's Blade from his waist, placed it on his desk, and opened his briefcase. From it, he took out high-purity Sea Stone Handcuffs and placed them on his left hand. After doing all this, the silver-haired boy calmly walked out of the office, his steps relaxed yet confident.
Marine Base, training ground.
Sephiroth, with his hands behind his back, gazed with sharp eyes at the more than two hundred Marine soldiers standing before him. There wasn't even a single woman, all muscular brothers... Really only men? he thought, a little amused. But when he thought about it, it seemed most female soldiers at Marine Headquarters were under the command of Vice Admiral Tsuru, the strategist. The remaining female soldiers were divided among various departments, and each was like a rare military flower... So, it was natural for Sephiroth to not even have a single female soldier in his unit!
What a boring place to work, not even a pretty young lady... Sephiroth waved his hand at his subordinates, sighing and muttering in his heart, "Come one by one, let me see how many pounds you've got!"
The more than two hundred Marine soldiers looked at each other first, a little confused by this strange instruction, but Sephiroth was their superior after all, and they had no way to disobey orders.
Soon, a bald man, two point three meters tall, stepped forward first and attacked with a powerful punch. Without expression, Sephiroth gently dodged to the side and punched the man squarely in the stomach. The bald man rolled his eyes, puff! With a sound, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
"Next!"
"Next!"
Over an hour later.
Sephiroth had defeated all two hundred and twenty of his own men. Even with the Sea Stone Handcuffs on his hand, suppressing his Devil Fruit ability, and limiting most of his strength, not a single one of them was able to land three hits on him.
Two hundred and twenty Marines now lay sprawled, lying or sitting, with very few still able to stand. Sephiroth looked at the soldiers on the training ground whom he had beaten, and a look of disappointment appeared on his face, and he sighed, "Alas!... Not a single one of them can be beaten!"
Initially, he wanted to scout for some salvageable material and cultivate them, but unfortunately, the results disappointed him. However, when you think about it, the more capable officers of the Special Mobile Unit were all involved in the last Marineford Siege, which brought disgrace to Marine Headquarters. They were demoted and sent all over the world, like Lieutenant Colonel Nick. These remaining large-headed soldiers, he also couldn't ask for too much.
"That... Frank! You'll be my personal aide from now on." Sephiroth stretched out his fingers and sat cross-legged on the ground, rubbing his cheek from time to time, feeling a slight soreness.
"Yes! I will definitely not fail your expectations!" Frank, with a euphoric expression on his face, stood smartly and saluted him with an enthusiastic military salute.
I hit you with two punches, I have a hammer's hope for you, it just so happens I know your name! Sephiroth secretly slandered in his heart, suppressing an amused smile.
"Okay! Never mind, you guys go wherever you want!" Sephiroth waved his hand, turned around dashingly, left the training ground, and returned to his office, ready to look into related work matters.
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