Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 206 The Holy Land is on Fire

All the marines know that the Celestial Dragons are evil, but they can't do anything about them.

A lieutenant general like Karp, with his strong financial backing, can reprimand someone without holding back.

Those who lack confidence, like Smoker, can only complain in private.

Hawks like Onigumo and Sakazuki would try to convince themselves that "this is a necessary price to pay for maintaining order."

However, when measured by the ultimate, simple justice that does not involve any messy or complicated aspects, no one can say that the Celestial Dragons are evil and need to be punished by justice.

Zephyr is still alive, and the Navy's justice has not been torn apart. All those who know the truth cannot accept the killing of Shazo, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku has directly rejected the proposal.

Upon hearing the Sengoku Marshal's rejection, Sakazuki actually breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he wasn't as resolute as he had thought.

He gave a bitter laugh and scoffed, "The fact that 'simple justice' can even sway me is truly terrifying."

Borsalino chuckled lazily, "If you're not going to kill him, you should at least arrange for him to go somewhere. His training time is over."

Vice Admiral Tsuru nodded: "We can't put him on the Grand Line. Information travels too fast here, and there's still a chance for him to make contact with Zephyr."

Sengoku clasped his hands together, resting his chin on them, and asked, "He, if we were to release him into the Four Seas, where would be the most suitable place?"

Lieutenant General Tsuru lowered his head and thought for a while: "The East Sea is the calmest of the four seas. Calmness means less conflict. With less conflict, Xia Zuo has fewer opportunities to show his justice, and the speed of its spread is naturally the slowest."

"If he can hold out for ten years, Zefa's health will deteriorate, and he should retire completely and enjoy his old age."

Sengoku looked at the sleeping Garp and saw that the snot bubbles he blew were perfectly round, so he knew that his old friend had heard him and had tacitly agreed to Vice Admiral Tsuru's suggestion.

So the admiral made the final decision: "After Xia Zuo completes his training, he will be dispatched to the East China Sea to serve in the 77th Branch, with the rank of Major."

Garp suddenly woke up and asked, "Why didn't you let Shazo go to the 16th Branch? It's closer to my hometown and can better protect my grandson."

Sengoku scoffed, "Garp, have you forgotten what the Goa Kingdom near Windmill Village looks like?"

"If Xia Zuo's territory includes the Goa Kingdom, it will definitely detonate this huge bomb, stirring up boundless waves, and the East Sea will never be calm again."

Karp clicked his tongue: "Why can't we let that kid give it a try?"

"The nobles of Goa are disgusting. I just want to beat them to death. Maybe that kid Shazo can do it for me."

After saying that, he burst into laughter, as if he wanted to stir up trouble: "Haha, I think that if we kill all these rotten nobles, the world will definitely become a better place."

Kuzan gave a thumbs up: "Lord Garp is right!"

Borsalino said lazily, "Isn't that a bad idea? If the Goa Kingdom is in chaos, the East Blue will be in chaos too."

"At that time, we will have to transfer troops from the Grand Line to suppress them, and we will have to take on their work. It will be exhausting."

He glanced at Zhan Guo and muttered, "The marshal still doesn't give me overtime pay."

Sengoku was furious: "You bastard, you paycheck thief who sleeps all day, you have no right to say such things."

Sakazuki snorted coldly: "I think Branch 77 is better. Branch Chief Colonel Pudding is very hardworking, the surrounding waters are quite calm, and there are no bad nobles. It's perfect for keeping Major Xia Zuo under wraps."

Warring States period took out Xia Zuo's dispatch order, filled in his new military rank and the place of his dispatch, then signed and stamped it, and finally placed it on top of a thick stack of dispatch orders.

The Navy's top brass continued to discuss where to send the next outstanding cadet.

Seven days later, Marineford held a grand graduation ceremony.

Nearly 6000 training graduates stood in a huge line on the port square, not even filling one-twentieth of the area. The Fleet Admiral spoke, then Admiral Akainu spoke, then Chief Instructor Zephyr spoke, and then the group was dispersed with a roar after the order to "depart". The graduates boarded the warships in the port in order and headed to their respective destinations.

Before long, these warships will return, bringing with them a new batch of elite naval officers to begin the next round of training.

Through round after round of training, the navy rapidly grew stronger, regained its dominance over pirates, and maintained basic maritime order during the Great Pirate Era.

Xia Zuo stood at the stern of the warship, watching the Marineford ship sail away in silence.

His approval rating of the Navy in the One Piece world was barely passing, since the army he used as a comparison was too strong; there was no other like it in the entire universe.

Moreover, the Navy in the One Piece world is modeled after the idiot Navy in the manga, which is not even as good as the Navy of the tiny rice grain.

The Navy in the One Piece world is characterized by a rigid internal hierarchy, rampant nepotism, a clear tendency towards warlordism, and a disorganized grassroots organization. The lack of discipline from the bottom up is alarming.

It can be said that the Navy in the One Piece world behaves extremely exaggeratedly in almost every aspect.

Only in the matter of corruption can the righteous navy truly be inferior to the rice-grain navy, after all, they have both developed corruption into an art.

Most importantly, the pirate navy's control over the sea is truly pathetic. A navy that can't even control shipping lanes is simply shameful.

But often, the competition between the major powers isn't about who is better, but rather who is less rotten.

In this azure world, the World Government is a mess, the Revolutionary Army is a mess, and the Celestial Dragons are an abyss. Amidst all this stagnation, the Navy, which Xia Zuo looks down upon, turns out to be the most outstanding organization.

"ah--!"

Suddenly, a naval lieutenant commander next to Shazo roared at Marineford, his voice filled with dissatisfaction and frustration.

Standing with him were a dozen or so captains and lieutenant commanders, all of whom were naval officers assigned to the branch.

They were all among the top performers in the training course, but could only become naval officers at the branch captain or major level, and then were assigned to various local branches.

Watching officers who were less capable and had lower grades than themselves being promoted to senior officers naturally filled them with resentment.

But what can we do about it?

This is already the best outcome for civilian graduates of the naval special training program, because their grades are good enough to allow them to persevere until graduation and be promoted to higher ranks.

Those trainees with no background who achieved the same results as those with connections, or were only slightly better, were long ago discharged and returned to their original units, never to be promoted again.

If these graduates are lucky enough to successfully wipe out several pirate crews and make some notable contributions, they will still have a chance to be noticed by the Navy's high command and have another opportunity to rise to prominence.

If you're unlucky, you'll be stuck in your assigned base for life and will never become a base commander.

Because base commanders must be transferred from headquarters, they are almost never promoted locally.

This is the rule of reality; it may be very unfair, but it's true enough!

Xia Zuo could even understand that this system was originally designed to prevent the militarization of the branches.

However, with the current naval leadership in a state of disarray, apart from important branches starting with the letter G, local branches are not only the end point for naval officers' promotions, but base commanders can even serve for 20 consecutive years.

With no hope of general promotion and no possibility of relocation, each base naturally became a semi-independent, corrupt little kingdom.

In many places, the branches have become so corrupt that they have lost their basic humanity, and even the pirate territories are more prosperous than their bases.

Xia Zuo didn't care about his grief-stricken colleagues. He secretly chuckled, "Luckily, I didn't care about promotion. I got all the Naval Six Styles and Haki training methods I wanted, otherwise I wouldn't have left so obediently."

"Until we meet again, Marineford."

Returning to the four seas from the Navy Headquarters, one must pass through the Red Earth Continent.

Unable to cross the land, Xia Zuo and his navy crew had no choice but to abandon ship, climb ashore, ascend the towering red earth continent, and then descend from the other side to board a warship of the Four Seas.

Heading towards the East Sea, crossing the Red Earth, the Holy Land of Mary Geoise is a must-pass location.

Because of the possibility of encountering Celestial Dragons, passing through Holy Lands is the second most hated operation for ordinary Marines, second only to guarding the Sabaody Archipelago.

Xia Zuo and his group deliberately went ashore under the cover of night, climbed up to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise as quickly as possible, and then ran around the Holy Land.

They descended rapidly towards the naval base on the other side.

After Xia Zuo boarded the new warship, the warship disregarded the danger and set sail overnight towards the East China Sea.

He was unaware that this was all due to a special order issued by Lieutenant General Tsuru, requiring Major Natsuzo to be sent away immediately to minimize his contact with the Celestial Dragons.

This branch major's strength and rank were completely unworthy of him. After witnessing the Celestial Dragons' evil deeds, his "simple justice" kicked in, and the Celestial Dragons' regular guards were no match for him.

If Shazam were to kill one or two Celestial Dragons in a fit of rage, it would truly cause the Navy a huge problem.

Vice Admiral Tsuru's worries were not unfounded. After sailing more than 50 kilometers from the port, the lookout on the warship cried out in alarm: "The Holy Land! The Holy Land of Mary Geoise! ​​It's on fire!"

The entire ship was immediately awakened, and everyone left their rooms.

Ordinary sailors and soldiers stood on the ship's railing, while powerful naval officers filled the gun turrets. Everyone looked towards the Red Line continent. Sure enough, on the dark outline of the continent, a bright red shone brightly, and thick black smoke drifted out.

The Holy Land of Mary Geoise is on fire, and it's a huge fire.

Xia Zuo silently counted the years and quickly determined the cause of the fire.

In 1509, Fisher Tiger climbed to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise with his bare hands, freeing thousands of Celestial Dragon slaves.

The ship departed way too early today; if I were in the Holy Land right now, it would be perfect.

[Fisher Tiger's big event! If I'm nearby enough, I, Xia Zuo, must lend a hand.]

What a pity, what a pity!

Having no further desires from the navy, Xia Zuo let out a regretful sigh as he contemplated treasonous thoughts.

The distance is too far. Even if we jump off the boat now and run back by wading through the water, we won't be able to make it in time for anything.

Not only would they miss the boat, but they might even run into reinforcements like Sakazuki, which would be a huge loss.

Xia Zuo looked regretfully at the blazing fire and was the first to return to his cabin to rest.

It's very painful to see something you can't have.

I should just go to sleep.

The attack on Mary Geoise was not a large-scale incident; only a few hundred slaves escaped, and not a single Celestial Dragon was killed.

But the Celestial Dragons felt offended, so Fisher Tiger's bounty was posted all over the world. His bounty was incredibly high, and his fame spread throughout the seas.

Whitebeard, Big Mom, and other great pirates all deeply admired this tough guy, and as a result, they also held the fish-men in higher regard.

Before long, Whitebeard's flag was planted on Fishman Island, deterring slave traders from all walks of life, and no one dared to trespass on Fishman Island to violently plunder people anymore.

Having experienced the benefits of fame, many of the Fishman King's palace guards resigned from their posts and followed Fisher Tiger, forming the Sun Pirates with him.

The long-declining merfolk have once again taken center stage on the sea.

Because of the Sun Pirates' immense influence, the World Government even proactively changed its attitude and became more amiable towards Fish-Man Island.

It's worth noting that 200 years ago, the Ryugu Kingdom, representing Fish-Man Island, became a member state of the World Government and established friendly relations with hundreds of human kingdoms. The Fish-Man Island King was also allowed to participate in the World Conference.

But none of this could change the fate of the Fish-Men being plundered and sold, until Fisher Tiger climbed up to Mary Geoise and used the attack to slap the Celestial Dragons in the face, as well as the World Government and the Navy.

This is the essence of the saying, "A single punch can prevent a hundred more!"

Under strict orders from the World Government, a Navy admiral was stationed permanently in Mary Geoise, and Borsalino was also tied to Navy Headquarters to support the Holy Land.

Meanwhile, the World Government's direct armed force, the CPO, was also deployed to the Holy Land to protect Mary Geoise from the elements.

However, these actions greatly weakened the Navy's mobility, ruined the Navy's decade-long efforts to expand its recruitment, and triggered another pirate frenzy in the Great Pirate Era.

All the pirates began to become active, especially the three great pirates Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom, whose spheres of influence grew larger and more stable.

The three great pirates began to be called the "Pirate Kings".

The title of the Three Emperors of the Sea has generated tremendous attraction, leading to the rise of new pirate crews that challenge for the title of the new emperor, thus igniting continuous wars on the Grand Line.

Last year, Shanks, who had lost an arm, successfully challenged the title of Pirate Emperor and joined the ranks of the Pirate Emperors, bringing the number of Pirate Emperors to four.

The Pirate King's treasure is elusive, but the Pirate Emperor's power, status, and wealth are very real, driving the pirates even more mad.

The Great Pirate Era not only raged across the Grand Line, but also stirred up huge waves in the four seas. New pirates surged into the sea like a tide, keeping the local branch navies busy.

Therefore, the World Government began to plan the "Seven Warlords of the Sea" program, preparing to recruit pirates to control them.