One Piece: Starting from Awakening the Cosmo at Marineford

Yun Que remained noncommittal: "Senior Aaron said that you need to kill a lot of people to master killing intent. You're not actually going to kill anyone, are you?"

"Lieutenant Lark," Finbdi said, "I have no psychological or moral burden. I've long understood this since I started following the boss. Few of these pirates are good people; they deserve to die. Killing pirates is actually accumulating good karma for me."

Lark said, "I still hope there won't be indiscriminate killing. Ideally, they should all be imprisoned."

Fombey laughed, "You're mistaken. These pirates on the high seas survive by robbing civilians. If we marines lock them up in prison, are we going to have to pay them to stay?"

The lark said, "Yes."

"Where did this money come from? Wasn't it collected by the World Government from these civilians? Spending civilians' money to support their enemies, even the enemies who killed their family and friends—what would they think?"

"Huh?" Lark hadn't considered this issue from this perspective before, and after hearing what Fombard said, he didn't know how to refute it.

But her intuition told her that things shouldn't be like this.

Hibari said, "We can't just kill them all, can we? Then Impel Down would be pointless."

Finbdy shook his head: "You can't say that. Do you know what kind of treatment and torture those pirates endured when they were imprisoned in Impel Down?"

The little girl, Yun Que, was so innocent and adorable; she had never heard of such things before and could only shake her head in confusion.

"Let me tell you," Fombardy said, "the first thing criminals do when they enter Impel Down is to be 'baptized' with 100-degree hot water, or rather, disinfected."

"Huh? 100-degree hot water, even if it doesn't kill you, it'll definitely give you blisters all over, right?"

Finbdi nodded: "Of course. Some ordinary pirates can't even withstand this step and are burned to death."

"hiss..."

The lark grinned, starting to feel uncomfortable all over.

"Then there's the underground level," Finbdi continued. "There are many sharp sword trees and pointed needle-like grasses that can easily cut through a person's body and pierce the skin. The criminals on this level are driven around in this forest every day by poisonous spiders and jailers."

Hibari covered her mouth: "Then won't they have their skin cut open every day?"

"Of course," said Finbdi. "This is only the first basement level. The second basement level is a beast hell, where criminals will eventually become food for all sorts of wild beasts."

"..."

Fombardy was so engrossed in his speech that he didn't notice the unusual expression on Lark's face.

"As for the third level, it is the Hell of Hunger. The criminals on this level have only a pitiful amount of food to sustain their lives each day, and they are also scorched by the heat rising from the four underground levels of the Scorching Hell."

"The fourth level is the Scorching Hell, a place filled with scalding pools of blood and seas of fire. Criminals on this level are roasted by the intense heat, and sometimes they are even thrown into the pools of blood..."

"As for the fifth level, it is the extreme cold hell, where it is extremely cold."

Hearing this, Hibari was extremely uncomfortable: "This... seems very inhumane..."

Fombey shook his head: "Humanity? Talk about humanity with pirates? That's not kindness, that's stupidity!"

Hibari sighed, "So, killing them directly is more merciful than sending them to Impel Down?"

"That's for sure," Finbdi said matter-of-factly. "Much more lenient. At least we didn't torture them; we gave them a quick death."

Lark remained silent, her long-held beliefs once again being challenged.

Aaron didn't stop Finbdi from speaking; it was still necessary for Lark to know these things.

Although Hibari was also a Marine and received strict education from a young age, her view of pirates was relatively simple; she believed that they were simply people who burned, killed, and plundered.

Her understanding of marines was limited to capturing and killing pirates and protecting civilians.

Even if they are imprisoned, it is simply a matter of keeping them locked up, depriving them of their most precious "freedom".

Now that she's heard that marines torture pirates, and in all sorts of ways, she's finding it hard to accept.

Shouldn't marines be good people? Why would they do bad things?

Even if these pirates are bad people, they shouldn't be tortured like this, right?

Fombey could see that Hibari was still somewhat taken aback and found it hard to accept the Navy's actions, so he smiled and explained, "Lieutenant Hibari, these people don't deserve any sympathy. What those pirates did was far more cruel than what happened in Impel Down. Moreover, their targets were all defenseless civilians. They bullied the weak."

Hibari sighed, "This news came as a bit of a surprise to me; I wasn't prepared. But I'm not the kind of person who can't distinguish right from wrong; I'll learn to accept reality."

Aaron then said, "Lark, don't be so hard on yourself. Finbuddy is right, but you don't have to become like us. Just be yourself."

Hibari nodded: "Senior Aaron, I won't hold you back. I also want to become a powerful Marine like my father."

Aaron smiled and said, "You can absolutely become whoever you want to be."

The lark nodded.

"Report!"

Four marines entered: "Colonel Aaron, those two young men have been taken back ashore."

Did they say anything?

"No. I saw that they were both terrified, trembling and their teeth were chattering."

Aaron shook his head: "They are, after all, ordinary people who haven't seen much of the world. Driven by passion, they're capable of anything. But after they've thought things through, they'll feel fear, which is perfectly normal."

"Boss," Finbdi asked, "Are you really just going to let them go like this? These civilians probably won't appreciate it."

Aaron said, "It doesn't matter. I'm giving them a chance because they are civilians. It's also a way to show them what marines are like."

"I'm afraid they won't appreciate it," Finbdi said. "Just like when we took out the men Blackbeard sent and protected them, they'll selectively forget and only remember that we killed Fossa."

Take your time, there's no rush.

Hibari asked, "Senior Aaron, how long do you think it will take for them to regain confidence in the Marines?"

Aaron shook his head: "I don't know about that. Even if they never believe in marines, it doesn't matter to me."

Hibari said thoughtfully, "Hmm, hopefully they'll figure it out!"

This island has been ruled by pirates for two or three decades, so they probably don't even know what marines are like anymore, and it's normal for them to lose their goodwill towards them.

Restoring their trust in the Marines will not be something that can be done overnight.

Aaron yawned: "Alright. Go back to sleep, everyone."