The natural system started off strong, but the navy finally reached its peak!

At this point, the meeting can hardly proceed normally.

The two sides were on the verge of conflict in the conference room, truly reaching the point where "if you can fight, you won't talk."

.......

G-10 base, Gern's office

Gern had just signed his name on the document, put down his pen, and rubbed his slightly sore wrist.

He then looked up at Tesoro, who was also hunched over his desk, working diligently on a massive amount of administrative tasks, and casually asked...

"Tesoro, Sakazuki, and Kuzan's people... are they still causing trouble lately?"

"Rest assured, General Gern." Tesoro replied calmly, without even looking up, his gold pen still flying across the documents.

"I have had Marshal Zhan Guo sign an order temporarily revoking the two factions' authority to hold formal meetings."

"Oh?" Gern raised an eyebrow, picked up the teacup beside him, and gently blew on it to cool it down. "So, they've finally quieted down?"

He thought that canceling the meeting, a formal occasion for conflict, would at least temporarily quell the surface disputes.

But just as Gern brought the teacup to his lips, before he could even swallow, Tesoro replied instantly.

"No."

“Cough…” Gern almost choked on the water, put down his teacup, and looked at Tesoro.

Tesoro finally put down his pen, looked up, clicked his tongue, and gave a knowing look as he explained.

"But... all the conflicting documents they submitted—accusing each other, vying for resources, demanding personnel changes..."

He paused, then said helplessly, "We've concentrated everything and brought it under control."

"It's been suppressed?" Gern frowned slightly, realizing things weren't that simple. "How much?"

Tezzolo didn't answer immediately. Instead, he silently picked up his gold pen and pointed the tip of the pen at an inconspicuous corner of the office.

Gern looked in that direction.

In that corner, two stacks of "Twin Towers" of documents, almost touching the ceiling, were a shocking sight.

You can even see some documents slipping down because they were stacked too high, scattering around.

The sheer size and scale of the event silently testify to the intensity and persistence of the "literary battle," "digging up dirt," and "reporting" between the two factions over the past few months.

Gern stared at the two mountains of documents, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly drank the now lukewarm water in his glass.

He put down his teacup, his face revealing neither joy nor anger, and simply said...

"Sigh...it seems it's time to find them some serious work to do."

The unnecessary internal waste should end. These guys with excess energy should all be thrown out to deal with pirates.

Just as Guern was planning in his mind that he would go and "have a chat" with Sakazuki when he had a little more free time in a few days, and paint him a big, tempting picture...

No, it's about having an in-depth discussion with him about his role as the head of the former Marineford site.

When the strategic concept was to deter pirates in the first half of the Grand Line and maximize the effectiveness of its "absolute justice"...

"Marshal Sengoku's urgent order!! General Gern, General Gern! Something terrible has happened!!"

"boom!"

The office door was flung open, and a messenger, pale-faced and panting, rushed in, disregarding all decorum.

"Report...Report!!"

Gern and Tesoro both looked up at the distraught soldier.

"General Gern," the soldier swallowed hard and said hurriedly.

"Admiral Sakazuki and Admiral Kuzan... they clashed on Punk Hazard Island!!"

"Punk Hazard?"

"That abandoned island where the climate became extreme due to Vegapunk's past experiments? How did they end up there?"

Tesoro was still in a daze, but Gern had already realized what was going on and quickly stepped forward to ask, "What's going on?"

"The two sides...the two sides have started fighting! It's...it's a fight to the death!!!"

A death match!

These two words were like ice water poured over someone's head, instantly freezing the air in the office!

This is no longer a conflict involving banging on the table and glaring at each other in meetings, nor is it a mutual attack on each other in documents!

This is the Navy Headquarters' highest combat force. Between two admirals, all camaraderie and military discipline have been abandoned in a life-or-death struggle with the sole purpose of killing each other!

“Things have changed.” The document in Gern’s hand slipped silently to the ground.

The original duel between Akainu and Aokiji, which was supposed to end when one of them was unable to continue fighting, has now turned into a death match!

He had planned everything meticulously, but he never expected the conflict between the two men to escalate to this extent.

"Admiral Gern, Kizaru is not in the New World, and Enel and Kuma are also on a mission." Tesoro looked at Gern with a serious expression.

"It's alright. Go and inform Sengoku that I understand."

..........

June of 1521 in the Haiyuan calendar.

Marine Admirals "Akainu" Sakazuki and "Aokiji" Kuzan have a deep-seated difference in their principles of justice.

And the factional conflicts that intensified during the reshuffling of power in the new world eventually became irreconcilable and erupted completely!

Two of the Navy's top combatants chose Punk Hazard, a deserted island in the New World far from headquarters' sight, as their final battleground, and engaged in a fierce and brutal fight to the death!

The intensity of this civil war between the generals was beyond imagination.

The extreme heat of "magma" and the absolute zero of "freezing" collide wildly on this island!

The two unleashed their power without reservation, and its terrifying might completely altered the landscape and climate of Punk Hazard.

This has created an extreme weather pattern where one side is boiling lava and the other side is frozen solid, resulting in a permanent and uncontrollable extreme weather system!

Despite the fact that then-Admiral "White Scale," New World Naval Governor-General Guern rushed to the scene immediately upon receiving the news.

They intervened by force with absolute power, but only at the last moment.

This prevented Sakazuki from delivering the final, fatal blow to the fallen Kuzan.

This sudden and desperate battle will end tragically.

Kuzan, at the cost of losing his left leg and barely surviving thanks to Gern's intervention...

Utter defeat!

Chapter 499 I want to try to find it again, that sense of justice I have.

Two months later, G-10, Naval Hospital

The air was thick with the smell of cold disinfectant.

Aokiji Kuzan's eyelashes fluttered a few times, and he slowly opened his eyes.

The moment consciousness returned, intense phantom pain and a feeling of emptiness came from the left side of my body.

He instinctively tried to sit up, but his movement suddenly froze.

Look down at your left leg.

It was empty there.

His expression immediately darkened, shrouded in an inescapable gloom.

Those eyes, which always carried a hint of laziness and confusion, were now filled with only a deathly coldness and...understanding.

There were no shouts, no angry roars.

There was only silence; the moisture in the air quickly condensed and took shape.

A moment later, a left leg made of solid ice appeared in the place where it was missing, supporting him as he stiffly stood up from the hospital bed.

Aoki pushed open the door to the ward and strolled out.

The light in the corridor was a bit too bright.

But as soon as I stepped out the door, I stopped in my tracks.

On a bench in the corridor, a figure was sitting quietly.

It's Gern.

He was still wearing his signature black shirt, without the Justice Coat, and just sat there quietly, watching Aokiji walk out of the ward, looking at his icy leg that exuded coldness.

Their eyes met, and a silent heaviness filled the air.

In the end, it was Aokiji who spoke first, his voice a little hoarse, or perhaps in a joking tone.

"Oh dear, it seems... I've lost."

Aokiji dragged his icy leg as he strolled toward Gern.

Without any further pleasantries, Guern tossed a bottle of wine over to him.

"Tsk." Aokiji caught the bottle precisely, looking at it with a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

"Giving a drink to a wounded soldier who has just woken up...that's not like normal hospital visit procedure, Gern."

“That’s true!” Gern replied calmly without looking up.

"Shall I get you a different bottle of vitamins?"

"Haha." Aokiji chuckled briefly, shook his head, and the hand holding the bottle emanated a slight chill, instantly freezing the liquor before tossing the bottle back to Guern.

He then sat down on the bench next to Gern, and took a sip from a box that had been placed there sometime earlier.

He picked up another bottle of wine and opened it with his teeth.

The two of them sat side by side on a bench in the hospital corridor, not saying a word, and drank from the bottle.

Silence spread between the two.

After a long while, Aokiji spoke again, his voice much calmer.

"My back doesn't ache, my body doesn't hurt, and I can sit here drinking as soon as I open my eyes... Did Libo heal me with her healing fruit?"

He felt an unusually good state within his body; apart from his lost leg, the severe damage to his other organs and bones seemed to have miraculously healed.

Gern took a sip of his drink, not looking at him, but staring at the empty corridor ahead, and said in a complicated tone, "Yes or no."

"What kind of talk is that?"

"Damn Kuzan..."

"You had a leg broken, and... you were almost killed!"

Even with Ribo's powerful healing fruit, it's impossible for you to recover to the point where you can sit here and drink with me in just two months.

“Then…” Aokiji turned his head, his eyes filled with doubt.

“It’s a bear,” Gern finally gave the answer. “I asked him to use his Paw-Paw Fruit ability.”

It ejected from your body those potentially fatal injuries and negative states, treating them as 'pain' and 'damage'.

"Huh?" Aokiji was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then an incredulous look appeared on his face. "You... took all that damage for me?"

He subconsciously assumed that Guern had taken the blame for him.

But Gern shook his head, picked up the bottle, took another sip, and revealed the truth that left Aokiji completely stunned.

"It's Sakazuki."

"That guy... he was clearly going to fight you to the death, fighting you to the death."

"In the end, it remained silent... and through the bear's abilities, it endured most of the fatal damage and pain that should have been directed at you."

Gern's gaze finally turned to Aokiji, his eyes deep. "He hasn't woken up yet."

"........"

Aokiji's hand holding the wine bottle froze in mid-air.

His expression froze, then shifted from shock and bewilderment to a complex, indescribable emotion surging in his eyes.