Phoenix Reborn In One Piece

Marine Headquarters.

Inside the office of the new Marine Fleet Admiral. That's right — a new Fleet Admiral had taken over!

While the Dream Team was busy mapping the Red Adventure Islands, the duel between Akainu and Aokiji had already ended.

Even though Aokiji had found clarity and wasn't lost anymore, in the end, he still lost to Akainu.

But unlike the original story, Aokiji didn't quit the Marines. He stayed and kept his position as a Marine Admiral.

Since the MarineFleet_Admiral selection battle had just ended,

the entire Marine headquarters was filled with a serious and tense atmosphere. The new Fleet Admiral, known for his extreme sense of justice, was none other than Admiral Akainu!

And today, Akainu was holding his very first Fleet Admiral meeting.

"Hiss… Hoo…"

*Crunch crunch…*

Garp and Sengoku, now both semi-retired, were relaxing—one sipping tea, the other munching on rice crackers.

Vice Admiral Tsuru looked calm as usual.

Kizaru and Aokiji were sitting with serious looks, while Akainu sat in the Fleet Admiral's seat, radiating a heavy and sharp presence.

Sengoku's former aide, Brannew, was now the head of the Fleet Admiral's office, with the rank of Rear Admiral.

He was now in charge of all affairs related to the Fleet Admiral's office.

...

The room stayed quiet for a while—no one wanted to speak first.

"Hey!"

"Sakazuki, what is this about? You can tell us now, right?" Sengoku set his teacup down and called out loudly.

As soon as he spoke, everyone turned to look at Akainu.

Akainu didn't hold back anymore. "Brannew, hand out the plan."

"Yes, sir!"

"Akainu… Fleet Admiral!" Brannew quickly corrected himself.

That was close!

He nearly said "Admiral Akainu" out of habit!

The others tried to hold back their laughter.

Akainu's face darkened a bit, but he didn't say anything about it. After all, he had just taken the role of Fleet Admiral, so it made sense that Brannew slipped up.

Brannew passed out the prepared documents. Everyone had been curious about what Akainu would bring up in his first meeting.

After all, new leaders always bring big changes.

Everyone picked up the papers and began reading quickly.

But as Sengoku and the others read on, their brows furrowed more and more.

Akainu was watching their reactions closely. It seemed like he had expected this from the start.

"Sakazuki, are you serious about this?" Vice Admiral Tsuru looked at him and asked in a low voice.

The others also wanted to hear his answer.

"Of course," Akainu replied plainly.

...

Now, everyone in the room looked even more concerned.

The document listed Akainu's three major plans as the new Fleet Admiral. The first: a worldwide recruitment drive!

He also wanted to find someone strong enough to become an Admiral.

Garp and Sengoku were already in semi-retirement.

If it weren't for how important the Chief of Staff position was—and the fact that no one besides Vice Admiral Tsuru was qualified—she'd probably have stepped back too.

That's why they needed to fill the three Admiral spots as soon as possible!

This plan had already gotten the green light from Mary Geoise. As expected of someone backed by the Five Elders, Akainu's promotion had even brought the Marines a bigger military budget.

That was the first major change.

The second? Akainu wanted to move Marine headquarters into the New World, where the Four Emperors ruled!

This shocked everyone in the room. They respected Akainu's boldness, but they were also very worried.

Because if Marine HQ moved into the New World, the first half of the Grand Line would be left short on troops.

Even though Akainu had plans for a global military draft, that would take a lot of time. But the move to relocate Marine Headquarters into the New World was something he wanted to do right away.

That said, even if they did move, it might not have the effect Akainu hoped for.

And then there was the third issue: the Dream Exploration Team.

The fact that over ten pirate crews had gotten permission to fly the Dream Team's flag—of course Marine Headquarters knew about that.

Back when Sengoku was still in charge, he had taken a hands-off approach toward the Dream Team.

But now, Akainu was the Fleet Admiral.

When it comes to dealing with pirates, Akainu has always had a zero-tolerance mindset—he'd rather kill the wrong person than let one guilty person go. So he believed it was time to change the policy toward the Dream Team.

Even if he knew they hadn't done anything truly evil.

In Akainu's eyes, there were only two kinds of people: those on his side, and enemies. There was no room for a third category like the Dream Team.

And now that more than ten pirate crews were flying the Dream Team's flag, it gave him even more reason to convince the Marine leadership.

So, he was preparing to label the Dream Team as pirates.

And once that label was set, the next step would naturally be to place bounties on them.

It just so happened that right now, the Dream Team didn't have any official status.

Inside the Fleet Admiral's office—

Sengoku and a few other senior officers had just finished reading the documents. Their expressions were very serious.

"Sakazuki, I don't object to the first point," Sengoku said, looking deeply worried. "But for the second and third... I hope you'll think very carefully. One wrong move could set off a chain reaction."

"What about Vice Admiral Garp's thoughts?"

Akainu didn't respond to Sengoku right away. Instead, he looked to Garp.

...

"Sakazuki, in principle, I agree with the first two points—especially the second one. I've thought it through, and I'm on board," Garp said.

"But the third point... if we put a bounty on the Dream Team now, it might not get you the result you're hoping for. It's not just because of their strength," Garp said seriously after thinking for a while. "It's because that Ryuen kid has already taken control of Morgans' news network."

"Sakazuki," said Vice Admiral Tsuru with a serious face, "while I was investigating the Dream Team, I found that they had used some connections within the World Government to look for a volcano."

Akainu's expression changed slightly. He asked in a low voice, "And then?"

"The World Government actually helped them find one."

"But in the end, we found out that the volcano turned into a dead volcano—all the fire energy inside it disappeared," Tsuru said heavily.

Hearing this, Akainu's face grew more serious.

Tsuru continued, "We believe Ryuen was the one behind it."

Now Akainu's brows tightened. His Devil Fruit power is magma—if Ryuen really had that kind of ability, it could be a huge problem for him.

"Are you saying his fruit power lets him absorb magma energy?"

Akainu asked with surprise.

Tsuru nodded. "That's what our investigation shows. To confirm it, I went to the Calm Belt myself to check out the volcano."

Akainu was silent for a moment, then said slowly, "Looks like Ryuen really is trouble…"

"But we're still going ahead with the bounty on the Dream Team. We may not be able to touch them right now, but it'll send a warning to the other pirates."

"Don't worry, Garp. Marine's policies on the welfare centers won't change."

Akainu thought for a moment, then looked at Garp.

"I understand," Garp replied calmly.

---

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