Chapter 47

Sea Circle Calendar 1494, the month of August | Victor, age 16.

On the broad sea, a marine warship was seen sailing placidly somewhere within the Grand Line.

A tall young man stood at the prow of the said ship with his arms crossed and his attention fixed ahead; yet the only object that was within his line of sight was an unending expanse of blue sea.

"Victor…" Hearing a familiar voice, the young man whirled around, hopped, then landed softly on the deck.

"Leo, what's up…" asked Victor, fixing his eyes on the person who had called him.

"We've been out on the ocean for a week now, and will soon be hitting the waters of Lanza Island…"

Victor nodded at that, and began walking slowly in the direction of the deckhouse.

His pace slowed as he approached Leo, "no hurry, my friend..." saying, he lightly patted the latter's shoulder.

"I'm not in a rush, mait..." Leo said while shaking his head, "I'm simply bored. All the pirate groups we met till now were all rookies..."

After a brief pause, "You think the others are as bored as we are...?" Leo asked again, turning his head towards Victor.

Now, the two stood next to one another while facing different directions.

When Victor heard Leo's question, an involuntary sigh came out of his mouth before his head lifted up and gazed at the open sky.

o - o -O - o - o

-Three months ago.

*Knock* *Knock*

"You can come in, Victor…"

Hearing Kong's approval, Victor squeaked open the door and entered his office.

As always, Kong was buried under a mountain of paperwork, and his face spoke volumes about how he dreaded the chore.

"Sit…" Kong gestured toward the sofa in front of his desk, and Victor nodded while taking the steps, and sat down.

He made no remark about the man in charge of supposedly the world's most powerful organization, how he had been reduced to the status of a desk boy.

Unlike their first meeting, this time it was just the two of them, with no Zephyr or another marine present.

"So..." Kong began, "Zephyr tells me you wanted your pals on your squad..."

'Straight to the point I see...' Thought Victor.

"Un... Yes, Fleet Admiral. That is my request."

"Explain to me why..." Kong said while resting his elbows on the desk,then interlocking the fingers.

"We've become close friends, and they're powerful. Plus, our fight coordination would be better than some random group we're unfamiliar with..." Victor elaborated. He too did not beat around the bush.

"Is that all…?" Kong asked.

"Well that, and all of us, would welcome the idea, sir..."

Kong leaned back in his seat, his stare fixated on Victor's eyes. "Your proposal, Victor, I reject..."

"…"

"I see...," Victor said after a little pause. "I understand, sir..."

"Do you?" Asked Kong.

Victor responded with an apparently subconscious "Huh."

"Do you understand... Why, I had to reject your request…" Kong rephrased his words.

He did understand, and came in expecting the answer. This was merely another one of his performances, to show he valued comrades. And therefore he portrayed a little disappointment in his face.

"I... think so…," Victor answered.

The reason Victor knew was because he had listened to their conversations during the fights. It was because of them, their decision to broadcast the fights. However, the drama must go on.

"All six of us, we have a target on our backs now. And concentrating all of us into one unit, would only make that target bigger…"

"That's right, partly…," said Kong, raising a corner of his mouth, seemingly satisfied with Victor's answer.

"Partly?"

"Yes… The other reason is, I can't have you all develop in the same direction… Because that would simply be too much of a waste." Kong explained.

Victor paused for a while to think about Kong's remark, because he truly hadn't considered it in that way. And Kong, he waited, and let Victor take his time to think.

"You mean, we six have special talents, each that are better suited to a particular division of the marines?" Victor responded with a question. This was merely a presumption he calculated.

"Smart as ever. Haha… " Kong let out a laugh. "You're right on point.

I've assigned Lilly to Vice-Admiral Tsuru, — where she will develop, and be trained under her.

Zlatan and Kylian will gather experience working under Vice-Admiral Trams, who are in charge of the internal affairs of the marines.

And finally, Salah, he'll be under Sengoku."

There was no mention of Leonel. "What about Leonel, sir?" Victor asked unsurely.

However, the latter did not answer the question, instead, started explaining something else entirely. "At first, I wanted to assign you under Sengoku, directly after you graduated. But now, I want to see more, what you three would be capable of without a mentor to guide you…"

Victor did not say anything, and let Kong finish his story.

"Sakazuki, you, and Borsalino. The three of you will each receive a battleship appropriate to your rank, a squadron of 30 marines below the rank of Lieutenant, one Commodore marine to serve as your assistant, and unrestricted freedom to travel throughout the waters, whether they be in the four seas or the first half of the Grand-Line."

It was entirely the opposite of what he had expected. After all, Kong had just claimed that all three of them have bullseyes on their backs.

However, he understood after thinking about it for a bit. Kong didn't mention the second half, — the three of them weren't allowed inside the New-World without supervision.

But for Victor, this wasn't an issue at all. After all, this was exactly what he wanted.

He was initially somewhat troubled, because, having a smart person like Sengoku nearby all the time would force his goals to be delayed.

But now that Kong has arranged for something better, more flexibility for him, he felt much more at peace.

"You three can keep this flexibility for a further three years, and after that, we'll evaluate your development throughout the course of the allotted time in greater detail.

If it meets our satisfaction, we will elevate you three to Vice-Admiral rank, and moreover, continue and extend the previous flexibility. Unless of course, nothing major happens." Kong continued to elaborate in detail.

"Your progress will count; the improvements in your strength, the merits you accumulate, whether by arresting criminals or in other ways."

Victor remained quiet with his face portraying seriousness.

Kong did not mind the silence, in fact, he appreciated that Victor had chosen to listen instead of refuting. So he continued, but this time with a more solemn tone.

"You're a clever kid, Victor. I won't hide, and you should know by now that we have very high expectations for the three of you.

All of us above the Vice-Admiral rank, unanimously agree to groom the three of you to become the future Admirals of Marines." Kong halted delivering what he believed to be a bombshell.