Chapter 45

"Yes, I heard your talk. You all seem to be fighting to make a difference," Enel said, his voice calm. "But aren't you going about it the wrong way?"

Zed's eyes narrowed at those words. How would you feel if someone showed up and said your goals and dreams were wrong?

"My captain saw the real problem with the Blue Sea. It's not the pirates," Enel continued. "It's the ones who call themselves Celestial Dragons."

He spoke lightly, almost casually.

"I've heard the stories. They create laws they don't follow, erase islands from the face of the world, force women into marriage, steal wives, enslave people, and that's just the surface."

Zed clenched his jaw, teeth grinding. He knew exactly where Enel was going with this.

"You want to change the world?" Enel said, his voice firm but enticing. "Then join us. We'll overthrow the World Government, bring down the Celestial Dragons—and from there, rebuild the Marines from the ground up. Only then will these seas know true justice. Because all you're doing now is chasing small evils, while ignoring the real evil that keeps setting the world ablaze."

Zed remained silent. He couldn't argue, because Enel was right. As a Marine, he had long carried resentment toward the government. And he wasn't alone. Many within the ranks harbored the same anger, directed not just at the corruption, but at the World Government itself.

As a former admiral, he had once stood at the beck and call of the Celestial Dragons. Forced to carry out orders that spat in the face of his own sense of justice.

"I… thank you for opening my eyes," Zed said softly. But after that, he didn't know what else to say. Should he join Kong's crew?

The thought didn't feel as foreign, or as wrong, as he expected. In fact, the more he considered it, the more sense it made.

It was no surprise, really, that Garp's son had become the leader of the Revolutionary Army. Dragon had done what the rest of them were too afraid to: he looked at the system and acknowledged that it was broken. And more than that—he acted.

Zed, on the other hand, had seen the same cracks… yet chose to look away. He hunted pirates, fought the surface-level chaos—while avoiding the true disease eating away at the world. Like a coward.

Now, even Dragon's brat was standing against the system. Something he had feared to do. Something he had spent his life avoiding—sailing the seas, chasing pirates, and convincing himself he was making a difference.

But deep down, he knew the truth. So long as the Marines continued to stand as the sword and shield of the World Government, this world would never know peace.

"Hahaha…" Zed suddenly burst into laughter, a raw, unexpected sound that made his crew stare in shock.

They didn't understand the sudden out burst.

Zed laughed for a while, the bitterness spilling out in every breath. Eventually, he walked over to a nearby rock and sat down, his massive, mechanical arm resting heavily on the ground as he stared at the earth beneath him. Silent.

"I'm too old," Zed said with a sad smile. He had finally seen the path toward true justice, yet he knew he could no longer walk it. His peak was long behind him, and the weight of age pressed heavily on his shoulders. Even now, with clarity in his heart, he realized… he couldn't fight to see it through.

"Old age is no excuse for failing to change the world," a booming voice called out from the sea. "Not when there are means to restore one's youth."

The voice echoed across the land, resonating from the Maxim. Zed looked up in shock. Kong stood there, framed by sunlight and clouds, his presence commanding.

And for a brief moment—just a moment—Zed saw someone else. Garp. Not the old veteran… but the fiery, unstoppable legend of a younger era.

"Zephyr, the teacher." Kong's voice rang out, firm and clear from aboard the Maxim.

"You trained nearly every Marine of this generation. Your hands shaped the very foundation of the force that now protects this broken system. Join my crew. Become my teacher, and help me stand before the World Government one day… and bring them down." As he spoke, Conqueror's Haki radiated from him—not to knock anyone out, but to make his conviction undeniable. It rolled through the air like a storm, pressing into the hearts of everyone nearby.

And that's how Kong gained a new crewmate: The Teacher, Zed. But he didn't come alone. Two others followed in his wake—both wielders of Devil Fruits.

The first was Ain, a young woman who had eaten the Mora Mora no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit. It allowed her to generate energy orbs capable of reversing the age of anything they touched by 12 years.

A terrifying power—one with incredible potential. Unfortunately, her ability had a major flaw: it was ineffective against those who possessed Haki.

Had that not been the case, Zed himself would have already regained the strength of his prime.

There were ways to overcome this limitation, of course. The most straightforward was for Ain to learn Haki herself. If she could imbue her Devil Fruit technique with Haki, she could cancel out others' haki resistance towards her Devil Fruit

But that was easier said than done. She lacked talent in that area—if she hadn't, she would have long since awakened her Haki.

The second, more daunting path… was awakening her Devil Fruit. And that was a goal far easier spoken than achieved.

The second person who came with Zed was Binz—a tall man who looked like someone trying to dress like a ninja… but didn't quite pull it off.

Binz had eaten the Mosa Mosa no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allowed him to accelerate plant growth and control the enlarged vegetation to a certain degree.

A useful ability when plants were around. Unfortunately, that was also the fruit's biggest weakness. Binz couldn't create plants; he could only manipulate and enhance the ones already present.

In places where nature was scarce, his power quickly lost its edge. Still, when in the right environment, Binz was a force to be reckoned with—something Kong surely knew when welcoming him aboard.

Aside from Ain and Binz, there were hundreds of men still loyal to Zed. Rather than absorbing them into his main crew, Kong allowed them to remain under Zed's direct command.

This would become one of Kong's many fleets—a powerful addition to his growing influence.

With Zed's forces now part of the fold, this fleet could eventually be merged with others Kong had already scattered across Paradise, forming a vast and coordinated network.