Chapter 101: The Marine Hero with Years of Experience in Tearing Newspapers
Garp continued to act as if he didn't care. After the God Valley Incident, he had come to terms with some things.
He wouldn't go soft on pirates. If Kong ordered him to fight Nereus, although he would find it difficult, since the opponent was a pirate after all, Garp would still mobilize.
But he couldn't accept the promotion to Admiral.
Whether it was rotating garrison duty at the Holy Land or emergency missions to protect Celestial Dragons, he didn't want to do any of it.
However, Garp had no intention of leaving the Marines to start anew, so the situation ended up in a tangled deadlock.
"Big Brother Kong, calm down. I'll persuade him later."
"Yes, Fleet Admiral Kong. Garp just doesn't like this kind of thing much. You know his loose personality."
Sengoku and Zephyr smoothed things over, ending this unpleasant little meeting, and then dragged Garp out of Kong's office.
With the Fleet Admiral killed in action, if Kong and Garp started fighting at Marine Headquarters, the Marines would truly become a laughingstock.
"Congratulations to you two on being promoted to Admirals. Sometimes I envy people who know nothing. I'm off; I still have to chase Roger. I need to see where that guy has sailed to."
On the way out, Garp suddenly said something Zephyr couldn't understand.
"What is he talking about?"
"Who knows? Probably some nonsense again."
"True... I'm leaving first too. My family is still waiting for me."
Marine Headquarters had its own family residential area. High-ranking officers and their families lived there, and Zephyr was no exception.
Although Garp refused the promotion, the newspaper reports were published as usual.
The newspaper first reported the news of Fleet Admiral Salazar heroically dying in battle against the vicious pirate invading Mary Geoise, expressing deep condolences. This gave the Fleet Admiral enough dignity after death.
[Temporary Failure Will Not Make Justice Retreat.]
Although the Fleet Admiral died in battle, this would not affect the Marines' determination to pursue pirates. After the Fleet Admiral's death, the Marines would select a new Fleet Admiral. Such means would never make the Marines retreat.
Then, it stated at length the Marines' determination to combat evil. Not only would the military be expanded, but the Marine Fleet Admiral and the long-vacant Admiral positions had also been filled.
Sengoku the Buddha, Black Arm Zephyr, and the modest Garp.
At this moment, Garp felt as if he had become illiterate.
The words in the newspaper were written clearly, but when strung together, Garp didn't recognize a single one.
It wrote that their Marine Hero, due to humility, felt he was not yet sufficient to take on the position of Admiral and refused the promotion, believing he should yield this position to more outstanding colleagues.
And the Marines would temporarily reserve this position for Garp. As long as he was willing, he could be promoted at any time.
Of course, the main issue with doing this was that currently, within the Marines, a fourth person capable of filling this vacancy couldn't be found.
"When did I say such things? How much dirty money did that bastard Morgans take?!"
Nowadays, Garp's movements in tearing newspapers had become increasingly proficient. There was no helping it; the real reason he refused to become an Admiral certainly couldn't be spoken aloud. This report could be considered an act of giving him an out.
Garp only complained privately. However, relying on his rich experience in tearing newspapers, Garp could clearly feel that the quantity of newspapers in his hand seemed wrong; it was much thicker than usual.
Newspapers at Marine Headquarters were delivered by dedicated personnel. Garp didn't need to buy them himself. Otherwise, he would have discovered that Morgans issued two newspapers this time.
The first one wrote about the Marines' response, which was the part Garp tore up directly after reading a little.
The second one was...
[The Most Vicious Criminal in History, Single-handedly Invades Mary Geoise, The Nightmare of the Marines, The Incubus from the Deep Sea — Nereus!]
Morgans would not let go of such big news. To collect big news, the World Economy News Paper also offered bounties for explosive news.
Salazar's death in battle was news released by the World Government, while Nereus invading Mary Geoise was quietly sold to Morgans by some agents on Mary Geoise.
Anyway, this kind of thing couldn't be covered up sooner or later. Afterwards, the World Government would definitely increase the bounty on Nereus, and the news would be exposed then.
Since it would be exposed sooner or later, better to make a profit for himself.
On this matter, Morgans also carried out a certain degree of fabrication. Although the general result was the same, the process was very different.
For example, he attributed the team action entirely to Nereus alone. In Morgans's view, individual power was easier to attract attention.
So among the news information he received, Morgans selected the parts he thought were exciting, deleted some boring content, added some of his own imagination, and finally formed his new report.
Because there was too much content to be recorded in one newspaper, this time Morgans directly issued two copies, and they were sold as a bundle—increased quantity and increased price.
The World Economy News Paper, a small newspaper agency that emerged during the God Valley Incident, had become a giant in the news industry within these two years, holding a pivotal position.
The price of the newspaper wasn't exorbitant. Even after the increase, people could still afford it.
Even though Morgans followed the World Government's intention and placed news like Marine personnel changes in the first copy, in terms of attention, the second copy was still higher.
For ordinary people, the Marine report could soothe their hearts. But for pirates on this sea, Nereus's actions, in a sense, inspired them.
If a pirate could attack Mary Geoise and kill a Marine Fleet Admiral, then they had nothing to fear.
They didn't realize that it wasn't the Marines becoming weaker, but Nereus being strong enough. These pirates who couldn't accurately judge strength even united to actively attack Marine branches. But this wasn't the post-Summit War Marines whose base strength was empty due to troop deployment.
Most of these ignorant pirates became medals of merit for the Marines.
What's more, some developed a strange idea.
"He took away all the slaves... so now the entire Mary Geoise has no slaves left."
"The World Nobles won't give up using slaves... If we can produce the slaves they want at this time, we can sell them for a sky-high price."
After hearing this news, the thoughts in the minds of slave traders were not just fear; some were actually excited, even eager to try.
In their view, Nereus's behavior actually left them a huge market vacuum, an opportunity to make a big profit.
As long as they avoided Nereus and delivered slaves to Mary Geoise, they could get rich overnight and earn pots of money.
And those pirates who once belonged to the Rocks Pirates and could now be called great pirates on this sea had their ambitions ignited instead...
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