New World, an island.

Smaller's warships are docked here.

"Edward Weibull was inaugurated as King of the Seven Martial Seas..."

Smoker looked at the eye-catching headline in the newspaper, and his face looked very gloomy.

These days, there has been a steady stream of high-profile head-to-head news in the newspapers:

First, Akainu and Pheasant had a life-and-death duel, then the Seven Warriors Galen took Doflamingo's lair, and then Pheasant officially became the marshal of the Navy.

Kuzan had just sat on the throne of the marshal, and the first order he gave was to recruit Cavendish and Edward Wibull as kings of the Seven Martial Seas.

"How can this be!"

Dusty's eyes were full of confusion and shock, and he said indignantly:

"Marshal Kuzan used to have such a good reputation in the navy, why did he make such a black and white decision as soon as he became a marshal?"

"That Edward Webbl is..."

"Alright, stop talking!"

Smoker interrupted Dusty's grumbling.

He is an old navyman in his thirties, and he sees things from a different perspective than Dusty, an innocent and young girl:

"Marshal Kuzan..."

"Did you bow your head to the five old stars so quickly?"

Smoker sighed deeply and put down the newspaper in his hand with great emotion.

In the final analysis, Kuzan, Sengoku, Smoker, and many other navy with justice in their hearts all wear a pair of invisible shackles, and can only do their best to maintain that limited justice under the control of the world government.

Therefore, Smoker can understand the pressure behind Kuzan, and his emotions are naturally not as excited as Dusty, who can only see the surface situation.

Smoker was depressed, but Dusty couldn't let go of the resentment in his heart:

"I still don't understand!"

"Let that kind of villain become the Seven Martial Seas, not to mention other influences, where is this going to put General Zefa?"

Zefa has a high prestige in the navy and is a widely respected veteran:

He has served as the chief instructor of the Navy for more than 20 years, and has trained a large number of talents for the Navy, including the three major admirals.

Now there are generals in the navy with names and surnames, and they are basically disciples who have been educated by him.

If it weren't for the accident caused by Edward six years ago, Zefa's temperament changed drastically and he stepped down as an instructor, Dusty, who was born in the elite training camp of the headquarters, is estimated to have become one of Zefa's disciples.

"Where?"

Hearing Dusty's angry question, Smoker shook his head helplessly:

"Dusty, do you think those government officials still take Teacher Zefa seriously?"

He paused, and then for Dusty, who is kind by nature and ignorant of human feelings, he uncovered the cruel truth behind this world:

"After Mr. Zefa's temperament changed drastically, he arbitrarily set up a 'pirate guerrilla' with the mission of completely eradicating pirates, regardless of the opposition of the upper echelons of the government."

"Although this 'pirate guerrilla' is still nominally in the naval sequence, it only obeys the orders of Mr. Zefa and is not bound by the government's orders at all."

"It's a taboo thing!"

Smoker sighed, and finally said in a complicated tone:

"For the top of the government..."

"A disobedient navy is probably much more of an eyesore than pirates."

"It's just crowding out now, maybe in the future, the high-level government will directly tear their faces and drive Teacher Zefa home to care for the elderly."

"It's just..."

Smoker stopped talking.

He thought of Zefa's extreme psychological state of rejection of his colleagues in the Navy and the world government after the great change in his heart, and he couldn't help but feel a little worried in his heart:

In his current irrational state, no one could guess how he would react when he heard the news of Edward's appointment to the Seven Martial Seas.

I'm afraid that before the world government drives him home to retire, he himself will take the extreme route ...

"How can this be?!"

Dusty couldn't understand this cold logic, and his tone was still full of anger:

"The 'pirate guerrillas' led by General Zefa are a force for justice, and countless pirates have been eradicated over the years."

"Not to mention, in the recent war between our navy and the Whitebeard Pirates in the New World, Admiral Zefa has made a great effort!"

“......”

Hearing Dusty's words, Smoker was a little speechless.

He slowed down for a moment, and then said to Dusty with some sighs:

"Dusty, you really don't understand anything!"

"For the top level of the government, Mr. Zefa's efforts in this war are not only not helpful, but are also big troubles!"

"Why?"

Dusty asked, confused.

"Because..."

Smoker pondered for a moment, but explained the cause and effect behind this to Dusty:

The Whitebeard Pirates escaped unscathed, disgrace the Navy and the World Government.

In order to save face, the world government made a decision to let the navy take the initiative and do something on Whitebeard's territory in the New World.

However, the Navy itself knows in its heart:

It is never wise to start an all-out war in a new world surrounded by enemies on Whitebeard's home turf.

Therefore, this war was not intended to be big from the beginning.

The navy is just trying to symbolically take over the two islands, and then facilitate the world government to engage in political propaganda and use some positive news such as "the navy takes the initiative to attack, and the white regiment retreats" to rebuild the prestige of the navy and improve the morale of the whole army.

It is better to say that it is a war, but it is better to say that it is a military exercise and a cruise demonstration.

And the Whitebeard Pirates also seem to understand the strategy of the navy, and they are very cooperative and do not really fight, allowing the navy to temporarily gain the upper hand.

With the tacit knowledge of both sides, the war was soon coming to an end, and government propaganda was ready to be released.

However, at this time...

The 'pirate guerrillas' who seemed to be independent of the navy and had been roaming in the New World with the aim of eradicating all pirates happened to be in this war zone, and encountered a certain pirate group under Whitebeard's command.

Since the great change in his temperament, Zefa has become the original "don't kill the general" to an extreme person who wants to wipe out the pirates when he sees them.

After Zefa saw these pirates, he didn't care who the other party was, and he started a war without saying a word.

After all, he is a former general, he is strong, and he is also very ruthless, and he made a big loss to that pirate group as soon as he made a move.

And the Whitebeard Pirates, who were originally "retreating", saw that the navy was really ruthless, so they naturally refused to swallow their anger anymore, and immediately fought back.

In this way, a fake fight became a real fight, and the war escalated in an instant.

The Whitebeard Pirates fought hard, and the navy also spent countless manpower and material resources and deployed a large number of warships to support the New World.

The two sides have been fighting fiercely in the New World for nearly a month, and it is only after each side has lost its troops and reined in its offensive that it has finally calmed down.

Although the war has subsided, the hidden worries remain.

In order to prevent the recurrence of this senseless war, the world government directly ordered an armistice to the navy.

But Zefa completely ignored the government's armistice order, and still led the troops to wander the front line of the war in his own way, as if he had a resolute attitude of killing one by one.

Zefa's behavior of ignoring the overall situation and being paranoid made his colleagues in the navy complain a lot about it, and the five old stars, who regarded the navy as a lackey under his door, naturally hated this guy who didn't obey orders.

"This..."

After listening to Smoker's explanation, Dusty was even more confused:

Fighting a war and a fake fight?

Can there still be such a tacit understanding between the navy and the pirates?

Attacking pirates turns out that it can also be a mistake?

"These political things..."

Dusty pursed his lips and muttered to himself in some confusion:

"It's just too complicated."

"Don't think too much about it if you think it's complicated!"

Smoker waved his hand impatiently, and then admonished very seriously:

"As a navy, you just have to do your job well!"

"Yes..."

Dusty nodded yes, but his tone was still a little complicated.

But Smoker didn't want to talk about anything political with his naïve adjutant, so he directly changed the subject:

"Dusty."

"Look, what's the next island we're going to?"

After receiving the order to send the abducted children home in Punk Hassad, he and Dusty have been sailing from island to island in the New World, bringing the hundreds of children kidnapped by the Don Quixote family back to their hometowns.

Because there are so many of these children and their hometowns are not in one place, they have not completely completed their tasks until now.

"That..."

Hearing Smoker's question, Dusty no longer dwelled on those annoying things, and immediately took out his small notebook and studied it:

"We still have more than 50 children who have not been sent home."

"They're from three islands, two of which are in the vicinity, and we just have to follow the record pointer down."

"But..."

Dusty's tone became tangled again, but it was something else:

"Some of the children were taken from ships by the Don Quixote family, and their hometowns are far from here."

"And that island is very close to Whitebeard's territory."

"Close to Whitebeard's territory?"

Smoker frowned slightly:

The war between the Navy and Whitebeard has just ended, and now is the time to be sensitive.

If he approached Whitebeard's territory too quickly, he might get into some trouble.

"What should I do?"

Thinking of this, Dusty asked Smoker:

"Shall we delay a few days?"

"Well..."

Smoker pondered for a moment, and secretly pondered in his heart:

Although this timing is sensitive, after all, he is not his Zefa teacher who kills pirates and kills red-eyed, regardless of taking the initiative to provoke trouble, and it is estimated that he will not get into any big trouble if he acts carefully.

Moreover, the ocean is so big, and that island is only close to Whitebeard's territory, and they may not be able to meet the people of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Besides, he is also a rear admiral, and it would be too embarrassing if he didn't even have the guts to get close to the pirate territory.

After some consideration, Smoker finally made a decision:

"Let's go straight away!"

"Those children have been separated from their parents for so many days, so it is better to send them back as soon as possible."

"Hurry up and complete the mission, we still have to go to the G5 base to take up our duties."