Work Text:
The new cadet looks promising. A bit absent-minded, and with some bad habits (he really should drink less), but all in all, in Sakazuki's eyes, he has a future. He trains hard, and in a short time has surpassed everyone in his division. At last someone worthy of carrying the word justice on his back enters. He was already beginning to believe that he would be the Navy's last hope. But if he can manage Zephyr’s instruction, then not everything might be lost.
…
The guy in the other division is annoying. What was his name again? Suzuki? It doesn't matter. He's a pain in the ass. He won't even let him rest in peace, not even after explaining that crazy Garp had sent him to hide Sengoku’s goat and fled without further explanation. And that he had to suck an hour of reprimand from the Admiral. If he wants to finish the reports on time so badly, let him do them himself. He doesn't care.
It’s also not his fault that Sensei sent them all to run 50 kilometers. Well, maybe it was, considering he was late because of Sengoku’s lecture. But still. It doesn’t excuse it.
Sakazuki takes back what he said. The new one is a total disaster.
Yes, he's strong, and he's determined enough to hit those ships that Vice Admiral Garp sends him to hit every day. But that's where it ends.
He is not capable of following orders. He's not interested in doing thorough reports. His etiquette is disastrous. And his mess is more than Sakazuki can tolerate in a lifetime.
…
That guy isn't just a pain in the ass, he's a whole stick stuck in it. Since he started this mission, he hasn't stopped giving instructions and nagging about everything. The report this, the uniform that, what about protocol. Who the fuck cares if the coffee pot isn't clean by the end of the day? Is that why he woke him up? He should relax a little.
One of these days, Kuzan swears he's going to wake him up in the middle of the night for something equally as dumb. Let's see if he likes it that much.
He doesn’t know what happened, but Kuzan has been acting weird lately. He hopes it is not weakness. That would be a shame. The only thing he should be worried about is that that girl escaped from Ohara and that they failed their mission. All those wasted lives, because they failed to eliminate the scholars.
He swears one day he'll finish the job before she can end the world with the Weapons.
…
Fuck you Sakazuki. What were you thinking?
It was weakness in the end. That fool is now worse than before. What is that stupidity of Lazy Justice? Justice can't be lazy. It has to be thorough. It has to be an immovable pillar, that's the only way to keep the world free from evil.
Too bad Kuzan can't see it.
…
Sakazuki is wrong. This is wrong. This cannot be Justice.
He was now (finally) an Admiral. And it's not like he was particularly interested in his rank. What he cared about was what he could do with it to serve justice. To make the decisions that no one else dared to make, even if they were difficult. Even if there were casualties.
Justice is non-negotiable. Not in exchange for civilians, not in exchange for individual moralities.
Justice has to be absolute, or it is not justice.
If only the stubborn Kuzan could understand that.
…
He was now, to his great misfortune, an Admiral.
Kuzan doesn't know what is more annoying: the cadets looking at him as if he were a hero (after Ohara, he doesn't feel worthy of it. He will never be like Monkey D. Garp); the Five Elders bossing him around and lecturing him for going for a ride on their bike; or Garp insisting they have tea together when he has three weeks of paperwork pending that if not filled out soon, poor Sengoku will have a stroke.
Worst of all, he was now supposed to represent a fundamental pillar of justice, which was, in itself, a ridiculous notion.
Kuzan was more convinced than ever that justice changes depending on where you stand. He was not some god or Messiah to determine the world's moral compass.
After the War, Sakazuki is not satisfied. It should have been a landslide victory. Dragon's son should have died, just like his bad-blood brother. Whitebeard should have died like the scum he is, and not as he did.
Justice won, but just barely, and that is unacceptable. The world should not have seen such a pathetic spectacle from them.
…
After the War, Kuzan is tired. The whole thing was a mess. Garp was a mess. Sengoku, even if he won't admit it, was a mess.
He really feels sorry for Garp. One grandson dead, the other missing, all in one day. One has to wonder why his family chose a path so different from his.
He wouldn't even accept the rice crackers.
When the Elders tell him he’s the one to be Fleet Admiral, Sakazuki is content. He thinks some changes are due in the Marines. Sengoku has been too soft in the end. Giving in to a pirate's proposal? And one as infuriating as Red Hair out of all of them? What was that even about?
He will be the one restoring the Marines’ honor. He will show those pirates that justice shall prevail at any cost.
…
When Sengoku tells him he’s the one to be Fleet Admiral, Kuzan feels like napping for a week. He really wants to say no, to tell him it’s not his mess to fix, to say that even if he gets the position, leaving him to deal with the five elders is not the best of ideas. That he can’t be bothered.
But.
He sees the wrinkles in his superior’s eyes. He notices how his shoulders crouch, with the invisible weight of his rank, and he can see, plain as the day, how Sengoku is not meant to carry it anymore.
He also knows, deep down, that this is the only chance he will get to truly make the changes the Marines need. His only chance to stop ignoring and evading the sins they have committed in the name of justice. And maybe, just maybe, he could make up for his own, and stop dreaming about an island consumed by flames and a little girl with hopelessness in her eyes.
For once in a long time, he will be bothered willingly. He will make the Marines an institution that can proudly carry the justice written on their coats’ backs.
When Sakazuki looks at Kuzan, he sees determination. There’s a part of him that is glad his fellow admiral finally put his pants on.
…
When Kuzan looks at Sakazuki, he sees insanity. He wishes his fellow admiral could understand that there is something like a price too high to pay.
When the battle ends, Sakazuki watches the magma, the ice, and the hellish landscape they have left behind. He watches his rival, bleeding, burnt, limbless, and unconscious, and he should feel nothing —justice is not personal— but there’s still something there that he cannot quite place. He feels the ice melting on his right arm, he feels the burn it leaves behind, and it’s uncomfortable.
For once in his life, he does not go to the end of the line. He leaves.
When Kuzan wakes up, he is surprised. He should be dead. He was ready to die on his terms.
That damn Sakazuki.
A year after assuming as Fleet Admiral, he regrets it. He could do so much more for justice if he could get out of this fucking office. Sakazuki is sick of all the reports of pirates staining this world.
Most of all, he is sick of the Five Elders’ bullshit.
…
Two years after leaving the Marines, Kuzan can be officially considered a pirate. Had you told him he was going to end like this before the Paramount War, he would have laughed in his interlocutor’s face, but life was weird like that sometimes.
He hopes he can make something change this time. It has to be worth it.
He freezes another D., another friend, another marine. Maybe Monkey D. Garp is not the only one developing bad habits.
Senna_B Wed 26 Jun 2024 11:05PM UTC
Comment Actions
xiwi01 Wed 31 Jul 2024 02:47AM UTC
Comment Actions
LL017HAN Wed 25 Sep 2024 05:59AM UTC
Comment Actions