After they left the Galley-Lay Company, Masa and his group spent their time stopping by shops to buy clothes, food, musical instruments, unique items, and many other things.
Enjoying their time, this was what they did before they decided to book the entire bar for themselves.
Masa felt that the owner and the name of the bar were quite familiar somehow, but he was too busy to look at the blueprint of the ancient weapon.
However—
"Masa! Masa! Look at the newspaper!"
"..."
Masa fell silent as Carina pressed the newspaper so close to his face. "...I can't read if the newspaper is so close."
"...sorry, sorry." Carina showed an awkward expression, but even so, she couldn't stop her excitement as she showed the newspaper to him. "Anyway, read the newspaper first!"
"What is it?"
Not only Masa but Perona and Brook were curious before their expressions turned surprised.
"Admiral War!" 2x
Masa was also dumbfounded since he never thought such a thing would exist.
Or rather, did such an event happen in the original?
No!
In the original story, when Kuzan left the Marines and Akainu became the fleet admiral, two admirals weren't chosen among the vice admirals of the Marines. Instead, those positions were chosen among civilians.
Naturally, those two admirals, whether it was Fujitora or Ryokugyu, weren't normal people as they had eaten a powerful Devil Fruit.
Still, compared to the vice admirals, there was no doubt that the two lacked the reputation and closeness to the Marines, yet their strength was obvious.
Nevertheless, behind the scenes, in the part that hadn't been explained or probably hadn't been explained in the original story, it might be a little hard for Fujitora or Ryokugyu to be accepted by everyone since when the marines had to work hard for so many years, building their careers slowly, those two quickly became admirals, the number two positions among the Marines, which was one of the largest organization in the world.
Naturally, there must have been many who couldn't accept such a fact, and this might have been the reason why Ryokugyo attacked the Wano alone instead of coming with an army.
Or the fact that Fujitora only had one ship when he went to help in the Dressrosa.
After all, if it was someone else, it wouldn't be weird to bring so many ships, right?
However, this competition changed everything.
The strong have everything.
The strong were respected.
If someone won this tournament, no one could say anything, even if any of them became an admiral in exchange for the deceased Kizaru.
"By the way, there is no requirement here..." Brook was surprised.
"So, anyone can join this tournament?" Perona asked.
"No, if you are a pirate, then you can't, but if you're not, then it will be okay."
As long as one wasn't a pirate, then one could join this tournament, but that meant that even if they were an underworld member or a gangster, it was all okay, but a pirate wasn't allowed.
"Ah, then, Moria-sama can't join then..." Perona sighed, which made the three roll their eyes.
Nevertheless, when Masa looked up, his gaze met Carina's, who made a charming smile toward him.
"Masa, let's join this tournament."
"Okay."
Masa felt that it was good to become an admiral so no one would bother him again, considering his reputation. More importantly, if he had a business, then no one would bother him as trying to attack his business meant that they would antagonize him and the entire Marines as he was part of the largest armed organization in the world.
"Y-You are going to become an admiral?!" 2x
Still, his decision shocked Perona and Brook.
"It's fun, right?"
"Horororo, that's true~!"
"Hyohoho, this has become more interesting!"
If Masa became an admiral, then there was no doubt they would have good backing.
Yet, as Masa had made up his decision, Blueno, the owner of the bar, who was being entirely booked by Masa, shook his head softly, thinking that they were all hopeless.
Admiral?
It might be possible for Masa to become an admiral in the dream.
Unlike others, as an agent of the government, Blueno knew how high the position of the admiral was, and he knew only the strong could get it.
Yes, Masa might be wealthy, but with how young this guy was, could he match those old monsters who had trained themselves and made many, many achievements?
If Blueno wished to, he should be able to take down all of them.
'But, a living skeleton, huh?'
As expected, Blueno was dumbfounded when he saw Brook, but his training as an agent made him able to calm down in any situation. Even if he was shocked inwardly, his face didn't change, and he just continued to wipe the glass with the towel cleanly and quietly.
Nevertheless, there was no doubt that this announcement surprised many people, as no one expected that the Marines would choose their admiral based on their strength.
Still, this also excited many, especially those who believed in their strength.
"Hahaha? Admiral? Isn't that interesting? I will join!"
"Idiot! You are a pirate! A pirate can't join this tournament!"
"It's fine. I don't have a bounty!"
"Those idiots... do they think that everything is so simple?"
"Being an admiral isn't easy."
While there were many stupid people, there were also many smart people.
Many thought that this was a chance, and others only felt curious, wondering who would win this tournament.
Yet, unexpectedly, this tournament brought confidence to the Marines since the strongest was the one that would be chosen, and anyone could join as long as they weren't a pirate, which was a good thing.
"Hm..."
A certain man with blind eyes appeared surprised, then to be in deep thought within a gambling place as he heard the talk of many people about the tournament.
"Eh? Will you let me go? Admiral? Okay, leave everything to me!"
In a certain jail within the Taya Kingdom, an agent of the government, CP, went to visit a man and was ready to let this beast go for the tournament, which made this man happy and showed his deep respect toward the World Government.
Similarly, in many places, many started their own plans, either ready to join or just watch the tournament that was about to begin.
"Zehahaha, the Marines sure do something interesting."
Unfortunately, he was a pirate, and frankly, no pirates would come since this could be a trap to catch all of them.
Alternatively, unless one was confident that no one knew about their pirate or criminal ability, no one would think of going to this tournament since all of them thought that this was a trap to catch all of them in one go.
Yet, Sengoku was serious about holding this tournament.
Looking at all the vice-admirals before him, he said, "I have given you the chance. If you lose, then it means that you are not fit to become an admiral, but even so, I hope one of you wins, so do your best!"
"YES, FLEET ADMIRAL!"
The great battle was about to start; the Marines made a change that no one expected.
The loss of Kizaru didn't cause the Marines to succumb and become weaker. Instead, it brought them greater strength!
Still, let's return to Water 7 once again as Perona looked at Masa, who had been reading, which made her curious. "By the way, Masa, what have you been reading? It's like a machine."
"It's a blueprint."
"Blueprint? For what?" Carina also started to become curious.
"An ancient weapon, Pluto."
"..." 4x
Blueno widened his eyes and almost dropped the glasses, but he held them tightly so they wouldn't notice that he had eavesdropped on their conversations.
Yet, Masa, who noticed Blueno's reaction, smiled inwardly, thinking that if he wanted to fish instead of using a fishing pole, it was better to use a net.
No, let's just use an explosion fishing, so that way, he could catch so many delicious fish ~!