章 724: The Strongest Organization in the Sea Takes Action
"Vice Admiral Garp, please cooperate with us, otherwise it will create difficulties for us later..."
"Not interested. If you have that much free time, you might as well go investigate something else."
A few people timidly surrounded Garp, hoping he would cooperate with their actions, but the result was not as they wished. No matter what they said, Garp had no intention of paying attention to them.
These people weren't agents, but reporters from the World Government.
Unlike Morgans' World Economy News Paper, these reporters were all the mouthpiece of the World Government. Whatever the government wanted to read, they wrote.
As for where the articles were published, aside from some official internal newspapers, the World Economy News Paper was also one of the outlets. Morgans, aside from having his own people write reports, also accepts submissions from outsiders.
The attack on G-1 Base had already taken place. The battle here was so intense that the smoke could be seen from the Red Line, and ships passing through nearby waters, as well as the soldiers on-site, witnessed everything clearly.
Now they needed to rebuild the G-1 Base, comfort the injured soldiers, and provide compensation to the families of the fallen soldiers. What happened here simply cannot be concealed. Since it can't be hidden, they must prepare well for the subsequent cover-up.
Kaido had attacked a Marine branch, caused a certain amount of casualties, and left in front of everyone. Of course, the report couldn't be written in that tone.
If Morgans were to write it, he would go for whatever would grab the most eyeballs, completely disregarding the consequences. However, since G-1 Base didn't have any reporters, the Marines had control over the narrative.
The evil Kaido was plotting some scheme, but the brave Marine soldiers discovered it and thwarted his plan. Enraged, Kaido attacked G-1 Base in retaliation. In the midst of the Marines' heroic resistance, Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp arrived at the critical moment.
Admiral Aokiji also followed closely behind and they were about to capture Kaido, but the despicable Kaido used the lives of soldiers as leverage and fled in a panic. They had already prepared the outline of the story.
There's no issue with the sequence of events—they couldn't twist the reality of what had already happened. They just framed it differently. Soldiers who never even saw the enemy died either from an unknown area-of-effect attack or heroically sacrificed themselves after brave resistance. While both resulted in death, the meaning is entirely different.
Garp didn't object to this. For the soldiers who had died, such a narrative would actually be more beneficial. However, he wasn't willing to condone the actions of these people.
To better showcase the bravery of the Marines, they hoped Garp would pose for some photos amidst the ruins to enhance the propaganda effect. Although G-1 Base suffered heavy damages, with proper publicity, it could serve as an excellent recruitment tool.
In the end, the reporters didn't get their wish. Garp ignored them and returned to the still-intact part of the base, using the excuse of treating his wounds.
A few superficial injuries weren't anything to him. After eating a few donuts, he would recover almost entirely. Kaido was mostly testing some new techniques this time, and the individual power wasn't particularly overwhelming. It was just a few hours, and both sides hadn't used most of their cards.
But Garp knew very well that he hadn't gained much advantage. Marines suffered heavy losses for no reason, so he couldn't accept standing on the ruins for these people to take fake photos.
...
"What do we do? Without photos, the impact will be significantly weaker."
They didn't have the authority to force Garp. His strength was one thing, but for the sake of their own reputations, they had completely covered up the fact that the Marines and pirates had once worked together to defeat the Rocks Pirates. All the glory had been attributed to Garp alone.
Although his strength made him undoubtedly the hero of the Marines, this halo allowed Garp to act willfully. He could even be more insolent towards the Celestial Dragons than others because one of the people he had saved back then was a Celestial Dragon.
Not all Celestial Dragons are brainless fools. When it comes to someone like Garp, whose strength is unmatched and who has even saved them before, they tend to offer certain privileges.
Faced with someone like Garp, they had no way to deal with him. Ordinary Marines might care about their opinions, as these Marines' pens truly have the power to influence a person's reputation.
But Garp was different. Anyone who dared to smear his name would be slapping the Marines in the face.
"Don't worry, I've already got it covered."
At that moment, someone suddenly appeared holding a camera. The others hadn't noticed how he arrived, but none of them found it strange.
"Hmm?"
"I got here before you did. Here are photos of Vice Admiral Garp dealing with those meteors, plus some shots of Kaido 'fleeing.' There are also images of him rescuing soldiers from the ruins."
"If we add these to the recorded footage from the Surveillance Den Den Mushi inside the base, it's almost enough."
He pulled out a few photos. They included images of Garp smashing large meteors with his fists, using cannonballs to block incoming meteors with ease, and scenes of him lifting broken walls to pull out trapped soldiers.
Kuzan and Kaido also made an appearance in the photographer's shots.
"Oh, then we can finally wrap this up."
"Same as always—I handle the photos, you guys handle the writing."
"Don't worry, don't worry, we know what to do."
Among the team of reporters, the photographer was undoubtedly the most important. Especially Marine photographers, who were elusive and present everywhere. Whether it was the Shichibukai, the Four Emperors, in icy mountains, deserts, or deep seas, wherever there was a major conflict, they would be there.
Stealth, disguise, infiltration, making connections—these were their specialties. Rumor has it that some young photographers were even recruited by the Cipher Pol department and, after training, became powerful intelligence agents.
Secretly photographing Garp after a battle was a simple task for them.
As a result, the pirates of the Beasts Pirates in Onigashima ended up seeing a heavily embellished newspaper. The entire piece glorified Garp's heroics and greatly downplayed the impact of the attack on the base.
However, the consequences of this incident weren't as simple as they seemed. A new wave of undercurrents was beginning to stir on the Red Line.
Meanwhile, inside Beasts Fruits, the regular employees were still going about their work as usual. However, the more observant ones noticed that the usual leaders were nowhere to be found. The only person left in charge was Tesoro.
At this moment, he was adjusting his suit, apparently getting ready to head out.
"Stella, don't worry. Those people won't do anything. Governor-General Kaido and Lord Arceus are perfectly fine. If they were aiming for an all-out confrontation, they wouldn't be talking."
The earpiece connected to Rotom's body allowed him to communicate with Stella.
"Then why did you have the others leave for the time being?"
"Just in case. And the fact that they left safely is good news... Wait a second, I'm getting a call from Onigashima. I'll contact you after I finish up."
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