One Piece: Gambling to The Top
Chapter 169 - 169

After arriving at the Marineford, the headquarter of the navy, Josh stood on the edge of the large battleship along with Hancock and observed the situation. Hancock was thinking of this as a romantic trip to spend time with Josh alone. Josh, however, was focusing on his surroundings more. Seeing what's around you can give you a look at the big picture. 

Many marines battleships were arriving at the headquarter. Someone was at the seaport, calculating while holding a note. Josh tried to read the thoughts of some people, and he realised what is happening. 

'They are gathering their forces across the Grand Line… and they are preparing for an all-out war. The people are afraid of death… hold on, Hey, that pervert is thinking about Hancock. Very well, lemme freeze him.' 

Josh pretended to star in some direction, letting his demonic energy take the attribute of sloth. The cold breath left his mouth and froze someone. 

"Bless you." A near marine told him. 

"Thank you." 

Josh replied. 

Josh and Hancock walked then to one large tower in the middle, which had the word 'Justice' in Japanese carved on it. 

He and Hancock entered the conference room. On their way, he met the Warlords whom he had met. Also, there were other ones he hadn't seen before personally. 

There was a large Fishman, a species that looks like a humanoid shark with human hair and blue skin. Josh could recognise him as the Fishman Karate master, Warlord Jimbe. Other than him, there was a large man, around 4-5 meters tall, muscled, and had paws. He had a white hat with beard ears, and he was wearing glasses. Josh recognised the cyborg, Kuma. 

'This is bad… I haven't made enough money.' Josh went to sit. He placed his legs on the table and tilted his head back. 

"It seems that your hair grows faster than your skills." Mihawk, who was crossing his arms and lowering his head, lifted it and said. 

"You don't say." Josh reached his ponytail and adjusted it. Yes, his hair grew longer, and he had a slight beard.

His height also had increased to 186 cm during his 6 months of training, thanks to the sleeping and food. 

But still, it wasn't something worth mentioning here. 

Mihawk and Josh talked a bit to kill time. Mihawk seemed to notice Josh's strength, and he couldn't help but say. "Your fighting spirit got stronger. What exactly did happen." 

"I fought someone strong." 

Mihawk let a long sigh. "Reminds me of my days as a youth. The stronger your opponent, the stronger you get. I've heard that you fought Blackbeard after our fight." 

Josh didn't answer. He only nodded slightly. It seems that everyone knows that Josh had fought Blackbeard. 

Mihawk turned to look at the door. "It must be hard to fight two tough battles in one day." 

"Nothing is easy," Josh replied. 

From the door, entered a few marines. On their head wasn't one of the admirals who stood behind. There was a 3 meters long man, a little big fat, with long curly hair and a beard that was tied in braids. On his head, there was a marine hat, but there was also a seagull standing there. His white uniform was full of honour medallions.

This man was the Fleet Admiral of the Marines. The one who controls the whole fleet. Sengoku, his name in this world is very known. 

The Fleet Admiral took the main seat, while the rest of the Admirals sat next to him. 

Josh noticed other familiar faces entering. Momonga was here, his body had been full of scars after their fight. Josh and he exchanged one glance before looking at Sengoku. 

Next entered another huge muscled man, but he didn't take a seat. He was an old man, and he seemed to be the strongest here. He was muscled and had a dog mask. He was gloomy, seeing how he was looking at the ground. He was dressing as a Vice Admiral. But he looked like to be strong, if not stronger, than Admiral. Josh knows this man. Monkey D Garp. He was portrayed to be a troll and a fun character. But he didn't seem to have that positive energy around him, leaving room to Josh for one guess. 

'Ace is captured, but how?' 

Sengoku started talking. "As you may know, ever since the Pirate King, Gold Roger died, the great Era of the Pirates had started. People across the world had been seeking the One Piece. But it's very known that many people had been suffering from this outcome, while the marines and the World Government were trying to protect the weak. The people are seeking wealth and freedom when the price is the innocent's blood…" 

This speech seemed to be more motivating to the marines more than the warlords. 

Josh had agreed that Sengoku had a point. But there was a question in his mind that he didn't want to ask. 

'But who will protect the weak from the ones who protect the weak.' Josh sighed and his lips curled up to a smirk. 

'Ever since the specimen of the human appeared, this was the rule. The hypocrites invented social norms and words such as freedom, nationality, sexism, and law above all. They appear to be the ones to defend the weak while they are the ones who oppress them. They surely care about your morals, not theirs. Justice, they only demand it when it serves them right. Different world, same bull crap you learn after law school. 

'What matters is to play by the rules, not changing them. But these marines, they surely are funny to believe their crap.' 

Josh laughed slightly, attracting the eyes of everyone. 

"Is there something funny?" Asked Sengoku, gazing at Josh. 

"If your purpose is to protect the weak, why did you give us the power to abuse the weak." Josh was amused. Anyone can see that on his face. 

It's known that Warlord can trade weapons, drugs, and even do piracy, legally. 

"Fufufu…" Doflamingo laughed. 

This question seemed to get the marines' morals down. Some laughed at them. 

"We don't. We just see the big picture, and your power is necessary to complete that." Sengoku said. "You get what you want, and you help us. In this case, we come to an argument that protects the weaklings and help establish a system that saves them from the worse evil." 

"Sacrifice some of the unwilling for the bigger picture, yeah, right." Josh mocked, waving his hand. "Anyway, continue." 

"As you know, " Sengoku coughed. "The symbols of the new Era are the ones that sustain it. To take it down, we are going to take the biggest symbol down. Whitebeard, the strongest man alive, he will come to us, and we will kill him." 

"Absolute Justice will take over," commented Akainu. 

"Whitebeard, coming?" Jimbe asked, putting his hands on the table and standing up. "Hey, what have you done?" 

"Ohh…" Kizaru opened his mouth to speak. He was very slow when it comes to talking. Or, to be more exact, seemed to be lazy to talk. "I've met his second fleet commander, Ace, and we engaged in a fight. That little guy surely made me shave my beard, but I have managed to take him down after 2 days of fighting." 

Kizaru raised his sleeve, showing few burn marks, which were nothing.

'Would I help those bastards? Knowing myself, I would surely stab them in the back.' Josh thought as he placed his elbows on the table, his chin on his fists. 'I haven't gotten the best benefits, besides, I still own Carlos money.' 

"You captured Ace!" Jimbe clenched his teeth, and he looked directly at the Fleet Admiral. "Where is he!"