011– Jinbe
117 people may sound like a crowd, but for someone trained in CP-level elimination or Anbu-style suppression, it's hardly a challenge.
Though the shouts and chaos rang throughout the meeting hall, Gion, one of the earliest elites to follow Gouzi, didn't kill a single soul herself. Instead, she commanded the guards to strip each one of their shares in proportion to their crimes.then ordered them to leave with whatever they still owned.
Take the cat Mink, for example—a fur tribe member who had followed Gouzi for nearly 80 years. Despite a laundry list of shady deals and betrayals against Weina, Gion spared his life. As long as his sins didn't include buying lives or assassination contracts, she allowed him to walk away following a philosophy reminiscent of the Third Hokage, who once said, "Not all sins must be paid in blood."
But those whose shares came through bloodlines from parents, grandparents, or in direct connection with Gouzi's corruption had no such mercy. Like the Shimura clan who clung to power despite their past crimes, these inherited leeches were sentenced outright. Those to be looted were looted. Those to be imprisoned were taken. None escaped.
At the meeting's 9:00 a.m. start, there were 117 shareholders seated.
By 10:15 a.m., only 15 remained.
The 14 elders were stretchered out, groaning from Barrett's Haki-charged pressure strike. The 28 most troublesome dissenters were bagged—plastic wrappings in place of coffins. Another 60 were escorted out by the company's elite internal guard, formerly known as Gouzi's personal Oniwaban unit, now restructured under Gion's command.
In a matter of seventy-five minutes, the towering Dog House Consortium fell. Weina, Gouzi's rightful heir, reclaimed the shares that were siphoned away after her father's assassination. Including the unexecuted clauses in Gouzi's final will, her stake jumped from 17.65% to a dominant 78.74%.
Weina originally intended to boost Gion's share from 15% to an even 50%, then distribute the remaining 18.74% among Uchiha Madara's former retainers, forming a new executive board rooted in merit.
But Gion declined without hesitation. Her words were sharp and honest, reflecting her character as both a Marine Vice Admiral and a warrior raised under Zephyr's Spartan philosophy:
"I don't raise men. My own funds are pointless. I don't need the shares. When the time comes, just transfer them to Xiaoyu."
———
The dissolution of the Dog House took less time than expected. So much so that Gion and Weina made it in time for lunch grilled sea beast and Sky Island rice dumplings.
Afterward, Gion stood in the courtyard of Barrett's quarters, hands on hips as she surveyed Boa Hancock, Douglas Barrett, and the green-suited man dubbed "Green Gloves."
"The three of you need to step it up. We're coating the entire Sky Island with Armament Haki. I want the sky to tremble when we fly this base."
She turned to Green Gloves with particular venom.
"Especially you, old man. You're not allowed to slack off like Borsalino. If this island crashes, I swear your paycheck will match its altitude zero."
A beat passed before she added more with folded arms, her voice low and stern like Tsunade reprimanding Genin.
"And forget salary. If you keep paddling, you're not going permanent this year. You'll also see Xiaoyu half as much and same goes for Sissy."
Hearing that, the previously absentminded Green Gloves snapped to attention, slamming his fist against his chest like a CP0 officer before Imu.
"Understood, Commander!"
Under the combined Haki output of these four, a massive "black cloud" began to stretch from Sky Island all the way to the Island of Fallen Leaves, pulsing with pressure like the arrival of a Yonko fleet.
Meanwhile, deep inside New Ohara, in the Tree of Omniscience, within the monitoring room…
Knock knock.
Soft tapping came from the reinforced wooden door.
Creak…
Jinbe—barefoot and unusually stealthy for a Warlord of the Sea—pushed the door open a sliver, poking his head inside.
"Lord Kuzan?"
Inside, Kuzan (Aokiji) sat relaxed, a thick book in his hands—something about the Void Century. Seeing Jinbe peeking like a student skipping class, he chuckled softly.
"Come on in, Jinbe. Olvia took Falcon to the Sacred Tree. You're not interrupting anything."
The mention of Falcon made Jinbe exhale in relief.
Falcon—Kuzan and Olvia's son was only two months older than Yu, and his name was no coincidence. It came from one of Madara's few hobbies recorded in Weina's logbook falconry, a nod to how Madara saw hawks: proud, solitary, and brutally efficient.
When Jinbe visited Falcon for the first time, he'd opened the door with the same carefree attitude he used to have when entering the Ryugu Palace—a decision he regretted instantly. The loud creak startled Falcon, who had just nestled into his nap under Olvia's haki-enhanced cradle barrier, and the resulting wail hit Jinbe like a Conqueror's Haki burst from an enraged Big Mom.
The baby's cry echoed like a screaming banshee jutsu, and Jinbe swore his brain trembled on the same wavelength as Enel's mantra. Since that incident, Jinbe developed a kind of trauma an instinctual hesitation. Every time he approached New Ohara's Tree of Omniscience, especially the monitoring room, he'd unconsciously activate his Observation Haki, tiptoe, and glance over his shoulder like an intern walking into a Kage's office without knocking.
Hearing Kuzan's calm voice, Jinbe peeked into the room again. He scanned every corner as if checking for a trap set by Uchiha Itachi, and only after confirming that there was no sign of Falcon did he let out a breath and step inside with the confidence of a commander walking into a strategy room.
"Your Excellency Kuzan, have you seen Gion lately? I went to meet Lord Madara and Vice Admiral Garm this morning, and when I returned, her quarters were locked up tighter than Impel Down Level 6."
His brow furrowed.
"Marshal Sengoku hasn't set up another blind date for her again, has he?"
As he said that, Jinbe shivered not from cold, but from sheer psychological trauma. The last time Gion returned from one of Sengoku's "social arrangements", she had executed a double over-the-shoulder throw, flipping Jinbe directly into the koi pond outside Zephyr's courtyard, shattering the surface ice and three of Jinbe's personal illusions about peace.
Every time she came back from such excursions, Gion would maintain her usual stoic Marine façade in public but behind closed doors, she turned into someone that reminded Jinbe eerily of Tsunade when she hadn't had sake in two days.
Kuzan blinked, tilted his head slightly, and finally answered after giving it a thought.
"Sorry, not sure. I've been stationed in the West Blue these past few weeks—just got back to Fallen Leaves. Lots of marine deserters out there, plus remnants of Doflamingo's trade routes."
Jinbe sighed, the air escaping him like a balloon hit with a senbon.
The Yonko wars were heating up again. The Straw Hat Pirates, Beast Pirates, and Big Mom Pirates were caught in a three-way deadlock. Intelligence lines were a mess. Refugees from the World Nobles' fallen territories had begun migrating across seas, mingling with pirates posing as civilians.
Jinbe had barely managed to make contact with Marco the Phoenix, who agreed reluctantly to trade some of Big Mom's dessert rations for a neutral favor. Jinbe had hoped to cheer up Gion with them. A cake here, a tart there. But if she really was out on another blind date...
That meant he could be on the receiving end of another Seimei Kikan-enhanced suplex.
If he gave her the sweets too early, it'd seem like a bribe. If he waited too long, they'd go stale. There are many forms of despair in this world, Jinbe thought solemnly, but none sting quite like the helplessness of an honest Fishman walking into emotional shrapnel.
And yet, even worse would be if Big Mom's crew disappeared before Gion got back and then she came home, sugar-deprived and emotionally drained.
Watching Jinbe freeze up in real time, Kuzan smiled gently. This wasn't anything new. The former Warlord had a habit of zoning out mid-sentence—sometimes even mid-battle. Kuzan remembered a moment in Marineford, where Jinbe had paused during a brawl just to ponder whether seaweed or kelp was more nutritious.
Still, with amusement curling at the corner of his mouth, Kuzan decided to poke the bear.
"By the way, Jinbe… Olvia mentioned yesterday that Princess Otohime has been thinking of arranging a blind date for you too."
Jinbe's body stiffened as if he'd just heard Borsalino tell him to spar with Kaido.
"I... I see. Guess I've reached that age without realizing it."
Kuzan's eyes twitched involuntarily.
That age? Brother, you've been with Gion since she was running around in Zephyr's class calling Madara "grumpy old man." You still haven't realized your own situation?
In Kuzan's mind, conflicting thoughts ran wild.
'Are you the next contestant on "Who Wants to Be Emotionally Damaged by a Blind Date?" What kind of candidate would Otohime choose? A mermaid? A Fishman noble? Hopefully not a giant unless you want your house remodeled.'
As Jinbe once again slipped into a trance his mental screensaver probably filled with imaginary suitors Kuzan found himself unintentionally joining him in dazed silence.
For a long while, they both stood like statues of reflection.
Eventually, Jinbe, carrying his doctorate in the Dao of Daydreaming, snapped back to reality first. He blinked, looked at Kuzan who now wore the same expression Garp used when pretending to sleep to avoid paperwork and broke the silence.
"Your Excellency Kuzan… what's on your mind?"