The referee's words echoed throughout the arena. After a brief silence, a tsunami of cheers erupted from the stands.
"Well done! That was amazing!"
"Now this is the kind of fight that's exciting to watch!"
"This Uchiha Chiga actually defeated a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral. Was that Vice Admiral a fake?"
"Get lost! I know that Vice Admiral. Even among that group of Vice Admirals, his strength is top-tier!"
"No matter what, we've witnessed the birth of a legend."
"Chiga, I want to have your babies!"
Compared to the audience below, the high-ranking Marine officials on the platform seemed calm, though of course, that was only on the surface.
Akainu slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair and said in an undeniable tone,
"I want this Uchiha Chiga!"
Aokiji, however, didn't buy into it at all. He continued to rest his chin on his hand and calmly uttered two words,
Akainu's right arm turned into magma, dripping magma sizzling on the ground and emitting plumes of black smoke. He said coldly,
"Because I am a Marine Admiral."
Aokiji scoffed disdainfully, also elementalizing his arm and radiating bone-chilling cold. He showed no intention of humoring Akainu. He looked at Akainu and said word by word,
"Then I'm also a Marine Admiral. You say you want him, and I'll just give him to you?"
"It seems you're deliberately trying to cross me, aren't you?"
"Heh, how dare I oppose you? After all, you killed a whole ship of civilians, didn't you?"
"Childish. For justice, sacrifice is unavoidable."
"Absurd. What kind of justice is massacring innocents?!"
The two became more and more agitated, and the situation was about to spiral out of control. Kizaru was the closest but showed no intention of stopping them. In fact, his body began to photonize, as if he would be the first to leave the scene if they started fighting.
Sengoku, of course, couldn't let such a thing happen. What would the cadets below think? Where would the Marines' dignity be? His face darkened, and he angrily roared in a low voice,
"Enough! Do you want to bring shame upon the Marines?!"
As he finished speaking, an aura mixed with black lightning erupted from Sengoku's body. To quell the situation in the shortest time possible, Sengoku used his Conqueror's Haki. As the supreme commander of the entire Marines, Sengoku's Conqueror's Haki was naturally not weak. Akainu and Aokiji, as the primary targets of this Haki, also had their expressions change drastically and fell silent once more.
(A/N: I think Sengoku have Conquerors Haki, Well I looked it up on goggle)
Seeing the two quiet down, Sengoku also retracted his Conqueror's Haki release and said coldly,
"No one can interfere with Uchiha Chiga's destination after graduation. He will choose it himself!"
Akainu wanted to say something more, but Tsuru, who had been silent, gave him a cold look. Seeing this, he could only swallow the words he wanted to say. No matter how unruly he was, he couldn't go against both Sengoku and Tsuru. The Marines, after all, were still dominated by the Dove faction's influence. He could only endure this time. He clenched his fists and thought with resentment,
"Damn it, if only I were the Marine Fleet Admiral…"
The near-conflict between the two Marine Admirals did not affect Gion. At this moment, her eyes were only on Chiga in the center of the arena. She wished she could rush down and hug Chiga tightly. Forget one condition, several conditions wouldn't matter. She had already decided on this junior, who was more than ten years younger than her but always brought her surprises and a sense of security. However, age was never an issue. Strictly speaking, Chiga was not just 17 years old.
In the stands, Ain tightly covered her mouth with both hands, tears welling up in her eyes. For her, Chiga's final victory, creating a Marine miracle, was even more exciting than if she had achieved it herself. At this moment, she was only happy for the boy in her heart!
Chiga, still standing in the arena, naturally sensed these two intense gazes coming from opposite directions. He, of course, knew who the owners of the two gazes were. He had also heard Ain's voice in the smoke earlier. Even a block of wood would have understood what the girl meant, but the problem was he already had Gion. Of course, not yet, but wasn't that a foregone conclusion?
Chiga greatly admired Ain. This strong, aspiring girl who bravely spoke up in the mess hall had long left an indelible impression on Chiga's mind.
What a pity! Chiga sighed lightly, then raised his thumb towards the high platform. On the platform, Gion gave a charming smile, her red lips slightly parted, and mouthed,
"The match is over. I'll be waiting for you at the dorm building entrance."
Hiss… They definitely gave her the wrong codename. She should be Pink Fox, right?! Chiga roared in his heart, but then he thought about quickly claiming his reward and rushing back to the dorm! So the real reward was still to come.
One must say, a certain orange-haired loli's evaluation was indeed accurate, fair, and insightful.
Ain in the stands naturally saw this scene and felt her heart suddenly constrict, as if she had lost the most important thing. Ain's face instantly turned pale. Her roommate next to her quickly asked,
"Ain, what's wrong? Did your old injury from that battle relapse? Let me help you back to rest?"
Ain forced a smile and waved her hand, weakly saying she was fine and that her roommate shouldn't worry. Then she fell silent, staring blankly at Chiga on the stage, who had his back to her, as two lines of clear tears streamed down her cheeks. She whispered,
"I know now that you might not be my moon, but for a moment, the moonlight did shine on me."
And this year's annual assessment concluded successfully after Sengoku stood up and gave a speech.
After the match, Chiga was also led by a referee to Sengoku's office.
The other high-ranking Marine officials had already been sent away by Sengoku, especially Akainu and Aokiji. Who knew if those two would start bickering again if they saw Chiga in person?
Putting aside those two troublesome individuals, Sengoku liked Chiga more and more as he looked at him, a young man who had brought him so many surprises in less than a year.
I heard that girl Gion is particularly fond of this kid. Why doesn't she make a move quickly? The person I fancy can't be bad, right?
Sengoku could only think these words to himself; he would never say them aloud. Of course, it wasn't because of Tsuru, absolutely not!
Chiga, seeing that Sengoku hadn't spoken for a long time, pretended to cough twice to remind Sengoku.
Sengoku also came back to his senses and coughed twice, easing the awkwardness. One must say, coughing twice for no reason is always effective in breaking awkward situations.
Sengoku resumed his usual serious expression and took out three exquisite boxes from the cabinet, pushing them towards Chiga.
These three boxes were the rewards prepared by Marine Headquarters for Chiga: three powerful Devil Fruits to choose from!