Under Sengoku's strong insistence, Jake slowly walked from below the stage to stand beside him under everyone's watchful eyes.
Looking at the handso, vibrant young man beside him, Sengoku's face showed an indescribable satisfaction.
Then he made a move that shocked everyone present.
Sengoku actually took a slight step back, leaving the entire speaking platform to Jake.
Witnessing this scene, no one present could help but feel both astonished and excited.
There was only one aning behind Sengoku's action!
That on the future seas, there would be—and could only be—one rising star.
No, perhaps "rising star" would no longer suffice to describe Jake's upcoming prominence.
He would be the sole sun among the new generation!
When Jake fully matured, his radiance would eclipse the entire night sky.
Whether stars or moon, all other lights would pale like fireflies before that blazing sun!
At this point, Jake showed no trace of stage fright or hesitation.
He needed to demonstrate his determination here, to give assurances to the dia and public, and to leave an impression of capability with the Marine higher-ups.
Under everyone's gaze, Jake stepped up to where Sengoku had stood monts before.
Taking a deep breath, he addressed the assembled crowd.
"I understand many of you may not know well—perhaps you've only seen once in the newspapers, leaving little impression. I'm aware of the concerns and doubts about leading this major cleanup operation. I know all these things. But allow to introduce myself properly."
"My na is Jake. Just a few months ago, I was an ordinary person—exactly like everyone here today. No extraordinary strength, no powerful background. Just a commoner barely scraping by, gathering herbs in the mountains each day."
"Life was hard, but manageable—until slavers raided my village. I was captured, taken to a kingdom in the North Blue, destined to be sold as rchandise. Worse still, I likely wouldn't have gone to so wealthy buyer, but beco an organ donor for one."
At this point, the audience looked at Jake with disbelief, as if struggling to accept his words.
After all, it was only natural.
Who could have imagined that soone who might beco the future Fleet Admiral of the Marines was just an ordinary slave a few months ago?
Even if you were making up a story, it would need to be sowhat believable!
Jake could naturally guess what everyone was thinking at this mont.
He didn't rush to argue but simply continued.
"I spent a long ti in that dungeon. I saw, even personally experienced, the imnse suffering and despair faced by those who were abducted and sold. To this day, I still rember that over seven days, I was only given two small pieces of black bread, each about the width of three fingers. The bread was covered in mold and so hard that I couldn't even bite through it."
"When eating that bread, I had to tear off a tiny piece and hold it in my mouth, letting my saliva soften it. But even then, as it passed down my throat, it felt like shards of glass tearing through ."
"After just a few bites, you'd start coughing up blood. The hard bread would cut your mouth and throat, but you had to eat quickly—because that was all the food you had. If you didn't eat, no one would care if you died in that cell."
"The place we lived in was a cell no bigger than ten square ters, cramd with over a dozen, sotis twenty people…"
Jake spoke at length, observing the audience gradually absorbing his words.
He knew the first step of his speech—establishing trust—had been achieved.
Now, he needed to tell them what he intended to do and how.
"The mont T-Bone saved , I felt only one thing—that I had survived. That I had crawled out of that abyss. The joy and relief of escaping death cannot be put into words. I still rember how T-Bone's Justice Cape seed to glow under the warship's lights behind him."
"And it was that very sight that made want to join the Marines—to save more people who had suffered like ."
"I've often wondered: What if I had never t T-Bone? What if no one from the Marines had co to save ? What would my fate be now? A rotting corpse in so ditch, half-eaten by maggots? Or perhaps a supplier of organs for so nobleman? Worse yet, maybe I'd have been sold to a noble with… particular tastes, to be tortured for their amusent."
Everything Jake said was true—every word drawn from his own experiences, without a shred of fabrication.
Only this kind of raw honesty could imrse his listeners, making them understand that Jake was no privileged official's son here just to polish his reputation.
"I've lived through it. I nearly died because of human trafficking. And because of that, I hate slave traders more than anyone. I despise those scum who destroy even the smallest happiness in people's lives! And because T-Bone—because the Marines—saved , I revere those words the Marine carries more than anyone else: Justice."
"And this justice—I understand its aning and the hope it brings to ordinary people better than anyone. But now, there are those who dare trample upon our hope and justice?! They seek to grind into the dirt and defile the hope forged by the blood and sacrifice of countless Marines with their filthy, selfish desires?! I will never allow such a thing to happen again within our ranks!"
"I know these words might sound like empty rhetoric to so of you, but I want you to know this—every ti I put myself back in that mont, one image flashes through my mind: if the Marines I had placed all my faith in back then had turned out to be in league with those human traffickers behind , how utterly despairing would I have been?!"
"I have weathered the storm and felt the sun's warmth. I know there are still countless others caught in the rain. I don't want to hold an umbrella for each of them—I want them to see the sun!"
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If you boys like harem and lemon i release a new one piece fic.
One piece : Capturing beauties makes stronger.
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