Business Model

Sengoku and Tsuru had been by the side of Garp during their earlier years and had experienced all kinds of things before they had reached their present status in the Marines.

Garp may have been the muscle back then that led the way often but Sengoku and Tsuru were the ones who handled the other matters and made sure that everything was handled well afterwards and that any underlings or other threats would be dealt with.

It was Tsuru and Sengoku that usually handled the clean up and other matters like the more politically motivated things so they had to deal with many kinds of people.

They reached their present status which had allowed them to retire but still remain in the Marines after they had been holding high positions before they had stepped down.

Sengoku had to deal with the Five Elder Stars and others of high status so he had to be able to read others and grasp their intentions quickly in order to do his job more effectively.

Alyssia shrugged in response to the questioning and replied lazily. "I may be a martial artist first and foremost but I do have other things to tend to.. let's just say that this result is good for my business."

Sengoku frowned as he had said. "So to further your own business… you used my friend just to increase the fame and reputation of the White Storm? Do you have any idea how this will be looked upon by the rest of the world and by us Marines?"

Alyssia was about to walk away but had stopped before turning back around, her red eyes locked onto Sengoku as she had coldly responded. "Do not use such weak threats in front of me.

You Marines may run around spouting justice and acting like law enforcers but you are in the very same position as everyone else. You are no better than anyone but you just hide it better.

Laws and justice? No.. it is just a part of your own business model to draw in more funds and recruits. I bet it must be nice to have so many youths put their lives on the line for you in return for little pay.

You are just scam artists but you are in such a high position that nobody would be able to tell you straight to your faces what you are. Do not preach your rights and wrongs in front of me or make threats."

Alyssia had released a threatening atmosphere around her before taking in a breath. "To be honest.. I admire true heroes but your Marines are truly lacking in them. Garp is among those that I admire and there may be some others.

The rest? They are just murderers, pillagers and criminals that fly the flag of justice to make their actions justified. All I have done is use your friend like this to raise up my own business and to warn off others that may cause problems in the future.

Is this not something that you guys do? Isn't it natural for others to trample on others to get ahead and to protect themselves? Huh?"

Alyssia did admire the Marines in a way but there were only a select few that she had looked up to while there were far too many that had problematic personalities and were just far too corrupt.

If the Marines were seen as a business model then they were a big law enforcement agency or were a large private security country on a worldly scale.

They may have preached justice as a part of their main business model to draw in more support and resources to fund their activities but there was a big limit to how much they could actually affect without bigger backers.

Once they got themselves a big enough backer that held too much influence over them then they could be ordered to do many things outside of their original purpose so they were no longer a private group and were instead at the beck and call of their owner.

If they could not support and sustain themselves then it was only right to seek out such a support but depending on who they had allied with, they could lose their original purpose and the insides of the group would become tainted over time.

There were times when such organisations needed some outside control to stop them from overstepping some lines that should not be crossed but that would only happen if those supporting them were a good influence or not.

Protecting innocents and catching criminals would become not protecting innocents of a certain island due to it not being allied with the World Government and killing anyone that is deemed as an enemy to the World Government.

Those that followed orders from above would find it difficult to question the orders and would carry them out not knowing that their belief in justice was being used to inflict harm rather than good at times.

The worst part was that most of their wrongdoings that put a stain on their clean image would be swept away just how big conglomerates used various means to stop their dirty laundry from making it into the news to avoid their stocks plummeting.

What Alyssia had done was just a political and business move that had used herself to trample on the top figure of the biggest business around so she did not see anything wrong with her actions.

There was no foul play involved and she had fought fairly so it had helped her to raise her own name and the White Storms to a higher place than it was previously but it came at the cost of the Marines and Garps reputation.

Alyssia was like a tiger that had been provoked once Sengoku had tried to make her out like a bad person that had trampled on and used them while they were the helpless people that had been taken advantage of.

It was like they had been so used to their place at the top that they did not think that others could take their place and that anyone that tried to do so was a bad person.

It was even more irritating that such a thing was mentioned when it was not that long ago that they were so publicly provoking a war with Whitebeard who could have just died quietly due to his old age and sickness but they would rather not miss out on the opportunity to raise their own name.

Ace and Whitebeard were pirates and criminals in the eyes of the world and the Marines but Alyssia had found many of the things that the Marines had done during that time had been distasteful.

Even some pirates had looked like angels during the war compared to the Marines when the various tactics and schemes had been used against them.

They may have been justified in their actions and may have had to follow the orders above them which had led to the war but to Alyssia and many others, Whitebeard was just an old pirate that was looking out for his adopted children and Ace was just the brother of Luffy so it was much easier to look towards the Marines in a bad way.

If they were willing to go that far just so they could remain relevant and throw away so many lives for a war that could have been avoided then what Alyssia had done to them was just child's play.

It was not like she had plotted some sinister scheme against them in the dark which had caused them a great amount of harm like a rival company could do by spying stealing their products, all she had done was equivalent to showing that her own products or business model were better or were just as good so that others could consider using hers.

What was worse about it all was that Sengoku implied that the world and the Marines would not take things lying down and would develop a dislike towards the White Storm and herself.

Her hand stretched out and poked between the brows of Sengoku without warning before taking back her hand. "I do not wish to become enemies of the Marines and my business requires me to remain as someone that is not a criminal but do not mistake that as a weakness.

You already got more than enough problems in the world already. Want to make another over such a small thing? I have to protect my people from the sharks that are circling around us that think we are all weak. Got it? Good!"

Her body had disappeared before reappearing further away while Sengoku had stood there with a cold sweat forming on his brow but he had regained himself enough to shout. "Then.. why not join the Marines?! Why go this far?!"