# Chapter 25: Internal Conflicts within the Marines
"Are there any outstanding young people in the Marines right now?" Black looked at Steel Bone Kong.
He had many matters to handle, mostly outside the Marines.
A small portion of affairs were taken over by Kong, serving as a form of tempering for him.
As long as he were to step down, the successor would undoubtedly be Steel Bone Kong. With Kong's strength, he was now completely no weaker than Black, perhaps even slightly stronger.
This was also giving Kong authority, allowing him to cultivate his own direct subordinates.
Black placed his hopes on the young Marines of the future.
It should be known that to deal with Jaeger, the high-end combat power of the Marines suffered a direct shortage, and it had only recovered somewhat by now.
If no impressive young Marines stepped forward, how could the Marines deter the Great Sea?
"There are still some good Marines," Kong's mind thought of the images of three young Marines when he heard this question. He had noticed them before.
Currently, there was no elite training camp in the Marines where one could immediately obtain a high rank upon graduation.
After graduation, everyone had to start from the lower ranks, tempering themselves step by step, and rising through merit. Without connections, or if they weren't noticed by superiors, the speed of promotion would be very slow.
Suppression also frequently occurred within the Marines.
With everyone starting from the same point, talent would often suddenly emerge.
The promotion speed of those three young Marines was very fast; they could always complete missions and had already been noticed by Kong.
As for someone like Zephyr, he was still quietly tempering himself in the lower ranks, needing to wait until he was twenty-eight to be promoted to petty officer and learn the Six Styles before truly rising.
"You can observe more closely, Kong. As the Rocks Pirates grow stronger, the pressure on our Marines is becoming more severe."
"If necessary, you can take some resources from the secret vault."
Fleet Admiral Black said seriously.
"Yes, I understand." Kong understood Black's meaning. The Marine secret vault contained many good things.
Precious Devil Fruits, including rare Logia and Mythical Zoan types, were available.
Black hoped these could be used to cultivate outstanding young Marines, helping them grow as quickly as possible.
To exchange for such precious Devil Fruits, an enormous amount of merit was required. Currently, only Steel Bone Kong and Black in the Marines could make such exchanges.
Black was willing to use his merit to exchange for the treasures in the secret vault for Kong. After all, he was over seventy years old and had dedicated his life to the Marines; these merits were useless if he kept them.
The current internal situation of the Marines was not good; factional disputes were very intense.
Especially the two newly appointed Marine Admirals, who were constantly expanding their influence and promoting their confidants.
This was not a good thing for the Marines, and many outstanding young Marines were unable to be promoted because of it.
The formal rise of the Four Seas Faction in recent years had even left Black feeling overwhelmed.
The Four Seas Faction was deeply rooted in the Marines, always acting as an independent clique. They not only possessed widespread influence in the Four Seas but also had many members belonging to the Four Seas Faction within Marine Headquarters.
The Four Seas were the foundation of the Marines and the World Government, possessing the most expansive sea area and population. With such a large base number, they could continuously provide talent for the Marines.
And those who joined first were often members of the Four Seas Faction.
The Marines in the Four Seas in this era were not as weak as they would be in the future.
The Governors of the Four Seas were all powerful individuals among the Vice Admirals, acting as border ambassadors for a sea area, commanding all the military strength of the Marines in that sea area, and possessing authority no less than that of a Marine Admiral.
Just the Governor's Mansion alone was very luxurious, with each being a fortress-level building, housing a standing force of ten thousand Marines.
In each sea area, there were four Navy Fortresses, each guarded by a Navy Vice Admiral, with a standing force of five thousand Marine Soldiers.
That's right, the strength of the Four Seas Marines today was unimaginable in the future.
Each sea area had five Navy Vice Admirals, and the Governor's authority was comparable to a Marine Admiral, even possessing the authority to appoint Navy Vice Admirals.
This was completely like a Fleet Admiral for a sea area, splitting his authority as Fleet Admiral.
However, it was a fact that the Four Seas were weaker than the Grand Line. Governors comparable to Marine Admirals did not possess the strength of Marine Admirals.
Naturally, the Navy Vice Admirals in the Four Seas did not possess the strength of Navy Vice Admirals.
At most, they could barely reach the Vice Admiral level, or were just ordinary individuals within that level.
Suppressing a sea area was more than enough for them.
Although Black was dissatisfied with this, he didn't have any unusual thoughts. To be precise, he also originated from the Four Seas.
However, he represented himself, having reached this point step by step, becoming the leader of the "Dove Faction".
The Marines had always been like this, but with the war between the Marines and the Rocks Pirates, and the encirclement and suppression launched against Jaeger,
Marine Headquarters lost a large amount of high-end combat power in a short period, leading to a vacuum period in the upper echelons of the Marines for a certain time.
At this time, the Four Seas Faction, which was originally suppressed but had ample strength, suddenly rose in Marine Headquarters and secured a place.
Under these circumstances, Black had no choice, as Marine Headquarters truly lacked strength and needed to be replenished as quickly as possible.
Even if their strength was insufficient, powerful individuals of the Four Seas Faction could improve their strength through Devil Fruits.
The two newly appointed Marine Admirals were Puyol, the representative of the West Blue Faction and a Neutral Faction member,
and Davis, the representative of the South Blue Faction and a Hawk Faction member.
Together with Admiral Steel Bone Kong, who belonged to the Hawk Faction, they formed the current Three Admirals.
On the surface, it seemed unbalanced, with the Neutral Faction being strongly suppressed. The two Hawk Faction Admirals were sufficient to indicate the current tough stance of Marine Headquarters against Pirates.
However, the mark from the Four Seas was too heavy in the current Marine Headquarters.
The two newly appointed Marine Admirals both had close ties with the Governors of their originating sea areas, winning over members from the same sea areas and factions, and expanding their influence.
Such actions completely affected the unity within the Marines and could even disrupt the original three-way structure of Marine Headquarters.
When the balanced three-way structure is one day replaced by the Four Seas Faction, who knows what kind of consequences it will cause.
In the Four Seas, it's far from the Emperor's reach, with the Governors bearing the brunt. The wind of corruption is prevalent and has shown a worsening trend in recent years, colluding with local forces to gain illegal profits.
This trend, as the Four Seas Faction grows stronger in Marine Headquarters, shows a tendency to spread.
This was what Black was striving to curb.
(end of chapter)