One Piece: Dark Justice Spandam

Ch. 8 CP5 Affiliation and First Mission

At the age of seventeen, I changed my brown suit to black as planned and joined Cipher Pol. There was a one-month training period at first, but it was quite boring as it mainly focused on theoretical learning of basic things.

My father seemed dissatisfied with long-term missions, so I assumed that the incident at Ohara occurred around this time.

Before starting the training, my father arranged for an instructor to show me Rokushiki. However, there was no difference between my self-taught version and the official one, so I felt relieved that I could handle Rokushiki without any issues.

The instructor was very helpful and offered to watch my training if I had time, but I declined, thinking it would be better to keep my ability with Rokushiki a secret until I officially started my job.

After finishing the training, I was assigned to CP5 and given the position of leading a small unit with a few subordinates. It was a sudden responsibility to have subordinates, but as I was originally hired as a candidate for a commanding position, I understood and accepted the position.

From the documents, it seemed that my subordinates included a male user of Shigan and a female user of Soru. The other three members also seemed to be quite skilled agents, making it a rather impressive team.

My first assignment was the extermination of a certain pirate group. I could understand the intention behind this to some extent. This personnel assignment was undoubtedly due to connections... my father's influence must be involved.

Normally, Cipher Pol specializes in intelligence gathering, infiltration, and even assassinations. However, tasks like exterminating designated pirates are almost unheard of and would usually be handled by the Marines. This assignment was probably deliberately assigned from another department or the Marines, and the intention behind it was probably to "achieve results."

According to my father, the head of CP5 will retire soon. He plans to replace him with me and eventually wants me to take the position of the current CP9 Commander-in-Chief.

Probably, internally, it has already been decided that I will become the head of CP5. However, some external achievements are necessary. Tasks such as information gathering or infiltration often take a long time, and it is not easy to make immediate achievements. Thus, they gave me an extermination mission that would yield straightforward and visible results, and equipped me with capable subordinates.

With excellent subordinates handling the work, my role is to observe and take credit... that's probably the idea behind this arrangement.

As I pondered over these things, I took out a stick candy from my pocket, unwrapped it, and placed it in my mouth. I have been eating this stick candy quite often lately. Smoking leaves a smell, and it could potentially put me at a disadvantage during future infiltrations. Besides, I don't particularly enjoy smoking.

But I have developed a habit of sucking on candy during moments of contemplation or when my mind is restless. Any ordinary candy would do, but for some reason, I prefer the stick type.

While sucking on the stick candy, I recalled the faces of my subordinates I met recently.

The male Shigan user couldn't hide his disgust towards me. Well, I understand it's not amusing to see someone with obvious connections getting promoted. He seems like the type with a high sense of self-esteem, thinking that being a Shigan user puts him at the top of the unit... no, it's more like it gives him a sense of security. He fits the typical small-minded type who likes to act tough only towards those below him. I feel like I would get along with my original self from the main story.

The female Soru user seemed to have some discomfort with my connections, but she appeared to accept it as "just the way it is." I think she's more competent than the male Shigan user, but her eyes were somewhat concerning.