Akainu and Kizaru joined the Marines at the same time and have been close comrades for many years.
When Akainu became Fleet Admiral, Kizaru became his trusted advisor, often providing valuable advice and a listening ear for Akainu’s frustrations about the increasing threat of piracy. Kizaru is the closest thing Akainu has to a friend within the Marines. When Kizaru requested to handle the situation in Wano, Akainu asked him to wait due to the unknown strength of the samurai. Later, when Kizaru decided to go to Egghead to assist Rob Lucci with Luffy, Akainu permitted it.
After the Egghead incident, when Akainu criticized Kizaru for his perceived poor performance, Kizaru angrily responded, highlighting Akainu’s lack of empathy, which led to a sincere apology from Akainu.Up until this point, I considered Akainu mostly irredeemable or atleast lacking redeeming qualities, and honestly not that interesting of a character beyond the wildcard value he was starting to show.
I would NEVER have considered him capable of admitting a mistake, or showing any kind of empathy like the one he shows here towards Kizaru. Specially, considering Kizaru is ‘mourning’ someone who’s gone up against the World Government.
