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"Heh heh, it looks like you've made a new friend!"
Shizu and Treyni said it at the same moment, both looking at Vivi.
"Hello, Chairwoman. My name is Vivi."
Vivi had gathered that the woman who just walked in was the legendary Chairwoman of Academy City. She straightened up quickly and introduced herself.
"No need to be so formal. Has Enju been giving you any trouble?"
"Not at all! Enju has actually been a great help to me."
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that."
Shizu gave a small nod.
Beside them, Aihara Enju had pulled on a very put-upon expression.
"Shizu-sensei, is that really what you think of me? That I'm always causing trouble?"
Shizu turned to her with a smile, reached out, and lightly tapped her on the head.
"Well, aren't you? You and Veldora are always up to something, aren't you."
"Hehe..."
The aggrieved look evaporated instantly. Enju scratched the back of her head and laughed in a way that confirmed everything.
"That's what I thought. Anyway, I won't pretend you're going to change anytime soon." Shizu glanced between the two girls warmly. "Treyni and I happened to spot you on our way past. We didn't mean to interrupt your shopping. We'll leave you to it."
She turned to Vivi. "Miss Vivi, I'll leave Enju in your care."
"Of course! I'll look after her."
Vivi nodded quickly. She still wasn't sure exactly what the Chairwoman's standing was within the Jura-Tempest Federation, but just from the people she had encountered since arriving, she had a strong feeling the answer was "very high."
"Then I'm relieved. Enju, don't stay out too late. Make sure you're back before curfew."
"Yes, Shizu-sensei!"
With that settled, Shizu and Treyni took their leave.
Enju watched them go. Then, the moment they were out of earshot, she leaned in toward Vivi with a conspiratorial look.
"Sister Vivi, do you know how old Shizu-sensei actually is?"
Vivi considered the question. "She looks like she's in her twenties. The Chairwoman seems very young."
Enju shook her head slowly, drawing it out for effect.
"Try over ninety."
"What?!"
Vivi stared at her.
Shizu looked that young. And she was over ninety years old.
"It's true. And Headmaster Treyni is apparently even older."
Enju delivered this second fact with the quiet pride of someone who has been sitting on excellent gossip.
Vivi thought back to Treyni, the woman she had barely exchanged two words with. She had only caught a glimpse, but even that glimpse had been enough. There was a quality to her that didn't quite feel like it belonged to the regular world.
A storm of questions was building inside her.
What was going on with the people in this country? How were they living this long? And why was every single one of them so unreasonably beautiful? Was a place like this even supposed to exist in this world?
"Enju, can I ask you something?"
Enju looked at her serious expression and nodded, curious.
"Is the Jura-Tempest Federation actually a country that belongs to this world?"
It was a question Vivi had been sitting on for a while. The Federation was simply too strange. The entire nation had appeared near Alabasta seemingly out of nowhere, and it was not a small country. Something that size should have been discovered long ago, yet nobody had found any trace of it.
You could perhaps explain that away with the Grand Line's bizarre climate and magnetic fields. But the sheer number of powerful individuals within its borders was something else entirely. Any random squadron leader seemed to carry the strength of a Warlord of the Sea.
Even the World Government, with all its resources, couldn't casually place someone at that level in a junior command position. And yet here, nobody found it unusual in the slightest.
Add in what Enju had just told her about age, and Vivi simply could not make it all fit together.
"Uh... that one I really can't answer. If you want to know, Sister Vivi, you'd have to ask Kaito-nii directly. If he decides to tell you..."
Enju shook her head apologetically. This was already firmly in the territory of the Federation's core secrets. Vivi was a friend, but there were things she couldn't share.
"Alright, if you can't say, then forget it. I'll find a chance to ask him myself."
"Mm! And don't let it weigh on you right now, we haven't finished shopping yet!"
"Okay, okay!"
Vivi tucked her questions away for later and let herself be pulled back into browsing. They still had figurines to buy, after all.
Neither of them noticed the figure that flickered briefly in the distance and then was gone.
Swish...
"Souka-sama! We've identified the World Government's intelligence operative. Do you want us to move on him?"
Souka was standing in the branches of a tree, idly turning a kunai between her fingers. At her subordinate's report, a small smile crossed her otherwise serious face.
"Not yet. Keep watching. Souei-sama wants to know exactly what they're looking for."
She paused. "Also, Benimaru-sama is currently busy organizing the new legions. That's going to take some time."
"I heard my idiot brother somehow ended up as a Legion Commander." A pained look crossed her face. She sighed. "Of all people."
"I'm sure Benimaru-sama had his reasons for recommending Gabil-sama. Try not to worry too much about it!"
Souka gave a wry smile and nodded, in the way of someone who is going to keep worrying regardless.
"I hope so. You can go. Keep the surveillance up and don't get spotted."
The subordinate, dressed in a covert operative's uniform, pressed a fist to their chest, nodded once, and vanished.
A single leaf drifted down to the ground in their wake.
"World Government." Souka looked out at nothing in particular. "I'll have you kneeling on the ground before long."
Whoosh. The kunai left her hand and punched clean through a fly falling from a tree some distance away. By the time it landed, Souka was already gone.
Kunai: You could at least pick me up. I'm not free, you know.
Sabaody Archipelago
"So this is the legendary Sabaody Archipelago! It really is something, isn't it."
Kaito walked down the gangplank of the training ship with the girls trailing behind him, looking around at the bubbles drifting everywhere with genuine curiosity.
"Wow... there are bubbles all over the place! And you can pop them!"
"This is so fun!"
The girls immediately began enthusiastically testing that second fact.
"Wait, you've never been to Sabaody Archipelago? Then how did you get to the New World in the first place?"
Kaito looked at them, baffled.
"Zegion-onii-chan picked up the whole ship and flew it over the Red Line!"
"...Right. Of course he did. Very efficient."
Before anyone could say anything else, a commotion erupted somewhere down the street.
"The Celestial Dragons are coming! Get out of the way! If they notice you, you could lose your life!"
"Run!"
Celestial Dragons.
Kaito heard the name, and something lit up in his expression that very much resembled a child who had just spotted a new toy.