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With the deaths of Big Mom and Kaido, the Red Hair Pirates having gone dark, and the Whitebeard Pirates announcing their disbandment, the Four Emperors who had dominated the New World were all gone within two days.
The Jura-Tempest Federation had taken the place of the World Government.
Every nation that had once been allied to the World Government sat in anxious silence, unsure of what this new power made of them.
As for the Seven Warlords of the Sea, they lost every privilege they had ever held in an instant and became ordinary pirates.
Mary Geoise · Former Gorosei's Chamber
Inside the former Gorosei's office, Kaito and Rimuru, along with the other usual idlers, had assembled as the new Gorosei. They sat facing each other with very serious expressions.
"Hmph. Sengoku's little antics are getting more and more frequent. I propose we replace him with a new Fleet Admiral!"
Kaito spoke first, his expression grave.
"Agreed! And it's not just Sengoku. Garp's antics are just as numerous. We can't let that man off either!"
Rimuru said, resting her chin on her hands, a cold glint in her eyes.
"I, the great me, also agree!"
"Agreed!"
"I'll follow my master's lead!"
Seeing that everyone had voted in favour, Kaito nodded with satisfaction and turned to the side with a solemn look.
"Heh! You already know how this went. Anything you'd like to say?"
"Hey! All I did was eat a few extra bags of senbei! How does that become 'antics'?!"
"I've been eating them out in the open the whole time!"
Sengoku, in beach shorts and crunching senbei loudly, threw up his hands.
"Exactly! Exactly!"
Garp chimed in from beside him.
"It's not about what you ate!!!"
"What matters is that your superiors are right here, and you didn't even offer us a single bag! That's your crime!"
Kaito shot to his feet, slammed a hand on the table and pointed.
"I bought these with my own money!"
"I don't care! Not sharing with us is unacceptable! Starting today, you are no longer Fleet Admiral!"
"That's right! It's entirely your fault we didn't get any!"
Sengoku stared at Kaito and the others, who were carrying on like complete menaces, and finally snapped.
"Unbelievable! You are publicly shaking down your own subordinates! This is a shakedown!"
"I'm going to file a complaint! I'm going to report all of you!"
Kaito let the corners of his mouth curl and said softly:
"Is that right? Go ahead. I accept your report. Step forward and tell me, who from below is accusing this official?!"
"Oh my goodness!!!"
Garp could only stare.
When had he ever seen a superior with this little shame?
But for some reason, watching Sengoku suffer made him feel genuinely wonderful.
"Alright, alright, I give up! Here, just take it all!"
Sengoku threw the senbei he had been hiding behind him over to Kaito and the others.
"Heh heh, much better! Sakuya, would you mind making me a cup of black tea?"
Rimuru accepted the senbei and asked Sakuya beside her with a gentle smile.
"Of course! Please wait a moment, Rimuru-sama."
Sakuya turned to prepare the tea.
Sengoku cleared his expression and spoke seriously.
"Kaito-sama, who do you intend to appoint as the next Fleet Admiral?"
Kaito set aside the act entirely when he heard that and answered straight.
After all, this was about the next Fleet Admiral. Everything before had just been fooling around.
"Sakazuki. The timing is right for dealing with pirates, and he's the man for it."
"Since Kaito-sama has already decided, I have nothing to add."
"Besides, I'll be retiring soon enough anyway."
Sengoku showed no surprise hearing Sakazuki's name. If anything, he looked at ease.
Given the current state of things, Sakazuki as Fleet Admiral made more sense than Aokiji would.
"Retiring? What gave you that idea?"
"You and Garp are both being transferred to the Air Force, effective immediately. Fleet Admiral and Admiral, respectively!"
Kaito, ever the resourceful type, was not about to let two veterans like them just walk away into leisure.
"What!!! Air Force Fleet Admiral!"
"Why am I getting dragged along with Sengoku?!"
Garp, who had been gleefully watching the drama unfold only to find himself caught in it, shot to his feet.
"Oh, that was Zephyr's recommendation. He said he hasn't retired himself, so he sees no reason to let you two sit idle."
"Those are his exact words. If you have objections, take it up with Zephyr."
Kaito shrugged, washing his hands of it.
"Zephyr, you old snake! We are absolutely irreconcilable from this day forward!!!"
"Damn it! You rotten old man, Zephyr!"
At that very moment, Zephyr, seated at the dining table, felt an uncontrollable urge.
"Achoo!!!"
"Husband! Are you coming down with something?"
Zephyr looked at his wife sitting beside him, still young and beautiful, a trace of disbelief still in his eyes each time.
But he smiled all the same.
"Haha! I have a feeling Sengoku and Garp are cursing me right now."
"Why would Uncle Sengoku and Uncle Garp curse Father?"
Zephyr's son looked up from his meal with a puzzled expression.
"Hahahaha! You'll understand when you're older!"
His son gave a small nod and went back to eating without further questions.
Watching this, Zephyr felt something warm spread through his chest. He had never known life could feel like this.
All of it was thanks to that man who seemed so unreliable, yet somehow always delivered more than anyone expected.
Zephyr made a quiet promise to himself that he would build the finest corps of officers the Jura-Tempest Federation had ever seen, as repayment.
Knock knock knock
"Come in!"
Click... thud.
"Oh! My apologies, my apologies!"
The man went from opening the door to face-planting in one seamless motion, then looked up at everyone with a sheepish smile.
"Rosinante, how are you still this clumsy?"
Sengoku pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Heh heh! Sorry, sorry!"
"Alright, what is it?"
Rosinante jumped up, saluted Kaito and the others, and reported.
"The intelligence department has found traces of the Red Hair Pirates! Though they have now changed their name to the Red Hair Adventure Group!"
"The Red Hairs, huh."
Kaito thought of the Face-Face Fruit user and asked with genuine curiosity.
"What are they up to?"
"Well... it seems they're doing odd jobs all over the place to pay off a debt."
"A debt? What kind of debt?"
Now everyone was looking at Rosso.
"Intelligence says it's because they ate at a barbecue restaurant in the Jura-Tempest Federation and couldn't settle the bill."
"They tried to leave without paying and ended up breaking a lot of tables and chairs in the process. So now they're working odd jobs everywhere to cover it."
Kaito could not quite believe what he was hearing.
"There's no way the Red Hairs couldn't afford a single meal! And it's just tables and chairs, it shouldn't amount to that much!"
Rosso provided the explanation.
"Well... dining in the Jura-Tempest Federation requires Tempest Coin, so..."
"Hahahaha! That makes sense. But surely not the entire crew has to go out and work? How much do they actually owe?"
Rosso's expression turned pained.
"Five hundred thousand."
"What! That's daylight robbery! What kind of tables and chairs cost that much, are they made of gold?"
"Uh... well... the proprietress is Shinobu Kocho."
"What? Shinobu! Why did she only charge five hundred thousand?!"
"My chairs are crafted from ten-thousand-year-old elm wood! A single one is worth two hundred thousand!"
"She should have charged them no less than five million!!!"
Kaito's entire demeanour shifted on the spot, completely shameless about it.
'And you call anyone else greedy...'