At the Marine base in the Sabaody Archipelago—
"So that's enough, Garp?" Vice Admiral Tsuru asked calmly as she watched Garp step onto the dock.
"Yeah. That's all this old man can do." Garp spoke in a low voice without stopping his stride. "There's no way I can arrest Cain too, and Sengoku would never allow Cain to be sent to Impel Down. If it really came to that, it would only cause an even bigger mess, and nobody would be able to clean it up."
Garp imagined Cain and Ace breaking out of Impel Down together and shook his head.
"Aren't you going to tell that child?" Tsuru caught up with him and asked again. "About the intelligence Sengoku just sent over."
"Better not." Garp waved a hand, sounding more than a little impatient. "Didn't you see Morgans? Half his feathers got plucked out. He was one step away from being skewered over a fire! If Cain runs into Blackbeard again, then our newest Warlord will probably be gone too. Though honestly, I can't stand that bastard either."
Just a moment ago, Sengoku's latest intelligence had reached Tsuru.
The Warlord seat left vacant by Crocodile had officially been filled by Blackbeard of the Blackbeard Pirates, Marshall D. Teach.
The reason was simple: they had assisted Admiral Akainu in the operation to capture Ace and had thereby earned "merit."
Garp had a fire burning in his chest.
He wanted nothing more than to go punch Blackbeard in the face.
But Sengoku had already given a clear order—Garp was not to attack a Warlord on his own, or it would damage the agreement between the Marines and the Seven Warlords.
And Cain's current state was extremely unstable.
His mind was completely consumed with saving Ace.
If they told him that Blackbeard had become a Warlord too, then with his personality, he might charge off to settle the score with Blackbeard immediately and turn this already troublesome war into an even bigger disaster.
"Hah... better leave this headache to Sengoku." Garp sighed and shook his head. "This time, I really don't want to deal with it anymore."
With that, he turned and headed straight for the cabin.
Tsuru watched his back, let out a helpless sigh, and followed after him.
…
At Marine Headquarters, inside Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office—
Sengoku had not lost his bad temper in the slightest.
He shouted into the Den Den Mushi at the other end of the line:
"WHAT?! EVEN THE BIG MOM PIRATES ARE GETTING INVOLVED? DIDN'T I SEND YOU TO DRIVE KAIDO AWAY? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!"
"That brat was Cain." Garp sounded utterly unconcerned, as if Sengoku's fury meant nothing to him.
"Who knew he'd paint himself a different color, change his outfit, and go wandering around the sea pretending to be Kaido? I didn't think too much about it and just went in swinging. I was even wondering why hitting Kaido felt so familiar. Then things went off track, and somehow we ended up fighting all the way to the island where I was hiding Ace…"
Garp twisted the truth until it barely resembled reality.
He claimed that he had mistaken Cain for Kaido and fought him by accident, all the way to the island where Ace was hidden.
Then Cain had discovered on his own that Ace had already been captured by the Marines.
And through a series of utterly absurd, indescribable events, the Big Mom Pirates had ended up being drawn in.
"YOU BASTARD! THAT WAS DELIBERATE, WASN'T IT?! THAT'S YOUR GRANDSON—THERE'S NO WAY YOU WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE HIM! YOU LET CAIN FIND OUT ON PURPOSE, DIDN'T YOU?!!"
"NOTHING OF THE SORT, NOTHING OF THE SORT! I'VE GOT NO IDEA WHY WE ENDED UP FIGHTING ALL THE WAY THERE!" Garp shook his head furiously and denied it.
Sengoku's voice darkened, full of fury.
"How many things are you still hiding from me, damn it?"
"Quite a lot, actually," Garp replied casually. "The Red-Haired Pirates were about to get dragged into it too, but i stopped that. Also, you don't need to worry too much. From the sound of it, the Big Mom Pirates won't be sending everyone out. It was Katakuri contacting Cain on his own."
As Garp said this, he looked toward Tsuru.
She shook her head, clearly having no intention of making Uta's identity public.
After all, Uta was not a pirate.
Even if she was backed by the Red-Haired Pirates, the Marines had no real reason to move against her.
Besides, Sengoku was already sensitive enough trying to keep Ace's execution on track.
There was no need to push him any further.
"Honestly, Garp!" Sengoku's tone was thick with frustration. "I'm seriously considering locking you up again. I let you out once, and all you do is cause me a mountain of trouble. Hah… now I finally understand exactly where your grandson got his talent for stirring up chaos!"
Even through the Den Den Mushi, the sound of Sengoku breathing heavily could be heard.
He was clearly furious.
Garp, however, could not have cared less.
He snorted and drawled lazily, "Well, things are already like this, so you deal with it. It's time for my afternoon nap now. Bwahahaha…"
Then he hung up.
Only the busy tone remained on Sengoku's end.
Sengoku slowly sat back down in his chair and stared at the empty office.
The room was so quiet he could hear the sea breeze brushing across the roof outside.
Gradually, he turned and looked up at the word Justice hanging on the wall behind him, his eyes full of mixed emotion.
"You think I want to do this, Garp?"
He spoke softly, his voice carrying a fatigue that was almost impossible to detect.
"Even if that child weren't a pirate, even if he didn't joined the Whitebeard Pirates, I still wouldn't be so heartless as to go this far."
"But I… and Cain… I'm sorry."
As for Cain contacting the Big Mom Pirates, Sengoku had never truly blamed him.
Feelings were only natural.
It was the Marines' position, the rules, that had forced Cain this far.
Since Sengoku himself had pushed the boy onto the side of the pirates, then what right did he have to blame him for doing all this to save his brother?
And besides, the scene from years ago was still etched clearly into his memory.
...
"FLEET ADMIRAL SENGOKU, PLEASE HELP ME TRAIN MY CONQUEROR'S HAKI!"
Back then, Cain had only been fourteen years old, still just a little runt who had not finished growing, yet he had barged into the Fleet Admiral's office all by himself and shouted those words.
"Conqueror's Haki? You brat really have that? Don't tell me you just learned a little about Haki and decided you must have it too." Sengoku had laughed and teased him then, not taking the little kid too seriously.
"No way! I wouldn't come to you without being completely sure." Cain had hurried to defend himself, then lowered his voice.
"Besides… I don't want Grandpa to know about this."
"Oh? And why not?" Sengoku had grown interested and asked.
"Because the first time I used Conqueror's Haki instinctively, something bad happened." Cain had lowered his head a little.
"I don't want Grandpa to worry, so I came to you instead."
"I don't want my family to worry about me, and I don't want to watch my family leave me. That's why I have to become stronger!"
...
The way Cain had looked up and said those words that day was still vivid in Sengoku's mind.
Sengoku raised a hand and wiped the corner of his eye.
At some point, tears had already started to fall silently.
That child's maturity, and that stubborn determination, reminded him so much of that man from long ago.
Behind the stern exterior of the Fleet Admiral, he was, in truth, just like Garp—a ridiculous old fool at heart.
He was not a heartless man.
He understood Garp and Cain's struggle completely.
But as Fleet Admiral, he could never show it openly.
"The Marines are supposed to protect the people," Sengoku's voice trembled. "But now… I'm the one trying to take his brother away from him."
"Even though Ace, at his core, never really committed some unforgivable evil, I…"
"I betrayed that child's trust..... And I betrayed you too, Rosinante!"
The wind in the office gently stirred the curtains, carrying with it a sorrow too deep to name, softly wrapping itself around this Fleet Admiral who was burdened with far too much of his own.
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