Tenguyama Hitetsu had never been comfortable with Tama going up the mountain alone, so every now and then, he secretly followed behind her.
Garp, naturally, caught him doing it more than once and managed to squeeze quite a bit of information out of him along the way.
After considering everything he had learned, Garp finally came up with his idea and explained his reasoning to Yamato.
Wano's situation was currently a tangled mess outside of Kaido's faction.
Some people had simply given up.
Others stubbornly clung to the prophecy.
And still others were perfectly happy bullying their own countrymen while doing nothing useful.
Most of Wano's samurai could eventually be brought under Yamato through one method or another, but there was still a group that continued waiting for that vague prophecy and refused to recognize Kaido's daughter as their Shogun.
That was precisely why Garp wanted to establish a Marine branch in Wano.
He could gather up those who still worshiped Kozuki Oden and reorganize them beneath the Marines.
That way, Yamato's forces and Oden's remaining loyalists could both be used against Kaido.
Of course, Garp also had a few personal ambitions mixed in.
He was not going to be satisfied with convincing one or two bandits to become Marines.
He wanted to recruit from Wano on a large scale.
"So that's what I'm thinking," Garp said. "Yamato, do you know anyone who could convince those stubborn bastards?"
"Well…"
Yamato did not immediately know how to answer and instinctively looked toward the doorway.
Kyoshiro had just escorted Komurasaki outside.
Although he knew her true identity, there were certain matters Yamato had never openly discussed. As her subordinate, he understood that some things still needed to remain hidden in public.
He had barely shut the door when he noticed Yamato staring directly at him.
Yamato briefly explained what Garp had just proposed.
Kyoshiro immediately fell into deep thought.
He naturally interpreted this as some kind of test from Yamato.
If he refused, it might make him appear insufficiently loyal.
But agreeing would effectively mean cutting the ground out from under the remaining Kozuki loyalists.
Of course, all of that existed entirely inside Kyoshiro's head.
Yamato had not thought nearly that far ahead.
She had only turned to him because he understood Wano's internal situation better than anyone else around her.
As for Kyoshiro…
He still did not fully understand whether these so-called Marines were truly righteous or not.
But after gritting his teeth and thinking it over, he agreed.
Yamato had said this was a way to build strength against Kaido.
By now, Kyoshiro genuinely approved of many of Yamato's methods and intended to support her sincerely. If she believed this was worth doing, then he was willing to trust her.
Besides, it was not necessarily a bad idea.
With both the Marines and Yamato's Shogunate recruiting warriors, even those who remained devoted to Oden would have an option they could accept without feeling that they had betrayed him.
It was actually a rather elegant solution.
They could start by sending over two samurai who did not have much time left to live and see how things went.
…
Back on Garp's side, once Yamato agreed to the proposal, he nodded in satisfaction and told her to bring the Moby Dick to Kuri's harbor.
He was preparing to leave.
The punch he had thrown earlier had created far too much commotion.
The Beasts Pirates stationed around Kuri had almost certainly noticed it by now.
For all he knew, they had already discovered him.
Garp turned toward Aramaki, who had been bound tightly in Seastone cuffs.
Clearly, the man who had come charging up the mountain was exactly the sort of threat Garp had been talking about.
"We're a little short on time…"
Garp cracked his knuckles and approached with a nasty grin.
"But I should still interrogate you properly first!"
He got straight to the point.
"Talk. Did Kaido send you?"
"Though now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing your face on any Beasts Pirates wanted posters."
"Old man, what the hell are you talking about?! I'm a Marine! A Marine—pfft!"
Aramaki struggled to rise.
Garp immediately punched him in the face before he could finish explaining.
He glared down fiercely.
"You still dare pretend to be a Marine in front of me?!"
"Look at what you just did! You attacked an entire mountain without even checking what was there!"
"What if you'd hurt someone?"
"What if you'd crushed the flowers and trees?!"
"What part of that sounds like a Marine?!"
The more Garp thought about it, the angrier he became.
If he had not been there, Tama could genuinely have been caught in the attack.
Unforgivable!
Garp punched him again.
"You think acting this badly will fool me?"
"I'm the only Marine in Wano!"
"Who else besides one of Kaido's men would even know Marines were operating here?"
"I really am a Mari—AAAH!"
Aramaki had not even finished before another punch knocked one of his front teeth out.
"Talk! Has Kaido already discovered me?"
"What kind of dirty trick is he planning against this old man?"
Garp began his "interrogation" in earnest, hammering Aramaki with one punch after another.
"No! No! I really am a Marine!"
"Would you just listen to me?! I'm really a Marine—!"
Aramaki's voice had already gone hoarse.
His face was swollen to nearly twice its original size. He desperately reinforced himself with Haki, but Garp simply punched straight through his defenses anyway.
"Heh. Why don't you claim you're an Admiral while you're at it?"
Garp sneered and raised his fist again.
"I actually am! Well, I'm an Admiral candidate undergoing promotion tests!"
Aramaki curled up and covered his head as he screamed the words.
"You unrepentant pirate! Now you're impersonating a Marine Admiral too!"
"I'll beat the truth out of you myself!"
Garp unleashed another barrage.
His fists fell so quickly that Aramaki could do nothing but roll around helplessly beneath the blows.
Marco stood nearby and silently watched everything.
He knew perfectly well that the man in front of them really was a Marine.
He simply had no intention of saying so.
Aramaki dug both hands into the ground and desperately crawled toward Marco, leaving a crooked trail behind him.
"Please… tell this old bastard I'm really a Marine!"
Marco smiled mischievously.
"Well, old man, maybe you've been away from Marine Headquarters for too long. There's some recent information you probably haven't heard yet…"
Hope immediately returned to Aramaki's eyes.
"Yes! Yes! Tell him!"
Marco continued calmly,
"This guy really is connected to the Marines…"
Aramaki's entire body relaxed.
Finally.
Someone was willing to tell the truth.
Then Marco finished,
"…because he's a powerful new recruit of the Beasts Pirates who just had a Marine wanted notice issued for him."
Aramaki froze.
"…WHAT?!"
"Oh, so that's how it is."
The instant Garp heard that, whatever restraint he still possessed vanished.
His fists began moving like a Gatling gun.
Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam!
They hammered Aramaki relentlessly.
"I've been holding myself back for ages!"
"I couldn't beat up those Whitebeard Pirates, and I had to keep myself hidden so Kaido's people wouldn't discover me and cause trouble for Tama and the others."
"But I'm about to leave anyway!"
"And now this bastard delivered himself right to me!"
"So I won't hold back anymore! Hehehehe!"
Aramaki immediately began screaming.
"NOOOOOO!!!"
…
Garp eventually looked down at Aramaki.
The man lay completely limp on the ground.
His face had swollen into something resembling a pig's head, blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, his eyes had rolled back, and only his legs occasionally twitched.
It was only then that Garp finally remembered something important.
If he was going to establish a Marine branch in Wano, he should probably inform Sengoku.
No, wait.
Sakazuki was Fleet Admiral now.
After thinking about it for a moment, Garp still called Sengoku instead.
The instant Sengoku heard Garp's voice through the Den Den Mushi, he exploded.
"GARP, YOU BASTARD! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE'VE BEEN ABOUT YOU?!"
Sengoku shouted loudly enough to make the Den Den Mushi itself tremble.
"Oh? Sengoku, when did you start saying things like that?"
Garp deliberately raised his voice half an octave and feigned surprise.
"To think you care about this old man so much. I'm truly touched!"
He could not quite imitate Shinobu's coy mannerisms, but he certainly tried.
The performance disgusted Sengoku so thoroughly that the other end of the call fell silent for several seconds.
Apparently, he was forcing himself not to explode.
Eventually, Sengoku remembered the important matter.
"We sent a Marine to Wano to find you!"
"He's currently undergoing testing for promotion to Admiral. He's a Devil Fruit user who can control plants, and his name is Aramaki."
"Have you run into him?!"
"A Marine? What Marine…"
Garp instinctively began denying it.
Then his words stopped.
A memory suddenly flashed through his mind.
Wait.
A Marine…?
Garp slowly turned his head.
His eyes settled on Aramaki, who lay on the ground with blood leaking from his mouth, his eyes rolled back, and both legs still twitching.
Garp swallowed.