During the voyage, Garp and Smoker spent much of their time explaining the current state of the world to Wano's samurai.
As the days passed, Smoker gradually became familiar with everyone as well.
Before long, the group arrived at the new Marine Headquarters.
Thanks to the World Military Draft, the base was constantly bustling with people coming and going every day.
Garp was still worried about how well the samurai would adapt to the Marine system, so he and Smoker first helped register everyone and arrange their accommodations.
Only after squeezing his way out of the crowd did Garp grab Tama, climb onto Komachiyo, and head off to find Sengoku.
There was something extremely important he wanted to show off.
He and Tama had planned it together aboard the ship not long ago.
Unfortunately, Garp was unfamiliar with the layout of the new Headquarters. Smoker had returned several times recently, so he ended up leading the way.
After leaving Komachiyo outside, Garp kicked the office door open.
"Sengoku! This old man is back! Look what I brought—!"
The moment he entered, he found Sengoku furiously working through paperwork, with Tsuru helping beside him.
Both of them gave Garp rather strange looks.
The instant Sengoku saw him, his face darkened.
"Garp, you bastard—!"
He stopped halfway through.
Garp had lifted Tama above his head with both hands, while the little girl was practically lying across his hair.
Despite being held aloft, she solemnly saluted the two officers.
"Hello, Grandpa Officer! Grandma Officer!"
Sengoku immediately deflated.
With a child present, he could hardly start screaming at Garp.
Vice Admiral Tsuru, meanwhile, put down her papers with interest and studied the little girl.
"Garp, who is this?"
"Oh, that's exactly what I came to tell you."
Garp carefully lowered Tama to the floor before gesturing proudly with both hands.
"This is my new granddaughter! What do you think?"
Sengoku was speechless.
Why did Garp keep accumulating grandchildren like weeds?
First there was Luffy, who became a pirate.
Then Ace, also a pirate.
Then Cain, who eventually went off to become a pirate too.
Then there was Sabo, the Revolutionary Army's second-in-command.
And now Garp had brought another one home from Wano.
Would this never end?
Was he planning to raise this one into a pirate too?!
Tsuru, however, looked at the scene with a faintly nostalgic smile.
It reminded her of when Cain had first arrived at Marine Headquarters.
Garp had burst through the door just as excitedly back then, shoved forward a little boy wearing a dog-head hood, and loudly announced,
"This is my grandson!"
Cain's face had turned so red he looked ready to melt through the floor from embarrassment, while Garp himself had been absurdly proud.
Seeing that Sengoku and Tsuru's reactions were not nearly dramatic enough, Garp leaned toward Tama and whispered,
"Tama, Tama. Do it like we practiced on the ship."
"Oh!"
Tama quickly planted both hands on her hips and drew a deep breath until her little chest puffed out.
Then she threw both arms wide and shouted with every bit of strength she had,
"My name is Kurozumi Tama, and I'm going to become the strongest kunoichi in the Marines!"
Her clear little voice echoed throughout the office, carrying both the flavor of Wano and a surprising amount of spirit.
Afterward, Tama remained frozen with both arms stretched wide, her cheeks slightly flushed from shouting so hard.
It was certainly righteous.
Very inspiring.
Very dramatic.
And Sengoku could only think:
'Garp… have you finally gone down a road there's no coming back from?'
A vein throbbed on his forehead.
Part of him felt sorry for this child for ending up with Garp.
The other part was furious that Garp had somehow become even more outrageous with age.
Sengoku walked over and first patted Garp on the shoulder.
Then he looked down at Tama, his expression softening.
In the gentlest voice he could manage, he said,
"Little one, cover your ears for a moment."
Tama obediently did so.
Sengoku immediately grabbed Garp by the ear.
The office erupted with a deafening roar.
"YOU'VE BECOME SO DESPERATE TO MAKE ONE OF YOUR GRANDCHILDREN A MARINE THAT YOU'RE KIDNAPPING CHILDREN NOW?!"
"GARP, I'M SENDING YOU STRAIGHT TO IMPEL DOWN!!!"
"OW, OW, OW! Sengoku, that's not what happened! Listen to me! Let this old man explain!!!"
…
After a lengthy explanation, Garp finally managed to make Sengoku understand what had happened.
"…And that's the whole story. Her parents are both gone, and her master entrusted her to me so I could take her out of Wano."
"But I can't exactly send a little kid onto a battlefield, so I'm keeping her with me."
"This time, I'm going to raise her properly. I won't let her turn out like Luffy and Ace…"
"And becoming a Marine was Tama's own choice."
Garp repeatedly emphasized the final point.
Tama, now sitting on Tsuru's lap, nodded vigorously.
"It's true! I wanted to become a Marine myself!"
Sengoku turned suspiciously toward her.
After studying the little girl for a while, he believed them somewhat.
Tama's eyes were clear and earnest. She did not look like she was being forced to lie.
Even so, Sengoku returned to his chair with a troubled expression and let out a heavy sigh.
Then he fixed Garp with a stare and shoved a thick stack of documents toward him.
"Since you're finally back, you can deal with the rest of this!"
"Tsuru and I have been getting headaches over this mess for days."
Garp did not take the papers.
Instead, he looked at the mountain of documents piled on Sengoku's desk, then at Sengoku rubbing his temples.
His expression became strange.
"Aren't you retired? Why are you still getting headaches over paperwork?"
"Who do you think caused this?!"
Sengoku glared at him.
Technically, Sengoku really had retired.
Unfortunately, Garp's recent disasters had forced him into another discussion with Sakazuki.
Sakazuki had seized the opportunity to complain that the older generation had left an enormous pile of unfinished problems for the new Fleet Admiral to clean up.
Somehow, that conversation ended with Sakazuki dumping a stack of particularly troublesome files onto Sengoku's desk.
Even Tsuru had eventually taken pity on him and come over to help.
That was also why both of them had looked so strange when Garp walked in.
They had gone from peaceful retirement straight back into official duties.
With overtime.
Naturally, neither of them was happy about it.
And it was all Garp's fault.
Among the documents was one especially important matter that now required Garp's attention.
"Anyway, I'm leaving this one to you."
"The area you're stationed in isn't far from there, so you might as well investigate while you're nearby."
Garp suspiciously accepted the file.
The moment he opened it, his expression froze.
Several large words were written prominently across the first page.
Hachinosu — Ochoku.
Behind them was a dense collection of reports documenting the Blackbeard Pirates' recent movements.
Rumors suggested that Blackbeard's crew might soon travel to Hachinosu, while Golden Lion Shiki had also apparently been spotted in the surrounding waters.
Blackbeard.
The son of Rocks.
Ochoku and Golden Lion Shiki.
Every one of those names belonged to figures who had once been prominent members of the Rocks Pirates.
What the Marines feared most right now was the possibility of the Rocks Pirates somehow being revived.
And if Kaido and Big Mom became involved as well, the consequences would shake the balance of the entire world.
Someone had to investigate.
At the very least, the Marines needed to ensure these people did not form an alliance.
In other words, no matter what happened, the Marines had to interfere.
Sengoku watched Garp fall into thought and lightly tapped his fingers against the desk.
"Oh, and bring Fire Fist Ace with you this time."
"He's a Warlord now. He can earn his keep and do some work for the Marines."
"Hah?! Why don't you send Trafalgar Law instead?!"
Garp slapped the documents onto the table, clearly unhappy.
"Who said Law isn't going?"
Sengoku answered calmly.
"He was originally planning to hijack a passenger liner from a World Government-affiliated nation in a few months, sail it directly toward Hachinosu, and harvest pirates along the way."
"Fortunately, I stopped him before he created a disaster."
"But now the timing works out perfectly."
"If he joins this operation, he can fulfill the requirements to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
"That'll finally bring the number of Warlords back to seven."
Sengoku sounded exhausted just saying it.
The World Military Draft had everyone running in different directions.
Kizaru, currently the only active Admiral, had to remain at Headquarters.
The older generation had supposedly retired.
Sakazuki was Fleet Admiral and could not personally run around handling every crisis.
'Damn it, I'm not even Fleet Admiral anymore. Why am I still worrying about all this crap?!'
The recently recruited Issho had other responsibilities of his own.
And Aramaki still had not returned.
That left the mission to Garp and the Warlords.
Speaking of which…
Where the hell was Aramaki?
…
At that very moment, inside an interrogation cell in Impel Down…
"I really am a Marine!"
Aramaki clutched the Seastone bars and shouted desperately.
His swelling had gone down somewhat, but his face still resembled a badly beaten pig.
"I know my face is swollen, but surely you can still recognize me!"
"And if you really can't, just remove the Seastone for a second! I can regenerate immediately!"
Hannyabal stood outside the cell and ignored every word.
Instead, he raised his weapon and swung it straight into Aramaki's face.
"Remove your restraints? Are you insane?"
"You're a dangerous criminal captured personally by Vice Admiral Garp!"
"Until we confirm exactly who you are, you're not going anywhere!"
The entire prison was filled with Seastone, and because Garp himself had supposedly defeated this prisoner, the staff were being especially cautious.
Aramaki had Seastone cuffs on both wrists and ankles.
Then, just to be safe, they had wrapped him tightly in additional Seastone chains.
He had so little strength left that he could neither defend himself nor fight back.
All he could do was endure the blows and howl in misery.
"No! This is all a misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding!"
"You're using unauthorized torture!"
"I'm reporting this to your superiors!"
"I'M REPORTING ALL OF YOU TO MARINE HEADQUARTERS!!!"