Marine Headquarters.
The Fleet Admiral's Office.
Sengoku stared at the disconnected Den Den Mushi for a long time.
Snapping back to reality, he reached out, picked up the receiver, and placed it back on the Den Den Mushi's shell.
The corners of his mouth curved upward, a smile spreading across his face.
"This brat."
While he could sense Kong Tai's killing intent, he felt an even stronger sense of goodwill.
That silver-haired brat was truly a person of justice!
"A pity!"
He shook his head and sighed.
His regret was that Kong Tai wasn't a true Marine, but a pirate.
Although he didn't dislike this pirate. wΑp.kanshu伍.net
But...
He leaned back in his chair, tilting his head to look at the ceiling, his gaze seeming to pierce through it, seeing the Holy Land, the Five Elders, and the Celestial Dragons.
"Besides the Marines, this guy is quite hostile towards the World Government!"
"Never mind."
Sengoku withdrew his gaze, shook his head, sat up straight, and looked at the mountain of documents before him, sighing.
"His matters are quite troublesome!"
Ever since he became an Admiral, and then Fleet Admiral, he hadn't taken a vacation or truly relaxed in a long time.
He often wondered what his life would be like if he, like Garp, had refused to become an Admiral.
He would undoubtedly be living more freely, and more comfortably!
But he wasn't Garp, so such thoughts were merely fleeting.
He believed that if given the choice again, he would still become an Admiral, a Fleet Admiral.
After all, his ideal of justice was "Justice that reigns over the world!"
To achieve this, he naturally had to reach the highest position in the Marines to implement his ideals of justice!
Shaking his head again, he stopped thinking about it.
Sengoku reached for the documents and began to read them one by one.
The room returned to its original state.
Quiet and peaceful.
Only the rustling of flipping paper and the sound of a sheep chewing paper could be heard.
...
The bow of the cruise ship.
Kong Tai hung the receiver back onto the Den Den Mushi held by Styx.
He leaned back against the railing, tilting his head up to take a sip of wine.
Then, he lowered his head and said to Styx, "Alright, you can go back. Prepare the meal, and then you can leave."
Styx glanced at Kong Tai, said nothing, turned, and used Soru to head back towards the warship.
Although the mission had failed, he felt no disappointment. Instead, there was a hint of glee.
If he had merely disliked the King and Prince of Gamma Kingdom before, after seeing everything in the rooms below deck, he was now disgusted.
For such beasts to be dealt with by the silver-haired crew was the best possible outcome for him.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head, a flicker of mockery in his eyes.
For the Marines who claimed to be righteous, it was quite ironic that they had to rely on pirates to achieve true justice and to punish evil!
The side of the warship.
Seeing Styx return, the Vice Admiral heaved a sigh of relief.
He looked at Styx and asked, "Lieutenant General Styx, what do we do next?"
Styx didn't answer the Vice Admiral's question. He slowly walked past the Vice Admiral.
"Is the meal ready?"
The Vice Admiral turned, following behind Styx, and said, looking at his back, "Everything is ready."
"If it's ready, send it down!"
"Oh!"
The Vice Admiral responded, then asked, "And then what?"
"Then."
Styx paused, then continued forward, walking to the mast in the center of the deck, opened the door on the mast, and placed the Den Den Mushi inside.
He then turned and looked at the Vice Admiral, "Then, of course, we set sail back to Marine Headquarters!"
"Oh!"
The Vice Admiral nodded, then seemed to recall something and looked up at Styx.
"Then what about our mission this time?"
He was unaware of what had transpired on the cruise ship and was still thinking about the mission.
Styx leaned back, his back against the mast, slowly relaxing. He slid down the mast and finally sat on the deck.
While on the cruise ship, even though he knew Kong Tai wouldn't kill him, the pervasive sense of mortal danger had clung to him, preventing him from relaxing even for a moment.
Now that he was back on the warship, he could no longer suppress the mental exhaustion and finally relaxed.
"Lieutenant General."
The Vice Admiral looked at Styx and quickly asked, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
Styx waved his hand, not intending to say more. He took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, looked up at the Vice Admiral, and smiled, "Could you lend me a light? I didn't bring one."
"Oh!"
The Vice Admiral quickly took out a lighter, bent over, and extended his right hand to slide the wheel.
*Click—!*
A flame appeared.
Styx looked at the flame before him, cupped his left hand to shield it, and took a puff.
*Hiss—!*
Sparks flickered, and a wisp of smoke rose.
Seeing the cigarette lit, Styx let go, leaned his head back, resting the back of his head against the mast, and looked up at the clouds drifting by, his mind in turmoil.
To be honest, if he weren't a seasoned Vice Admiral and had seen the scenes on the cruise ship, he might have been tempted to defect from the Marines.
Having served as a Marine for decades, he had heard of darker things, but he had never witnessed them firsthand.
This incident was, in his life, the darkest, ugliest, and most disgusting thing he had ever seen.
Putting his thoughts aside, he turned to look at the Vice Admiral standing beside him, who was looking at him with concern. Styx waved to him, "Hurry and send the meal over to the silver-haired crew on the cruise ship!"
"After delivering the meal..."
He paused slightly, lowered his head, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and opened his mouth, letting the smoke drift out naturally from the corner of his lips.
"After delivering it, we set sail! As for the mission, our mission has already failed, Mr. Sengoku knows."
"Oh!"
"Aren't you going yet?"
Styx looked up at the Vice Admiral still standing beside him and emphasized his words.
"Understood!"
The Vice Admiral stood at attention, saluted, and turned towards the galley.
Soon, he returned with two rows of Marines, carrying several barrels of food, and went to the side of the ship.
They tied the barrels to ropes and lowered them from the side of the ship.
The bow of the cruise ship.
Aaro and A Tao quickly stood at attention and went to the side of the ship to receive the barrels being lowered from above.
*Thump—!*
The iron barrels landed on the deck with a muffled thud.
"They're quite heavy, and there's a lot!"
Aaro untied the rope and shouted up at the Marines, "Thanks!"
The Marines by the side of the ship instinctively shouted back, "You're welcome."
"Uh!"
As they remembered that those below were pirates, their movements froze in unison. Then, they quickly pulled up the ropes and moved away from the side of the ship.
"These Marines are quite polite!"
A Tao and Aaro withdrew their gaze, exchanged a look, lifted the barrels, and walked down from the bow, placing the barrels on the central deck.
Watching the Marine warships sail away with their sails raised, a hint of amusement flickered in their eyes.
"Of course, they're polite."
Aaro put down the barrel, straightened up, and ran a hand through his hair.
"They're not looking at who they're dealing with."
"Who?"
A Tao blinked, took a deep drag of the cigarette in his mouth, tilted his head up, and exhaled a smoke ring towards the sky, then looked at Aaro dismissively.
"Who? Do I need to say?"
After speaking, he tilted his head and walked past Aaro, heading towards the bow of the ship, his back like that of an elegant cat.
"You."
Aaro's hand stopped mid-air as he was touching his hair. He lowered his head and looked at A Tao's retreating back, his mouth twitching.
"This guy is getting more and more arrogant."
Thinking of A Tao's Devil Fruit, the corners of his mouth curved upward, revealing a smile.
"After eating that kind of fruit, it's normal to be a bit arrogant."
"Haha!!"