Trouble for the Marines
“What? You mean you lost to those kids?” Sengoku’s voice roared through the Fleet Admiral’s Office. It startled two people inside the room and even those who were walking outside.
Everyone looked at each other with confusion.
“Yes, Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Currently, Vice Admiral Yamakaji is injured and unconscious but there are no vital injuries. I have already sent the report as for the….”
Just when Smoker was continuing, Sengoku’s voice rang from the transponder snail.
“No, we will wait for Yamakaji to wake up. Until then, bring him here! This matter is extremely important.”
Saying so, he put down the transponder snail and turned his head at two people. These two were Vice Admiral Garp and Vice Admiral Tsuru.
“Garp! Can’t you even make your grandson a marine?”
Although he wasn’t sure about the detail, just the fact that Yamakaji lost to Straw Hat Luffy speaks of his potential. If such a person joins the marine, they would have another admiral in the future.
“I can’t help it. That bastard was taught by Shanks when the old man was trying to capture other pirates. No matter how much I try, I couldn’t convince him.” Garp shrugged his shoulder in an extremely relaxed manner as he spoke.
“Shanks that bastard!” Sengoku also clenched his fist angrily. As a grandson of Marine Hero Garp, he was taught to be a pirate by another pirate especially when this pirate was often chased by Garp.
It almost seemed like he is trying to get revenge on Garp.
“Although it is regretful, we can’t do anything about it now. So, let’s discuss how should we treat the threat level of Straw Hat Pirates.” Tsuru saw the anger and helpless on both of their faces so she decided to speak.
Hearing her words, Sengoku turned his head at Garp and said.
“Garp, if the report really goes as I am guessing, I won’t be able to suppress it anymore.”
“It’s okay! The moment my grandson decided to become a pirate, I had already accepted my fate. But bwahaha! My grandson truly has my blood. Defeating vice admiral at the age of seventeen. Bwahahaha! He is truly my grandson.”
Garp shook his head and suddenly burst into laughter with a proud expression on his face.
Sengoku jumped from his seat and shouted.
“You bastard, I am getting a headache because your grandson and you have the nerve to laugh.”
“Bwahahah! Sengoku, I am still proud of my grandson.” Garp didn’t care about Sengoku’s headache as he continued to laugh with his proud expression.
“GARP!” Sengoku roared that almost shaking the entire Marineford.
Only then Garp calmed down a bit but he still was trying to laugh.
“Haaa! I really don’t know what to do about your family. One is a marine hero, the man who chased Roger multiple times and a spiritual belief for most people around the world.”
“Second is a head of revolutionary, the man who is trying to overthrow the World Government. He has become the most wanted man in the world and has become the central figure of most rebels.”
“Third is a supernova, a kid who defeated a Vice-Admiral after going out in the seas for just a few months. If Smoker hadn’t told me just how powerful Straw Hat was at the beginning, I wouldn’t have believed he could grow this strong at such a fast pace.”
“One is Marine Hero, one is head of revolutionary and one wants to become a pirate king. Garp, you bastard wants your family to hold the top position of every corner.”
Sengoku loudly shouted at Garp while holding his collar. At this moment, he was truly terrified of his friend. He was afraid that his friend planned all of this from the beginning.
Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?
Garp saw that doubt in Sengoku’s eyes and burst into laughter.
“Bwahahaha! Sengoku, you are truly growing old. How could you even think of something so absurd?”
Garp puts his hand inside a pocket and took out a bag of senbei.
“By the way, I recently traveled to the North Blue and got these famous Senbei. Let’s eat!”
Hearing his words, Sengoku’s eyebrows twitched.
“I was concerned for nothing. And, you bastard, this is Fleet Admiral’s office, not your dining hall.”
“Calm down, Sengoku! You will have a heart attack if you keep talking like that. Here, take this!” Garp shared Senbei with Sengoku while looking like he was having a heartbreak.
Seeing his expression, Sengoku was disgusted but he still took the Senbei and ate it.
“If you two have done enough chattering, should we talk about how are we going to handle this situation?” After a few more minutes, Tsuru finally couldn’t bear to look at them shouting at each other.
As soon as she spoke, Garp and Sengoku instantly returned to normal.
“Ahem! This time it’s going to be serious. We can’t overlook the growth of Straw Hat Pirates anymore.”
Saying so, Sengoku gave Garp a sorry glance while proceeding with his talk.
“I am calling an emergency meeting. For the full story, I will talk to Yamakaji later but right now, we need to act quickly since there is still a chance that we can catch them.”
Hearing his words, Tsuru spoke.
“You should give up on that. Unlike this time, they won’t simply sit down and fight marines. This battle lasted two days. For a newbie pirate, it is extremely amazing to be able to fight the entire day.”
“But knowing that he is Garp’s grandson, it shouldn’t be a surprise. But since they fought against Yamakaji for two days and defeated them, what does this mean?”
“They must have a goal. Although Yamakaji didn’t mention it, there is a possibility that they, or rather Straw Hat Luffy fought Yamakaji to fully master his Armament Haki.”
“Haki grows in the middle of a battle. Normally, young people wouldn’t know about this but do you know whom he compared Vice Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates to?”
Hearing her words, Sengoku’s eyes shrunk while Garp also got serious.
“Benn Beckman!” Both of them uttered his name at the same time.
“Yes, it’s not like Smoker hasn’t seen them. And, from every bit of information that I have gathered about this person, I can say the same thing. That means the fight must be his idea.”
“Why? To let his Captain’s Haki grow. That kid should’ve awakened his Haki during the battle with Crocodile but this battle truly helped him understand and master Haki.”
“Now that he has successfully practiced Haki, they have no reason to stay behind. If nothing else, they should’ve already left that island by now. Instead of thinking about catching them right now, we should think whether we should raise their bounty or not.”
Hearing her words, Sengoku also fell into deep thought. On the one hand, they should increase the bounty of Straw Hat Pirates because of their threat level.
But on the other hand, they didn’t want to publicize the news about their vice admiral’s defeat.
Yamakaji wasn’t a new vice admiral either. He was a truly well-established Vice-Admiral in the Marines. So, publicizing his defeat against the fledgling pirates could hamper the status of the Marines.
“I suggest we should slow down and wait. Although revealing their threat level to the world would make it much safer, they aren’t the same pirates as others. At least, from their track record, they have done better than our marines.”
“So, wait until something truly important happens. Once something important happens, we will immediately use that to increase the bounty of the Straw Hat Pirates to a high level.”
“That way, we don’t have to worry about publicizing the defeat of Yamakaji.” Seeing him snuggle for a long time, Tsuru finally gave her viewpoint.
Hearing her words, Garp’s eyes lit up. Not raising Luffy’s bounty was the best thing for him. That means the Marines won’t send powerful people to take them down.
But her next sentence instantly broke his heart.
“Even so, we should at least send two Vice-Admirals plus three Rear Admirals to chase them. If they suffer from difficult situations, we will immediately capture them.”
Hearing her words, Sengoku’s eyes lit up.
“You are trying to take them down this way. Yes, if we don’t increase their bounty, other supernovas won’t be afraid of them and try to attack them if they stumble against each other.”
“Although Straw Hat Pirates might be stronger and win the battle, they would definitely spend some time doing so. And, this way, our marines would be able to find them and capture them before they can run away once again.”
Tsuru nodded her head and said.
“Indeed! If the bounty is too high, it will only frighten those pirates. But if the bounty is only slightly high, it will cause some dissatisfaction. Currently, Straw Hat Luffy’s bounty is the highest among all supernovas.”
“Silently raise this bounty by a few hundred million in a couple of months and this will surely create dissatisfaction among these new supernovas.”
“Alright, let’s do that!”