Now that Fleet Admiral Kong could be used as a reference, Kizaru could clearly feel the true value of Pure Gold.
And this was only low-grade, counterfeit Pure Gold—it had a shelf life, and its actual effects were diluted.
With that in mind, it was easy to understand why the Five Elders and Kong would go mad over it.
The bubble lift soon descended to the ground. Fleet Admiral Kong, who had already stashed the Pure Gold away, returned to his usual dignified, commanding presence.
---
"A-Admiral Kizaru, why are you back so soon…?"
The captain of the warship that had brought Kizaru, still restocking supplies, was caught off guard seeing the admiral return so quickly. Knowing what this mission was about, he panicked.
Had Admiral Kizaru sohow offended the Celestial Dragons—or even the Five Elders—and lost the position of Fleet Admiral?
"Don't overthink it. I got what I ca for. The Five Elders don't exactly like —I didn't think it'd be polite to stick around for dinner."
Kizaru casually flashed the Fleet Admiral appointnt scroll. Though rolled up so the exact contents weren't visible, its ornate design made it clear it wasn't so random docunt.
And it was only because Kizaru was one of the Navy's three admirals—and the most easygoing among the high-ranking officers—that the ship's captain dared to speak to him like that.
"Don't make it sound like you were chased away, you brat!"
Kong had already hidden any strangeness from his face, putting on the bold, hearty deanor of the Supre Commander.
Other than a slight youthful glow and a barely concealed glimr of joy, he didn't look all that different from before.
Which made sense—seeing soone who was half his student promoted to Fleet Admiral would make anyone proud.
"Not much difference either way. Marineford's got a pile of work waiting for , so I'll skip the small talk."
Kizaru leapt high into the air and landed neatly on the ship's deck. Before returning to HQ for the official promotion ceremony, he still had a few errands to run.
Like going to the Conan World to bring Boros and the Dark Matter Space Pirate Crew over… and fulfilling the promise he made to Ai Haibara to help her return to her original form.
He hoped Zephyr would bring Ain to the promotion ceremony. That way, Kizaru wouldn't have to go looking for Bonney.
Of course, that was assuming Ain's Regression-Regression Fruit could turn Haibara back to the state she was in before taking the APTX-4869—rather than regressing her into an actual infant.
If not, even if it was troubleso, Kizaru would have no choice but to hunt Bonney down.
Speaking of which, that woman had so sort of unique connection to Bartholow Kuma, so unless absolutely necessary, Kizaru preferred not to arrest her.
---
"I don't rember you being this diligent in the past!"
Kong said with mild irritation. Before becoming an admiral, Kizaru was infamous for being a workaholic. The nickna "Navy Monster" wasn't sothing just pirates used.
But once he beca an admiral, he'd gotten tangled in Celestial Dragon politics. Realizing he was being targeted, Kizaru had simply started slacking off, entering full-on "getting paid to do nothing" mode.
That laid-back version of Kizaru gave Kong many headaches. The back-and-forth that Sengoku and Garp had nowadays? Yeah—that used to be Kong and Kizaru.
"I hunted pirates for years. Can't I enjoy so downti?"
Kizaru fired back with confidence. Sure, The Elders had only spent ten minutes reading off his rits, but behind that was the blood and tears of hundreds of famous pirate crews and outlaws.
When Kizaru decided to compete for the Fleet Admiral position, the only person who dared to challenge his qualifications was Sakazuki. No other navy personnel even considered stepping up.
Because everyone knew—no one in the Navy was more qualified to be Fleet Admiral than Kizaru.
"Hmph! Let's see how you slack off once you're in charge of the whole Navy!"
Fleet Admiral Kong revealed a smile full of malice—he could already picture Kizaru buried in mountains of paperwork inside the Fleet Admiral's office.
Too bad Sakazuki had too much integrity to slack off like Kizaru or Garp.
Fortunately, Kuzan was still around to support Kizaru, and one of the admiral candidates, Gion, was a fellow master slacker.
"Not a problem. I've already decided to keep Vice Admiral Tsuru as Chief Strategist, bring back forr Fleet Admiral Sengoku as Chief Inspector, and if possible, rehire old man Zephyr as an advisor… Oh, Kong—wanna join in and complete a mahjong table?"
Kizaru looked entirely in control. If necessary, he could even bring in Karina from Gran Tesoro, and Nojiko from Cocoyashi Village to form a "Cute Secretary Squad" with Nami, all to serve as his personal aides.
---
Hearing Kizaru's plan, Fleet Admiral Kong just barely held himself back from cursing aloud.
He recalled how hard he'd worked back in the day, trying to be a proper Fleet Admiral and not let the Five Elders down—only to end up as the first defeated Fleet Admiral in history, retiring in disgrace.
Now look at Kizaru—he hadn't even started his duties yet, and he was already thinking about how to slack off, and had even lined up scapegoats and labor replacents in advance.
The most annoying part? Odds were, Kizaru was actually going to do a great job as Fleet Admiral.
On one hand, the Five Elders wouldn't restrain him as much. On the other, Kizaru had climbed from the very bottom of the Navy to the top—his reputation and popularity in the force were far greater than Kong, who had been parachuted into the role.
And with Sengoku, the forr Fleet Admiral, acting as his support, Kong could already envision a future where the Navy might finally conquer the New World.
"Then go for it, Kizaru! The ss I left behind as a failure of a Fleet Admiral… will have to be cleaned up by my own student!" Kong declared loudly and seriously. If he couldn't even admit to the consequences of his own actions, that would've been disgraceful.
"Half! Half-student! You better be careful—old man Zephyr might co for you!" Kizaru couldn't help but retort, causing Kong to burst into loud laughter once more.
"If Zephyr's not happy, he can co find ! I only ever held back on him, you know. Don't tell you actually think I couldn't beat him!"
Kong straightened his back with pride. Just this short conversation already made him feel like he'd grown several years younger. If Pure Gold really had the legendary effects it claid, perhaps he truly could return to his peak form.
Kizaru grinned and pulled a Den Den Mushi recorder from his coat, pressing play right in front of Kong.
"If Zephyr's not happy, he can co find ! I only ever held back on him, you know. Don't tell you actually think I couldn't beat him!"
Kong's face instantly darkened. The words were out—he couldn't take them back now. If he did, it'd look like he was scared of Zephyr.
"You're already Fleet Admiral and still playing sneaky little tricks like this!"
Kong grumbled as he turned to leave. With his body feeling rejuvenated, he headed for the training grounds to refine his Haki and hand-to-hand combat techniques, which he'd neglected in recent years.
He just wanted to prove he wasn't old yet—not because he was scared of getting his butt kicked by Zephyr.
"I'm gonna get so rest. Don't co bothering for nothing."
Having pulled a classic trick on the old man, Kizaru happily stashed the Den Den Mushi away, then turned to the ship's captain.
"Yes, Admiral Kizaru—no, Fleet Admiral Kizaru!"
The ship's captain saluted him loudly and respectfully.
As the most easygoing admiral, Kizaru had a reputation among mid- and lower-ranked Navy personnel that far exceeded Sakazuki or Kuzan.
This particular ship captain looked every bit the die-hard Kizaru fanboy.
"Save the 'Fleet Admiral' until I've officially been promoted. Otherwise, it's just a piece of paper."
Kizaru waved his hand dismissively. He didn't let receiving the letter of appointnt get to his head or start acting like he was already the Fleet Admiral.
Hearing this, the ship's captain looked at Kizaru with even more reverence. It felt a little disloyal to say this about Kong, but as an outsider who joined the Navy partway through his life…
Kong wasn't truly acknowledged by the whole Navy until he voluntarily "promoted" himself to Commander-in-Chief of the World Military and handed the position of Fleet Admiral over to Sengoku—one of their own.
While the Five Elders' letter of appointnt was a necessary formality, every truly accepted Navy Fleet Admiral had always been promoted at Marineford itself.
"Yes, sir! You can count on !"
The ship captain responded loudly. Kizaru nodded and then returned to the cabin, turning into light and vanishing on the spot.
By the ti Kizaru reappeared, he was already hovering high above an unknown sea sowhere in the New World.
After scanning the surrounding waters with his Observation Haki, Kizaru nodded in satisfaction and contacted Ai Haibara through the dinsional chat group.
Because of the difference in ti flow between worlds, Boros and the Dark Matter Pirate Crew had already been in the Detective Conan world for nearly half a month.
To Boros, a primitive, backward planet without a single powerful warrior wasn't worth his attention.
Fortunately, Haibara had downloaded a set of Dragon Ball manga from the chat group for him. There were tons of similar series uploaded by group mbers.
For soone whose personality and love for battle practically mirrored the Saiyans in those comics, Boros found himself genuinely liking the series.
Especially after Haibara told him that, in theory, mbers from the Dragon Ball world might join the chat group soday—aning he could finally fight Super Saiyans on the daily.
Just the thought of that filled Boros with anticipation.
So when Kizaru teleported him over to the One Piece world, he found Boros clutching a well-worn copy of the Dragon Ball manga.
°°°
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