The sky gradually darkened as the setting sun cast its glow across the sea, painting the waves with rippling red hues under the ocean breeze.
This tranquility didn't last long before a small boat cut through the water like scissors, splitting the reflected sunlight in half.
On the deck, Luffy, who had mostly recovered by now, walked up to the bow and asked Naruto with curiosity.
"Fox-face uncle, do you know that guy... what's-his-na... Arleg?"
After hearing Luffy's words, Naruto, who had just cald down a bit, sighed helplessly.
"I told you to just call Naruto… never mind, just call whatever."
Shaking his head, Naruto began to explain.
"…Arlong? No, it's not really about him. It's mostly because I promised soone that I'd take care of his people."
"That idiot thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he's in the East Blue."
"He has no idea how stupid his actions are… completely trampling on all the efforts fish-n and rfolk have made over the years."
"How dare he claim to be a companion of that guy Jinbei?"
Both Jinbe and Arlong started as thugs from Fish-Man District.
But the forr, in order to secure pardons for other wanted fish-n and ease tensions between their race and humans, swallowed his pride and joined the Seven Warlords, agreeing to work under the Marines.
The latter, after being spared, still refused to behave and instead went to the East Blue to tornt weaker villagers.
It can be said that if Arlong's actions were exposed and amplified, all of Jinbe's hard work over the years would be for nothing.
Luffy's single-track brain couldn't process all that information, so he just tilted his head and asked Naruto.
"I don't quite understand. Anyway, we just have to beat him up, right?"
"...Well, you're not wrong."
"Shishishi! Then it's easy!"
Looking at Luffy's silly grin, Naruto's anger faded. He stared at him for a mont before sighing deeply.
'Seriously, in this way, he's just like Captain Roger, huh?'
Just then, a voice called from behind.
"Hey! You guys, food's ready."
Sanji walked onto the deck of the small boat, carrying a tray. A lavish spread of dishes was already laid out on the table in front of them.
In the end, Sanji had accepted Luffy's invitation… perhaps because he was moved by Luffy and Zoro's unwavering courage in the face of adversity, or maybe simply because he wanted to pursue his own dream.
Either way, after a tearful farewell with Zeff and the other chefs at Baratie, Sanji officially joined the Straw Hat Pirates.
Before leaving, Naruto made sure to use his Haki to finish off Krieg and his remaining crew.
He told Zeff to turn them in for their bounties as paynt for the al.
'Joke's on them… who did they think they were dealing with? In all his years at sea, when had Uzumaki Naruto ever skipped out on a bill?'
'… Well, the Yakitori Q incident didn't count. That restaurant wasn't on the sea, anyway.'
'Besides, Iruka-sensei had covered the bill for , hadn't he?'
Thinking of that, Naruto rembered, 'Next ti I go back, I must rember to repay Iruka-sensei for covering .'
Eating without money was a last resort, but after completing this mission, he'd be getting a decent reward.
Not to ntion, he'd also picked up quite a few 'abandoned' valuables and cash from Gato's vault. Even with his appetite, that should last him at least three to five years.
Letting a good teacher like Iruka spend his already modest salary to clean up after him didn't sit right with Naruto.
As he pondered this, Naruto casually held down Luffy, who was frantically fighting for food, before elegantly stuffing an entire lobster tail, which is as thick as an arm, into his mouth.
"Hey! Fox-uncle, that's cheating! That was my at."
Amid the noisy chaos, the boat sailed on toward Cocoyasi Village.
…
Marineford, inside an office at Marine Headquarters.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku massaged his temples as he finished reading the docunts in his hand, then placed them at the edge of his desk.
A goat that didn't look particularly smart slowly walked over and began chewing on the papers marked as Marine's classified docunts.
Everyone in the room was used to this sight, so no one said a word.
Crunch, crunch…
When he heard the grating sound of chewing, Sengoku, who was already exhausted by the troubles caused by the World Governnt, couldn't help but slamd the table.
"Garp! How many tis have I told you not to eat senbei in here?"
On the sofa in front of him, Vice Admiral Garp, known as the [Hero of the Marines], sat sprawled out lazily.
As if he couldn't hear Sengoku's roar at all, he continued munching on senbei while flipping through the newspaper on the table.
After a few crunchy chews, crumbs of the senbei scattered all over the couch, making Sengoku even more irritated.
But aside from yelling a few tis, there wasn't much else he could do about this old bastard.
"Sigh-"
Forcing himself to calm down, Sengoku regained his composure as the [Resourceful General].
At that mont, Vice Admiral Tsuru, who is seated on another couch, suddenly spoke up.
"Sengoku, take a look at these two reports."
After saying that, she placed two sheets of paper in front of Sengoku.
There wasn't much content on the paper, but it made Sengoku frown deeply.
"The leader of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon, has appeared in the East Sea and is suspected to be related to the rebellion of a certain kingdom."
"Uzumaki Naruto, a forr crew mber of Gold Roger, has appeared in the East Blue and defeated the Krieg Pirates."
Just two simple lines, but they carried information explosive enough to throw the entire East Blue into chaos.
Neither Dragon nor Naruto were the type to sit still.
Both of them were troublemakers, each worse than the last.
At so point, Garp had stopped snacking and was now standing beside Sengoku, peering over his shoulder at the reports.
Sengoku completely ignored this sowhat presumptuous behavior…in fact, he wanted to hear what this old fool had to say.
After all, one of these walking ti bombs was his own son, and the other had certain ties to him as well.
"Hahahahaha, So they've both co to the East Blue, huh? Co to think of it, it's been years since I last saw them."
Hearing that, Sengoku seriously considered slapping those papers right into Garp's face.
He knew this old bastard was clearly trying to avoid getting involved, so he turned his gaze back to Tsuru.
And Tsuru seed to have already anticipated this.
"If I recall correctly, Uzumaki Naruto had contact with the Revolutionary Army years ago. In fact, back at Mary Geoise..."
When she said this, as if realizing she shouldn't bring up that incident, Tsuru paused briefly before continuing.
"For these two elusive and dangerous individuals to suddenly appear in the East Blue at the sa ti… There is indeed a high probability they're planning sothing big."
"We must arrest them imdiately!"
Sengoku's stance was firm.
Of course, he knew the chances of actually capturing either of them were slim, but at the very least, he had to prevent whatever sche they were cooking up.
In his mind, there was no way Naruto and Dragon appearing at the sa ti was a coincidence.
"Then we should dispatch an Admiral directly."
Tsuru's suggestion was reasonable. After all, sending Vice Admirals against these two would just be sending lambs to the slaughter.
"Send Sakazuki."
She said this knowing that while Akainu Sakazuki's thods were often overly harsh, his results were reliable.
This was a clear jab at a certain Admiral who failed to eliminate all targets during a Buster Call.
However, Sengoku rejected Tsuru's proposal.
"He's currently tied up in the New World. He won't be able to make it back in ti."
"Then Borsalino-"
"He's at Sabaody Archipelago..."
'Now, we can only choose one between Garp and Kuzan?'
Tsuru shook her head and fell silent, 'It seed Sengoku had already made up his mind.'
"Notify Kuzan. Have him pursue Uzumaki Naruto."
After giving the order, Sengoku sat back down and rubbed his temples.
anwhile, Garp, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being side-eyed, pulled out another senbei and resud crunching away.
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