Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had been silently observing the exchange from nearby, glanced at Sengoku with a knowing expression. Seeing that he had no intention of elaborating further, she took a seat beside Luffy and prepared to clarify the situation.
Sengoku responded to Luffy's clever rhetoric with a dismissive snort, downing the offered sake in a single swallow. While he offered no verbal rebuttal, his expression made his skepticism abundantly clear.
Noticing this minor victory, Luffy smiled and directed the sake bottle to refill Sengoku's cup once more. The Fleet Admiral firmly waved it away, clearly unwilling to indulge further.
"Enough pleasantries," Sengoku declared, steering the conversation to more serious matters. "Don't imagine your responsibilities end with your promotion ceremony. You have nurous duties awaiting your imdiate attention."
Observing Luffy's montarily startled expression, Sengoku's lips curled into a satisfied smile. The Fleet Admiral clearly enjoyed catching his subordinate off guard.
At precisely that mont, Staff Officer Brannew knocked politely on the door before entering the office. Upon noticing Luffy lounging on the sofa, he approached without hesitation, carrying a substantial sheaf of docunts.
With ceremonial precision, he placed the formidable stack—easily ten centiters thick—directly in front of the newly promoted admiral.
"What's all this?" Luffy asked, genuinely confused by the unexpected delivery and the aningful glances exchanged between Sengoku and Brannew.
"Marine tradition dictates that when a new admiral assus office, they must lead a fleet on patrol through a designated mariti region," Sengoku explained with poorly concealed satisfaction. "This protocol serves multiple purposes: it familiarizes the troops with their new commander, while simultaneously fulfilling our diplomatic obligation to maintain contact with mber nations and strengthen relationships between the Marines and allied governnts."
He leaned forward slightly before adding, "Admirals Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru all conducted these missions when they received their promotions. Now it's your turn."
"Ah, I see..." Luffy replied, scratching his head with resigned acceptance. Reluctantly, he opened the imposing folder before him.
His brow furrowed as he examined the first page. "The Kingdom of Austraterra? What country is this? I've never even heard of it."
Before Brannew could respond, Luffy found the answer in the subsequent pages of the docunt.
According to the information, the Kingdom of Austraterra was a World Governnt mber state located in the North Blue. Rich in silver and iron ore deposits, it was renowned for producing exceptional swords, firearms, and silverwork, making it one of the Governnt's most valuable trading partners.
As Luffy continued scanning the extensive file, his eyes suddenly widened and his posture straightened noticeably.
"This... this information..."
Brannew observed Luffy's surprised reaction and calmly elaborated, "This dossier contains comprehensive intelligence on all mber states in North Blue, which will be your primary patrol region for this mission."
Sengoku seamlessly continued the explanation, "This is rely the beginning. As a Marine admiral, you must familiarize yourself with the general circumstances of all 170 World Governnt mber nations. While we don't expect you to morize every detail in these files, you absolutely must commit to mory foundational information such as the rulers of each country, their military capabilities, and strategic resources."
The Fleet Admiral gestured toward a cabinet behind his desk. "In the coming days, I'll provide you with comparable intelligence reports covering the other Blues and the Grand Line. You'll also receive classified information regarding key governnt officials, Marine base commanders, and current force deploynts throughout our territories."
He fixed Luffy with a stern gaze. "This knowledge is restricted to admiral-rank officers and above—it is both your privilege and responsibility to master it."
Sengoku studied Luffy's expression carefully, clearly expecting to witness discomfort or intimidation. Indeed, Luffy's reaction was visibly complex, but not entirely for the reasons Sengoku anticipated.
While Luffy certainly felt daunted by the prospect of morizing such vast quantities of information, his predominant emotion was excitent at this unexpected windfall. The docunts before him contained extraordinarily valuable intelligence: population statistics, dical infrastructure assessnts, detailed information on royal families and nobility—all ticulously catalogued.
This is beyond classified, Luffy thought. If Dragon got his hands on these docunts, he'd be ecstatic! This is exactly the kind of intelligence the Revolutionary Army has been dying to obtain.
According to Sengoku, this information was available exclusively to admiral-rank officers. Even his grandfather Garp, despite his heroic status, likely hadn't accessed such comprehensive intelligence—or if he had, he probably hadn't bothered to review it thoroughly.
His father Dragon, who had left the Marines before reaching the highest ranks, would certainly never have been granted access to these secrets.
Luffy resolved to have Koala secretly copy all the docunts when he returned ho. If he had to suffer through morizing these details, he might as well extract maximum value from the process.
"Um, Grandpa Sengoku," Luffy began hesitantly, hefting the thick docunt while offering a sowhat forced smile. "Would it be possible to have my staff assistants carry these for ? Just for convenience, of course."
Sengoku's response was imdiate and unyielding. "Absolutely not," he declared with stern finality. "Don't even consider it."
He added with unmistakable satisfaction, "I've already instructed Kujaku, Ain, Hina, and your other officers to supervise your progress on this assignnt. You won't be returning to Wano Country until you've demonstrated mastery of all this material."
Luffy nearly groaned aloud at this pronouncent. Picking up the dossier, he stared in dismay at a royal na containing more than twenty complex characters.
His eyes grew moist as mories of his school days flooded back—endless hours spent morizing tedious facts under the threat of punishnt.
Damn, he thought ruefully. No one told being an admiral would involve so much studying!
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