Chapter 24
Two days had passed since Rorschach left Cocoyasi Village.
Inside the conference room at Marine Headquarters.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat at the head of the table. Below him were the three Admirals — Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu — along with Chief of Staff Tsuru. Several other well-known Vice Admirals were also present: Onigumo, Burning Mountain, Mole, and Doberman.
"What are your thoughts on the complete disappearance of Marine Branch 16 and its entire personnel?" Sengoku asked, rubbing his temples.
Two days earlier, an urgent report had landed on his desk:
Marine Branch 16 had vanished without a trace. All personnel were missing or dead. The Arlong Pirates had been defeated by a dual-wielding swordsman nad Rorschach. Attached were photos of Rorschach slaying the Arlong Pirates. The swordsman was suspected of using an unknown Devil Fruit that allowed him to manipulate earth.
Further investigation revealed that Rorschach had hunted down over a dozen East Blue pirates with bounties ranging from several million to over ten million berries.
The news had been published by Morgans, president of the World Economic Journal. After receiving the News Coo photos of Rorschach defeating Arlong, Morgans imdiately dug into Rorschach’s background and publicized everything.
Rorschach had instantly beco the East Blue’s newest supernova bounty hunter.
Sengoku had imdiately ordered Garp, who was still in the East Blue, to investigate Branch 16. With all three Admirals back from their missions, he called an ergency eting to discuss the East Blue incident.
"Hmph. The disappearance of Branch 16 is obviously the work of that dual-wielding swordsman. Otherwise, the timing is too perfect. Such an evil man should be executed imdiately. Send the Navy to eliminate him," Akainu snorted, clearly suspicious of Rorschach’s convenient presence near Cocoyasi Village.
"But we have no concrete evidence proving he was responsible for Branch 16’s disappearance, do we?" Vice Admiral Tsuru said calmly.
"Rashly turning a powerful bounty hunter into an enemy would be unwise," Aokiji added.
"The young people these days are really terrifying~ Even the Arlong Pirates were dealt with so easily. Not only is his swordsmanship impressive, but that Devil Fruit ability looks quite powerful too," Kizaru said lazily while sipping tea, casually forgetting that he himself had once easily defeated and captured Arlong.
anwhile, Garp had rushed to the location of Marine Branch 16. When he arrived, he found nothing but empty ocean. Not even a small island remained. The navigator on Garp’s ship thought they had gone to the wrong place. After triple-checking, they confird the entire base had simply vanished.
With no leads, Garp headed to the nearby Cocoyasi Village.
Upon reaching the island, he imdiately noticed the cheerful atmosphere. The villagers were all smiling brightly.
But the mont the Marines appeared, the people’s faces darkened. Doors and windows slamd shut one after another.
Garp was confused by the reaction. At that mont, a voice ca from behind them.
"Excuse , Navy sirs. What brings you to Cocoyasi Village?"
Genzo asked with a calm expression.
"Oh~ Finally soone who can talk. I’m Vice Admiral Garp from Headquarters. I’m here to investigate the disappearance of Marine Branch 16. Do you have any information?"
Seeing soone willing to speak, Garp flashed his usual carefree grin.
However, Genzo frowned slightly before returning to his neutral expression.
"Marine Branch 16? I’m not sure... But a few days ago, a masked man gave a letter. He said if any Marines ca by, I should hand it over to them."
Genzo pulled out the letter Rorschach had left him — full of evidence of Captain Rat’s cris.
Garp took the letter and began reading. The more he read, the darker his expression beca. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his hands trembled with rage.
"Those damn bastards... I haven’t been back to the East Blue in so long, and it’s already beco this corrupt?" Garp roared.
"It seems we have failed the people of Cocoyasi Village. I’m truly sorry."
Garp bowed deeply to Genzo, his face filled with genuine guilt.
Genzo stood frozen. He never expected a high-ranking Marine Vice Admiral to bow to a common villager like him.
"No, Vice Admiral, you’re being too hard on yourself," Genzo said, helping Garp stand up.
Garp let out a heavy sigh. There was nothing he could do about what had already happened. He only regretted not being here sooner.
"There’s one more thing I’d like to ask. It concerns the dual-wielding swordsman Rorschach. During the ti Branch 16 disappeared, did you see him? Did he act strangely at all?"
Here it cos. Genzo’s expression didn’t change. When Garp ntioned Rorschach, he smiled warmly and spoke with clear admiration.
"Rorschach? He is the great benefactor of our village. He’s the one who defeated the Arlong Pirates and liberated us and the surrounding villages."
"After the village was freed, we held celebrations for five straight days. Rorschach stayed with us the entire ti and showed no unusual behavior. He only left two days ago, saying he had a new journey ahead and wanted to continue traveling the world. Is there anything else you need, Vice Admiral?"
Genzo smiled as he spoke. Garp gave him a aningful look.
"No, we have a general understanding of the situation. We’ll send new Marines here to guard the area and investigate the disappearance of Branch 16."
"I promise sothing like this will never happen again."
Garp made a solemn vow, then led his n back to the ship. He imdiately pulled out a Den Den Mushi and made a call.
Bruu bru bru bru...
"Garp, do you have any new information?" Sengoku asked, putting the call on speaker so everyone in the eting could hear.
Garp relayed what he had learned: Branch 16 had vanished, and Rorschach had spent five full days in Cocoyasi Village with the villagers before leaving two days ago.
BANG!
"Those bastards have gone too far! Do they think they’re the emperors of the East Blue? How did such scum get into the Navy?!" Sengoku slamd his fist on the table in fury. He never expected a supposedly diligent Marine base to be so corrupt — even falsifying casualty reports to embezzle military funds.
"Imdiately notify the branch to revoke those n’s deserter records. Send people to apologize. If they’re still willing to join the Navy, bring them to Headquarters for re-education!" Sengoku ordered the recorder beside him.
"Yes, Fleet Admiral!"
The recorder quickly ran out to relay the orders.
Tsuru let out a helpless sigh. The room fell silent.
"If those bastards are still alive, they must all be court-martialed and executed," Akainu growled, barely containing his rage.
"None of that matters right now. The entire base is gone. They’re probably all dead. Let’s talk about this Rorschach instead. How should we handle him?" Aokiji said coldly. The news had left him fuming as well.
"Notify the lower ranks. If they encounter Rorschach, invite him to join the Marines and offer him the rank of Commodore. At this point, we have no evidence he was responsible. Rather than creating a new enemy for the Navy, it’s better to bring him into our camp," Vice Admiral Tsuru said calmly, her experience allowing her to analyze the situation rationally.
"Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll personally draft the recomndation for the Five Elders," Sengoku decided. No one objected.
The eting ended, and everyone left the conference room.
"Achoo!"
anwhile, out at sea, Rorschach had no idea a eting had been held about him because of Branch 16.
"Weird. Who’s thinking about ? I’ve sneezed several tis today. Did I catch a cold? No way, with the Steel Balloon physique, that’s impossible."
"Whatever. Ti to go cuddle with Nami."
Rorschach happily ran over to Nami’s side. Ever since Arlong’s death, Nami had beco extrely dependent on him and felt safe around him. After getting used to his constant cuddling these past few days, she no longer minded it.
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