After Rosinante left, the long-haired, long-bearded Five Elder spoke.
"Sengoku, Kong, come with us. Everyone else, rest and tend to the wounded."
Hearing the Five Elders' order, Sengoku and Kong exchanged glances, then nodded.
Soon after, the group arrived in the Five Elders' conference chamber.
The moment they entered, everyone's expressions turned grim.
"Sengoku, we are assigning the Navy a mission."
"...?" Sengoku looked at the Five Elders in confusion.
"From this battle, you should have already realized that Rosinante has gained access to the power of another world. It is a system of power entirely different from this one. We need the Navy to place someone at Rosinante's side and obtain that power," the Five Elders said.
Hearing that, Sengoku fell silent.
To take the power of another world from Rosinante's hands... how could that possibly be easy?
That was a man the entire World Government, even with all its strength combined, had been unable to defeat.
This was practically impossible.
"We are not asking you to steal it in secret. Let me make this perfectly clear. In that state he entered just now, Rosinante had already surpassed the limits of this world. Even if the World Government used its national treasure, it would still be extremely difficult to take him down. In that state where the Eight Gates Formation is fully opened, even Roger, who possessed transcendent power like Sovereign Domain, would not have matched him," the long-haired, long-bearded Five Elder said in a heavy voice.
If they had not known that Rosinante's power was beyond direct confrontation...
If even the national treasure had been unable to harm him...
then they would never have made such a massive concession.
They had even been willing to consider letting Rosinante become one of the Five Elders and take control of the World Government.
Of course, that was also because Rosinante possessed Celestial Dragon blood.
"Not to steal it in secret? Then that means to act openly? But if we do it openly, we have even less chance of obtaining that power," Sengoku said, puzzled.
"Who said anything about taking it by force? Since Rosinante accepted that Celestial Dragon identity card, that means he has once again become a Celestial Dragon. And when a Celestial Dragon is traveling outside, doesn't the Navy have the duty to assign an officer to protect them? Even if his strength means he doesn't need protection, protecting Celestial Dragons is still the Navy's responsibility. You should fulfill that duty," the round-faced Five Elder said.
"Assign someone to protect him? He'll probably think we're spying on him. If he doesn't just throw whoever we send into the sea to feed the fish, that would already be a blessing," Sengoku said bitterly.
"If you send a man, perhaps it really would go just as you say. But if you send a woman... especially a beauty... then things would be very different," the blond-haired Five Elder said.
"That's right. Based on what we know of Rosinante, in some ways he resembles his father. Calling it foolishness wouldn't even be entirely wrong. Though he can be decisive and ruthless when necessary, most of the time he still has a soft heart, especially toward women. If they pose no threat, he finds it very difficult to act harshly. We've decided to send Gion. She will be arranged to stay at Rosinante's side as his personal bodyguard. Whether by seduction, by theft, or by any other means, she must obtain the power Rosinante controls—especially the Eight Gates," the Five Elders said.
At those words, Sengoku fell silent again.
The meaning behind their words could not have been clearer.
They wanted Momousagi Gion to use her beauty to tempt Rosinante and draw out the power he had gained in the other world.
If necessary...
even sacrifice her body.
Gion was Tsuru's younger sister, and one of the few near-Admiral-level officers in the Navy.
She was important to the Marines.
For a soldier, sacrificing one's life when necessary was part of the job.
There was nothing strange about that.
As a military organization, the Navy lost countless soldiers every day in battle against pirates.
But asking a woman to sacrifice her body to seduce an enemy...
that was something else entirely.
And it would very likely earn Gion's resentment and disgust.
"Sengoku, this matter is of utmost importance to both the Navy and the World Government. I expect you to do a proper job of persuading Gion. Even if she cannot obtain that power, we still need one of our own at Rosinante's side to keep him calm. On his own, he is already enough to influence the balance of the entire world," the long-haired, long-bearded Five Elder said.
"Yes... I understand. I'll speak with Gion," Sengoku finally said in a low voice after thinking for a while.
Meanwhile, on some nameless island in the West Blue, Elsa was practicing the Three Basic Techniques Rosinante had taught her.
But because she still wasn't familiar with hand seals, she kept failing.
"Why is ninjutsu so hard? I can't even use basic techniques! Damn it, my chakra is obviously enough!" Elsa muttered, her face full of frustration.
"If it takes you two or three seconds just to make one hand seal, and even then it's sloppy, then of course you won't be able to use ninjutsu," a voice suddenly said.
Hearing that, Elsa turned around.
The moment she saw who it was, her face lit up with joy.
"Dad! When did you get back?" Elsa cried out happily as she pounced toward Rosinante.
"I just got back, and the first thing I saw was someone sighing and complaining," Rosinante said as he picked her up in his arms.
"Dad, these hand seals are way too hard! I feel like I'll never learn them in my whole life!" Elsa said bitterly.
Ninjutsu looked so cool...
But she was completely stuck at the learning stage.
"Now you understand how important the basics are, right? Hand seals are the foundation of the foundation for ninjutsu. Only after you've trained your hand seals properly can you really learn ninjutsu. Starting today, you're going to seriously train your seals. Once you can form three seals in one second, you'll be able to learn and use most ninjutsu. If you can form six seals in one second, then you'll be a true master of ninjutsu," Rosinante said with a smile.
"Six seals in one second? Impossible! Impossible!" Elsa said, refusing to believe anyone could do that.
"Practice makes perfect. There's nothing impossible about it," Rosinante said.
"Then can you do six seals in one second, Dad?" Elsa asked.
That question made Rosinante suddenly look a little awkward.
Back in the ninja world, he had indeed trained hand seals for a while.
But in the end, the fastest he had ever reached was four seals per second.
It wasn't that he couldn't improve further.
It was just that there was no need.
With his overwhelmingly powerful spiritual energy, when Rosinante used ordinary ninjutsu, he didn't need hand seals at all.
Only when he used advanced ninjutsu did he sometimes need one or two seals as support.
And as for why he still made hand seals during normal use?
That was purely because of habit.
And because, thanks to being influenced by the Naruto anime...
he thought it looked cooler that way.