Grand Line — Marineford
The room was heavy with silence.
Not calm silence.
The kind that followed after too many things had already gone wrong and everyone in it knew the next words mattered.
Bartholomew Kuma stood in the middle of Sengoku's office like a black tower carved out of quiet. He had the same unreadable face as always. The same stillness. The same refusal to offer emotion even when the people around him were visibly drowning in it.
Vice Admiral Garp, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
He was furious.
"Where the hell did you send him?"
The words exploded out of him hard enough to shake the room.
Garp stood over Kuma with fists clenched, shoulders broad, eyes burning with the kind of anger that only showed when something had touched one of the few places in him that were still raw.
Kuma did not move.
"I do not know," he answered.
Garp's expression darkened further.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Kuma's voice remained flat.
"My Nikyu Nikyu no Mi does not let me choose a precise island by name. It launches someone in a particular direction. Nothing more."
Garp clicked his tongue violently.
"And what direction did you launch Tenjin?"
Kuma answered at once.
"To the southeast."
That made Garp pause.
Only for a second.
Then he turned.
Sengoku, Tsuru, and Gion were all there, each of them processing the information in their own way. Sengoku looked like he had aged five years since the Sabaody incident. Tsuru was thinking. Gion's expression had gone unusually still.
Garp folded his arms.
"Southeast from Sabaody," he muttered. "Where does that put him?"
It was Gion who answered first.
"The most likely first major territory," she said, voice controlled but serious, "would be the lands under Big Mom's influence."
The room sharpened around that statement.
Gion continued.
"Whole Cake Island. Or somewhere within Totto Land."
That changed everything.
Even Sengoku, who had already looked exhausted, visibly stiffened.
The thought was ugly.
A young Marine officer, launched unconscious into the New World, with Big Mom's territory being the most probable destination.
Garp didn't waste another second.
"I'm going there."
Sengoku's head snapped toward him.
"What?"
Garp turned immediately for the door.
"I said I'm going there."
Gion moved too.
Then stopped only long enough to say, "Take me with you."
That made both Garp and Sengoku look at her.
Her expression did not change.
"He's my student," she said.
The words came without hesitation.
Sengoku straightened behind his desk.
"Have both of you lost your minds?" he demanded. "We have a war coming. Preparations for Whitebeard are already underway. We are stretched thin as it is. We cannot spare people to charge off into Big Mom's territory on a rescue mission right now."
Garp rounded on him.
"So what?" he barked. "Should we just let a young Marine get killed by Big Mom?"
Sengoku's jaw tightened.
Because that was the problem.
That was always the problem.
His duty and his conscience rarely pointed in exactly the same direction, and when they didn't, the gap between them was exhausting.
As Fleet Admiral, he knew exactly what he should say.
No.
No unnecessary engagements.
No entering Emperor territory without full strategic preparation.
No reckless sentimentality when a war with Whitebeard was already looming.
But as a man—
As Sengoku—
The thought of leaving Tenjin alone in Totto Land sat wrong in his chest.
Garp saw it too.
Of course he did.
That only made him snort.
"You're thinking it too," Garp said. "You just hate admitting it."
Sengoku glared at him.
"This is not that simple."
"It is for me."
Garp turned and started for the door again.
Sengoku called after him sharply, "Garp!"
But Garp didn't stop.
Didn't slow down.
Didn't even bother pretending to reconsider.
He just kept walking.
And a second later—
Gion followed.
She simply moved after him with the quiet certainty of someone who had already decided the argument was over.
Tsuru watched them go.
Sengoku stayed where he was, fists planted against his desk, trapped again between his office and his own heart.
The door shut behind them.
And the room felt heavier than before.
---
Holy Land, Mariejois
The halls of the Holy Land were too clean.
Every corridor seemed designed not for living men, but for people who believed the world should remain polished in their presence. The marble shone. The banners hung untouched by dust. Even the footsteps of those allowed to walk there seemed muted by the weight of the place itself.
Through one of those long corridors walked a man with red hair.
Figarland Shamrock.
His stride was steady, sharp, and confident, the bearing of a warrior who knew both his place and his value. He did not hurry. Men of his station did not need to hurry. The corridor itself seemed to part around his purpose.
He stopped at a door.
Then pushed it open.
Inside, seated in a chair with all the cold authority of a man who had never once doubted the rightness of his own blood, was the Supreme Commander of the Holy Knights.
Figarland Garling.
His expression did not shift as Shamrock entered.
Shamrock stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
"You summoned me."
Garling nodded once.
"Yes."
There was no wasted motion in the room. No warmth either.
Shamrock's eyes rested on the older man, measuring.
"What for?"
Garling folded one hand over the other.
"Your younger brother," he said, "is in a bit of trouble."
Shamrock's brow lifted slightly.
That, more than any dramatic reaction, showed his interest.
The younger brother.
Tenjin.
The boy kept outside the Holy Land.
The one Pakudo had taken and hidden away.
The one Garling had not forgotten.
Shamrock's mouth curved faintly.
"I see."
Garling's voice remained level.
"He is most likely in Big Mom's territory by now. Whole Cake Island. Or one of the islands under her control."
Now the interest in Shamrock's face became more visible.
Real, focused curiosity.
"So," he said, "you want me to bring him back."
Garling nodded.
"Yes."
He leaned back slightly in his chair.
"You may take two other Holy Knights with you."
Shamrock gave a short smile at that.
A proper mission.
A family retrieval wrapped in an operation.
It was almost generous.
Garling's eyes hardened.
"And when you find him… you are to bring Tenjin here. To Mariejois."
Shamrock inclined his head once.
"Understood."
Garling continued.
"And if possible… leave an Abyss Mark somewhere on the island."
Shamrock's expression sharpened at the mention of it, but he did not question the order.
"As you wish."
For a second, the room was silent.
Then Shamrock smiled again.
This time wider.
More openly.
There was no mistaking the enthusiasm in it now.
His little brother.
The hidden one.
The one making noise even outside the Holy Land.
This mission had just become much more interesting.
Shamrock turned for the door.
"I'll retrieve him."
Garling said nothing more.
He did not need to.
Shamrock already wanted the mission.
And now, with the promise of meeting the brother he had only known through absence and whispers—
He wanted it very much.
---
New World — Totto Land, Cacao Island
The room was still scented too sweetly for Tenjin's liking.
Chocolate.
Cream.
Caramel.
Every breath reminded him that he was somewhere he absolutely should not be.
Totto Land.
The moment Charlotte Pudding had said the words, he had known exactly what that meant.
Not just Big Mom's territory.
Not just danger.
An Emperor's home.
Tenjin stared at her.
And Pudding, seated not far from his bed with that tray of absurdly excessive chocolate still near her, stared back.
"Totto Land?" he repeated.
"Yes," she answered.
Her tone was almost annoyingly simple.
Like she hadn't just told a Marine captain he'd crashed into the middle of one of the worst places imaginable for someone in his position.
Tenjin pushed himself up harder.
Pain shot through his side immediately, but he ignored it.
His eyes narrowed.
"You said that very casually."
Pudding tilted her head. "Should I have said it dramatically?"
Tenjin was not in the mood for that.
He looked around once more, then back at her.
"You know what place this is."
"Yes."
"You know who rules it."
"Yes."
And then, as if she had simply decided the line might as well be crossed fully—
Pudding added, "And I'm one of her daughters."
That did it.
Tenjin moved.
Or tried to.
He shoved himself off the bed on pure instinct, justice already taking over the part of his brain that usually handled self-preservation.
A daughter of Big Mom.
A pirate.
A Charlotte.
His hand reached forward, body trying to close the distance despite everything wrong with it.
"Then I'm arresting—"
Pain tore through his ribs and side so sharply that his legs nearly gave out underneath him.
Tenjin's face twisted.
Pudding's eyes widened.
"Wait!"
She moved quickly to catch him as he stumbled, hands reaching out on instinct to steady his shoulder and side.
Tenjin glared at her.
Pudding froze for just a second under the force of that look—
And then it happened.
Her hair shifted.
Her bangs moved.
And what had been hidden there was no longer hidden.
A third eye.
Closed—but visible.
Clear as day.
Tenjin stopped moving.
Pudding stopped breathing.
For a long second, neither of them said anything.
They just stared.
Tenjin's expression changed first. Not into fear, not into disgust, not even into surprise so much as sharp, focused curiosity.
Pudding's, on the other hand, went into full panic.
Her hands flew toward her bangs.
Her cheeks flushed in horror.
But before either of them could speak—
A voice boomed from outside.
"Pudding!"
Pekoms.
The voice was unmistakable.
Close too.
Very close.
Pudding's eyes widened instantly.
Then she turned back to Tenjin and whispered with absolute urgency—
"Hide!"
---
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