The sun hung high overhead, bathing everything in warm light.
After eating and drinking their fill, Kairo and Garp moved into the courtyard and took their seats.
Having already grown familiar with Kairo, Tashigi refused to leave his side. Carrying a small stool, she followed him into the courtyard and sat down beside him.
Stokes and the others had all been chased back to their quarters by Garp, leaving behind a complete mess that had Tsuru and Momousagi sighing as they cleaned up.
"Kairo, I assume Gion already told you that it was Fleet Admiral Sengoku who wanted you brought to Marine Headquarters."
Taking a sip of the tea Tsuru had served, Garp turned toward Kairo, who was lazily reclining in his chair and gazing at the sky.
"Do you know why?"
"Because he's worried?"
Without changing his posture, Kairo kept his eyes fixed on a drifting cloud overhead as he calmly analyzed the situation.
"He's worried that one day I'll stop traveling... and end up standing against the Marines. So he wants to give me some kind of position affiliated with the Marines, doesn't he?"
"It'd be a lie to say he isn't worried."
Garp nodded.
"After all, as Fleet Admiral, he has to consider every possibility."
"But this time, you've misunderstood Sengoku a little."
"He and I genuinely hope you'll join the Marines. You've spent all this time traveling the seas as a traveler while doing the very things the Marines ought to be doing. That's... a bit awkward."
"So Sengoku wants to offer you a very special position."
"Please don't."
Kairo sat up and looked at Garp with complete seriousness.
"I'm used to living freely. I don't like other people arranging my life."
"And that's exactly why Sengoku hasn't made a final decision."
Garp spread his hands.
"That's why he wanted you to come to Marine Headquarters and talk face-to-face."
"Every trace of your journey through the Four Blues is piled up in his office."
"Everything you've done has been righteous. You're already a role model for Marine soldiers and young officers alike."
"But your status inevitably affects how people view your actions."
"So Sengoku and I have been trying to find a position that won't interfere with your travels."
"If you're willing to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea..."
"We won't interfere with anything you do."
"You won't even have to obey mandatory summons from the Marines."
"You'll be free to do whatever you want."
"Those privileges would belong to you alone."
"And they'd represent the trust we place in you."
"Mr. Kairo is going to join the Marines?"
As soon as Garp finished speaking, the quiet Tashigi suddenly looked up in confusion.
"Then... what about our travels?"
"No way!"
"Mr. Kairo can't agree to that!"
"If you become a Marine... then I'll have to become one too..."
"Waaah..."
"What's so bad about becoming a Marine?"
Seeing Tashigi look so aggrieved at the very idea, Garp immediately exploded.
"Brat!"
"Becoming a righteous Marine is the only path for you!"
"Do you know why?"
"Because your mother was a Marine."
"Your aunt Gion is a Marine."
"So you have to become a Marine too!"
"A traveler?"
"Hmph! Not a chance!"
"No!"
Tashigi sprang to her feet and planted her hands on her hips, glaring right back at him.
"I want to become a traveler just like Mr. Kairo!"
"That's my dream!"
"Your dream is to become a great Marine officer like your Aunt Gion!"
Garp glared back with bulging eyes.
"What is wrong with kids these days?"
"One after another, nobody wants to become a Marine!"
"You're going to drive this old man crazy!"
Watching the pair argue back and forth, Kairo simply smiled and leaned back in his chair again, letting the alcohol wear off.
"Hm?"
The instant he looked back toward the sky, he froze slightly.
Far above, among the endless clouds, a dark silhouette was gradually taking shape inside an enormous white cloud.
Even from this incredible distance, Kairo could clearly make out the shadow forming within the cloud mass.
At first glance...
It resembled a gigantic dragon hiding among the clouds.
"Is it... going to rain?"
As the white cloud slowly darkened under the spreading shadow, Kairo blinked in confusion.
Still, sudden weather changes were nothing unusual on the Grand Line.
A clear blue sky could become a torrential hailstorm in the blink of an eye.
But just as Kairo assumed it was merely another bizarre weather phenomenon...
The dragon-like shadow suddenly disappeared.
A tiny black dot emerged from the cloud—
—and began plummeting straight toward the ground.
"...What's that?"
Kairo instantly sat upright and shouted at the still-bickering Garp and Tashigi,
"Quiet!"
The moment the words left his mouth, his Level 9 Observation Haki silently spread outward, covering the entirety of Marinford.
The instant his Observation Haki enveloped the island...
Two faint voices drifting from high above entered his senses with perfect clarity.
"...Marine Headquarters..."
"...I'm... back..."
At the same time...
Startled by Kairo's sudden shout, both Garp and Tashigi immediately fell silent and instinctively looked toward the sky in the direction he was staring.
"Whoa!"
The moment she looked up, Tashigi exclaimed in surprise.
"Something's falling from the sky!"
Garp also looked upward.
The instant he realized that the descending black dot was headed directly for Marine Headquarters, his expression changed dramatically.
Without hesitation, he shot upward in a single leap, landing atop the roof.
Standing there, he stared fixedly at the rapidly enlarging shadow overhead.
Whatever it was...
It was falling far too fast.
So fast that neither Garp nor Kairo could make out exactly what it was.
"This is bad...!"
"This is really bad!"
Watching the black object plunge toward Marine Headquarters with unstoppable speed, Garp's expression became extraordinarily grave.
Holy hell...
That thing is...
As the distance between the black object and the ground shrank at an astonishing rate, Kairo suddenly shot to his feet.
Without a moment's hesitation, he scooped Tashigi into his arms and flashed out of the courtyard at top speed.
The instant Kairo cleared the courtyard with Tashigi...
The black object crashed into the grassy field between Marinford Town and the Marine Headquarters building like a massive bomb.
BOOOOOOM!!
A deafening explosion shook the heavens.
An unimaginably powerful shockwave erupted in every direction.
Everything in its path was flattened in an instant.
Even Garp's residence was left swaying on the verge of collapse under the overwhelming blast.
A towering cloud of smoke surged into the sky, covering hundreds of meters before spreading rapidly in all directions.
When the smoke finally began to clear...
A gigantic crater more than thirty meters across had appeared where the impact occurred.
Its depths were so great that the bottom could not be seen.
To be continued...
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