A full year had slipped by.
He had resolved to come here and see her.
Though his mind had been made up long ago, the plan was always that the moment their voyage brought them past this meridian once more, they would meet.
From a certain perspective, Drake's actions could easily be viewed as a form of avoidance; after all, that letter had been handed directly into his grasp.
Now that an entire year had passed without a single word of reply, it certainly looked as though Drake had been running from the matter, leaving her stranded without an answer.
In truth, Drake had reasons of his own. This year of silence was time he gave to Weitian, and time he gave to himself.
He did not know whether her words back then had been an impulsive whim or born of fleeting passion in the heat of the moment.
This year had been meant to let her cool down completely. A year might not be an eternity, but it was far from brief.
It was more than enough time for both of them to think through everything that lay ahead!
And today, one year later, he had arrived.
"Go on, Drake! We'll just wander around the area," Kenshin said with a casual wave, urging him to hurry along.
Stepping off the Demon Warder, the crew fixed their eyes on Drake.
They knew full well that Drake had waited a long time for this moment.
"Go on, get moving."
Drake smiled faintly, turned, and strode off, tossing a wave over his shoulder before his figure gradually faded from their sight.
The path ahead was clear and unobstructed, leading him swiftly to the ruins of what had once been the sacred ground. The area had been comprehensively rebuilt into the central headquarters of the New World Government.
Marine Headquarters was stationed right alongside it.
This setup reflected the New World Government's absolute resolve to oversee the entirety of the world.
Standing before the office door, just as Drake hesitated over whether to knock, a voice sounded from within.
"Since you're here, come in."
His outstretched hand froze in mid-air. This woman knew he had arrived?
Drake was genuinely startled.
Observation Haki?
Since he had already been detected, Drake hesitated no longer and pushed the door open.
The furnishings inside were vastly different from what he remembered. Previously, because of catastrophic structural damage, the office had been austere in the extreme.
Apart from a single desk and chair, practically nothing had remained.
Now, everything that ought to be present was neatly arranged—there was even a standalone wardrobe, to the point where an outsider might mistake the office for a private residence.
This indirectly reflected just how devotedly Weitian approached her duties as Fleet Admiral. At that moment, she was buried in paperwork, not even lifting her gaze when Drake entered.
Not wishing to disturb her, Drake pulled the door shut softly and settled onto a nearby sofa.
Time ticked away in silence.
At first, Drake took in the room's decor with curious interest. Yet once he had scrutinized every corner and turned his attention back, Weitian remained entirely motionless, poring over document after document.
Drake made no move to interrupt, quietly watching her focused profile as she worked.
Before long, he found himself thoroughly mesmerized. As Weitian processed the paperwork, her brow would furrow, smooth out, and knit tightly once more.
Yet her hands never slowed for a second. The miniature mountain of scrolls and folders dwindled at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Finally, she opened the very last docket.
Right then, Weitian spoke up abruptly, "Could you brew me a cup of coffee?"
She asked without lifting her eyes from the parchment. Drake let out a soft sigh, rising and heading toward the credenza in the back.
While taking in the room earlier, he had already spotted a syphon coffee maker sitting on the counter.
That made it obvious Weitian relied on coffee on a regular basis; otherwise, she wouldn't have kept a syphon brewer in her primary office.
She was running herself ragged!
As he brewed the roast, Drake's eyes drifted toward Weitian unbidden.
Perhaps this was simply how this woman looked when throwing herself entirely into her duty.
Once the coffee was prepared, Drake carefully set the cup upon a tray and carried it over to her desk.
Setting it down, Drake caught sight of the tight furrow etched between Weitian's brows. He couldn't help feeling curious—what sort of crisis could prove so intractable that even Weitian found it thorny?
"Just set it down," Weitian murmured, lost in thought.
Her gaze never wavered from the file. A casual glance over her shoulder was enough for Drake to grasp the subject matter.
"That's merely a natural phenomenon. There's no need to worry."
Weitian's head snapped up, her eyes widening in sheer shock. "Y-You... what did you say?"
"Wait! Why are you here? Where is Xiaoguang?" As the realization hit her, she asked hesitatingly, "Could it be... it was you the entire time just now...?"
"Yes, it was. Why? Did you think it was someone else?" Drake nodded, only now realizing that Weitian had mistaken him for a subordinate all along.
"Yes, I assumed it was my assistant, Xiaoguang," Weitian admitted with a nod.
"By the way, what did you mean by a natural phenomenon?" She fixed a profoundly curious stare on Drake. The document in her hands was marked with the highest urgency rating.
It detailed a massive conundrum currently plaguing the entire globe: a quiet, pervasive shift was sweeping through the climate, with baseline temperatures rising across regions worldwide.
She had been convinced a grave catastrophe was brewing.
Yet no matter how hard she racked her brain, she had failed to deduce the underlying cause.
Similar intelligence briefs had been landing on her desk at regular intervals, originating from entirely different quadrants of the world.
"Has this strange temperature anomaly been developing gradually? It wasn't obvious at first, and only recently became pronounced enough to draw attention, right?"
"How did you know that?" Weitian's delicate eyes widened in disbelief.
Long-term intelligence reports mirrored that description to the letter.
Hearing her confirmation, Drake grew entirely certain of his diagnosis. This was a classic greenhouse effect.
Factoring in the apocalyptic blaze that had incinerated the global dark mist back then, the deduction was straightforward.
Yet that was likely not the primary driver.
"If I remember correctly, ever since legends of the Divine Flame spread across the seas, holy fire banquets and sacred flame festivals have become immensely popular worldwide, haven't they?"
"That is the root cause."
Drake had suddenly recalled that because of the Divine Flame, communities across every sea had developed the habit of lighting massive bonfires to celebrate holidays of all sizes.
Under such conditions, a noticeable uptick in global temperatures over the course of an entire year was hardly a mystery.
Meeting Weitian's bewildered gaze, Drake laid out the mechanics of the phenomenon step by step.
Listening to his explanation, sudden realization washed over Weitian's face.
The tight knot between her brows smoothed out at last. Leaning back into her high-backed chair, she let out a long, heavy breath of relief. If that was the case, it wasn't a systemic crisis after all.
"See? It isn't a problem worth losing sleep over. You're just being overly anxious. Here, your coffee." Drake held the warm cup toward her.
Yet Weitian made no move to take it, staring transfixed at Drake's face for a long, unblinking moment.
"What's... the matter?" Drake asked hesitatingly.
"Why did you come?"
"I..." Drake parted his lips, about to answer, when Weitian blurred across the short distance, throwing her arms tightly around him.
"Why... why did you only come now?"
His mind, which had been racing to calculate what to say, ground to a dead halt as his entire frame stiffened into rigid stone.
"Don't you know I've been waiting for you all along?! Why... why did you make me wait for so long...?"
By the end of her sentence, Weitian's voice was trembling, thick with choked tears.
Drake's mind went completely blank. He had no idea what had brought this on, or why Weitian would show such raw vulnerability.
Then, clarity struck him like lightning!
So that was it... All this time, you were waiting for my answer—waiting for me to come to you!