Opportunity

Amidst the grandeur of the Marine Headquarters, Admiral Kong, strode purposefully down the marble corridors flanked by two promising young officers, Garp and Sengoku. 

Their uniforms pristine and their bearing resolute, they exude an air of determination and loyalty as they escorted their prestigious guests from Nature's Family towards the admiral's private office.

The sound of footsteps echoed off the polished floors, mingling with the hushed whispers of passing officers.

As they approached the admiral's office, the imposing double doors swung open to reveal a spacious chamber bathed in soft lamplight. 

Taking a seat behind his mahogany desk, with a gesture of invitation, Kong motioned for his guests to take a seat, the atmosphere in the room charged with anticipation. 

All this while Diana and Hercule were taking in the unique view of Marineford, especially Hercule.

"So to what do we owe this Pleasure?" Kong asked, as the two, Garp and Sengoku stood on the two sides of him.

"I presume that your Boss should have informed you of our visit right?" Ephon didn't answer right away but instead asked a question.

"The World Government(WG) did indeed notify us of your visit, Senior Ephon." Kong admitted.

'As I expected.'

Ephon lost count of the amount of WG agents that have secretly tried to infiltrate the Triangle, only to be exposed by the flying drones and the patrolling NF Marines. 

And the ones that do manage to pass through those two stages of inspections are quickly discovered by Diana, who not only has humans incorporated into her spy system, but also animals. 

And it's not like the WG haven't requested NF to return their agents to them, but NF didn't give the WG any face and would kill or use their agents for experiments and various other uses.

Eventually the WG paused their infiltrations after countless failures but the WG who had learnt about some of the Triangles transformations over the last couple decades could not sleep comfortably if they didn't monitor the movements of NF, so they stationed their officers outside of the Triangle in an attempt to monitor the outside operations of NF.

"I came here today to drop off my son." Ephon revealed nonchalantly.

"You mean?…" but Kong couldn't maintain his composure at Ephon's words.

"Yes, I would like to join the Marines Admiral Kong." Hercule stepped forward to clarify respectfully.

Sengoku's expression also changed, as the future resourceful general, even at this time his intelligence allows him to view things differently from other people.

Everyone that has wandered the Seas or plans on wondering the Seas will come across information about Ephon Jarilo. It's not that the WG hasn't tried to erase the existence of Nature's Family and even even tried to demonize them in their earlier years.

It's that the WG can't, it's just almost impossible now, Diana would make sure of that. From time to time she would make sure the stories of Nature's Family's various feats and good deeds become discussions for the pirates and civilians.

Ephon remembered how the legends of the legendary 'Rock Pirates' seemingly vanished from the history of the world like the void century, and only those that witnessed it knew about it. He didn't want that for his Nature's Pirate Group, because that would allow the WG to control the narrative of their history.

So Sengoku knew a lot about NF before he even joined the Navy, and combined with what he had learned after joining, he realized the long reaching impact of Hercule Jarilo possibly joining their ranks.

'Maybe we can regain some control' Sengoku thought.

"Of course we're happy to accept everyone who wants to spread Justice in these cruel seas." Kong replied after regaining his composure.

Kong had always wanted to carry out True Justice since he joined the marines, but because of the Marines dependance of the WG and fear of the WG's power, they can only obey all the orders of the WG.

But Kong, who knows many secrets of the WG, which includes top secret information about the WG's evaluation of the monster Ephon standing before him.

Felt that building a close connection with Nature's Family, who he learnt that even in their pirate days, never harmed civilians but rather helped them, and has probably sunk more pirate ships than the navy at the time they were active.

Would allow them to finally have the opportunity to reject doing the WG's dirty work, without worrying about them threatening to defund them, or forcing them through force.

Because even 50 years ago, NF could fight against the Marines, and WG together, even if the WG didn't go all out, much less now with their growing finances and technology.

And although Kong knows that the WG is hiding their true power, he doesn't believe that the WG would expose themselves just because Nature's Family and the marines have gotten closer.

But none of his thoughts would matter if Hercule isn't on board, and looking over at Sengoku who was trying to suppress his smile and Garp who.. Never mind Garp. But he was happy to know that Sengoku at least might have the same idea as him. 

"Alright, oh yeah, I want you to pass a message on to those 5 old guys, tell them I said, 'those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, I have not changed, I still enjoy solitude, but I have no problem cutting the strings of puppets if I have too'." 

Listening to Ephon's words, Kong, Garp, and Sengoku stood there in confusion at Ephon's words, but Kong still nodded his head.

"Alright, Hercule remember what I told you, keep a low profile, you said you wanted to become the Greatest Swordsman in the World, nothing is wrong with challenging some prominent Swordsmen once in a while, but focus more on the Academy." 

Pulling Hercule to the side, Ephon whispered some words of advice to Hercule.

"I understand Father." 

"Go talk to your mother, this is the last time you'll see her in a while, I don't want her nagging me to come and visit you after we've returned home." 

Hercule obeyed his fathers words and walked before his mother, Diana, who at this time, eyes were brimming with unshed tears. Unable to hold her sadness back she wrapped her arms around her son in a tight embrace, whispering words of encouragement and love. 

"You better be safe for mommy, otherwise I'll make your E destroys the Navy!" 

Although Diana was whispering to Hercule, whether it was done on purpose or not, her last sentence was overheard by Kong and his two proteges. Hercule could only let out an uncomfortable smile of reassurance at his mother's words.

With a deep sigh, Ephon turned to Diana, offering her a tender smile of reassurance. In that moment, they shared a silent understanding, a bond forged by love and sacrifice.

Together, they both walked out of Marineford headquarters without looking back to board their ship and start their journey back home.