chapter 70

Third person's point of view:

At Marine ford, inside the fleet admiral's office, Fleet admiral Sengoku can be seen sitting behind his luxurious wooden desk, going through various reports with a tired expression on his face.

'That bastard Garp actually did the smart thing for once by declining promotions,' The fleet admiral thought to himself with a forlorn expression as he stopped working for a second to heave a long, tired sigh.

'All those years I spent fighting dangerous pirates and criminals didn't kill me, but all of this paperwork will definitely be the end of me,' He thought as he closed his eyes, remembering his younger days in the field with a smile that quickly turned bitter as soon as he opened his eyes and saw the mountain of paperwork stacked on his desk.

Sengoku sighed again as he opened the drawer on his desk, intending to take out a pack of fried rice crackers he stashed there earlier to indulge in them and forget about his problems for a minute or two.

"GAAAAAAARP,' Sengoku exclaimed loudly enough for his voice to reverberate all over the Marine ford when he opened the drawer, only to find it empty.

Merely seconds after Sengoku's rage-fueled exclamation, a smirking Garp entered his office with an opened bag of fried rice crackers, devouring them shamelessly as he did.

"Do you need something from me, Sengoku?" Garp asked with a shit-eating grin as he took a handful of fried rice crackers and stuffed them in his mouth, chewing on them remorselessly while looking the enraged fleet admiral in the eye.

"Don't play stupid, Garp," fleet exclaimed while pointing his finger at Garp accusingly. "How many times have I told you to stop stealing my fried rice crackers," Sengoku added, his tone showing more and more anger as Garp kept eating without giving him any attention.

"Don't be so mad. I'm sure you can buy as much as you want with how much the world government is paying you as a fleet admiral," Garp said with a bored expression while picking his ear with his pinky.

"Just because I can buy more doesn't give you the right to steal my snacks, Garp," the fleet admiral kept shouting, but Garp kept eating the crackers, seemingly uninterested in what he had to say.

"In the first place, what kind of marine hero steals his superior's snack? Marine hero, my ass. You're just a cracker thief," Sengoku then proceeded to scold Garp for an entire minute, only stopping when he noticed the vice admiral's lack of response.

"Don't fall asleep while you're being scolded, you bastard," The fleet admiral shouted, veins bulging in his forehead as he took a stabler and threw at Garp's face, hitting right in the nose and waking up the dozing vice admiral.

"You're still talking?" Garp asked blearily with an annoyed expression as he made his way to a cabinet in the room, opening it and taking out another pack of fried rice crackers.

Looking at this scene, Sengoku was about to lose his patience and lunge at Garp to punish the vice-admiral for stealing his snacks, but he forcefully calmed himself down as he heard one of the transponder snails on the table ringing.

"Report Captain Hina," the fleet admiral said with a calm voice after taking a deep breath as he watched Garp take a seat, opening the cracker packet and stuffing crackers into his mouth.

"Oh, is that little Hina? Tell her I said hi," Garp said with a beaming smile after he heard Sengoku speak, causing the latter to send him a dirty look without replying.

"Greetings, sir. Hina is calling about a somewhat sensitive issue," Hina replied with her usual stoic tone, causing the fleet admiral to frown while Garp didn't seem to be interested. "Do you wish for Hina to speak now, or would you like for Hina to wait until you go somewhere more private?"

"It's ok. Speak freely, captain Hina," Sengoku said after taking a look at Garp.

"Yes, sir," Hina said and paused for a minute, trying to figure out the best way to pass the headache Johnny threw into her lab to the fleet admiral.

"Do you remember the bounty hunter in west blue, Johnny silver hand that you asked Hina to investigate a while ago, sir? The pink-haired captain asked, her tone hesitant.

"I do. Like I said, speak freely, captain Hina. There's no need to hesitate," Sengoku replied with a patient tone, but his frown deepened as his sixth sense predicted a new headache.

"Isn't that the brat you mentioned some time ago?" Garp asked while stuffing a cracker in his mouth. "Is he causing trouble already?" the vice-admiral asked with a smirk while chewing his food, but Sengoku kept ignoring him, causing him to pout as he stuffed more crackers into his mouth.

"As you know, Hina has lost a wager against him, causing Hina to owe him a favor," the pink-head remarked, taking a deep breath. "He contacted Hina several minutes ago, asking me to find out why several cp9 agents attacked his crew in Kano country," Hina explained quickly with one breath.

Hearing Hina's words, the fleet admirals' face darkened as he found himself speechless for an entire minute, and even Garp stopped eating, his hand holding a cracker near his open mouth coming to a halt, but he shrugged it off and kept eating after merely one second.

"Are you sure he's been targeted by cp9 agents?" Sengoku asked after gathering his wits, his expression still darkened by the revelation.

"Hina's very sure, sir. Johnny would not make such claims unless he's certain about them." Hina replied with no signs of hesitance in her voice.

"Do you know what happened to his companions that the cp9 agents attacked?" Sengoku asked

"He did not tell Hina what happened to them, but Hina imagines they managed to fight the cp9 agents off somehow," the pink head replied.

"What makes you say so? Cp9 agents are all cold-blooded killers, trained to be assassins since they were children," Sengoku asked in a confused tone, seemingly bewildered at Hina's words.

"That man would not bother with asking Hina to find out what's happening if his companions were killed or seriously injured," Hina explained with a sigh. "He would have found them and dealt with them himself if that was the case," she added, her voice a mixture of many complicated emotions.

"I understand. I will have someone look into this matter and inform you of my findings, depending on how sensitive the conclusions will be," the fleet admiral stated with a grave voice. "Until then, you are not to mention this matter to anyone. Dismissed," He ordered, hanging up the call with a sigh.

"And you wonder why are so short-staffed compared to the increasing number of pirates swarming the seas?" Garp asked in a leisurely tone as he watched the gleet admiral hang up the call and put down the transponder snail.

"I don't have time for your nonsense Garp, so make yourself useful and go tell vice-admiral Tsuru to come to see me here." Sengoku said while sending the vice-admiral another dirty look as the latter got up, making his way outside his office and not forgetting to raid another one of his fried rice crackers stashes on his way out.

-0-

Johnny's point of view:

It's been an entire week since I called Hina, and I didn't hear anything back from her, causing whatever patience I had to fade away with each passing day.

Even now, I feel my patience fading little by little with every step I take as I pace around my room. The very idea that the people who attacked my crewmates are so close to me and I can't do anything about them is driving me insane, no doubt because of the vengeful perk.

I've tried to vent my anger, which I had been barely able to keep hidden from everyone except Wilson so far, by training, going on a rampage, and catching almost all wanted people in Kano country. I even occasionally went diving deep into the sea, brutalizing all unsuspecting sea monsters I came across.

"Captain, that Obbi guy is back again, asking for a cut of bounties you've claimed," Came Laffite's voice from outside of my room's door.

"Tell him to fuck off," I exclaimed with an impatient voice. "Better yet, make him disappear tonight. I have no patience to deal with that piece of trash right now," I concluded while trying to calm myself.

"Take Kozue with you while you're at it. She should be able to move by now, and she should be able to make his disappearance untraceable to us," I added after taking a deep breath, finally calming down a little.

"Will do, captain," Laffite replied, and I could barely hear his footsteps as he turned around to leave even with my enhanced hearing.

I spent several more minutes trying to calm myself after Laffite left by meditating without much success, causing me to get up with a sigh, intending to massacre a sea monster or two to vent my frustrations since most wanted people in Kano country have already fled the island, or they're hiding so well even Laffite can't find them.

I, however, had to stop just as I was to open my door's room and go outside as I heard my transponder snail ringing, causing me to hastily pick it up and answer the call while making my way towards a chair to sit.

"Hello, Johnny. This is Hina," Came Hina's voice from the transponder snail as it morphed to resemble her Likeness.

"Do you have something for me, Hina?" I asked impatiently as soon as Hina stopped talking, even forgetting to greet her back.

"Hina managed to get some information. Are you alone?" the pink-haired marine asked, her tone hesitant.

"I'm all alone. You can talk," I replied, trying to prepare myself for whatever Hina was about to tell as I was very sure that it would be bad news since even the cp9 were involved.

"There are two probable reasons for the cp9 to target you," Hina said with a grave voice. "The first one is that a recording of you singing reached Mariejois somehow, and one of the celestial dragons said that he would be happy if he had a slave who can sing like you," she explained her voice a mixture of strain and disgust.

"A celestial dragon, you say?" I asked in an icy voice. "They attacked my crew because some fat pig in a bubble wants a slave who can sing?" I asked, my grip tightening around my chair's armrest, causing it to fracture and splinter, groaning as it exploded in my hand.

"Calm down, you fool. Do you want to get us both killed by saying such things?" Hina replied quickly, with some panic in her voice.

"Don't do anything stupid. Besides, the cp9 agent could be targeting you because the marine's SSG (special science group) is interested in your mechanical arm," she added quickly, trying to calm me down.

"Don't worry. I know what I have to do now," I replied to Hina, my voice still cold but calmer nonetheless. "Getting this information can't have been easy, so thank you, Hina. I owe you a big one." I added, hanging up as I got up and made my way outside.

"Wilson, you stay on the ship and don't go anywhere today," I said as soon as I came out of my room and spotted Wilson. "That goes for you two as well, Elly, Byron," I added as I turned to look at the other two.

"Fine, but where are you going with a face like that?" Wilson asked while pointing at my scowling expression.

"I'm going to make some people regret the day they were born," I replied without stopping as I made my way to the railing and jumped off the ship, not waiting for Wilson to say anything else.

(Author's note: discord gg/sEtqmRs5y7 <—- the link to my discord server it already has a couple of awesome guys with memes and constant discussions about one piece)