Garp's words plunged the office into silence.
The leader of the Revolutionary Army was, after all, his son; blood is thicker than water.
If some accident were to occur during the battle, it would be hard to guarantee that Garp wouldn't be swayed by emotion.
The current situation had not yet reached a point where an all-out effort was absolutely necessary.
In the silence, Tsuru suddenly smoothed things over, saying,
"Garp's position is indeed sensitive; letting him go might instead cause unnecessary suspicion."
Garp burst out laughing:
"Suspicion? When have those old geezers ever trusted the Marine?"
"Forget it, no more talk about this; I'm requesting a vacation!"
His cloak whipped up a strong gust of wind, and without waiting for Sengoku's approval, he strode out of the conference room, leaving only the words, "I'm going back to the East Blue to see my grandson."
Borsalino looked enviously at Garp; he also wanted a spontaneous vacation.
Although Borsalino had tried his best to minimize his presence, he was still one of the most powerful individuals in the conference room at the moment.
His failure to be promoted to Admiral was simply because he was somewhat lazy; in terms of strength, Borsalino was in no way inferior to an Admiral.
Sengoku turned to look at the man with an "it's none of my business" expression:
"Borsalino, you'll act with Kuzan!"
Borsalino leisurely twirled his nail clippers:
"Oh, how scary~~ Mary Geoise is very dangerous right now~~"
Sengoku's forehead veins bulged at his tone; just as he was about to urge him, Kuzan already stood up:
"Let's go, the sooner we deal with it, the sooner we can come back to sleep."
"Eh~ How troublesome~~"
Borsalino grumbled, but his body honestly adjusted his uniform cuffs.
As the two reached the door, Sengoku's voice came from behind:
"Remember, prioritize the safety of the Celestial Dragons."
Aokiji's footsteps paused, and without turning back, he simply responded faintly:
"Understood."
Kizaru's figure dissipated into golden light, and Aokiji pushed open the door, letting the cold wind rush into the office.
"Hey, young Kuzan!"
Garp's voice came from outside the door:
"Don't push yourself too hard; it's not worth it for those pieces of trash."
Aokiji didn't answer, merely waved his hand, pulled down his eye mask, and stepped away.
Inside the office, Sengoku sighed deeply, rubbed his temples, feeling that this team was becoming increasingly difficult to manage... In the sea between Mary Geoise and Marineford, a small sailboat was currently floating, with only two people on board.
Eneru sat on the mast, holding an apple.
Eneru was no longer the scrawny figure Blake had first seen.
After nearly five years of training, Eneru had been completely reborn, subtly taking on some of the characteristics of the God of Sky Island from the original story.
As he brought the apple to his mouth, he mumbled,
"Why aren't they here yet? How much longer do we have to wait?"
"Don't rush~"
Lafitte sat on the deck, resting with his eyes closed, and said unhurriedly:
"What's meant to come will always come~"
"Instead of worrying about these things, you should worry about whether you can withstand an Admiral later~"
Eneru's eyelids twitched at Lafitte's sing-song tone.
Even though the two had trained together for several years, Eneru could never get used to his way of speaking.
Every time he heard it, he wanted to punch him in the face.
Lafitte and Eneru were here, naturally, because they had received Blake's orders.
In Blake's original plan, Eneru was supposed to eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, become a Emperor of the Sea, and, when necessary, tie down at least one Admiral.
But plans never keep up with changes.
According to the initial plan, the Revolutionary Army would attack Mary Geoise a few years later, under his guidance.
However, the conflict between Christopher and Garling developed too quickly, forcing him to make arrangements in advance.
If he missed this opportunity, no matter how Blake enticed him, the Sweating King would surely remain unshaken.
This also meant Eneru lost the chance to prove himself.
Moreover, Blake had more and more women around him, so the Rumble-Rumble Fruit would never fall to him.
However, Charlotte Linlin had inadvertently helped Blake, as Akainu was tied down in Totto Land.
But Eneru and Lafitte, these two hidden cards, still had room to play—
To obstruct the Marine's support for Mary Geoise!
Expecting Lafitte and Eneru to stop Kuzan and Borsalino seemed somewhat unrealistic.
But in reality, Kuzan would definitely come, while Borsalino might not.
It was normal for an Admiral to be present when such a major event occurred in Mary Geoise.
However, it was uncertain which Vice Admiral would follow.
Now, they had clearly encountered the unluckiest scenario.
Even so, it didn't matter, because Kuzan and Borsalino each had their own personality traits.
Ever since the Ohara incident ended, Aokiji had developed strong doubts about the Marine's justice, and he had also begun to become lazy.
In his view, many decisions of the World Government did not necessarily conform to "justice."
Therefore, Aokiji actually had considerable objections to the World Government.
He would not go all out in supporting Mary Geoise.
As for Borsalino?
He would rather not go!
Question: Is it safer to face Lafitte and Eneru on the sea? Or is it safer to go to Mary Geoise and face unknown situations?
For him, there was actually no danger in either scenario.
But if he could get paid by just putting on a show here, why would he go to Mary Geoise and fight to the death?
Under the eyes of the Gorosei, how much acting would that require?
"Look, it's not that I don't want to go, I was stopped!"
"Two guys I've never seen before, how scary."
It was probably something like that.
So when Eneru's Observation Haki noticed two figures—
The sea in front of Kuzan had frozen into a path, and he was leisurely riding his bicycle on it.
Borsalino followed closely behind, looking left and right, with no intention of speeding up to Mary Geoise.
When Eneru discovered the two Marine officers, Kuzan and Borsalino naturally also noticed them.
Are you kidding? How strong was Borsalino's Observation Haki?
Despite the overwhelming barrage of light bullets, and Law's submarine actively moving, he still managed not to hit it once.
When the two slowly approached, Borsalino pushed up his golden sunglasses:
"Two young men, could you please move aside?"
"The situation in the Holy Land is quite bad now~"
He pointed at Aokiji:
"Our Admiral is very anxious~~"
Lafitte stood up from the deck and bowed slightly:
"I apologize for obstructing you two~"
"But my purpose for coming here~ is to stop you two Marine gentlemen~"
"How troublesome~"
Borsalino feigned distress:
"In that case~ I'll just have to defeat you two first~"
"Enough!"
Eneru jumped down from the mast, slamming his staff hard onto the deck:
"Can you two please speak properly?!"
Upon hearing this, Kuzan, still on his bicycle, actually nodded in agreement.
Not just Eneru, even he felt like punching those two in the face.