Chapter 291: The Navy's Three Problem Children
Honestly, everything had played out exactly the way Ryū suspected it would—Sengoku genuinely didn't care about the World Government anymore. Between his own strength skyrocketing and joining the Dimensional Chat Group, his whole mindset had shifted for good.
Sure, him and Kizaru heading over to Whitebeard's territory would draw some attention. But you couldn't wrap fire in paper forever.
And besides, this was a sanctioned group event. No reason to sneak around like some furtive little thief crossing into the new world.
None of that bothered Sengoku in the slightest, though. His current strength gave him an enormous amount of confidence these days—he couldn't be bothered to care about the Celestial Dragons at this point, even a little.
Would there be trouble? Absolutely. The Five Elders would definitely come calling for a talk afterward, and there was a real chance things could come to a full break between them.
Not that a full break would even be such a disaster. Worst case, the Navy's funding would take a temporary hit, and once he found a proper alternative income source, the Navy could shake off the World Government's leash entirely and become something new—something massive in its own right.
Sengoku was confident he could pull it off. After all, he and Whitebeard—one of the Yonkō—had grown quietly close behind the scenes these days. They'd even fought side by side, risked their lives together.
"Hah. No point stressing over this stuff now. I'll deal with whatever comes my way when it actually comes—whether that means flat-out breaking ties or spinning some flimsy excuse full of holes, I'll figure that out later."
Alone in his Fleet Admiral's office at Marine Headquarters, Sengoku let out a wry, helpless laugh. He knew dwelling on it now wouldn't accomplish anything, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
The Navy's budget was stretched thin enough these days that hosting the Dimensional Chat Group members at Headquarters itself was obviously off the table.
But that Whitebeard fellow definitely wasn't hurting for cash. Don't let the fact that he rarely raided merchant ships fool you into thinking his crew was poor.
In reality, just from collecting protection money across the New World, the Whitebeard Pirates pulled in an astronomical sum every single month.
Honestly, Sengoku found himself a little envious of the man. Word was Whitebeard had already started handing off more and more authority to his sons—showing every sign of easing into retirement.
When do I get to retire? Problem was, who exactly would he even hand things off to?
The three Admirals of Marine Headquarters were, each and every one of them, problem children.
Sakazuki, if he ever made Fleet Admiral, would unquestionably be the hardest-working one of the bunch—the trouble was his sense of justice ran too extreme, and his temperament was a bit too volatile.
Borsalino, that lazy monkey—no need to even elaborate. The man had taken the concept of "lazy" and perfected it into an art form.
If he could lie down, he'd never sit. If he could sit, he'd never stand. If he could stand, he'd never walk. If he could walk, he'd never run...
And on top of that, his wishy-washy sense of justice always left people with the nagging feeling he couldn't be relied on.
Honestly, the candidate Sengoku himself favored most in his heart was Kuzan, who'd eaten the Ice-Ice Fruit. Kuzan's sense of justice was the one Sengoku respected—and backed—the most.
Except Kuzan was just as much a problem child as the other two. His laziness ranked a close second only to Borsalino's, and he had a habit of dozing off at random.
Who knew—maybe he'd be handling paperwork for a solid fifteen minutes and then just inexplicably fall asleep mid-task.
Just thinking about the three problem children running Marine Headquarters gave Sengoku a headache. He'd already gone fully gray-haired at this point—if it weren't for the hair dye, he'd look like a full-on white-haired old man by now.
Scrolling through the Dimensional Chat Group's conversation, Sengoku let out a light chuckle, muttering to himself, "Good thing I joined the chat group. With my Constitution strengthened, judging by how active my cells are these days, I bet I've got at least a few more centuries left in me."
Living too long wasn't necessarily a good thing, sure—but who wouldn't want more time, if they could get it? There was so much more a person could accomplish with a few extra centuries than with a mere few decades.
Senbei Is So Tasty: Hold on, don't Borsalino and I need to head over to the new world ahead of time? I mean, group events should just be a matter of thinking about it and instantly arriving at the location, right?
RawrSoFierce: Yeah...no need to go early. Once the time hits, you just cross over directly and you'll be right there at the event site.
Admiral Kizaru: Which island is Whitebeard planning to use as the venue for this one?
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! Obviously an island within old Whitebeard's own territory. Fish-Man Island's out—bit too far. I've got a large island in my territory, home to over a million residents.
Edward Newgate: All sorts of entertainment facilities up there, and there are plenty of smaller islands nearby too—every single one with completely different weather and terrain.
My True Form Is Cola: Wait, every island has different weather and terrain? Even two islands right next to each other?
Senbei Is So Tasty: Yep, completely different. Even if two islands are only a few hundred meters apart, the culture, geology, climate—all of it can be wildly different. It's the New World, after all. One island could be summer, and swim a few hundred meters over to the next one and it's suddenly winter.
Street-Corner Illustrator: That's kind of amazing...but does that actually make any logical sense?
Terrible Tornado: Eriri, aren't you the one who draws manga for a living? Since when does looking for "logic" in a fantasy setting count as anything other than being a pedantic killjoy?
Street-Corner Illustrator: Eh? Ahem...yeah, fair point actually!
Eternally Seventeen: Well, the group event doesn't start for another two days—this humble self is going to spend that time really pushing to awaken my Ki sense. Maybe I'll actually pull it off this time?!
Eternally Seventeen: Then it won't just be Admin-sama who gets to show off around here.
RawrSoFierce: ...I don't think I've ever "shown off" once in my life? Where's this delusion even coming from?
Kaguya-sama: Because Yukari-nee suffers from persecution complex. Yep, that's exactly it.
Eternally Seventeen: #2 Permissions Hound hereby issues a 10-minute mute warning.
Kaguya-sama: Yukari-nee! I'm sorry! My bad!!!
RawrSoFierce: Pfft...caving that fast, incredible.
[...]
After pulling his consciousness back out of the Dimensional Chat Group, Ryū figured he ought to do a little prep of his own for the upcoming group event—like, say, finally using the bathroom, since he hadn't gone in several days.
He'd just been about to go handle that particular biological matter when the group event notification had popped up out of nowhere, and then he'd gotten sucked into chatting in the group for a while on top of it, which meant he'd now been holding it in for a solid half hour.
And it wasn't just that—he hadn't washed his face once since coming out of the Arena, and he hadn't showered in almost a full week. Even though his skin had no trace of sweat or body odor, and even his clothes didn't smell the slightest bit off, it still left him with a nagging, uncomfortable feeling—especially for someone like Ryū, a Southerner born and raised.
Once a person gets used to showering every single day, even on a day their body's perfectly clean, skipping the shower just leaves them feeling off. That's just habit for you.
Of course, being from the south, Ryū was still plenty envious of northerners for one thing at least—no cockroaches the size of a lighter up there.
...
Time ticked steadily onward, and the two days passed by quickly. For the Dimensional Chat Group, two days was barely the blink of an eye.
Right now, Ryū was flipping through The World of Intimacy, the book Kakashi had given him.
Credit where it's due—Jiraiya's writing actually had some genuine merit to it. And it wasn't even the kind of content unsuitable for younger readers, either—just mildly suggestive at most.
When the clock in Konoha hit 10:36 AM, the Dimensional Chat Group in his mind threw up another notification.
[The group event "New Year's Grand Carnival" begins in just 3 minutes! All members wishing to participate, please prepare yourselves. Countdown: 02:59...02:58...]
This particular pop-up wasn't just visible to Ryū—every single member of the Dimensional Chat Group could see it too.
"Guess it's time already... good thing I put in that feedback request for a batch-crossing permissions feature last time—finally works now."
Ryū slowly closed the book in his hands, slotted it back onto the shelf, and murmured to himself, "A little over two minutes left, and then it's back to the One Piece world."
Having already flipped on everyone's crossing permissions in a single batch, Ryū used the remaining two minutes to turn his attention back to the chat.
Eternally Seventeen: Ugh, damn it! Really thought I'd manage to awaken my Ki sense in these two days. Guess I still need another day or two.
Eternally Seventeen: So frustrating! Why does this humble self's talent fall so short of Admin-sama's?!
Kaguya-sama: I mean, it's a completely different world's cultivation system, right? Like, if Admin-sama tried cultivating Gensokyo's magic system...he might spend his entire life at it and never get anywhere either.
Eternally Seventeen: Hmph...at least Little Kaguya knows how to comfort a girl.
RawrSoFierce: Everyone's crossing permissions are open now. Once the timer hits zero, just think it and you'll cross right over.
Little Sphere: First time visiting Whitebeard-ojii-sama's world too—can't wait!
Crazy Diamond: Same here, extra excited since there's an event gift box this time too.
Eternally Seventeen: UNACCEPTABLE, this humble self didn't pull anything decent out of the gift box last time! This time I'm making Little Kaguya-chan open mine for me!
Kaguya-sama: Eh? Me? What if I don't pull anything good either?
Kaguya-sama: I mean, luck's kind of a mystical, unpredictable thing!
RawrSoFierce: Don't worry, Kaguya—no matter how bad your luck is, it's still nowhere near as bad as Yukari's.
Eternally Seventeen: ...ouch, that one actually hurt.
[...]
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