Chapter 292: All Present and Accounted For
Meanwhile, in the One Piece world, at Mary Geoise, the Holy Land—inside a building of tremendously grand architecture—Fleet Admiral Kong sat in his office, the corner of his mouth twitching as he stared down at the two leave-request forms in his hands.
No need to guess who they were from. Obviously Sengoku and Kizaru.
Since Sengoku was Fleet Admiral of Marine Headquarters, any leave request of his could only go up the chain to Kong, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
After reading through both forms, Kong rubbed at his throbbing temple and muttered wearily to himself, "Why has Sengoku been requesting leave so often lately? He's the Fleet Admiral of Marine Headquarters, and he's already put in for time off twice this month—each time for several days straight."
"And Admiral Kizaru's even more outrageous—he's actually requested leave more times than Sengoku has. What exactly are these two up to lately? And the reason listed both times: 'wife is pregnant'?!"
If Kong didn't know the two men as well as he did, he might've actually bought that nonsense from those two old geezers. Between the two of them, Sengoku already had grandchildren; Kizaru, meanwhile, was a confirmed bachelor—forget a pregnant wife, the man didn't even have a girlfriend.
An excuse that flimsy would only fool the World Government's dimmest Celestial Dragons, if anyone.
And the real kicker: the excuse they'd used for their last leave request had been the exact same "wife is pregnant" line!
Tch... Letting it slide once was already generous enough. Pulling the same excuse a second time? Were they just grinding his intelligence into the dirt as Supreme Commander-in-Chief?
Or did they think he'd gone senile enough that he couldn't even see through something this obvious?
Kong had already tried reaching the two of them through Den Den Mushi before. Calling Sengoku, the call had been picked up by Admiral Aokiji instead. Calling Kizaru, it was Admiral Akainu who answered.
The whole thing had nearly made him cough up blood from sheer fury. Once those two troublemakers got back, he was absolutely going to sit them down and get to the bottom of whatever secretive nonsense they'd been getting up to.
Kong's anger was at a full boil—but Sengoku, currently serving as Fleet Admiral, had no idea, and honestly wouldn't have cared even if he did. He'd just toss out some throwaway excuse and let it slide.
After all, at this point, Sengoku no longer took the World Government's threats seriously in the slightest.
Of course, Kong was Sengoku's senior, a former Fleet Admiral himself—Sengoku still held a good deal of respect for him personally.
By now, Sengoku had already arrived on a massive island out in the New World. With the two-to-three-minute countdown having hit zero, every member of the chat group had gathered together on this island.
This was Whitebeard Pirates' territory—one of the rare inhabited large islands the New World actually had to offer.
Not that the New World was short on massive islands in general. The problem was that most of them simply weren't habitable. With the New World's notoriously unpredictable climate, islands actually suited for ordinary people to live on were an incredibly rare find.
As host for this event, Whitebeard hadn't skimped on preparations, either. Only a shame he'd had a mere two days to put it all together—otherwise he could have arranged for even more.
Having arrived on the island, Yakumo Yukari let the cool sea breeze wash over her and slowly opened her parasol, blocking out the sun's harsh glare just in time.
Her clear, striking eyes swept across the surroundings, and she said with genuine surprise, "Ooh, the One Piece world—second time here now. This place feels completely different from Fish-Man Island!"
The Dimensional Chat Group had twenty members total, and every single one of them had now made it to the scene—even Tony Stark, who was constantly buried in research; even Tatsumaki, who practically lived in the Arena; even the newest arrivals, Hoshino Hinata and Master Roshi, who'd barely joined recently. All twenty, present and accounted for.
Yukari's gaze settled on Hoshino Hinata, the newcomer who'd joined the group at the same time as Master Roshi. Hinata stood off to the side, visibly a little tense.
Understandable, given she was still an elementary schooler, and a character from an ordinary slice-of-life series on top of that—her very first crossover, meeting the whole group face-to-face for the first time. Of course she'd be nervous.
"Yaraya~ Little Hinata, no need to be so stiff and formal! Also, that illusion talisman I gave you earlier will make your family and friends believe you've been home this whole three days."
Yukari let out a light laugh, paused, then continued, "You and Sakura are closest in age out of everyone in the chat group. I think you two will end up close as sisters. Sakura wouldn't mind one more friend, would she?"
Sakura Matou gave a small nod, offering Hoshino Hinata an adorable smile. "Nice to meet you in person for the first time, Hinata-oneesan! Please look after me!"
Hoshino Hinata nodded quickly. "Y-yes! Please...Matou-san...no wait, please, Matou-chan...um, that's not right either...anyway...anyway just—please look after me too!"
Hinata's personality leaned fairly outgoing overall—if she'd been more of an introvert, adjusting to all this might have been genuinely rough for her.
Ryū took in the whole scene, let out a helpless little laugh, and spoke up. "Now this is how a big sister to all the female members ought to act. Actively fostering friendship among the group, how nice. Compare that to your usual self—driving the group off the rails every single day, corrupting the poor minors nonstop."
He gestured toward Kaguya, standing a short distance away, and deadpanned, "Look at Kaguya—you've already dragged her so far off the rails she's picked up 'driving' herself now. Just look at how many sins you've racked up over the past however-long."
"Ahaha! What lovely weather we're having today—not a cloud in the sky, sun's out gorgeous. Perfect conditions for fishing, don't you think? Should we go try catching some Sea Kings?"
Yukari let out a hasty, forced laugh and yanked the subject in a completely different direction—though her subject-changing technique was, frankly, a little clumsy.
There was absolutely no way she'd ever admit to corrupting any of the underage members. No, sir. She, the wise youkai sage, had never done any such thing!
Sure, her behavior right now might look exactly like guilty deflection—but as long as she never confessed to it, not even Admin himself could pin it on her without proof!
Right at that moment, Whitebeard, their host for the occasion, came striding over from one direction—his nearly seven-meter frame impossible to miss.
Trailing behind him came a string of Whitebeard Pirates, one after another.
Among them, Ryū recognized quite a few familiar faces—Marco, Ace, Jozu, and others, mostly the top-ranking commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Gurararara! It's been a good while, everyone! Welcome to Narsus Island, out here in the New World. Never thought old me would end up playing host someday!"
Whitebeard's booming, hearty laugh rolled out and reached every single ear present.
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