"So this is what you were scheming all along, Fleet Admmiral!"
Understanding Imu's true intentions, Orion chuckled.
"It really is just like you, Imu, to bring these political machinations into everyday matters. You really must be bored out of your mind!"
Imu remained silent, her dark crimson ripple-patterned eyes calmly fixed on Orion as if waiting for him to nod.
For some reason, ever since Orion seized power through a military coup and became the Marine Headquarters Fleet Admmiral, she found her emotions growing increasingly stable.
No matter what happened in Mariejois or what major events unfolded in the Grand Line, her first reaction had become strangely consistent—she always felt that as long as Orion was around, nothing was beyond resolution.
Noticing Imu's reaction, Orion suddenly leaned in and stared into her eyes.
"You're not thinking of using a contract with Aqua to keep me in check, are you?"
Imu, clearly accustomed to Orion's mannerisms, didn't flinch or pull away even as he moved so close their foreheads nearly touched.
Her tone remained as calm as ever, "Orion, you should have realized long ago that your Observation Haki can't read my thoughts. There's no need to test me like this. I trust you absolutely, and I hope you trust me in return. The reason I want Aqua to live in the Flower Chamber and become her teacher is that, for Aqua, no place is safer than the Flower Chamber!"
"As for contracts or the like, in the current Grand Line, aside from you, no one else holds any interest for me."
"However, I won't rush to force a contract with you through any means right now. That's not the way of a wise ruler."
"Because I have nothing but time. I can wait!"
"In a hundred years, you will be mine."
Hearing this, the corner of Orion's mouth twitched slightly.
Imu really was getting more and more suspicious!
With that thought, Orion leaned back into his seat and laughed.
"So sure that I'll be yours in a hundred years? You should know very well that gaining immortality isn't limited to signing a contract with you. As long as I find an Ope Ope no Mi user and undergo the perpetual youth surgery, I can roam the world freely just the same!"
"No matter," Imu replied, narrowing her eyes for the first time.
Even with her face veil on, she exuded a sly, fox-like aura.
"If you attain immortality, your loyal subordinates, the women who adore you, even Aqua—they will all turn to dust with the passage of time. In the end, the only one who will remain by your side is me."
"Enough, enough! Let's drop this topic!"
Unprepared for Imu's increasingly improper remarks, even Orion found it hard to handle.
He conceded, "As long as Aqua agrees, then so be it."
Hearing the first hint of compromise in Orion's tone, Imu narrowed her eyes into crescents, a trace of triumphant delight in her expression as she gazed at Orion with undisguised possessiveness.
"Aqua, Aqua—"
Suddenly, Luna's frantic voice echoed from the garden.
"Your Highness, stop! Please stop, my little princess! This is the Flower room, not the Fleet Admiral's residence! You mustn't dig, absolutely mustn't!"
Before Orion and Imu could react, Gunko's voice chimed in urgently.
"Aqua, you... these are all Lady Imu's favorite flowers! How could you dig them all up? Luna, what's going on? There are no hoes in the Flower Chamber—where did you find one?"
"I don't know either," Luna replied, clearly flustered as she glanced around nervously.
"Perhaps Aqua brought it from headquarters."
Aqua, brandishing a small hoe, looked up at Luna and then at Gunko, her large eyes blinking in confusion.
"Mama Gunko, didn't you make this hoe for Aqua? Back at Marineford's family quarters, you helped Aqua plant potatoes in Uncle Orion's yard."
Hearing this, Gunko also panicked.
The small hoe in Aqua's hand was indeed the one she had crafted herself back at Marineford.
Because Aqua loved digging in Orion's yard, and Gunko found the standard hoes too cumbersome, she had personally made this miniature version for the child.
Who could have imagined Aqua would bring the hoe to the Holy Land and, without warning, start digging up the Flower Chamber? In just a short while, she had uprooted over a dozen of Imu's most cherished flowers.
If Imu held her accountable, Gunko would be lucky to escape with her life!
Imu, too, was taken aback.
Aqua had been chasing butterflies moments earlier, but after just a brief conversation with Orion, the child had turned her attention to the flowers Imu had planted with her own hands.
Watching from a distance as the mangled flowers lay scattered across the ground, Imu's lips twitched faintly beneath her veil.
A foreboding intuition told her that allowing Aqua to remain in the Flower Chamber might not have been wise.
She had long been aware that farming was one of Orion's favorite pastimes.
Shortly after seizing power through a military coup and becoming Fleet Admiral, Orion had Zephyr clear a plot of land in the Holy Land for cultivation.
Moreover, his yard in Marineford's Marine family quarters was filled with potatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, and various other vegetables and fruits.
With Orion leading by example, Aqua was bound to follow suit, inevitably transforming her Flower Chamber into a vegetable patch sooner or later.
Wait—
Suddenly, Imu seized upon the most critical detail!
Aqua had called Gunko 'Mama Gunko'?
Gunko was merely a maid in her service—what right did she have to be addressed as "Mama" by Aqua?
At this thought, Imu—who had maintained stable emotions for some time—suddenly rose to her feet and coldly demanded.
"Gunko, what is the meaning of this?"
Hearing this, Gunko's body stiffened instantly.
Without daring the slightest delay, she swiftly turned and knelt on one knee before the pavilion, explaining herself.
"Aqua has... has dug up the flowers you planted—"
"It just some flowers. What's done is done!"
Before Gunko could finish speaking, Imu flicked her sleeve and stepped forward, looking down at Gunko from a superior position
"What Imu wants to know is why Aqua calls you 'Mama Gunko'? She is Fleet Admiral Orion's daughter, a status of utmost nobility. How could someone like you dare to aspire to such a relationship?"
"Huh?"
Gunko blinked, her mind briefly going blank.
Just then, Aqua came running over on her short little legs.
She lifted her delicate, adorable little face to look at Imu and said with a serious expression.
"It's not Mommy Gunko's fault! Aqua was the one who dug up those flowers. If you want to punish someone, punish Aqua!"
"She is not your mother," Imu said sternly, her face hardening.
"From now on, Aqua has only one mother, and that is Imu."