"Where's Kizaru? And where's Amamiya Noah?"
Sengoku stepped into the conference room, scanning the gathered high-ranking officers.
Two seats stood out immediately—completely empty.
"I sent Kizaru to fetch Noah," Garp replied casually, not even looking up.
Noah being late to meetings was nothing new.
Sending Kizaru to drag him here was practically standard procedure by now.
"Hm?"
Sengoku frowned. A bad feeling crept up his spine.
Those two together… never meant anything good.
For all he knew, they were probably off slacking somewhere again.
"No need to search. They're just downstairs."
Aokiji pushed up his eye mask and lazily pointed out the window toward the training grounds.
Sure enough, down below, two men lounged peacefully in deck chairs like retirees at a beach resort.
Even from here, their relaxed expressions said it all—completely unbothered by the world.
Sengoku stepped to the window, squinting down at the two snoozers.
"These damn bastards…"
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
Unfortunately, there was no way for him to reach them from up here.
"…Aokiji—never mind. Sakazuki, go get those two shameless clowns and bring them in."
He had originally intended to send Aokiji, but the moment he noticed the man still wearing an eye mask, his eyelid twitched hard.
He had a terrifying thought—what if Aokiji just joined them down there?
Amamiya Noah was already giving him enough headaches as it was.
The guy was a walking disaster.
How long had it been since he joined the Marines? And look at him now—he had already corrupted Kizaru!
The once-motivated Noah now had zero interest in work.
All he thought about was how to slack off.
And this was supposed to be one of the pillars of the Navy's next generation!
The youngest ever to reach Vice Admiral—it proved how exceptional he was.
But now?
He was turning into the second coming of Kizaru.
That thought alone gave Sengoku a migraine.
Dealing with one Kizaru was bad enough.
"Hmph!"
Akainu stood up with his usual rage-fueled energy, like someone had just stolen his lunch money.
A few minutes later, all three men entered the meeting room together.
Kizaru had that signature sleazy grin on his face, and the moment he sat down, he casually pulled out a nail clipper.
A total pro at this. Even Sengoku couldn't do anything about him anymore.
Meanwhile, Noah still had his eye mask on. Sengoku had no idea how he even walked up here wearing that.
He wandered over to an empty seat and slumped down like a sleepwalker.
Kizaru raised an eyebrow.
This guy…
He hadn't even fully woken up.
He must've gotten here on pure muscle memory.
Good grief...
Kizaru internally gave Noah the highest title he could think of:
"King of the Slackers."
BAM!
Sengoku slammed his fist down on the table with a thunderous crack.
Everyone jumped in their seats.
Staring at his furious face, no one dared make a sound.
The wrath of the Fleet Admiral was clearly on full display.
"Noah! Wake your lazy ass up already!"
His voice echoed through the room like a shockwave, making Noah's hair flutter.
"Jeez, Sengoku-san, why're you so pissed this early in the morning?"
"I came to the meeting, didn't I?"
Noah peeked lazily in Sengoku's direction—but didn't even bother removing the eye mask.
There wasn't a shred of respect in his posture.
"It's because of people like you that I get this mad!"
"Sit up straight!"
Sengoku's face turned pitch black with fury. He couldn't believe Noah had the audacity to talk back in front of everyone.
And in a room full of officers, Sengoku had still tried to spare him some dignity.
"Yes, sir."
Noah half-heartedly adjusted his eye mask, sat up for maybe three seconds… then slumped back onto the table again.
"…Forget it."
Sengoku sighed in defeat.
His eyes drifted over to Kizaru, who was still trimming his nails…
Then to Aokiji, who was clearly spacing out…
Then to Garp, munching loudly on senbei as if this were some kind of picnic.
It was starting to feel like no one in the entire damn office was taking this seriously.
…Except one.
Akainu. Sakazuki.
The only one left who resembled a proper Marine.
"Let's just begin the meeting."
Sengoku forced himself to ignore Noah for now.
Whether he liked it or not, Noah had become the face of the Navy in recent years.
Two years ago, he had joined the Marines—and in just six months, he'd risen to the rank of Rear Admiral.
He'd taken down countless pirates, including some powerful figures from the New World.
In a short span of time, his name had spread like wildfire across the seas.
He had become the Navy's new symbol of strength in the New World—an answer to the decaying influence of Garp's legend.
Garp's reputation had been stretched thin over the years.
But Noah's sudden rise gave the Navy a fresh icon to rally around.
In fact, Sengoku had been grooming Noah to become the next "Hero of the Marines."
Of course, the outside world didn't know this.
But Sengoku? He knew all too well.
Ever since Noah became a Rear Admiral, he'd basically turned into a sloth.
Always lying in bed, or passed out in his office chair.
He didn't even handle his own work—he just dumped it on his subordinates.
Sengoku had been forced to push him out on a few missions himself.
Only then did Noah bring in some major pirates, just barely earning his Vice Admiral stripes.
That alone had brought the Navy a ton of publicity and renewed public trust.
Sengoku had been paving a golden road for Noah, preparing him to take the leap to Admiral.
But now?
Noah was dragging his feet. No—he had thrown the brakes on entirely.
He had no intention of taking that next step.
"The New World is starting to unravel."
"A lot of chaos lately—especially from the Beasts Pirates."
"That crew has been openly expanding their territory and have even made moves near one of the World Government's affiliated nations."
Sengoku pulled out a map and pinned it to the wall, pointing to a specific sea zone.
That area belonged to a government-affiliated nation—one that paid a large tribute of Heavenly Gold every year.
But for some reason, Kaido had the guts to target it.
"Was it one of the All-Stars who went?" Tsuru asked, frowning. That region had weak naval support.
The Navy didn't have many forces stationed there. If the Beasts Pirates really sent one of their core members, stopping them would be impossible without reinforcements from HQ.
"No… it was the Flying Six," Sengoku replied with a shake of his head. "They brought along their so-called 'monsters.'"
He had looked into it.
The All-Stars wouldn't waste their time on something like this.
"Why would Kaido's crew go after that place?" Garp asked, clearly confused.
Those guys were like hyenas—unless there was blood in the water, they didn't move.
What kind of small kingdom could possibly interest the Beasts Pirates?
"That country produces a rare type of metal. For now, it's under World Government control…"
"And I'm guessing Kaido has his eyes on it."
Sengoku sighed.
What could they do when pirates had better intel than the Navy itself?
Then again, a lot of things the World Government did were kept secret—even from him.
Even the Fleet Admiral didn't always have clearance.