The sky gradually darkened as the setting sun cast its glow across the sea, painting the waves with rippling red hues under the ocean breeze.
This tranquility didn't last long before a small boat cut through the water like scissors, splitting the reflected sunlight in half.
On the deck, Luffy, who had mostly recovered by now, walked up to the bow and asked Naruto with curiosity.
"Fox-face uncle, do you know that guy... what's-his-name... Arleg?"
After hearing Luffy's words, Naruto, who had just calmed down a bit, sighed helplessly.
"I told you to just call me Naruto… never mind, just call me whatever."
Shaking his head, Naruto began to explain.
"…Arlong? No, it's not really about him. It's mostly because I promised someone that I'd take care of his people."
"That idiot thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he's in the East Blue."
"He has no idea how stupid his actions are… completely trampling on all the efforts fish-men and merfolk have made over the years."
"How dare he claim to be a companion of that guy Jinbei?"
Both Jinbe and Arlong started as thugs from Fish-Man District.
But the former, in order to secure pardons for other wanted fish-men and ease tensions between their race and humans, swallowed his pride and joined the Seven Warlords, agreeing to work under the Marines.
The latter, after being spared, still refused to behave and instead went to the East Blue to torment weaker villagers.
It can be said that if Arlong's actions were exposed and amplified, all of Jinbe's hard work over the years would be for nothing.
Luffy's single-track brain couldn't process all that information, so he just tilted his head and asked Naruto.
"I don't quite understand. Anyway, we just have to beat him up, right?"
"...Well, you're not wrong."
"Shishishi! Then it's easy!"
Looking at Luffy's silly grin, Naruto's anger faded. He stared at him for a moment before sighing deeply.
'Seriously, in this way, he's just like Captain Roger, huh?'
Just then, a voice called from behind.
"Hey! You guys, food's ready."
Sanji walked onto the deck of the small boat, carrying a tray. A lavish spread of dishes was already laid out on the table in front of them.
In the end, Sanji had accepted Luffy's invitation… perhaps because he was moved by Luffy and Zoro's unwavering courage in the face of adversity, or maybe simply because he wanted to pursue his own dream.
Either way, after a tearful farewell with Zeff and the other chefs at Baratie, Sanji officially joined the Straw Hat Pirates.
Before leaving, Naruto made sure to use his Haki to finish off Krieg and his remaining crew.
He told Zeff to turn them in for their bounties as payment for the meal.
'Joke's on them… who did they think they were dealing with? In all his years at sea, when had Uzumaki Naruto ever skipped out on a bill?'
'… Well, the Yakitori Q incident didn't count. That restaurant wasn't on the sea, anyway.'
'Besides, Iruka-sensei had covered the bill for me, hadn't he?'
Thinking of that, Naruto remembered, 'Next time I go back, I must remember to repay Iruka-sensei for covering me.'
Eating without money was a last resort, but after completing this mission, he'd be getting a decent reward.
Not to mention, he'd also picked up quite a few 'abandoned' valuables and cash from Gato's vault. Even with his appetite, that should last him at least three to five years.
Letting a good teacher like Iruka spend his already modest salary to clean up after him didn't sit right with Naruto.
As he pondered this, Naruto casually held down Luffy, who was frantically fighting for food, before elegantly stuffing an entire lobster tail, which is as thick as an arm, into his mouth.
"Hey! Fox-uncle, that's cheating! That was my meat."
Amid the noisy chaos, the boat sailed on toward Cocoyasi Village.
…
Marineford, inside an office at Marine Headquarters.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku massaged his temples as he finished reading the documents in his hand, then placed them at the edge of his desk.
A goat that didn't look particularly smart slowly walked over and began chewing on the papers marked as Marine's classified documents.
Everyone in the room was used to this sight, so no one said a word.
Crunch, crunch…
When he heard the grating sound of chewing, Sengoku, who was already exhausted by the troubles caused by the World Government, couldn't help but slammed the table.
"Garp! How many times have I told you not to eat senbei in here?"
On the sofa in front of him, Vice Admiral Garp, known as the [Hero of the Marines], sat sprawled out lazily.
As if he couldn't hear Sengoku's roar at all, he continued munching on senbei while flipping through the newspaper on the table.
After a few crunchy chews, crumbs of the senbei scattered all over the couch, making Sengoku even more irritated.
But aside from yelling a few times, there wasn't much else he could do about this old bastard.
"Sigh-"
Forcing himself to calm down, Sengoku regained his composure as the [Resourceful General].
At that moment, Vice Admiral Tsuru, who is seated on another couch, suddenly spoke up.
"Sengoku, take a look at these two reports."
After saying that, she placed two sheets of paper in front of Sengoku.
There wasn't much content on the paper, but it made Sengoku frown deeply.
"The leader of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon, has appeared in the East Sea and is suspected to be related to the rebellion of a certain kingdom."
"Uzumaki Naruto, a former crew member of Gold Roger, has appeared in the East Blue and defeated the Krieg Pirates."
Just two simple lines, but they carried information explosive enough to throw the entire East Blue into chaos.
Neither Dragon nor Naruto were the type to sit still.
Both of them were troublemakers, each worse than the last.
At some point, Garp had stopped snacking and was now standing beside Sengoku, peering over his shoulder at the reports.
Sengoku completely ignored this somewhat presumptuous behavior…in fact, he wanted to hear what this old fool had to say.
After all, one of these walking time bombs was his own son, and the other had certain ties to him as well.
"Hahahahaha, So they've both come to the East Blue, huh? Come to think of it, it's been years since I last saw them."
Hearing that, Sengoku seriously considered slapping those papers right into Garp's face.
He knew this old bastard was clearly trying to avoid getting involved, so he turned his gaze back to Tsuru.
And Tsuru seemed to have already anticipated this.
"If I recall correctly, Uzumaki Naruto had contact with the Revolutionary Army years ago. In fact, back at Mary Geoise..."
When she said this, as if realizing she shouldn't bring up that incident, Tsuru paused briefly before continuing.
"For these two elusive and dangerous individuals to suddenly appear in the East Blue at the same time… There is indeed a high probability they're planning something big."
"We must arrest them immediately!"
Sengoku's stance was firm.
Of course, he knew the chances of actually capturing either of them were slim, but at the very least, he had to prevent whatever scheme they were cooking up.
In his mind, there was no way Naruto and Dragon appearing at the same time was a coincidence.
"Then we should dispatch an Admiral directly."
Tsuru's suggestion was reasonable. After all, sending Vice Admirals against these two would just be sending lambs to the slaughter.
"Send Sakazuki."
She said this knowing that while Akainu Sakazuki's methods were often overly harsh, his results were reliable.
This was a clear jab at a certain Admiral who failed to eliminate all targets during a Buster Call.
However, Sengoku rejected Tsuru's proposal.
"He's currently tied up in the New World. He won't be able to make it back in time."
"Then Borsalino-"
"He's at Sabaody Archipelago..."
'Now, we can only choose one between Garp and Kuzan?'
Tsuru shook her head and fell silent, 'It seemed Sengoku had already made up his mind.'
"Notify Kuzan. Have him pursue Uzumaki Naruto."
After giving the order, Sengoku sat back down and rubbed his temples.
Meanwhile, Garp, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being side-eyed, pulled out another senbei and resumed crunching away.