Under the night sky, the sea breeze swept across the fortress of Marine Headquarters, the place that claimed to protect the world in the name of Absolute Justice.
Seagulls occasionally cut across the air, briefly caught in the beams of the massive searchlights that swept the night above Headquarters, only to vanish again into the darkness.
Right now, Marine Headquarters was ablaze with light.
At the most remote corner of the harbor, in a spot usually used for stacking miscellaneous junk, Zephyr sat cross-legged alone.
It was quiet and out of the way, which was exactly why Zephyr always chose to sit here by himself. Beside him was his favorite sherry, a bottle labeled "JEREZ."
"Hahahaha, I knew I would find you here."
Just as Zephyr lifted the JEREZ and took a big swig, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
He did not need to turn around to know who it was. Marine "Hero" Garp.
The man who had stood with him on the front lines against pirates in the same era, and who still fought to this very day.
"I heard about it. A terrifyingly strong brat, right?"
Garp plopped down cross-legged at Zephyr's side and, without the slightest hesitation, grabbed the bottle of JEREZ and took a long drink.
"He is very strong. And he cannot even use Haki. His ability is a bit special, but I can say for sure it is not a Devil Fruit. His body has been tempered again and again, a solid, hardened physique."
Zephyr shifted slightly to the side, making more room.
"Looks to me like you have found yourself a prized disciple again. You have already trained so many outstanding brats, and now another one shows up," Garp said, pulling a large bag of senbei from his coat and setting it down beside the bottle.
Zephyr took a piece of senbei, chewed it slowly, then swallowed. One hand came up to his forehead. "I have to admit he is a new recruit very much worth cultivating, but he is also one hell of a headache."
"Hahahahaha. I heard about that from Kuzan. The brat talked back to Sakazuki to his face today, right? Hahaha, and even asked him about salary."
Garp had just bitten off a huge chunk of senbei when he remembered and burst into loud laughter.
When he finally stopped laughing, one of the strongest vice admirals in the Marines had a mischievous grin on his face as he looked at Zephyr. "Still, you are pretty good at dealing with that kind of thing, aren't you? Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan, Momousagi, Chaton, and all the others... every single one of them was a problem child back in the day."
At that, Zephyr rubbed at his brow, clearly recalling just how much trouble those people had caused during their academy days. Then his brows lifted and he looked at Garp. "What about your grandson? This trip back to the East Blue, did you not go to bring that kid in as a marine?"
Hearing that, Garp was the one to get a headache.
He grabbed the JEREZ again and took a heavy gulp before speaking. "That little bastard still resists me with everything he has. And the other little brat actually went out to sea and became a pirate. I only saw his wanted poster on the way back. What pisses me off the most is that the idiots in the World Government actually invited him to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
Zephyr could only shake his head helplessly at that. He had no right to interfere with his old friend's family, but he still felt some guilt.
He had taught Garp's son at the academy. After graduation, that man had walked out of the Marines altogether.
Now, that same man's name shook the entire world, branded as "the world's most dangerous criminal."
"Getting old, after all," Garp said quietly. He knew very well the knot in Zephyr's heart. Seeing the look on his face, Garp deliberately changed the subject, his eyes dropping to Zephyr's hand.
The fingers of Zephyr's left fist had one digit splinted. It had been broken.
"Yeah," Zephyr said, not bothering to hide it. He simply nodded.
"A monster of a new recruit, huh," Garp sighed again. After that, he looked out at the sea stretching before them. "Looks like all of you really are getting old. When I saw Kong last time, that guy said his back hurt. Sengoku too, you can clearly see he is not as sharp as he used to be. And now even you have been injured by a brat."
"Stop talking like some youngster watching the old men fall apart."
Zephyr shot him a sidelong look.
"Puhahahahaha. I am talking about you lot. Do not forget, I am a man who can work another twenty years before retiring. No way I am admitting I am old already."
"Stubborn idiot."
Zephyr muttered it, but there was no real bite to it.
He picked up the bottle of JEREZ again, raised his head to look out over the pitch-black sea, and began humming softly under his breath, the melody of that song... "Guidance of the Sea."
...
At the same time, in a certain rented room in the little town of Marineford...
After finally finishing all the unpacking and arranging, Aren walked to the window that faced the sea. From now on, this place would be his home.
He pulled out a chair, sat down, and took a notebook from the drawer of the desk.
With pen in hand, he wrote on the first page.
Sea Calendar 1517, June 18, Thursday.
Today I was forced to work eighteen minutes of overtime. This is the sixth overtime this month, already more than last month's total. I absolutely will not work overtime again this month.