Soon, Hera discovered a major drawback of having her clones outside: they ate far too much. Although the clones looked small, their appetites perfectly inherited her own.
Under these circumstances, the reserves in Hera's City of Devouring Time were simply not enough. So, ignoring the pitiful gazes of her clones, she pulled them back into her City of Devouring Time.
Garp, who had originally wanted Hera to leave a clone by his side, saw her terrifying appetite and thought about the Marine's budget; he couldn't bring himself to say it.
After taking back the clones, an absurd thought suddenly appeared in Hera's mind: a scene where a large group of Little Heras gathered together and crunched on a planet like it was a biscuit.
She quickly shook her head, banishing the image from her mind.
After the events at Impel Down concluded, Hera brought Ace back to Marineford. Ace was now being held in the Marineford prison, waiting for that day to arrive.
Empress Hancock, who had arrived at Marineford ahead of time, saw Hera and immediately lunged forward, hugging her.
While nuzzling against Hera, Hancock said, "I have waited so long for you. You are finally back."
Hera quickly soothed Hancock's emotions. Only after promising to stay on Amazon Lily for a while after this incident ended did Hancock allow Hera to leave.
Afterward, Fleet Admiral Sengoku found Hera; there were some things he wanted an answer for from her.
Looking at Hera sitting in front of him, Sengoku couldn't help but feel a bit sentimental. He had essentially watched Hera grow up; it had only been a few short years from the time she entered the Marine Training Camp until now.
From needing to request backup to fight Whitebeard Jr. at the beginning, to now being able to briefly contend with Golden Lion, killing Blackbeard, and other feats, it even made him wonder if he was getting old.
Now, even he found it difficult to see through Hera's thoughts.
Sengoku said, "For this battle, the Navy has called in elite soldiers from all units. It is a battle where we can only afford victory. Do you have any thoughts?"
Hearing Sengoku sound so serious, Hera also turned solemn: "Rest assured, Fleet Admiral. The World's Strongest Man will not appear again. Moreover, I will protect those soldiers."
Hearing this, Sengoku breathed a sigh of relief. His greatest fear was that the Marine forces would suffer heavy losses. Since Hera had given her guarantee, he felt at ease.
Hera continued, "However, the other arrangements need to be changed. I'm afraid we won't be able to keep everyone who comes here this time. If the goal is total annihilation, it's still too much of a stretch with our combat power."
Sengoku felt a headache coming on. How could he not know this? The forces gathered this time were a bit too much; even Rayleigh had disappeared from the Sabaody Archipelago for a long time.
Sengoku slammed the table in anger: "I don't know who leaked the fact that Ace is Roger's grandson. Otherwise, it wouldn't have drawn in so many powerful figures."
Hera awkwardly looked up at the ceiling and began to whistle.
Sengoku seemed to realize something as he looked at Hera's behavior: "As expected, not a single person in Garp's family isn't a headache."
Hera quickly said, "Calm down, Fleet Admiral. I'm still waiting to inherit your position when I'm older. Don't worry, this battle will definitely showcase the momentum of our Navy."
Sengoku looked at Hera with some helplessness as a golden light emanated from his body. He asked, "No one can know our conversation here. Hera, what exactly is your goal?"
Hera pointed at the sky and smiled: "Fleet Admiral, don't you think that true justice should not let the greatest evils go unpunished?"
Hearing Hera's words, although Sengoku had already predicted it in his heart, he was still shocked by Hera's bold behavior. However, he quickly calmed down.
Sengoku said, "Fine. Anyway, I'm just an old man now. The future will be decided by you all. I'll act as if I heard nothing."
Hera said, "You're still young. How can you call yourself an old man? The Navy is still waiting for your orders."
Sengoku said nothing more, only reminding Hera: "In the Navy, I, the Fleet Admiral, am above the Three Admirals. In the World Government, there are the Gorosei. That is all I can tell you."
Hera knew that Sengoku was likely hinting to her that there was someone who commanded even above the Gorosei. Hera had already known about this for a long time.
Hera said, "Don't worry, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. What I want to do will surely succeed. And that day won't be too far off."
In Hera, Sengoku seemed to see the younger Garp who dared to throw a punch at the World Government. But Hera was younger and smarter than Garp. Although she wasn't there yet, in the future, her strength would surely surpass Garp's.
Sengoku said, "Is that so? I'll be waiting for that day to come. But for now, let's talk about this war first."
Hera suggested, "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, let's not bother with any schemes. Let's just deploy our full strength and clash directly with them. Let everyone see our Navy's battle where we don't back down even against powerful enemies."
Hearing Hera's words, Sengoku shook his head helplessly. He had just thought Hera was smarter than Garp, yet she was constantly thinking about direct clashes like this.
Hera continued, "They have Whitebeard and Rayleigh, but don't we have the Three Admirals? When the time comes, our top-tier combatants will clash directly. Those small fry won't be able to withstand the Haoshoku clashes."
Hera said excitedly, "Anyway, looking at it now, this battle is a contest between the top-tier powers of both sides. Why don't we just set our formation and have a showdown of the strong?"
Sengoku listened to Hera's words, feeling more and more helpless: "Why do you always want to fight like this? And speaking of top-tier power, we might not necessarily have the advantage. The officers of powerful Pirate Crews are no pushovers either."
"Especially people like Marco and Beckman; they also have the strength to briefly exchange blows with an Admiral without being at a disadvantage. We still need to make good use of our geographical advantage and prepare in advance."
"But one good thing is that the two groups might not arrive at the same time. We only need to cripple the Whitebeard Pirates first before dealing with the remaining Red Hair Pirates."
Realizing that Hera was completely unreliable in this regard, Sengoku kicked her out: "Alright, alright, leave the arrangements to me. Get out." He then began to think about strategy.
Hera was still a bit unwilling to have her plan rejected and wanted to defend her ideas for a few more sentences, but a wave of golden light gently pushed her out.
Hera was still muttering something: "Wouldn't it be fine to just fight directly? In the end, it all depends on the top-tier combat power anyway."
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