Crane and Garp went back to the Yuba docks, got on the warship, and left Alabasta.
…
A day and a night later.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
The hallway outside the Fleet Admiral's office.
Even here, the Marines passing by could hear the loud, high-pitched voice that only Celestial Dragons have.
"Useless, a bunch of useless people! What are you good for, you Marines!"
The voice was coming from the Fleet Admiral's office.
Sengoku was sitting in his chair, drinking red tea, and looking at the report on his desk, looking calm and relaxed.
A goat was walking back and forth in the office, sometimes eating some of the documents that Sengoku threw away.
On the desk in front of him, a fat Den Den Mushi was shouting loudly.
"I order you to immediately arrest those rebels... no, arrest those rebels in Alabasta, and then execute them!"
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi was the Celestial Dragon, Gudjoa Yasei, who had recently fled from Alabasta with his tail between his legs.
He had been yelling like that for more than half an hour, and no two sentences were the same.
It's hard to imagine that someone could calmly drink red tea and even work hard with such a loud background noise. Should we say, "As expected of the Marine Fleet Admiral"?
No—
If you look closely, you can see that Sengoku has two earplugs in his ears.
As expected of the "Strategist" Sengoku!
After all, this Den Den Mushi doesn't have video function.
…
Another half hour passed, and the Den Den Mushi finally stopped talking.
Sengoku slowly took off his earplugs and said calmly, "We know what you said, and we will take care of it as soon as possible."
"Hmph, good to know! Click..."
The Den Den Mushi hung up.
Sengoku coughed a few times and made sure the Den Den Mushi connection was cut off, then couldn't help but sigh.
Glad that's over!
At this time, there was a knock on the door.
Sengoku tidied up his desk and said, "Come in."
A tall and straight old woman then pushed the door open and entered. It was Crane Vice Admiral, who had just returned from Alabasta to Marineford.
"Tsuru-chan, you're back."
After all, Garp was with her, so Sengoku wasn't worried about Crane's safety. "What's your assessment of the situation in Alabasta?"
Crane put the rice crackers that Garp had brought for Sengoku on the desk, and then sat down next to him.
"This is what happened..."
Crane told him everything that happened in Alabasta, and finally gave her assessment.
The result of this assessment made Sengoku frown slightly.
Crane smiled, "You don't agree?"
"No, I believe your assessment, Tsuru-chan."
Sengoku shook his head. "It's just... I need to think about how to explain it to the Celestial Dragons. Those people are so annoying!"
Crane glanced at Sengoku, "If you want me to give you advice, just say so."
Sengoku then looked at Crane for help.
Crane said helplessly, "Contact the Five Elders directly."
"Indeed, the Five Elders can keep the Celestial Dragons in check." Sengoku nodded. "But what if the Five Elders also want to attack that emperor from eight hundred years ago?"
Crane snorted softly and said something.
A sentence that made Sengoku realize how serious Crane's previous assessment was—
"Then tell them that 'another' Whitebeard will appear on this sea!"
...
Back to the day before.
On the afternoon of the same day that the Marines left, Rowan led Cobra, Vivi, and Crocodile to a corner of the palace.
Few people come here, so the servants only cleaned it roughly, and there was still a lot of dust.
Cobra didn't care about this, after all, he has always focused on what is useful. He would even actively reduce the royal family's daily expenses to help the people affected by the disaster.
Vivi asked curiously, "Ancestor, what are we doing here?"
"Exploring."
Rowan replied with a smile.
Then, under Vivi's curious gaze, he gently stroked a stone brick on the ground.
The Sand-Sand Fruit power was activated.
Whoosh!
A stream of sand got into the gaps in the stone brick, triggering a switch.
Rumble!
There was a rumble from the ground not far away, and then it sank, revealing an inconspicuous entrance.
"This is the secret room I created back then. Only Nefertari and I know about it. He has the key, but I don't need it."
Rowan looked back at the surprised crowd and took the lead in walking down. The remaining three followed.
Crocodile was careful and remembered the location of the stone brick and the method of using the Sand-Sand Fruit power to trigger the switch.
But when Crocodile walked down the steps, he immediately forgot the method.
Because there was no need to remember it.
This was just a simple basement with only a table, two chairs, and piles of old documents and books. There were no Poneglyphs that he was interested in.
But Cobra and Vivi were different. They were much more curious.
After all, they had lived in this palace for many years but had never heard of such a secret room!
Vivi was still a child and her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Wow, the ancestor's secret base!"
"Vivi..."
Cobra was about to correct his daughter's name for the secret room of the two family ancestors, but Rowan simply laughed out loud.
"That's right, this is the secret base that Nefertari and I used to have!"
Rowan laughed very happily and recalled, "We came up with a lot of good ideas here!"
He gently raised his staff, pointed to both sides, and said:
"We agreed at the beginning that the left side would be mine and the right side would be his."
"I was responsible for the control of the overall strategy, and he was responsible for the details of governing the country."
The three followed the direction pointed by Rowan and saw the difference between the left and right sides of the room.
Rowan's left side was mainly maps and materials, with a blank space in the center, probably for hanging a map. There was still a third of a drawing left on it.
Time had eroded them, making these drawings and materials broken and incomplete.
The right side, which belonged to Nefertari, was piled with many books and folders.
They were carefully preserved and stacked neatly. Some were even covered with cloth, which greatly reduced the traces of time on them.
"Hahahaha, that's just his personality, so serious."
Rowan came to Nefertari's right side and gently wiped the dust off the bookshelf.
"Even the most brutal battlefield will eventually become a forest or desert, but the words recorded in history will become memories and last forever."
He opened a layer of cloth and carefully searched on the bookshelf. At the same time, he slowly said:
"In the past, the 'World Government' proposal was recognized by many countries and was beginning to take shape, but both Nefertari and I didn't like that kind of system."
"Then one day, Nefertari suddenly came to me excitedly and said that he had come up with a plan to deal with it. It was still just a draft and he wanted me to help him take a look."
"At that time, I was busy going to war, so this matter was delayed."
Rowan grinned and recalled, "Nefertari also repeatedly told me that the plan was placed in the secret base. Everyone had read it, and I was the last one."
Vivi was a little curious, "So, did ancestor read it?"
"No."
Rowan smiled gently and shook his head. "That was my last time going to war."
He was telling history, but the history itself was what he had experienced -
"I died in battle."
Cobra and Vivi were silent, while Crocodile raised his eyebrows and continued, "So, you're here to find that plan draft from eight hundred years ago?"
"Yes."
Rowan nodded.
Crocodile looked a little incredulous. "Hey, are you kidding me? The world situation has changed so many times in eight hundred years. How can a mere plan draft be useful?"
Rowan continued to search on the bookshelf.
"Little Crocodile, you don't understand Nefertari."
Suddenly, Rowan's eyes lit up and he took a stack of files that had not yet been bound from the bookshelf. He continued, "He is a genius."
Rowan took the files and sat on the stool on the left side of the table and began to look through them.
The three behind him couldn't help but feel curious and leaned over.
On the cover that had been eroded the most, the words "Four Seas Alliance" could be vaguely seen.
Rowan took off the cover and casually placed it aside.
The words on the first page inside were much clearer.
But what surprised everyone was that there was only one sentence written on the first page.
It was a neat handwriting written with a pen, a bit long, but the meaning was simple and clear -
"Rowan, if you read this draft when I'm not around, remember one thing: read one page and then put it away, don't throw it around. Handwritten documents don't have numbers, so it's very troublesome to put them back in order!"
"—Nefertari."
Rowan: "..."
After a moment of silence, Rowan suddenly laughed out loud, his laughter filling the secret base he shared with Nefertari.
"Hahahaha, that's just like you, Nefertari!"
He waved his hands again and again and said, "I know, I know, don't break the stool, okay? I'll help you put it all back in order later!"
"..."
Silence.
A moment of silence, no one answered.
Rowan kept waving his hands for a long time, but no one could slap his hand down like he was used to.
"..."
Rowan turned his head and saw Crocodile, saw Vivi, saw Cobra...
But he couldn't see that young and close friend who wore glasses, liked to wear robes, had a bit of a bookish temperament, always put on a serious expression, but would be the first to cry when drinking alcohol.
"Oh, that's right."
Rowan remembered.
He turned his head and looked at Nefertari's handwriting, murmuring:
"You're not here..."
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