"Vice Admiral Garp, are you alright?!"
The adjutant rushed over at once and asked with concern,
"Sir, I saw that rabbit hit you so hard you coughed up blood several times. Should I call a doctor to take a look?"
"Rubbish!"
Garp shot him a glare and snapped irritably,
"This old man was not beaten until he coughed blood!"
"And besides, this whole misunderstanding is your fault. If you hadn't ordered the cannons fired at them, I might be drinking with that boy right now!"
"…Huh?"
The adjutant blinked, then pointed at the blood still lingering at the corner of Garp's mouth.
"Vice Admiral Garp… you really did cough blood."
"I'm not dead, am I?!"
Garp stood up, brushed aside the adjutant's hand when he tried to help him, and waved impatiently.
"Change course to the Goa Kingdom immediately and buy ten pairs of canvas sneakers. Red ones!"
"Yes, sir!"
The adjutant didn't dare delay and turned to carry out the order.
Just then, the Den Den Mushi in Garp's arms rang.
"Buru buru… Garp. It's me, Sengoku."
Hearing the familiar voice, Garp quickly took out the snail and responded with his trademark laugh.
"Wahahaha, Sengoku! What made you think to contact me?"
"I heard from Smoker that your warship barely reached the Marine port at Loguetown before suddenly leaving again," Sengoku said from the other end. "Did you run into some kind of trouble?"
"What trouble could I possibly run into? This is the East Blue!" Garp said, shaking out an arm that still felt numb.
"Though I guess… while it wasn't exactly trouble, there was—"
Before Garp could finish, the adjutant—who had just turned to leave—suddenly rushed back over and shouted tearfully into the Den Den Mushi:
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, it's terrible! Vice Admiral Garp got sent flying by a rabbit several times and coughed up blood!"
"????"
Garp's eyes flew wide open.
He clearly hadn't expected the adjutant to cut in at that exact moment and expose everything in one sentence.
"What?!"
At Marine Headquarters, inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku shot to his feet in disbelief.
"Garp was… sent flying several times by a rabbit? And coughed up blood?"
"Mhm!" the adjutant nodded hard.
"That never happened!" Garp yanked the adjutant away and said a little too quickly, "The youngsters have been getting more and more unruly lately. Clearly I haven't disciplined them enough!"
Before Sengoku could press him, Garp immediately changed the subject.
"By the way, now that we've assigned Smoker to Loguetown as the top officer there, does he have any complaints? And what about Gion and Tokikake? Is Tokikake still confessing to her? As Fleet Admiral, you can't spend all your time on work, you know. You've got to care about your subordinates' emotional well-being too. Tokikake's been rejected so many times, the poor guy must be devastated. If it really doesn't work out, you should personally help him find a good match. I think that nurse from medical would be a solid choice!"
"Garp… something is wrong with you."
Back in the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku's expression gradually turned grave.
The moment Garp abruptly started talking about Smoker, Tokikake, and Gion, Sengoku's instincts kicked in.
"I don't think you were just beaten until you coughed blood. I think even your brain got rattled."
"Start talking. What exactly happened?"
"Ahem. Well…"
Garp knew there was no way he could fool Sengoku, of all people.
So after another awkward laugh, he finally told him everything—from spotting Kairo's ship to what happened in Foosha Village.
"Three animals that ate Human-Human Fruits… plus a mysterious boy claiming to be a traveler?"
After hearing the whole thing, Sengoku's brows drew together into a deep frown.
"How do I have absolutely no intelligence on a group like that? Could they really be from the moon?"
"And this Da Hong you mentioned…"
"Is he really stronger than an Admiral?"
Even as he asked it, Sengoku found it hard to believe.
After all, the Admirals were the highest combat force of Marine Headquarters.
If a random rabbit could casually be stronger than an Admiral, then the Headquarters' highest combat power would be a complete joke.
"They're probably lying about being from the moon," Garp admitted, dropping the act.
"But when it comes to raw strength, I can say with certainty that Da Hong is above Admiral level."
Then, with an unusually bitter look on his face, he added:
"To tell you the truth…"
"I was suppressed from start to finish."
That made Sengoku suck in a cold breath.
Suppressed from beginning to end… by a rabbit?
If word of that got out, the entire Grand Line would explode.
"And there's more," Garp continued.
"During the fight with that Da Hong, I saw the cabin of their ship get destroyed with my own eyes."
"But when I left, the cabin was perfectly intact."
"At first I thought I was seeing things. But thinking back on the battle, the cabin should definitely have been destroyed."
"And yet it was fine."
"That means the green rabbit and the Droopy dog on that ship have also developed their powers to an absurd degree—maybe even to the point of awakening."
"Based on what I observed, Da Hong is the combat member. His power is pure destructive force."
"The Droopy dog is probably their navigator. He likely has an ability similar to teleportation—or something like the Door-Door Fruit. That would explain how they suddenly moved from the waters near Loguetown to Foosha Village."
"As for the green rabbit, he's most likely their shipwright and has some kind of instant-repair ability."
After listening to Garp's breakdown, Sengoku rubbed his temples.
"And what about the mysterious boy on the ship?"
"All I can say is—he's strong," Garp replied after a short pause.
"But more importantly, when I clashed with Da Hong, he used Conqueror's Haki to block the shockwaves and protect the villagers."
"That tells me one thing: he has a sense of justice."
"He's someone we can try to win over."
Sengoku fell silent for a moment before giving his decision.
"Observe him for now."
"I'm extending your leave by another week. During that time, keep in contact with this boy."
"If he shows any interest in joining the Marines, bring him back to Headquarters yourself."
"If he refuses, don't force the issue. Just do your best to maintain a good relationship."
"A boy who possesses Conqueror's Haki, traveling with three pets that have pushed the Human-Human Fruit to this extent…"
"Even if he can't stand on the same side as us, we absolutely cannot allow him to become our enemy."