For a moment, no one in the strategy chamber reacted.
The name seemed to hang in the smoke above the table, too familiar and too impossible after nearly three weeks of silence.
Garp's hands remained planted against the charts, but the strength left his fingers as though his body had forgotten what it was supposed to do.
Sengoku recovered first.
"Repeat that."
"Zaraki is alive," Zephyr said. "He reached Hells Island before Weevil finished destroying Z-1. He intercepted the final attack, helped secure the harbor, and killed Weevil after the candidate tried to flee."
Garp inhaled once.
Then his laughter exploded through the chamber.
"Bwahahahahaha! I knew it! I told every one of you that damn brat was too stubborn to drown!"
He struck the table with one open palm, sending cups jumping without breaking the wood.
Relief had stripped years from his face, though his eyes remained red from exhaustion.
"That's my brat! Nearly three weeks without a word, and the first thing he does is show up in the middle of another disaster!"
Sakazuki looked toward the receiver.
"How badly was he injured?"
"He was still carrying wounds from Kaido and whatever he encountered after leaving the New World," Zephyr replied. "He fought anyway. Traf—"
The name stopped before it fully left his mouth.
Zephyr remembered the agreement made aboard the Polar Tang and changed course smoothly.
"An unaffiliated medical vessel assisted with the evacuation. The details will be included in my classified report to Sengoku."
Nusjuro's eyes narrowed at the omission.
"You will provide the Government with the complete report."
"I will provide Marine Headquarters with an operational report concerning the attack on my ship, the dead recruits, and the rescued civilians," Zephyr said. "Questions about unaffiliated rescuers can wait until the wounded are safe."
The Elder's voice cooled.
"You appear to have forgotten whose authority created the evaluation mission."
"No. I remember exactly who approved it."
The bitterness in Zephyr's reply made several officers glance toward Nusjuro.
Sengoku intervened before the confrontation could deepen.
"Zephyr, continue with Zaraki. Where has he been?"
"He did not explain everything. From what I saw, he crossed Paradise aboard a vessel capable of underwater travel, recovered enough to fight, and began examining candidates for the vacant Warlord seat on his own initiative."
Nusjuro's expression darkened.
"On his own initiative."
"He apparently considered waiting for formal orders inefficient."
Garp barked another laugh.
"That sounds like him."
Sengoku did not share the amusement.
"Which candidates?"
"Dorry the Blue Ogre and Brogy the Red Ogre are alive on Little Garden. Zaraki fought them, judged them worth further evaluation, and intends to return there before continuing to the remaining names on the list."
The officers around the table reacted with varying degrees of surprise. The Giant Warrior Pirates had vanished from reliable records almost a century earlier.
Their survival alone would have justified a major intelligence report.
Nusjuro's gaze sharpened.
"He fought them and left them alive?"
"He said they were useful."
Garp wiped at one eye.
"That is practically affection coming from him."
Sengoku ignored the comment.
"What message did he give you?"
Zephyr's voice softened slightly.
"He told me to inform Garp that he is alive, still working, and not interested in being searched for like a corpse."
Garp's relief shifted into irritation with remarkable speed.
"That ungrateful little bastard. He lets me tear apart half the Grand Line for nearly three weeks, then sends one sentence through someone else?"
"He also said you could save the lecture until he returns."
The chamber filled with restrained coughs as several officers tried not to laugh.
Garp pointed at the sleeping Den Den Mushi as though Zaraki could somehow see him through it.
"I'll give him a lecture, all right. I'll lecture him through three walls."
Nusjuro had heard enough.
"Edward Weevil was a prospective asset under World Government review. Zaraki had no authority to interfere with that process, much less decide which candidates should live or die."
Sengoku's expression hardened.
"Weevil ceased being a candidate when he attacked the evaluation team, massacred Marine recruits, kidnapped civilians, and attempted to destroy the evidence. Zaraki killed a hostile pirate during an active rescue operation."
"That is Marine Headquarters' interpretation."
"It is the sequence of events Zephyr just reported."
Nusjuro looked toward the Den Den Mushi.
"Zephyr, did Zaraki recover any material from Miss Buckin?"
The question revealed more than the Elder probably intended.
Zephyr went silent for a heartbeat.
"G-9 recovered her belongings as evidence. Some documents carry old MADS markings. Their significance has not been confirmed."
The temperature inside the room seemed to drop.
Sengoku's eyes moved from the receiver to Nusjuro.
"MADS?"
Nusjuro's face gave nothing away.
"Old scientific debris. Irrelevant unless authenticated."
"Then you won't object to Marine Intelligence examining it."
"That decision does not belong to you alone."
Garp's relief had disappeared entirely now. He watched the Elder with the focused suspicion of a man who had just realized the meeting contained a second battlefield.
Zephyr continued.
"The evidence will remain under G-9 guard until Sengoku assigns an investigative team. I will not surrender it to an unidentified Cipher Pol unit in the field."
One of the CP0 agents at the door shifted almost imperceptibly.
Nusjuro's voice became dangerously quiet.
"You are making several poor decisions today, Zephyr."
"I made the worst one when I believed the candidate evaluation would be treated like a Marine operation."
Sengoku tightened his grip around the receiver.
"That is enough. Zephyr, send the complete casualty list, prisoner manifest, and evidence inventory through G-9's encrypted channel. Remain there until a relief command arrives."
"Understood."
"And Zaraki?"
"He left after the last wounded were transferred. He intends to return to Little Garden, collect the two giant captains, and then continue the evaluation. He gave no exact schedule."
Sengoku sighed.
"Of course he didn't."
Zephyr's voice carried the faintest trace of dry amusement.
"He did ask me to tell you not to appoint anyone boring before he gets back."
Even Sakazuki's mouth tightened at that.
Garp laughed again, though more quietly this time.
Nusjuro did not.
"Zephyr," Sengoku said, "this information remains restricted to command level until Headquarters issues a formal notice. Zaraki's survival, the identity of the outside medical vessel, and the candidate route are classified."
"Understood."
The line clicked off.
The Den Den Mushi closed its eyes.
For several seconds, silence returned to the chamber.
Then Nusjuro turned toward Sengoku.
"You will transfer the MADS materials to the Government."
"I will have Marine Intelligence verify them first."
"That was not a request."
"And the deaths aboard Z-1 were not an inconvenience to be erased from a report," Sengoku replied.
"We will determine what happened before any evidence disappears into a Cipher Pol archive."
The two men stared at one another across the table.
Garp slowly straightened beside Sengoku, no longer laughing.
Behind Nusjuro, the two CP0 agents remained motionless, but everyone in the room understood that the secure report was no longer secure merely because the line had been encrypted.
The Five Elders now knew Zaraki was alive, knew where he was likely heading, and knew that evidence connected to MADS had survived Buckin's death.
Nusjuro turned toward the doors.
"This is not finished."
"No," Sengoku said. "It isn't."
The heavy doors opened.
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro left without another word, the two CP0 agents following at his heels.