Several minutes later, in the reception room of the Coral School.
"Sakura-chan!"
With no sense of personal space, Otohime hugged Sakura tightly, rubbing her face against Sakura's head.
"Stop it! You just came out of the sea!"
Sakura flailed, now soaked in seawater, but dared not touch the fragile Otohime, afraid she might accidentally break her here.
"Hahaha, but I never expected to meet you all here! Sakura-san, Tiger Aniki, Kuina, and..." Jinbei smiled and nodded, "...welcome to Fish-Man Island."
"Jerk, don't skip me!"
Enel, crackling with electricity, sprang to his feet, ready to unleash lightning indoors.
But the next second, Leviathan, flying back through the window, clamped onto his head and shook him violently.
Tiger tried to break up the fight, Kuina egged them on, and the entire reception room descended into chaos.
"Asking for Sakura-san's help back then was the right decision. Tiger Aniki seems very happy now."
Not joining the noisy group, Jinbei stepped forward and sat down beside Sakura.
"Of course! My crew is the best in the world, okay!"
Escaping Otohime's embrace, Sakura grinned and gave Jinbei a thumbs-up.
"That's truly wonderful."
Jinbei nodded, arms crossed. "By the way, I haven't congratulated Sakura-san on becoming a Warlord of the Sea yet."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire reception room fell deathly silent.
The crew members froze in their playful poses, turning confused gazes toward Sakura.
'Wait, what? When did you join the World Government? We didn't know!'
"Huh?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow, pointing a finger at herself. "Me? I became a Warlord of the Sea?"
The idea was so absurd that Sakura couldn't process it at first.
She, Haruno Sakura, a pirate with 'rebellion' practically written on her forehead. She'd killed World Government's agents, fought Marines, slaughtered Celestial Dragons. And now the World Government intended to 'recruit' her unilaterally?
Might as well say the Ancient Kingdom lost eight hundred years ago because Joy Boy fell in love with Imu and couldn't bring himself to kill her, leading to ultimate defeat.
"It's not you?"
Jinbei, taken aback by the group's shocked reaction, became uncertain. He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a newspaper, handing it to them.
Kuina and the others immediately crowded behind Sakura to look.
It was an appointment notice the World Government had specially printed in the World Economic News Paper just hours ago. It bore the Celestial Dragon's Flying Dragon Hoof stamp and a photo of Sakura… with flowing snow-white hair, accepting the appointment on Punk Hazard, a Marine-controlled island.
Since Sakura's crew had been in deep-sea submersion at the time, they hadn't received the news immediately.
"It really is Sakura-nee?" Kuina tilted her head curiously.
Fisher Tiger frowned. "Yeah, that's the low-temperature mode of your Devil Fruit, right?"
"So, we're switching sides to work for the surface-dwellers' government now?" Enel asked indifferently, crossing his arms behind his head.
Among the group, only Leviathan, perched on Enel's shoulder, shook her head. "Wrong~ It's not Sakura. The body size and the look in the eyes are different!"
The others pressed closer to the newspaper, scrutinizing the photo closely, comparing the person's proportions with objects in the scene, concluding they were indeed different.
However, they didn't notice Sakura sitting outside the huddle, her gaze deep.
Even after nearly twenty years across two worlds, with blurred memories, she still had a vivid impression of the famous Vegapunk.
When she saw the girl with snow-white hair in the photo, she immediately recognized her: The gene-spliced weapon, the Seraphim, which wasn't successfully developed until eight years later.
'However, judging from the photo's state, it seemed it hadn't been equipped with the special Lineage Factor [Green Blood] to gain Devil Fruit abilities yet.'
"Those five old men are truly cunning."
Sakura let out a sigh, shaking her head with a light laugh.
"What do you mean?"
Jinbei, sitting beside her, looked at her questioningly.
"It's an open scheme. Punk Hazard right now is probably a trap waiting for me to walk into."
Sakura snatched the newspaper from her clamoring crewmates and tapped it on the table.
"If I go, I'll likely face the World Government's final and most intense extermination force this time. If I don't go, the title of 'government lackey' will tarnish my reputation, hindering our expansion in the New World at every turn."
"How could that be!"
Jinbei was stunned. "What a malicious scheme."
"Heh heh heh... Ahahahaha!"
One hand covering her forehead, the other slapping the table, Sakura burst into laughter.
"This is how it should be! Exhaust all wisdom, expend all courage and might! Both sides, like gamblers, stake all their available means on the table! Praying for victory like greedy hyenas at the gambling table, the victor feasting on the loser's remains. Ugly, far too ugly! Ahahahaha!"
"Hey, is that any way to describe yourself?"
Leviathan clambered onto the table with her small wings, pulling herself up to Sakura's face.
"You don't get it! In this world, the so-called government and us pirates are actually the same thing!" Sakura lowered her hand, letting Leviathan climb onto her shoulder. "The only difference is who's the victor and who's the loser!"
"However, the World Government is overly confident in its own power. It hasn't considered that if they lose, you will become the most prominent Pirate Emperor."
Everyone turned, surprised to find that the speaker was Queen Otohime, who had been listening quietly.
"Not bad~ Changing my impression of you." Sakura winked at her with her left eye.
"Don't underestimate me! I've studied war and political intrigue too!" Otohime puffed out her cheeks. "That's precisely why I detest conflict so deeply!"
"Such a path is correct, but it's also destined to be long, Queen Otohime."
Tiger glanced at Otohime and sighed softly.
"No matter. I am prepared." Otohime crossed her hands over her chest. "And haven't the seeds of hope already been sown?"
She stood up, opened the window, and looked out at the many children in the school square learning Mermaid Jujutsu from the dojo instructors, a gentle smile on her face.
"Hey, you two are getting off-topic!" Enel, sitting cross-legged and leaning back in his chair, raised an eyebrow. "The issue now is our conflict with the surface-dwellers' government, isn't it?"
He uncrossed his arms from behind his head, holding up his fingers and counting them off.
"Me, the Captain, the Fish, the Ship, the Gloomy Girl. At most, that's five people."
"This time, we're up against the organization that commands the Marines, the overlords of the sea. How can we, who were stretched thin dealing with just the Marines, possibly contend with that?"
Kuina, sitting next to him, drew her sword and directly slashed at his hand.
"By fighting them with our swords, of course! Don't you even know such a simple thing, Arrogant Jerk~?"
"Hmph, you Sword-obsessed Gloomy Girl only understands things like that."
A flash of electricity, and Enel's fingers regenerated, his middle finger now pointing at Kuina.
Soon, the two began exchanging blows amidst crackling lightning and swinging swords.
"Enel is right. Our strength alone definitely isn't enough."
Pressing down on both Enel and Kuina with one hand each, Sakura pushed herself up, a wild grin spreading across her face.
"But, it's time for you all to witness what kind of storm the name 'Haruno Sakura' can stir up on these seas."