"An admiral? Well, Sengoku has his own matters and can't leave. Garp, are you available?"
Kong directly addressed Garp standing before him.
"Fleet Admiral Kong, I don't have time! If you hadn't urgently called me back, I would've captured Roger by now."
Garp shouted loudly, seemingly full of complaints.
"Enough, you're busy enough as it is. Let me think of someone else."
Sengoku needed to remain at headquarters and couldn't be dispatched.
That blockhead Garp had to go after Roger.
Moreover, even if they sent Garp back to East Blue, Kong himself felt somewhat uneasy - who knew what kind of trouble Garp might stir up?
Tsuru was also tied up with duties.
The situation in the New World had been turbulent lately, and they needed her strategic planning at headquarters.
After much consideration, Kong thought of a name.
Purple hair, resolute gaze - though it had been many years since he last visited the four seas.
"How about sending Zephyr to handle this matter in East Blue?"
Black Arm Zephyr, one of the current Admirals, possessed formidable strength and high intelligence.
While not as tactful as Sengoku in handling affairs, he was still decisive and efficient.
Though he held some compassion and wasn't as firm in dealing with pirates.
But in Kong's view, these weren't issues.
Perhaps Zephyr, known as the Non-Killing Admiral, was actually the best candidate for this mission.
After all, this was just about clarifying the relationship between the Mad Blade Pirates and the Marines, not about fighting.
"Tsuru, later inform Zephyr that I won't issue this mission as an official headquarters order. Have him find an excuse to take leave."
"We can't let the World Government detect that we're being wary of them."
After arranging everything, Fleet Admiral Kong waved his hand to dismiss everyone, his gaze drifting into the distance.
"The next Fleet Admiral will likely fall to Sengoku, but who should the Marines Admirals be?"
Having served as Fleet Admiral for many years, Kong had long set his sights on the position of Commander-in-Chief.
He knew that the aging current Commander-in-Chief would retire in a few years due to being too old for the position.
And as the Marines Fleet Admiral, he was the most likely candidate to become the next Commander-in-Chief.
So he had already begun selecting his own successor.
"Sengoku would make a good Fleet Admiral - Justice that Rules Over the World, and he's awakened Conqueror's Haki too."
"However, the pool of candidates for Marines Admiral is somewhat lacking. Although Sakazuki and Borsalino show potential to become Admirals, they're still somewhat inexperienced for this chaotic era."
"Never mind, regardless, before stepping down as Fleet Admiral, I'll take out a few Big pirates to help the Marines survive this transitional period."
Having made up his mind, Kong picked up the Den Den Mushi and called the intelligence department.
"Bring the files on recently active pirates to my office. Also, compile information on those pirates with smaller organizations but strong individual combat abilities. I need them."
At that moment, many pirates with smaller organizations across the seas suddenly felt a strange sensation - that they were being targeted.
––––––––––––-
"Master, are there any powerful organizations in North Blue?"
Miles was quite curious about North Blue, having never left East Blue before.
He rarely heard rumors about North Blue in daily life.
Raleigh held a newspaper while reading and said:
"The organizations I know about have probably already been eliminated by Vice Admiral Sakazuki. Even if any remain, there can't be many."
"The most famous things in the North Blue are the Mafia families, followed by a few nations. There are quite a few powerful pirate crews, but many renowned pirates tend to head for the Grand Line, so the number of pirate crews I recall staying in the North Blue might not be a lot."
"We'll know for sure once we reach the base. The Marine base has detailed intelligence."
Miles pursed his lips, seemingly unsatisfied with Raleigh's explanation.
The interior of the lift was extremely cramped.
Tokikake glanced at Raleigh lounging on the sun chair and curled his lips.
"Raleigh, you really know how to live it up."
"But I don't get why you had to bring this sun chair into the lift too."
Indeed, even within the limited space of the lift, Raleigh adhered to his principle of never standing when he could lie down.
The sun chair took up the most room in the entire space.
"Tokikake, this sun chair holds special meaning for me."
"What meaning? It's just a sun chair. I can buy you eight or ten of them when we reach the North Blue."
Raleigh shook his head and said playfully.
"Originally, it was just an ordinary sun chair, but after someone broke it and repaired it with their own hands, it gained special significance."
Tokikake didn't catch Raleigh's meaning, but Gion did, blushing shyly.
"Is he carrying this sun chair because of me?"
Little did Gion know that Raleigh was simply using it as a convenient excuse for his own laziness.
"Master, when will we reach the North Blue?"
Bello Betty, sitting beside the sun chair, called out.
Raleigh put down the newspaper in his hand and ruffled Bello Betty's small head.
"Crossing the Red Line is quite troublesome. At our current pace, it might take us three days to get over it."
"Ah, why does it take so long?"
Raleigh laughed heartily, scooping Bello Betty into his arms.
"Little Betty, whether in the past or now, crossing the Red Line has always been extremely difficult."
"Because the Red Line is unclimbable and the Calm Belts are dangerous, powerful Marine officers can't easily return to the four seas. That's why we have the four sea branches."
"If the Marines could develop technology to navigate the Calm Belts in the future, our return trips would become easier."
"As far as I know, it's currently very hard to return to the four seas from the Grand Line—either by going back over Reverse Mountain or crossing the Calm Belts."
However, human ingenuity knows no bounds.
As their lift ascended, Raleigh spotted some giant snails climbing in the distance.
Bello Betty pointed curiously and asked.
"Master, what are those? I think I see people on them."
Raleigh glanced over, then looked away with a smile:
"Those snails? That's merchants' ingenuity."
"Merchants tame these docile giant snails to carry goods over the Red Line and make a profit."
Seeing how curious Bello Betty looked, Raleigh impulsively sat up from the sun chair, holding her.
"Master will take you to have a look."
He opened the skylight above, then jumped out with Bello Betty, landing on the roof of the lift to get a closer look.
"Master, what about me? I want to go too."
Miles looked up at his master with a resentful expression.