When he heard Hina relaying the order from Marineford for Taro's immediate return, Taro was a bit panicked.
"Hina, come back with me." Taro looked at Hina pitifully.
Hina's face reddened slightly, but she ultimately shook her head. "Hina is sorry. I have received orders to escort Crocodile and the others to Impel Down, so..."
Seeing Taro's expression turn even more miserable, she comforted him: "I asked Vice Admiral Tsuru, and she said everything would be fine. Don't worry, those who escaped were just some minor pirates after all."
Taro thought to himself, That's not what I'm worried about; I'm afraid of being beaten to death by Garp.
He nodded with a gloomy face. "Alright."
...Marineford.
Taro surreptitiously observed the surroundings from the ship's railing. Only after seeing no suspicious figures did he breathe a sigh of relief.
He carefully blended into the line of Marine Soldiers disembarking, alertly watching his surroundings.
Fortunately, there weren't many Marine Soldiers watching his return to Marine Headquarters this time. Was it because they knew a group of pirates had escaped from him, finally making them realize the fact that his strength was only average?
Thinking this, Taro actually felt relieved. It was better to keep a low profile like this; what a stroke of luck!
Just as a smile appeared on the corner of Taro's mouth, a fist suddenly appeared. Taro had no time to dodge and could only activate a skill to tank the hit.
"Iron Body!"
"Ah, it hurts!"
Immediately after, Taro was struck on the head by a fist. He cried out in pain and flew backward. He shook his dazed head and finally saw the newcomer—it was Vice Admiral Garp!
Iron Body is a trap!
"Vice Admiral Garp, I'm back!" Taro wasn't angry after being punched; instead, he put on a sycophantic act and smiled flatteringly.
"You little brat, you actually dare to come back! See if I don't beat you to death!" Garp roared and lunged at Taro again.
Taro could only dodge desperately.
"Paper Art"
Bang! Taro was hit by another punch.
"Moonwalk"
With a crack, Taro had just jumped up when he was smashed into the ground by another punch.
The commotion here also caught the attention of the Marine Soldiers, and more and more of them gathered around.
"Eh? Isn't that Vice Admiral Garp? Who is he fighting?"
"Someone just transferred from a branch? That young man opposite him is the light of the marines, Lieutenant Taro!"
"Ah? He's the light of the marines? Didn't I hear he has the strength of an Admiral? He looks like he's being beaten pretty badly!"
"What do you know? Lieutenant Taro and Vice Admiral Garp have a special relationship. Can't you see he isn't fighting back at all?"
"I see. You really know a lot."
"Of course..."
While the Marine Soldiers were gossiping, Taro, who had been hit several times despite dodging, also got a bit annoyed. He stood up again. "It was my fault for running away, but if you keep attacking, I'm really going to get angry!"
"Angry? Let me see you get angry then!" Garp chuckled and lunged forward once more.
Taro drew his sword, crouched down, placed the saber at his side, and gripped the hilt in a reverse hold.
"Ittoryu: Iaido - Lions Song"
With a low growl, Taro struck instantly. He appeared behind Garp in a flash, maintaining his sword-drawing posture.
However, Garp had crossed his arms in front of his chest to protect himself, so the strike didn't injure him.
The surrounding Marine Soldiers were all stunned.
"What happened? Did you see that clearly?"
"Did Lieutenant Taro's strike miss?"
"It looked like a very imposing move, but it didn't seem to have any effect?"
Just then, the strap on the right side of Garp's cloak snapped and fell off. The cloak, now with only one strap, hung lopsidedly over his shoulder.
Garp glanced at the clean sword mark on his shoulder and broke into a wide grin, pointing at Taro and cursing, "You brat, you actually dared to draw your sword against me."
Taro sheathed his sword, turned around, and laughed at Garp as well. "Hehe, this strike isn't bad, right!"
Garp ripped off his cloak, walked over to Taro, gave him another punch on the head, and then ruffled Taro's hair. "Try acting recklessly again next time and see what happens!"
"Hehe, I know, I know. There won't be a next time!" Taro twisted his body to dodge Garp's large hand and said with a smile.
Finally, Garp hooked his arm around Taro's neck and led him toward the main fortress of Marineford.
Once the two had left, the group of Marine Soldiers crowded around the cloak Garp had discarded. Looking at the clean cut on the cloak's strap, their mouths hung open in surprise.
"Ah, this swordsmanship... he truly is a Great Swordsman on par with Hawkeye!"
"Yeah, his control over the blade is truly amazing!"
"I heard Lieutenant Taro also contributed to Colonel Smoker's campaign against Crocodile. He should be getting a promotion!"
"He'll definitely be at least a Major, right?"
"That's for sure. I really want to serve on Lieutenant Taro's ship!"
"Exactly. I heard that not a single Marine Soldier has died while on a mission with Lieutenant Taro!"
"That's right. Alabasta, Rest Island—it was the same everywhere. Now everyone wants to get on Lieutenant Taro's ship!"
...Fleet Admiral's office.
Garp walked in with Taro and then immediately lay down on the sofa to sleep.
Sengoku glanced at Garp helplessly before looking back at Taro, his tone very solemn. "Taro, I want to know exactly what happened at the detention center. Did you intentionally let those pirates go?"
Taro didn't believe those Baroque Works pirates were worth this much attention from the Marine high command. He grumbled internally, It must be that guy Akainu again, who can't stand a grain of sand in his eye, doubting me.
He glanced at Vice Admiral Tsuru. Seeing the Old Lady's calm expression, his heart settled. He then cried out in an exaggerated tone, "I've been wronged, Fleet Admiral Sengoku! How could I possibly do such a thing?"
"I was almost blown to bits by their bombs in Alabasta. Look at my hair—it's been burned like this! My handsome face was practically scorched. How could I possibly let them go?"
Taro ran his hand through his jaggedly burned hair and leaned his face closer for Sengoku to see.
"It's really because there was a little girl among them with a very strange ability. I was caught off guard and fell for it. Colonel Hina can testify to this; that's how we lost an entire ship. Oh, and the Marine Soldiers at the detention center can testify too—many of them were controlled as well!"
Watching Taro's affected expression and flamboyant movements, Sengoku's eye twitched. He reached out and pushed Taro back a bit. "You don't need to get so close; I can see clearly."
Vice Admiral Tsuru watched Taro's performance and let out a light chuckle. She pulled Taro over and said to Sengoku:
"What Taro said matches the report Hina submitted to me. The report from the Marine detention center also corroborates it. I think we should let this matter rest here."
Hearing this, Taro almost wanted to give her a hug. Vice Admiral Tsuru, you really are a wonderful Old Lady!
Standing by the window, Akainu turned around angrily upon hearing this, while Garp, lying on the sofa, opened his eyes and glared at Akainu!
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.