Chapter 70: Vice Admiral Tsuru
It was barely dawn.
The sun had only just climbed above the horizon, and the room was still steeped in that lazy, half awake quiet that made going back to sleep feel like the most natural thing in the world.
Because [Reflection] blocked sound around him whenever he slept, Axel had gradually developed the bad habit of sleeping in whenever he could. On most mornings, no noise could reach him unless he allowed it to.
Unfortunately for him, this morning was different.
Garp's Iron Fist of Love landed first.
"Ow!"
Axel shot awake, clutching his head as he sat up on the bed, his eyes still blurred with sleep.
"Why so early...?"
He rubbed the sore spot and looked at Garp in confusion. The old man had been sleeping late these past few days too, so why was he suddenly acting like the world was ending?
Garp crossed his arms and snorted.
"You brat, today's the day we're meeting Little Tsuru. Hurry up and get ready. We're leaving."
"...Tch. What are you, henpecked? You sleep in all the time too," Axel muttered under his breath.
Even so, his body moved quickly. In less than a minute, he was dressed, washed, and ready.
Garp gave him a once over, then nodded.
Without another word, he grabbed Axel, hoisted him onto his shoulder like a sack of rice, and charged out the door.
"Hey!"
Axel could only grit his teeth and use his ability to reduce the jolting impact. Otherwise, with the way Garp ran, his bones would have been rattled loose before they even reached the bay.
Garp moved at an absurd speed.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, the harbor came into view, lined with Marine warships rocking lightly in the morning tide. To Axel, they all looked mostly the same. To Garp, apparently, they were as easy to recognize as family members.
He headed straight for one of them.
Then he jumped.
The old man landed directly on the deck with Axel still slung over his shoulder.
Standing there was an old woman.
She wore an easygoing outfit, a floral shirt and black fitted pants, casual enough to make her look like she ought to be out for a morning stroll rather than commanding a warship. Yet the cloak draped over her shoulders made her identity unmistakable.
Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Her hair was neatly tied back. Time had left its marks on her face, but not a trace of weakness. Her expression was calm, almost gentle, but the sharpness in her eyes gave away the mind behind it.
The moment Garp landed, she spoke.
"How many times have I told you to come up the gangway instead of jumping aboard like that?" she said, her tone carrying mild helplessness. "And you're already late."
Garp set Axel down first, then immediately began shifting blame.
"It's this brat's fault. He overslept."
Axel's eyelid twitched.
That much was partly true. But judging from how flustered Garp had looked when waking him up, the old man had clearly overslept too.
Still, Axel said nothing.
Instead, he took the chance to study Tsuru more carefully.
So this was the "Little Tsuru" Garp talked about.
Seeing her in person, Axel could not help inwardly sighing.
Time really was merciless.
In her youth, Tsuru had been a beauty with a figure stunning enough to stand among the finest in the seas. Now age had sanded those edges down, leaving behind a calm, weathered elegance instead. Not lesser, just different.
Tsuru ignored Garp's excuse entirely.
"Now that the kid has been delivered, you can leave, right?"
"Just like that?" Garp protested at once. "At least make me some tea. Give me a few rice crackers too."
"Do you not have work to do?"
Garp scratched his cheek. "Sengoku gave me a few days off. Rare chance. I'm resting."
Tsuru's gaze sharpened.
"You? Following orders properly? That's new. Since you have time to idle around, you might as well go work. The Navy is busy enough already."
Garp looked aggrieved. "Tsuru, you're too strict."
"If you know that, then go."
To Axel's astonishment, Garp actually did not argue much further.
He grumbled under his breath, then leapt off the warship and vanished.
Axel stood there dumbfounded.
This was the first time he had ever seen Garp this obedient.
He could not help looking at Tsuru with fresh admiration.
Forget strength for a moment. The fact that she could control Garp at all was already terrifying.
Only after sending Garp away did Tsuru turn her full attention to Axel.
She studied him without speaking for a moment.
His hair was soft and pale enough to make most women jealous. His limbs were slim, his build slender, and his features were delicate to the point that anyone seeing him for the first time might mistake him for a girl. But what stood out the most were his eyes, those vivid red pupils, striking and strangely compelling.
Tsuru had already looked into him before agreeing to Garp's request.
The report painted Axel as little more than a boy with a mischievous mouth and a habit of joking around.
Now that she had seen him herself, she was already questioning the report's accuracy.
If she had accepted him only because Garp asked, then after seeing him in person, she had developed a bit of genuine interest.
"Well then," she said at last, "your name is Axel, correct?"
"Yes," Axel replied. Then, without hesitation, he added, "But personally, I prefer round faces over square ones."
It was pure nonsense. A useless joke tossed out on instinct.
Tsuru did not laugh.
Instead, she said calmly, "So the report was right. You do like making jokes."
Axel clicked his tongue inwardly.
Being discussed through an intelligence report never felt pleasant.
Still, outwardly he remained relaxed.
"I prefer to call it humor," he said. "And don't you think that's the mark of an intelligent person?"
Tsuru looked at him for a moment, then replied, "Not really. I'm more inclined to believe you're hiding something."
The words struck straight at the thing he was trying hardest to conceal.
Axel fell silent for a second.
All this time, he had used jokes and a deliberately childish tone to cover the mature core beneath them. Not perfectly, but enough to get by.
Apparently, not with Tsuru.
Perhaps noticing his reaction, Tsuru let the matter go.
"Interesting child," she said. "Although I am curious about what exactly you're hiding, curiosity is merely curiosity. You don't have to tell me. Since I promised Garp I'd train you properly, I won't go back on my word. So let's try to get along during the coming days."
Axel gave a dry smile.
A pleasant conversation with Tsuru?
That was impossible.
Talking to a woman like this felt like trying to hide a card while she was already reading the entire deck.
As if she had seen through that thought too, Tsuru smiled faintly.
"Smart child."
That smile made Axel feel even less comfortable.
He knew very well that if he kept letting her control the flow of the conversation, he would only end up more passive.
So he decided to strike first.
He looked at her, then raised his pinky finger.
"Between you, Sengoku, and Garp... who ranks here?"
For the first time, Tsuru's expression stiffened.
She did not answer.
Instead, she stepped forward.
The moment her hand touched him, Axel's body suddenly felt weightless.
It was a bizarre sensation, as though everything inside him had been wrung out in an instant. A strange cleansing force washed through him from head to toe. For a brief second, he even had the absurd feeling that all the dirty thoughts in his heart were being peeled away and stripped from him.
Then his vision spun.
By the time he understood what had happened, he had already been turned into a limp sheet of laundry.
Tsuru calmly took the "clothes" he had become, hung them up on the rope stretched between the ship's beams, then turned and walked back toward the cabin without a word.
Not once did she look back.
.....
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