"Huh?!"
Tashigi clearly had not expected Garp's so-called "good job" and immediately turned toward Smoker in confusion.
"C-Commander Smoker…"
Smoker was her direct superior, after all. No matter what Garp wanted her to do, she needed Smoker's permission first.
Smoker barely hesitated before refusing on her behalf.
"Forget it, Vice Admiral Garp. We have to return to the G-5 Branch tomorrow. You'll have to find someone else for whatever job you have in mind."
He took Nidai Kitetsu from Tashigi's hands, handed it back to Garp, then turned to leave.
Garp accepted the cursed sword and glanced at Tashigi.
Her eyes were practically glued to the blade, and she was clutching a well-worn guidebook on famous swords whose pages had already begun fraying at the edges.
An idea immediately came to him.
Judging by the situation, if he wanted Tashigi, he would first have to convince Smoker.
Which was perfect.
He could use this opportunity to drag Smoker over to his side as well.
Life on that island had been incredibly boring lately.
Tama's training was not urgent, and Garp had suddenly developed an interest in teaching someone else.
Smoker looked like a decent prospect.
He was also someone Kuzan thought highly of, and from both a factional and personal standpoint, Garp had a favorable impression of him.
Most importantly of all…
Smoker had that wonderful habit of ignoring orders from his superiors.
Garp liked that very much.
Still, this was something he would need to approach gradually. If he asked outright, Smoker would almost certainly refuse.
With that in mind, Garp casually remarked,
"Kuzan told me you came all the way to the New World because you wanted to catch that brat Luffy."
That one sentence immediately seized Smoker's attention.
The man speaking was the Hero of the Marines.
More importantly, he was Straw Hat Luffy's biological grandfather.
Smoker stopped dead and whipped his head around, his eyes sharpening.
"Did you just say… Straw Hat Luffy?"
"Yeah."
Garp picked his nose casually.
"This old man is going to see Ace tomorrow. Luffy happens to be there too."
"Unfortunately, I just got back to this new Marine Headquarters and can't even find a warship capable of carrying me."
He sighed, deliberately making his voice sound tragically pitiful.
"And some young fellow just rejected my request, so I suppose I'll have to ask around elsewhere."
"Ah, what a miserable thing it is to grow old. I can't even hitch a ride anymore…"
Everyone nearby covered their faces.
Tashigi's mouth twitched.
"Your acting is way too obvious…"
Garp ignored her.
He had only just remembered that he did not actually have a warship.
If he wanted to go find Ace, he would have to ask Sengoku to arrange transportation, which sounded far too troublesome.
Using Smoker's ship would be much easier.
As for betraying Luffy's location?
The brat was a pirate.
Garp saw absolutely nothing wrong with selling him out.
Smoker remained where he was, brows tightly furrowed.
Of course he knew Garp was deliberately baiting him.
But the words Straw Hat Luffy were simply too tempting.
Ever since arriving in the New World, Smoker had been hunting for traces of the Straw Hats.
Only later did he discover that they had never even entered the New World, leaving him to waste quite a bit of time searching for nothing.
If he followed Garp now, perhaps he really could get the chance to arrest that arrogant brat personally.
"…What exactly do you mean by going to see Ace?"
Smoker's voice was still stern, but there was already a hint of movement beneath it.
Garp grinned and casually rested Nidai Kitetsu across his shoulder.
"Ace is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea now. I'm delivering an official notice from the World Government and Marine Headquarters."
"As for Luffy…"
"If you want to catch him, go ahead. This old man won't stop you."
Then Garp drew Nidai Kitetsu and casually swung it a couple of times.
The blade hummed sharply as it cut through the air.
"And as for that good job…"
"If you two aren't interested, forget it."
"I was originally thinking of finding someone to look after this sword for me."
"This thing is wasted in my hands. At best, I'd use it to slice doughnuts."
Smoker said nothing.
Instead, he glanced back at Tashigi.
Her expression was one of absolute agony.
She had even bitten down on a handkerchief while staring helplessly at Nidai Kitetsu being swung around through the air.
Her thoughts were practically screaming from her face.
'I'll do it! I'll take the job! Just please stop! That's not how you're supposed to use a sword!'
She unconsciously took half a step forward before forcing herself to stop.
Then she turned an almost pitiful look toward Smoker.
Well.
Both of them had clearly been grabbed by their weaknesses.
"Tashigi."
Smoker sighed.
"Yes!"
Tashigi immediately straightened, her eyes shining.
"Pack your things. Be ready to leave at any time."
Her face lit up.
She snapped into a salute, her voice rising several octaves in excitement.
"Yes, sir! Thank you, Commander Smoker! Thank you, Vice Admiral Garp!"
"Bwahaha! Since you've agreed, you can look after this sword."
Garp cheerfully held out Nidai Kitetsu.
Halfway through handing it over, he suddenly jerked it away as a joke.
Tashigi nearly lunged forward to snatch it from him.
Finally, she received Nidai Kitetsu with both hands and carefully hugged it against her chest.
She excitedly opened her book of famous swords and began rapidly flipping through the pages.
"Nidai Kitetsu… one of the Twenty-One Great Grade Blades. One of the cursed Kitetsu swords, belonging to the same lineage as Sandai Kitetsu, with a reverse-pattern blade…"
"I can't believe I actually get to use it someday!"
Her face was practically glowing with joy.
She had completely forgotten that other people were still watching.
Garp nodded approvingly.
Letting the girl use Nidai Kitetsu for the time being really was the right choice.
The sword had ultimately been reserved for Tama, but Tama was still far too young to wield it.
Leaving it with Tashigi, a fanatic for famous blades, meant it would be properly maintained while also helping her capture a few more pirates.
That was certainly better than leaving it with a rough old fist-fighter like Garp.
Smoker watched from the side and quietly sighed.
"…She got bought off with one sword."
…
It was only after everyone separated and Garp arrived at Sengoku's room that he suddenly remembered something.
He had completely forgotten to tell Tashigi that the key part of the "good job" was babysitting.
Garp stood outside the door and scratched his head.
"Ah, getting old really does ruin your memory."
"Whatever. I'll tell her tomorrow."
For now, he needed to think carefully about how to bring Smoker over to his side.
That brat was stubborn.
He would have to wear him down slowly.
Fortunately, Garp was stubborn too.
No matter how hard anyone else's bones were, could they possibly be harder than his?
…
The next day.
"So Vice Admiral Garp's 'good job' was… this?"
Aboard the Marine warship that had just crossed the Red Line, Tashigi stared incredulously at Tama, who was sitting obediently nearby eating doughnuts.
Despite her words, Tashigi did not look unhappy in the slightest.
She was still thrilled about being entrusted with Nidai Kitetsu and kept reaching down every so often to touch the hilt hanging at her waist.
Smoker had a much stronger reaction.
He leaned against the railing with two cigars clenched between his teeth, his brow furrowed deeply enough to trap a fly.
Tashigi was supposed to be following him to the front lines to capture pirates.
Now she was apparently supposed to babysit too.
That was not something Smoker could easily accept.
"Vice Admiral Garp."
Smoke curled from between his cigars as he spoke irritably.
"When you said you had a 'good job,' you meant turning one of my subordinates into your babysitter?"
Garp shook his head while happily stuffing doughnuts into his mouth.
"Don't get so worked up."
"Those rookies entering the New World can be handled by the people already stationed at G-5."
"That place has been a mess for years anyway. And once Headquarters finally starts cleaning it up properly, you two might get caught up in the aftermath yourselves."
Naturally, he was referring to Vergo.
Sengoku and Zephyr had already begun making preparations around G-5, though those details could not yet be revealed.
Smoker snorted and said nothing.
Garp took another bite of his doughnut before smoothly changing the subject.
"Besides, Smoker…"
"Interested in going on a mission with this old man?"
"The place is crawling with vicious pirates. Plenty of them have bounties over a hundred million."
He was talking about Hachinosu.
Sengoku had told him he could arrange the participating personnel himself, making this the perfect opportunity to drag Smoker into his orbit.
And strangely enough, the colder and more resistant Smoker acted, the more Garp liked him.
Why?
Because that refusal to obediently follow orders felt remarkably familiar.
It was exactly Garp's kind of personality.
"Well?"
Garp leaned closer with the smile of an old fox.
"Think about it."
"A mission personally led by this old man doesn't come around often."
Smoker exhaled a cloud of smoke, his face expressionless.
"Vice Admiral Garp, you're trying to draft me into extra work."
"Hey, don't put it like that!"
"This is called nurturing the next generation."
"I don't remember the Hero of the Marines having a reputation for nurturing juniors."
"Then just think of it as this old man getting bored and wanting someone to talk to."
Garp had never really tried recruiting someone like this before.
Usually, people were the ones who came looking for him.
He genuinely had no idea what he was doing.
After thinking for a moment, he finally said,
"…I'll give you time to think about it."
"If you still refuse, I'll just ask Sengoku to arrange it for me!"
Smoker stared at him speechlessly.
'Can't solve your own problem, so you go running to an adult?'
'Are you a child?'
He turned away and stood at the bow of the warship, staring across the sea while the wind scattered the smoke from his cigars.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"…I'll think about it."
Capturing some notorious pirate out on the seas was nowhere near as important to him as catching Luffy.
He could decide whether to join Garp after he arrested Straw Hat.
The real question was—Could he actually catch him?