Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

Time always slips away unnoticed, and another year has passed in no time.

1497 in the Haiyuan calendar.

Marineford, Naval Headquarters, Admiral's office.

Inside the closed office, a figure wearing the rank of Vice Admiral was about to walk out with his head held high.

The man inside looked furious; a teacup smashed on the floor symbolized his anger.

"Stop right there, Garp! I haven't finished speaking yet!"

Garp turned around and laughed heartily:

"You didn't finish speaking, but I've already heard everything."

A burly figure walked down the corridor when a figure with curly hair rushed up and shouted:

"Mr. Garp, you declined the promotion to Admiral of the Marine Headquarters, didn't you?"

"Wow, that's so cool!"

"If you want freedom, you don't need such a high status." Hahahaha, only that idiot from the Warring States period would treasure something like that.

Karp's hearty laughter echoed down the corridor.

At the corner of the stairs, Sengoku, who was about to come up, heard these words, his right hand clenched tightly, his teeth clenched, and he stood rooted to the spot.

Let me tell you, that guy from the Warring States period...

"Warring States Period—what are you doing here?"

Garp stared blankly at Sengoku, whose face had turned dark, completely unaware of what had happened.

That bastard Garp, how dare he talk about me like that behind my back!

"Take this punch!"

Seeing Garp, who still didn't know what he had done wrong, Sengoku was furious.

Black Armament Haki instantly covered his right arm, and he punched Garp in the face. "Ouch—that hurts!"

Garp flew out of the corridor through the glass like a large bird shot down by a hunter.

"War—a general of the Sengoku period, none of my business—."

Kuzan, who still looked quite green, couldn't help but swallow hard when he saw Garp flying away.

He forced himself to stay alert and argued with the Warring States period.

"Hmph, of course I know you're not the kind of bastard Garp."

"But Kuzan, you better remember this: if you follow Garp's bad ways, my iron fist is no weaker than Garp's."

Sengoku gestured with his black iron fist over Kuzan's head, then couldn't help but snort.

"You'd be better off as my adjutant, at least you wouldn't slack off like Borsalino."

"Mr. Sengoku, you're really hurting my feelings. The pirates in the New World are all monsters; how could I possibly defeat them?"

A lazy, lewd voice sounded from behind Sengoku.

A wrinkled face emerged from the corner of the stairs, and upon seeing Kuzan, raised an eyebrow:

"Hey, long time no see, Kuzan."

"Long time no see, Borsalino-senpai."

Young Kuzan answered with great passion, except that young Borsalino was no different from a middle-aged man.

"Kuzan, you're not here to follow Garp's nonsense. Sometimes Garp acts solely on his mood, and having you by his side is to remind him to do the right thing."

Sengoku scratched his head helplessly. Kuzan, looking completely bewildered, pointed to his face and asked:

"I?"

Sengoku looked at Kuzan, who had a conflicted expression, patted him on the shoulder, and left without saying anything.

We left for Kuzan first; the Marshal wanted to speak with us about something.

"Knock knock".

"Enter."

When Sengoku and Borsalino entered, they saw teacups shattered all over the floor and the still furious Marshal Kong. However, neither of them was frightened by the scene. One was already used to it, and the other had long been blessed by the gods.

Zhan Guo took out a new teacup from the cabinet and brewed another cup for Kong Yuanshi.

Borsalino, however, didn't consider himself a subordinate and had already sat on the sofa and made himself a cup of tea.

"That bastard Garp, the Navy has trained him for so long, and he's still not happy about being made an admiral."

Kong said angrily.

Sengoku didn't interrupt, since this wasn't the first time this had happened.

Both Garp and the Air Admiral knew Garp's true nature perfectly well; they were just putting on an act for the World Government.

Sora rubbed his eyebrows and asked about Sengoku's gains in the new world:

"How are the pirates in the New World doing lately? I heard that Shiki's numbers are almost ten thousand."

Sengoku took out his work notebook, placed it in front of Sora, and explained:

The new world order has now largely stabilized.

"Among the pirates, Golden Lion Shiki has the greatest power. In addition to his floating island, he also occupies twenty-six other islands."

Whitebeard occupies twenty islands, Big Mom occupies seventeen, and the rest are either newcomers or unclaimed areas.

"That guy Shiki seems to be brewing some big plan lately, but our intelligence agents haven't infiltrated deep enough to obtain the core information."

"The G5 branch leader, Sakazuki, submitted a request to headquarters, asking to use G5 as a starting point to re-enter the New World."

Sora was looking at Sengoku's notes while quickly combining them in his mind with Sengoku's explanations.

After a long while, Sengoku finally finished recounting the information about the new world, and he also finished reading the last page of his notes.

Zhan Guo picked up the tea in front of him, which had become somewhat cold, and drank it all in one gulp.

Kong touched his head and looked up at the rooftop. He roughly understood the situation in the new world; Shiki wanted to follow in Rocks' footsteps.

What grand plan? It's nothing more than a declaration of war between the Navy and the pirates. Either they fight the Navy, plundering the spoils and gaining so-called pirate honor, or they absorb other pirate crews, just like Rocks did.

The high-ranking officers in the Navy were quite familiar with Shiki the Golden Lion, having fought him many times. Their consensus was that Shiki was a treacherous, brutal, and extremely ambitious traditional pirate. Afterwards, Kong looked at the sea charts in his office.

He placed the pencil on the G5 branch and said, "Sakazuki is a promising talent. After he went to G5, he curbed the pirates' frenzied counterattack. Now, there are no more rampant pirates within the G5 branch's territory."

He will definitely become a great general in the future.

Sakazuki was already considered a future admiral in their eyes. Although he was currently only a lieutenant general, everyone could see how terrifying his strength was.

With his powerful physique, terrifying Devil Fruit powers, and ruthless methods, he is undoubtedly a hawkish leader in the Navy.

Sengoku also had a high opinion of Sakazuki:

"Sakazuki is indeed very good. He is excellent in both strength and intelligence, and he also has a very good character and works very hard, much better than some people."

Looking at Borsalino sitting on the sofa looking completely relaxed, Sengoku felt as disgusted as if he had stepped in dog poop.

Only a handful of exceptionally talented individuals emerged from the Naval Academy.

As a result, Monkey D. Dragon left the Navy, and no one knew where he was now. Sakazuki was now able to lead a fleet on his own and would no longer serve as anyone else's adjutant.

Kuzan became a helper on Garp's ship.

Now only Borsalino and Christian Roli, those two lazybones, are left.

Sometimes Sengoku really felt that the world was very unfair, preventing those who worked hard from having the same talent and Devil Fruit as Borsalino and Christian Rory.

Borsalino, can't you learn from Sakazuki? He's already commanding a fleet on his own!

Sengoku shouted with a hint of exasperation, as Borsalino, who had been lost in thought, snapped out of his reverie and complained!

"Mr. Sengoku, it's not that I'm incapable of leading a fleet on my own; it's just that headquarters and you don't allow it. Don't blame me."

Zhan Guo rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

Anyone who dares to let Borsalino lead the fleet independently is crazy. Last time he had the strength to leave, Borsalino led the fleet to capture pirates, but they used up all the cannonballs on the ship and didn't capture a single pirate. Moreover, after running out of ammunition, they immediately returned to replenish their ammunition.

The reason is that Borsalino believes that fighting pirates at close range is too risky, and it would be better to use firepower to wipe out the pirates with cannon fire.

When Sengoku learned of this, he was stunned for a long time and still asked Borsalino, unwilling to give up.

"What about your techniques? Can't the Yasakani no Magatama also be used for attacks?"

Unexpectedly, Borsalino argued his case with conviction.

"The Eight-Span Magatama, used by the Warring States Admiral, consumed my stamina. Stamina is so precious; of course, I'll save it for a head-on fight with the enemy pirate captain."

Did you fight the pirate captain head-on?

"No, we turned back after we ran out of shells."

Borsalino!!!

Sengoku transformed into a giant war Buddha and gave Borsalino a sound beating.

In short, from that time on, Borsalino was prohibited from leading a fleet on his own.

"Speaking of which, Borsalino's brother, Christian Roli, is doing quite well in the North Sea."

Whether it's world government officials, kings of member states, or people on various islands, everyone is very satisfied with the North Sea as it is now.

"The crime rate in the North Sea has dropped from 40% to 10%, and on many large islands it has even fallen to 5%. Although Raleigh relied on the Mafia's influence to achieve this goal, it seems to have been the right decision so far."

Kong nodded in satisfaction.

This was one of the few pieces of good news today, enough to make him forget about Garp's refusal to be promoted to admiral.

"Borusalino, your brother Rory is also a monster who is hiding his true strength."

Wisdom gleamed in the eyes of the Warring States period.

Before he went to the North Sea, he always thought that Borsalino and Raleigh were both lazy, good-for-nothing marine parasites.

However, after going to the North Sea, I discovered that both Borsalino and Raleigh were intelligent people with monstrous strength.

It was for this reason that Borsalino was forcibly transferred from the North Sea to his own fleet.

At such a young age, Raleigh was promoted to acting admiral of the North Sea without any opposition from headquarters.

He must have at least mastered advanced Armament Haki and proficient Observation Haki, possess a Calamity-level Devil Fruit ability, have a powerful physique, and a steady personality.

The Warring States period couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Sengoku, how about we transfer Raleigh to headquarters? I can't stand that kid being so carefree in the North Sea."

Kuru made a joke with Sengoku.

"Yes, Air Marshal, you are the supreme commander of the Navy. You can transfer whoever you want to headquarters."

After a moment's thought, Zhan Guo blurted out a sentence.

"And you, Borsalino. Do you want to see your brother in the New World and fight alongside him?"

Kong Wen turned to look at the leisurely sipping tea at the Borsalino factory's Kong Yuanshi. "That guy is even lazier than me. I'm afraid he'll upset you when he comes to headquarters."

Borsalino quickly explained to Kong.

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Kong's eyes at that moment:

It's okay, being lazy doesn't mean being useless. Maybe it's precisely because he has the ability to solve those problems that he can find more time to be lazy.

"Wow, I'm getting really excited about how this little guy performs on the Grand Line."

Lubek Island in the North Sea, the home of the Don Quixote family.

The original council hall was filled with a joyous atmosphere.

Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family executives are enjoying precious books and fine wines.

Trebol, swaying slightly, raised his glass in a salute to Doflamingo:

"Dover, we have now taken over all the underground businesses of the North Sea. Our Don Quixote family is now the undisputed king of the North Sea's underground."

Diamanti chimed in from the side:

Yes, Dover, we are already the underground kings of the North Sea.

Doflamingo happily raised his glass and drank heartily with his family. However, there was a thorn stuck deep in Doflamingo's heart, preventing him from fully letting go even in such a joyful scene.

Looking at the ambitious expressions on the faces of his family's officers, and thinking about how he had unified the underground industries of the North Sea in less than a year, Doflamingo couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"We won all of this with our own hands."

However, I must reiterate that the North Sea is merely a small place with no room for growth; our true goal lies in the Grand Line.

"Once we have accumulated enough resources in Beihai, we will naturally abandon our industries in Beihai and invest in a broader market."

Doflamingo spread his arms, and a heavy, iron-like pressure spread outwards. However, unlike his previous Conqueror's Haki, Doflamingo had now begun to master the application of Conqueror's Haki.

The members of the Donquixote Family looked at their young master's ambitious face, listened to his plans for the Grand Line, and felt the oppressive Conqueror's Haki in the air.

They were so excited they could hardly breathe, and they responded to their king with the loudest voices.

"Long live the Don Quixote family!!!"

"Long live the young master!!!"