Chapter 8: Navy Headquarters
"Is everything ready?"
"No problem, all the necessary supplies have been bought."
"Very good, then let's set off!"
On a warship at the edge of Foosha Village, sailors were constantly moving goods back and forth, containing various food and daily necessities bought from Goa Kingdom.
Soon, the goods were moved onto the ship, and Zavia and Garp were the last to board the warship. They turned back to look at the enthusiastic villagers below who had come to see them off.
"Vice Admiral Garp, Zavia, take care!"
"Remember to come back when you have time!"
"... "
Zavia placed both hands on the edge of the ship, looking at the enthusiastic Foosha Village villagers below, a smile appearing on his face. This was one of the few places he liked in One Piece.
"Looks like in this past week, not only did you find me to train, you did other things too." Garp wore a dog head mask. His eyes under the mask glanced at Zavia standing next to him.
"Well, I guess so." In response to Garp's words, Zavia just smiled. Then he stopped paying attention to the villagers and turned to walk inside.
Garp watched Zavia's departing back. He didn't say anything either, just pulled at his mask before leaving the ship's edge.
At this time, sitting atop the main mast at the very front of the ship and looking into the distance, Zavia's gaze gradually turned cold. This was because before leaving, he had done a very pleasant thing.
***
Goa Kingdom, a certain noble residential area.
"Hey! What exactly happened!!??"
Within the noble district, a very majestic villa. A man's panicked yell came from inside, accompanied by the ringing of a fire bell.
"Master... I don't know why... there was a big fire in the kitchen. Now... because the fire was too strong... it can't be put out!"
A weak butler ran over to the man, panting slightly because the incident was so sudden and he had rushed over so quickly.
"You said what!!?? Why did the kitchen catch on fire!... Forget it, where's my son!? Is he okay!?"
Upon hearing the butler's words, the man was angry and wanted to question the negligence of these servants. But when he thought of his wife and son, he asked if they were okay. It seemed this man understood a little "humanity".
"Ah, Master. You don't need to worry about that. The Madam and Young Master escaped through a secret passage just now."
"Is that so... Thank goodness. Then let's go too. Forget these things. The important stuff isn't here anyway."
"Then please follow me, Master."
The butler made a "please" gesture for the man to go first. After the man hurriedly ran past, an evil smile appeared at the corner of the butler's mouth.
***
Day 4 at sea
Zavia boredly sat atop the foremost cannon platform at the ship's bow. In his hand was the Yamato sword, and next to him were some tools for maintaining the sword.
That's right, Zavia was maintaining the Yamato sword. This was something he saw those sword-users did in many anime and novels.
The purpose was simple - to keep the sword sharper and more perfect, while also preventing the blade from corroding and maintaining its sharpness.
And this was what Zavia was doing now. The above description was just one of the purposes actually. For a magic sword like Yamato that might have a sword spirit, maintenance could also be considered a way to deepen the bond between sword and master.
The refreshing sea breeze gently blew Zavia's white hair. Seagulls cried continuously in the sky. Fish swam freely below the surface. Everything seemed so peaceful and tranquil.
"Sigh, I knew early on that days without a cell phone would be boring, but I didn't expect to actually feel so bored when I really had nothing to do." While maintaining his sword, Zavia yawned from boredom.
To be honest, Zavia now felt very bored. He had never experienced such boring days without technology before.
No cell phones, no computers, no TVs. Nothing at all, only a ship full of sailors and the vast endless sea, with the occasional fish leaping above it. Zavia didn't even know how he had passed such days alone back then.
In the first three days after getting on the warship, Zavia had been completely focused on researching and planning his path ahead as well as ideas for his abilities.
After spending three days cooped up in his room, Zavia had basically finished this task. But afterwards he just felt extremely bored. Foundational exercises like push-ups that Zavia easily did 1000 of every day were already finished. And although there were some workout equipment on the warship.
They were all made specifically for the sailors on Garp's ship, completely unsuitable for Zavia.
"What's the matter? Very bored?"
A voice suddenly sounded from behind Zavia. He half-opened his originally squinted eyes, then stopped paying attention.
"Yes, very bored. Old man, when are you going to teach me Haki cultivation methods?"
"That can wait until we reach Navy Headquarters and I talk with Zephyr about it." Garp stood next to Zavia, gazing into the distance. His tone seemed rather perfunctory.
Upon hearing this, Zavia could only sigh helplessly. During that week of training before, Zavia had also asked Garp to teach him Observation and Armament Haki cultivation methods.
But this old man kept saying to wait until they returned to Navy Headquarters and let Zephyr teach it instead, stubbornly refusing to teach it himself. This left Zavia quite speechless.
I'm saying, can't you teach it yourself? Do we have to wait until we're back at Navy HQ to find Zephyr?? Don't you know Observation and Armament Haki yourself?? Zavia thought thusly to himself. But speaking of Zephyr, Zavia couldn't help recalling the original plotline.
Zephyr was someone Zavia quite liked. Though towards the end he became a little hard to accept, actually willing to use the Dyna Stones to erase pirates from the world! Was that something a human would do??
But Zavia also understood Zephyr. His family killed by pirates, his own Marine squad killed by pirates, even losing an arm because of it. How could Zephyr not hate pirates?
But even so, Zephyr still abided by his own principles, never killing a single pirate. This was something Zavia quite admired.
Zavia sheathed his now maintained Yamato and got up to leave this place. Anyway he was bored, might as well go research how to improve his own strength.
***
One month later, before an enormous gate hundreds of meters high, a warship was stopped here.
Crisp footsteps sounded from atop the warship. A gray-haired old man in a Navy Vice Admiral's uniform stood on the deck.
"State your ship's identification number!" A serious voice suddenly sounded from the gate area.
"It's me." The gray-haired old man just picked his nose casually and lazily responded, "Oh wait, sorry. It's Vice Admiral Garp. My apologies, please open the gates for me!"
Upon hearing the old man - Garp's - words, the voice instantly turned flustered. Then the sound of gears turning could be heard, and the huge gates slowly opened.
"The Gates of Justice huh..."
Next to Garp, a white-haired young man in a blue coat, Zavia, looked at these slowly opening giant gates. Many complex emotions surfaced in his eyes.
The gates opened and the warship sailed forward. Two huge printed words on the walls ahead entered their vision: NAVY!
This was the Navy Headquarters, Marineford! The warship slowly sailed into the semicircular harbor at Marineford's center, docking at one of the ports there.
Zavia followed Garp off the ship slowly. Passing sailors gave Garp the military salute.
Garp just glanced at them and nodded before ignoring them again, bringing Zavia straight towards a certain office.
—Fleet Admiral's Office—
Bang!
"Sengoku! I'm back!"
Fleet Admiral's Office. A middle-aged man wearing a Navy Fleet Admiral uniform, with a seagull model on his cap and mutton chop sideburns, was looking at documents. Suddenly the doors were banged open loudly.
"Garp... Didn't I tell you to knock before entering!? Why do you keep doing this!"
The middle-aged man's face first turned black. Then he angrily stood up and slammed the table.
"Che, don't be so petty, Sengoku."
"Who's petty! This is discipline... Wait, damn you. You stole my taiyaki again!"
The middle-aged man named Sengoku saw the taiyaki in the newcomer's hand and exclaimed in surprise. He quickly checked his desk drawer to find the taiyaki inside already gone.
"Hahahahaha! You're still the same as ever, Sengoku!"
The newcomer - Garp - laughed shamelessly, causing Sengoku's wrinkles to increase by a few more.
"Uh... Old man, you..."
Zavia standing behind Garp lightly patted Garp's shoulder, not knowing what to say about this situation.
"Hm? Was there someone else here? Cough cough Garp, be serious."
Only now did Sengoku notice Zavia behind Garp. Although Zavia wasn't a small child, he was still slightly shorter than the burly Garp, thus being blocked from Sengoku's vision until now.
"Oh right, the reason I came was for this kid's business. Sengoku, he's here to join the Navy."
After being called out by Zavia, Garp finally remembered the purpose of their trip - to get Sengoku's approval for Zavia's Navy recruitment documents.
"Joining the Navy? Hmm... Garp, I approve. Whoever you bring, I trust them. Besides, pirate incidents have been frequent recently and the Navy has been somewhat understaffed. Just take him to the new recruit camp."
Sengoku tidied his clothes and sat back down, glancing at the documents on his desk. He agreed to Garp's brought newcomer Zavia joining as a new recruit.
"About that, Sengoku. There's something I want to say."
"What is it?"
"Zavia doesn't need to go to the new recruit camp."
"Why not?"
"Well, Sengoku. You should know who Mohsen is right?"
"Mohsen... You mean 'The Executioner' Mohsen with a 25 million bounty? Now that you mention it, I do have some impression."
"That's right. This guy took him down solo."
"What!?"
Garp pointed at Zavia next to him. This caused Sengoku to be slightly shocked.
Hearing this, Sengoku sized Zavia up. White hair, light blue eyes, blue coat, a sword at his waist. He looked to be just 17-18 years old at most, still very young.
"At such a young age, yet able to take down a lone 25 million pirate. Not bad. But that doesn't mean you can skip basic training. With your accomplishments, just go to the elite camp. And tell Zephyr about it on the way too. I believe he'll be quite happy to have such an outstanding recruit."
Sengoku now looked at Zavia with a different gaze than when they first met. It was one of approval. His hand holding the pen slid back and forth on the documents as he swiftly completed a form with his signature on it.
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