86 Chapter 85

"Blaise's abrupt resignation... at this time? ...Why?"

In the quiet office of Marineford, Sengoku muttered with a strong headache,

"Borsalino's promotion. Smoker and Whitey Bay's imprisonment. Whitebeard last found in the Fish Man island—quite near." Sengoku, unable to think any further, bit his lips out of frustration,

"...What am I supposed to do in this situation, Garp?"

In front of Sengoku stood Garp whose entire body trembled from an extreme rage. His face was red, his large fists were clenched tight, and his eyes were glaring at Sengoku heatedly. In response, Sengoku gritted his teeth,

"If I were to free Whitey Bay, Marine—as the entire organization—will lose the trust of the public!! A worthless organization that backs off the moment they come across a formidable foe... it is an idiotic move to make!!" Sengoku shouted with exhaustion in his eyes, "And what of freeing Smoker then?!! It will, without a doubt, cause an uproar from the Celestial Dragons!! The funding, promised back-ups for the war, justification of Marine's existence... all will be denied!!!"

'And what of freeing both, you ask? It will serve as a blatant act of opposing the World Government—forget freeing both; just one will suffice!!!'

Sengoku found himself in a ridiculous circumstance, with his hands and feet tied.

"Within two days, I presume..." Sengoku weakly said, "Whitebeard will get here. At this point..."

Before Sengoku could finish his statement, Garp took out a crumbled-up paper from his pocket and threw it at Sengoku. Sengoku, frowning in confusion, straightened up the paper, before standing up from his seat in shock,

"GARP!!!!!" Sengoku, with widened eyes, shouted with a reddened face, "HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!!!!"

The paper was none other than the resignation form, fully filled and signed. Garp, who relaxed his body, now glared at Sengoku coldly.

"...I took a look into this girl named Whitey Bay." Garp opened his mouth, "Just for being Whitebeard's crew member, she became wanted. And Whitebeard too—" He clicked his tongue with a frown, "—has initially become wanted for being a crew member of the Rocks pirates. In essence, none of them committed a wrong worthy of their bounties. And... same with Smoker."

Garp, pausing momentarily, lowered his head.

Up until the present, Smoker accomplished many deeds. All of them were to Garp's liking, and in his eyes, Smoker hasn't 'strayed' from the path of righteousness. And that meant,

"If a puny reputation is worth the deaths of thousands, and if the wrongly placed bounty is enough to condemn a free individual... then it wasn't Smoker who was in the wrong. No, the Marine, from the very start, was not in the right. Under the name of justice..."

"GARP!!!!" Sengoku stated in disbelief, trying to shut his friend down, but to no avail,

"...this organization has been nothing but a hypocrite, seeking to please the World Government rather than save those in need."

Sengoku, losing strength in his body, slumped back into his seat. Garp, turning away without any more word, began walking away. Right when Garp placed his hand on the doorknob, Sengoku muttered,

"...Time,"

Garp stopped momentarily without turning around,

"...Give me some time to think."

Then, Garp opened the door and walked out.

...

In due time, night has arrived. Sengoku, with dark circles under his eyes, gazed at the outside scenery with his hands joined on his back.

'...Rosinante.'

He couldn't help but think of his adopted son, the Marine Officer whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

'If there is one thing that I am still sure of, it's that you are a good man by nature,' Thought Sengoku, 'And... that man willingly followed Smoker's decisions. Flevance, in the end, was saved from that Amber Lead Syndrome. I...'

Sengoku sighed deeply, thinking that he was getting nowhere. Turning away from the outside view, Sengoku reached for the Den Den Mushi and called. The other side immediately accepted it, and said,

<<Yes, Fleet Admiral Sengoku?>> It was one deep voice, belonging to the newly promoted Warden of the Impel Down: Magellan.

"...Have yourself prepared," Said Sengoku, "I'm coming right now."

<<...E-eh?>>

__________

It was in a gloomy-looking bar of unknown location, where only two customers sat by. One among them was an orange-haired man dressed finely, Blaise.

"...Strange," Muttered Blaise as he held a glass of wine in his hand. He swirled the liquid around repeatedly, having his mind filled with nothing but uncertainty.

"And what may our chief be concerned of this time around?" Said one beautiful-looking blonde woman with blue-coloured eyes, sitting next to him. She casually sipped down a red wine, before licking her lips seductively, "If you, the one who wasn't worried about Kaidou's strange movement, is now in a state like this, I can't help but be curious."

"...Stussy."

Blaise, gazing at her sharply, shifted his eyes back to the wine before opening his mouth, "...If I were to vote on what's the world's greatest mystery, I will debate between your age and the devil fruits."

"H-hm..." The blonde woman's eyes twitched, but she quickly masked her emotion with a smile, "Fu...fufufu... now that wasn't nice."

"But disregarding the first option—devil fruits." Blaise, uncaring of the woman's attitude, continued, "Interestingly, some devil fruits are similar in nature. Deducing from many factors, the world classified some as superior to another; some examples include Magma Magma fruit and Flame Flame fruit, Ice Ice fruit and Snow Snow fruit, Kilo Kilo fruit and Ton Ton fruit, etc."

Blaise clicked his tongue, expressing his irk. Placing the glass down, he leaned back on his seat, "But there was one thing common for all of them. A direct superior or not, the abilities provided by each devil fruit never overlapped with one another. For the case of Kilo Kilo fruit and Ton Ton fruit, even if Ton Ton fruit allows its user to become much heavier than the user of Kilo Kilo fruit, the extent of 'heaviness' is measured by the unit of 'Ton.' Therefore, the user can't control his or her weight as finely as the user of Kilo Kilo fruit can."

The woman leaned her cheek into her palm with an amused smile, "Yes, and?"

"But what of the case of Smoke Smoke fruit and Gas Gas fruit?" Blaise took in a light breath, "Smoke, by literal means, is a part of gas. Gas Gas fruit is basically yet another 'Smoke Smoke fruit' with a new set of abilities... do you understand what I mean?"

And there, the woman raised her eyebrow questioningly. She, dropping the smile, asked seriously, "...What did you see from that White Hunter?"

Blaise, raising his hand up and rubbing his forehead, replied thoughtfully, "...The lingering smokes around the air after that man's fall... they were absorbed into his unconscious form, and miraculously, he somehow 'healed'—though to an insignificant extent only."

"...Heal?" The woman muttered, "Is Logia capable of doing that?"

"What I'm currently wondering is," Blaise stated darkly, "Is Smoke Smoke fruit a Logia even?"

__________

A sudden and quick fight it was, I thought.

Within the darkness, unknown of whether I was conscious or not, unknown of whether my eyes were opened or closed, I gazed at the pitch black and reflected—of my clash against the self-proclaimed 'Pierro.'

'That flow. It was more than just the external Emission of Armament Haki. It had an intent...' I chuckled lightly, '...Internal Destruction, huh.'

Of course, I was aware. The knowledge that I managed to accumulate from my past life wasn't for nothing. However, theory isn't enough. 'Haki' was an enigmatic power that I was extremely unfamiliar with, and the fact that one's will can be physically manifested and honed like how the martial artists from the Earth do—I couldn't grasp how I was supposed to make my will 'flow.'

So I reflected once more. The moment in which I was hit with the Six King Gun that was combined with the Armament Haki: Internal Destruction—I focused on the pain during the strike.

'The most important aspect of Haki is one's "desire." What am I willing to do? Where does my faith lie?'

Back then, that CP0 agent's intent was solely focused on damaging me. In correspondence, his Haki moved, blasting through my body and knocking me out from the inside out... just like the 'Black Impact' of mine.

Silently, I tried to raise my hand up within the darkness, trying to see if I can replicate the concept of Armament Haki: Internal Destruction.

"...Heh,"

But of course, it was to no avail. Though making Haki 'flow' seemed theoretically simple, the idea of imagining Haki as a form of tangible energy was a strenuous and ambiguous task.

'If only I can experience that technique one more time,' I thought to myself, 'Then I will be able to...'

At the next moment, I found my eyes wide open in the middle of a dark cell.

"Hah...?"

All four of my limbs were cuffed. For some reason, I couldn't muster strength in my body, and breathing alone was taxing. From my back, I felt a hard and cold texture, which informed me that I was currently in a lying position.

I wandered my eyes around. Metal Bars. Other cells where the individuals with prisoner's uniform sat, all cuffed. And then... one blue-haired woman, similarly cuffed as I am, on the opposite side of this same cell that I was in. From one glance, I immediately recognized her,

"...Whitey Bay?"

She, without a doubt, was a member of Whitebeard pirates who's recently formed her own crew.

Said Whitey Bay, upon hearing my remark, opened her eyes and let out a dry smile,

"So you finally woke up, sleepyhead."

Frowning lightly, I quickly assessed my situation. And it didn't take me for long to realize, that I was currently locked up in the Impel Down.

'Judging by my bounty and the surrounding features...'

I came to chuckle,

"...I see. This must be the 6th level."

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