A Marine butcher? I’m just fighting to live with everything I’ve got. Chapter 83 83: The Navy’s High Command Assembles!

A massive dog-headed battleship slowly pulled into harbor.

From the deck stepped down a towering old man, broad-chested, his muscles corded like steel cables. His left eye bore a savage scar, his hair was a ss of white, and his jaw worked noisily as he crunched on rice crackers.

"What the hell is Sengoku up to this ti?!"

Monkey D. Garp grumbled through a mouthful of crumbs, scratching the back of his head without a care for the bits of cracker tumbling down his beard.

Just earlier, he had been chasing a few cocky rookie pirates around Paradise, playing his own version of cat-and-mouse. He was having fun until a Supre Commander's Order slamd him in the face, dragging him back to headquarters by force.

That wasn't like Sengoku at all.

Ever since becoming Fleet Admiral, Sengoku had grown fussy and cautious, always muttering about "the bigger picture" and "public perception," like so nagging housewife constantly worrying about appearances.

But today? The urgency, the recklessness it was more like the Sengoku he had known back in their days as Admirals.

"Garp-sensei…"

A familiar, lazy drawl drifted from the pier.

Garp paused mid-crunch and turned his head.

There, leaning casually against the dock wall, was a tall man with ssy curls of black hair and an unhurried expression.

"Kuzan?!"

Garp's eyes bulged. "Weren't you in the New World on assignnt?" He shoved the rest of the crackers into his mouth and mumbled, "Don't tell that old bastard Sengoku dragged you back too?"

"Yeah, sothing like that."

Admiral Kuzan straightened, hands shoved into his pockets, his tone as sluggish as ever.

"Halfway through the mission, I was told it was a Fleet Admiral's order. Urgent. No ti to argue, so I ca straight back."

His words were relaxed, his voice carrying the sa nonchalant lilt but Garp frowned. Sothing was different.

Kuzan didn't carry the sa heavy air of weariness he once did. He still looked lazy, his posture still scread "nap-ready," but the hollow drift in his eyes, the listless despair that had long plagued him, was thinner now.

Instead, Garp sensed sothing rekindling within him. The faint but unmistakable fla of conviction.

Kuzan had found… direction again.

"What happened to you, brat?"

Garp stepped close, peering into his forr protégé's face.

"You look more fired up than before. Don't tell you fell in love or sothing?"

Kuzan scratched his head and chuckled dryly. "You're joking, Garp-sensei. Nothing like that. Just… t an interesting junior officer. He gave a bit of a wake-up call. Knocked so sense back into ."

"…Huh?"

Garp's mind filled with question marks. What kind of rookie could lecture an Admiral?

Before he could press further, the sound of crashing waves tore across the harbor.

A colossal battleship, the kind reserved for only the highest Navy authority, cut through the sea foam and glided into port.

"Sengoku, what the hell are you ?!"

Garp's voice died in his throat.

On the bow stood Sengoku himself, arms clasped behind his back, unmoving as a statue. His expression was carved from stone.

Garp knew that look. Too well.

For decades, they had fought side by side. That mask of silence only appeared when matters grave enough to shake the foundation of the Navy were at stake.

Beside him stood Vice Admiral Tsuru, her white hair whipped about by the sea breeze. Her calm gaze swept the docks, a faint gleam flashing deep in her eyes. Invisible threads of Observation Haki spread outward like a net, blanketing the entire harbor.

Half a warehouse of gold sat hidden in the ship's hold. It needed to be transferred, quietly, without the world ever knowing.

She t Sengoku's glance. A subtle nod. "Leave it to ."

Sengoku turned back without a word. The instant the ship docked, he strode down the gangplank without so much as a glance toward Garp or Kuzan, his steps heavy with purpose as he marched for Navy Headquarters.

"…Well, that answers nothing," Garp muttered.

He and Kuzan exchanged a look, then followed silently.

Behind them, Tsuru gave a wave of her hand. "Move the cargo. Take it to Warehouse Zero. Discreetly."

Her loyal aides snapped to work, hauling massive, canvas-shrouded crates with utmost care, their boots soundless on the dock.

Inside the High Command eting chamber, tension hung as heavy as lead.

Admiral Akainu sat stiff-backed, arms crossed, his face as unreadable as chiseled granite.

Across from him, Admiral Kizaru lounged with one leg crossed over the other, tapping his fingers lazily against his knee in an uneven rhythm.

Further down the table sat a man with short violet hair and a massive chanical arm in place of his right limb. He wore sunglasses, his silence radiating quiet authority.

This was "Black Arm" Zephyr, the Navy's Chief Instructor and a forr Admiral. Though he had retired from active duty to train the next generation, his students now filled nearly every corner of the Navy. He knew the undercurrents swirling through Headquarters well.

And at the heart of those ripples was one na: Renn Hawk.

A re year ago, he had been a Lieutenant Colonel of a small branch in the East Blue. Now he commanded G-3, rising at a pace that shook even seasoned veterans.

Zephyr's sharp eyes flicked toward Akainu.

As his teacher, he knew the man inside and out. Sakazuki's report from the East Blue was brief, but telling. Zephyr had ignored most of the details except one.

The soldiers under Renn Hawk.

According to the report, when faced with the suffocating presence of an Admiral, those soldiers had not faltered. They had not broken ranks. They had stood firm, disciplined, and unyielding.

That wasn't re training. No amount of drills could forge that kind of will.

That was conviction. Absolute loyalty.

The kind of army Zephyr himself had pursued his entire life yet had never been able to perfect.

And sohow, a young officer nad Renn Hawk had achieved it.

The door slamd open.

Sengoku entered with long strides, Garp and Kuzan flanking him.

The room imdiately rose to their feet.

Sengoku took his place at the head of the table, his gaze sweeping across the gathered Admirals, Vice Admirals, and Zephyr himself.

"Everyone is here."

His voice was deep and steady, a weight pressing against every heart in the room.

"Today, I have summoned you for a matter of the utmost importance a decision that will shape the very future of the Navy."

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