"Teach, did you really subdue him?"
Sengoku's skeptical voice echoed through the office.
"That's right!"
Upon hearing the question, Buggy immediately put on a smug expression and instinctively trotted out the story he had been bragging about to his colleagues earlier:
"At the time, Teach launched a surprise attack on Headquarters from the sky. I sensed him in advance but kept it to myself, waiting only for the instant he hit the ground—"
"Hm?"
Garp, seated nearby, quietly raised a fist as big as a casserole.
"Uh..."
Buggy silently shut his mouth, then, under Garp's gaze full of "concern," forced himself to tell what had happened:
"I just casually kicked, and he happened to fall out of the sky."
"Just as I thought."
Sengoku shot Buggy an irritated look.
Although anyone with eyes could see what had really happened, there were far more blind fools in this world.
Less than an hour after Teach was brought to justice, Colonel Buggy's glorious feat of capturing an enemy in a single move had already spread throughout Marine Headquarters. In people's minds, he had even begun to take on the image of an expert stronger than the three Admirals and comparable to the Four Emperors.
It was not hard to imagine that this rumor would soon spread across the seas through the Marines' communications network at viral speed.
"..."
Sengoku sighed softly and merely said to Buggy, "You may leave now."
"Yes!"
Buggy nodded frantically, then hurriedly fled the grave office with a mocking grin on his face.
It was not that Buggy was cowardly. Besides Sengoku and Garp, Marine Vice Admiral Tsuru—the Marines' "Great Staff Officer"—was also present.
The three gathered here were old veterans who had once chased even Captain Roger, whom Buggy idolized, all over the world.
"Should we clear