Garp: And you, my friend, you are the true hero!

In the Fortress of Justice at Marine Headquarters in Marineford, Kuzan was walking through the lobby on the first floor.

At the elevator entrance around the corner, Kuzan waited for the elevator going up. Before long, the doors opened, and Borsalino stepped out holding a stack of documents beside Admiral Sengoku, apparently discussing something.

"Mr. Sengoku, so this mission of mine is just to go investigate this MADS research team? But come to think of it, shouldn't this be the Criminal Investigation Bureau's job? Or am I being transferred there soon, and this is to get me familiar with it beforehand?" Borsalino asked Sengoku.

"No, it has nothing to do with the Criminal Investigation Bureau. You can think of it this way: the Fleet Admiral believes the Navy should now establish an armed force dedicated to scientific research, to deal with unpredictable future situations, accelerate our equipment upgrades, and maintain or even widen our current logistical advantage. Let's call it the 'Navy Science Unit' for now. It's a new department that's very likely to be formed. If you perform well, I can arrange for you to serve there. As for the MADS research team, there are some brilliant scientists in it. This mission I've arranged for you is to go investigate, get to know them, and see if we can recruit them to work for the Navy," Sengoku explained.

"But this is marked as... an illegal research team?" Borsalino was a bit confused.

"Without approval and registration from the World Government, with all experimental funding coming from unknown sources in the underworld, and conducting research on dangerous chemical weapons and biological weapons—marking it as 'illegal' is perfectly reasonable, isn't it?" Admiral Sengoku remarked casually.

Borsalino rubbed his chin at that and nodded. "I see. So in other words, this so-called recruitment might also be about earning merit through atonement, right? I get it. You big shots always love these roundabout ways of saying things."

In fact, when Borsalino went to investigate this time, he did find something incredible—that these dangerous scientists were actually researching lineage factors. The World Government then cracked down hard on the MADS research team.

As Borsalino said this, he walked out of the elevator and looked up to see Kuzan. He was quite surprised. "Kuzan? What happened to your eye? Did someone hit you?"

That was right—Kuzan's left eye socket was clearly bruised, a perfect black eye that looked like he'd taken a solid punch.

Borsalino's surprised question made Kuzan recall yesterday's events. Ortolan had been bullying people on the training ground, eventually beating the whole class. Teacher Zephyr had sent Kuzan in to end the chaos.

As it turned out, being a fellow Logia-type Devil Fruit user who'd eaten Navy rations for a few more years and followed the big shots longer, Kuzan was indeed much stronger than Ortolan at this point.

His intervention had directly controlled the situation, but Kuzan hadn't come out unscathed. In the final moment, he'd been a bit careless, and Ortolan had landed a heavy punch right on his eye socket, leaving him like this.

Honestly, if Kuzan's physique weren't so good, that punch's force could have knocked him out. That would have been a huge embarrassment!

From this physique, it was clear that it wasn't the Ice-Ice Fruit that made Kuzan great—Kuzan himself was a monster. He and the Ice-Ice Fruit complemented each other, elevating one another.

"Ahem, you know I like wearing an eye patch to sleep. Last night when I got up to use the bathroom, I was still groggy, forgot to take it off, and hit the door frame. That's all, nothing major," Kuzan said, lowering his head as he tried to brush past Borsalino and get into the elevator.

Borsalino watched Kuzan get on the elevator with some confusion as the doors closed, then turned to Admiral Sengoku with a strange look. "If I remember right, back when Kuzan and I were on a mission together, even if he really did need to... relieve himself at night, he'd freeze it into ice cubes and flush them all in the morning. When I asked why he was so disgusting, he said he was too lazy to get out of bed. Is he planning to fall in love or something, and trying to break these bad habits?"

Sengoku was also stunned, as if he'd accidentally stumbled onto some juicy gossip. Was Kuzan really that slovenly?

"And what do you do when you get up at night?" Sengoku couldn't help asking.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt he'd overstepped. Such a private question was too rude!

Unexpectedly, Borsalino answered boldly, "I usually just open the window and fly out under the moonlight..."

And you're one to talk about other people's bad habits?

Sengoku nodded silently, thinking that once he finished his current work, he'd need to focus on the Navy's moral and cultural development... Otherwise, if all these future Navy officers turned out to be weirdos with bizarre quirks, Marineford's atmosphere would be terrible!

Come to think of it, there were a few times when he'd come home from night duty, and even though it hadn't rained, the air felt a bit damp... No way?

But for some reason, Sengoku couldn't stop himself from wondering... How did Sakazuki handle this problem? The image of Sakazuki roaring "Great Eruption!" popped into his head!

For the sake of his own mental health, Sengoku forced himself to clear these random thoughts from his mind. "Kuzan got hit by that Ortolan yesterday, that's why his eye looks like that. Alright, enough nonsense. Let's go..."

Meanwhile, Ortolan was in the bedroom of Garp's house, looking in the mirror.

Garp, who seemed impatient outside, suddenly pushed the door open. "What are you dawdling in here for? Didn't we agree to go to the hospital together to visit your classmates?"

As soon as Garp entered, he froze in surprise. "What the hell are you doing!?"

He was shocked because he saw Ortolan picking out glasses from a pile that looked brand new, trying them on his face!

Ortolan wasn't wearing his usual violent-looking black vest today. Instead, he had on a white shirt and dress pants, paired with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. And honestly... it looked damn ridiculous!

Especially with his three-meter-plus frame, his muscles were about to burst through the shirt!

Even the elegant leather shoes on his feet looked aggressive!

"Mr. Garp, perfect timing. Do you think these glasses suit me?" Ortolan pushed up the gold-rimmed frames on his nose and asked.

Garp's face twitched, and he cursed, "Right now, you look like a dock thug trying to play the refined scumbag. Walking around like that would seriously damage the Navy's image. What were you thinking, messing around with all this flashy stuff?"

"Ahem..." Ortolan cleared his throat a bit sheepishly. "Well... I was worried that yesterday's incident might have made things too tense with my classmates and colleagues, so I wanted to show a more cultured side today. And don't always judge me with such biased eyes. Teacher Zephyr said I have a real advantage in cultural classes. Maybe I could become a wise and brave strategist like Mr. Sengoku someday!"

So as a potential strategist and wise commander, wearing gold-rimmed glasses makes perfect sense, right?

Even as he said this and thought it, Ortolan looked in the mirror and grimaced, taking off the gold-rimmed glasses... They looked damn ugly!

Then he looked at the pile of glasses he'd bought on the table and turned to Garp. "Can I return these?"

"What do you think? No way!" Garp said with a mocking grin.

"What if I said Vice Admiral Garp has my back? That shop owner wouldn't dare offend me!" Ortolan said very seriously.

Garp paused, then snapped, "Don't you dare use my name to pull any shady crap out there! It'll ruin my image!"

Ortolan was silent for a moment, then hit him with the truth. "Mr. Garp, I respect you, but I have to say—anyone who's known you for more than a week probably doesn't think you have much of an image to begin with."

"Kid, don't think I won't hit you just because you're wearing glasses!" Garp grumbled.

After scolding Ortolan a bit, Garp seemed to feel a little guilty, knowing his own reputation. He leaned in and said, "So give me some advice. How can I make my image look more upright, more... you know, better!"

Ortolan rubbed his chin. "Alright, I'll teach you one line. Once you learn it, people will definitely praise and respect you more!"

"What is it?" Garp perked up and asked quickly.

"Next time someone calls you the Marine Hero, says you're amazing and cool, just pat them on the shoulder warmly, give them a thumbs up, and say with a big smile, 'I'm no hero. You, my friend, are the real hero!'" Ortolan said seriously.

Garp paused, imagining the scene... Huh, it actually seemed to open up a whole new level!?

"I've got it!" Garp said, looking like he'd been taught a valuable lesson.