Each to Their Own Terms

"You... Brat... you..."

Sengoku pointed at Yaen with a trembling hand. Listening to Yaen's nearly flawless argument, he almost lost control of his power and started glowing gold.

Just as Yaen hesitated over whether he should seriously try to soothe Sengoku, Vice Admiral Tsuru at the side could no longer hold back her laughter.

"Hahaha..."

"Sengoku, you've often told me how clever Yaen was. Now that I've seen it for myself, he truly is remarkably quick-witted and meticulous in everything he does. You're fortunate—you have a successor."

At that, Sengoku's expression turned ugly as he said in an intensely disdainful tone, "What successor? This brat spends every day thinking about how to loaf around. He uses all his cleverness on slacking off. I'm at the point where I'd rather just smack him to death."

"Don't be hasty, Sengoku..." Vice Admiral Tsuru said in a gentle, peaceful tone.

"Still, Yaen's words just now weren't without reason. You're currently at a critical juncture in whether you can successfully be promoted to Fleet Admiral. You need to be cautious in all things and mindful of the influence it may have."

Sengoku shot Yaen a fierce glare and said helplessly, "I understand."

Yaen instinctively rolled his eyes at that and grumbled inwardly.

That's why, when it comes to old men like him, no matter how much their sons say, they won't listen. But the moment their female confidante speaks, they obey every word.

What do you call this? Favoring women over his son!

As Yaen silently complained and waited for Sengoku to accept reality and let him become a glorious Private First Class, he noticed Vice Admiral Tsuru suddenly whispering a few words into Sengoku's ear.

Then, Vice Admiral Tsuru waved at Yaen and said with a kindly expression, "Yaen, come be a guest at my place when you have time. I'm sure you and Gion will make very good partners in the future."

With that, Vice Admiral Tsuru slowly left the Training Ground.

Partners?

Yaen froze for a moment.

Before he could ponder the hidden meaning behind Vice Admiral Tsuru's words, a smile inexplicably bloomed across Sengoku's face.

It's a trap!

Yaen reacted instantly and instinctively tried to retreat.

Unfortunately, Yaen's physique was on a completely different level from Sengoku's, and so was the speed he could unleash.

Yaen only felt his vision blur before Sengoku grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Brat, where do you think you're going?" Sengoku asked with a smile.

"I'm... I'm..."

Yaen's mind raced, and he quickly found a suitable excuse.

"I'm going to check on Captain Gion. I'm a little worried about her injuries, so I wanted to help apply some medicine or something."

Sengoku patted Yaen on the shoulder, his smile carrying a different meaning. "No rush. You'll have plenty of chances to get to know each other slowly in the future."

"Old man, you aren't really planning to make me marry Captain Gion, are you?" Yaen asked in surprise at Sengoku's tone.

"What? Is Captain Gion not good enough? Is she not pretty enough? Or do you think she isn't strong enough?"

Sengoku forcibly draped an arm around Yaen and walked him toward the office as he spoke.

Yaen's lips twitched slightly. He loathed questions like these and knew full well that this was a blatant trap.

He immediately changed the subject, bypassing Sengoku's question altogether. "Old man, Captain Gion seems to be Vice Admiral Tsuru's adoptive younger sister, right?"

"That's right." Sengoku nodded.

Then Yaen chuckled and asked, "So, old man, your relationship with Vice Admiral Tsuru is...?"

Sengoku's hand on Yaen's shoulder tightened slightly, cutting off Yaen's next words and making his entire body suddenly sink.

"Brat, don't make wild guesses. Little Crane and I are merely like brother and sister, understand?"

"I understand the logic, but if I married Captain Gion, then I'd naturally have to call Vice Admiral Tsuru my sister, right? Then what I should call you, old man, would become a little difficult to figure out."

As he spoke, Yaen bent his fingers and started counting, muttering, "Your relationship with Vice Admiral Tsuru is like that of siblings, so in a sense, you're also Captain Gion's adoptive elder brother. And you and I have a father-son relationship."

"Ah, how complicated."

Looking at Sengoku's constipated expression, Yaen deliberately sighed and said, "Old man, how about this? We each use our own terms. You call me little brother, and I'll call you old man. What do you think?"

A terrifying look appeared in Sengoku's eyes, like a bone-scraping blade stabbing into Yaen as he asked in a low voice, "What do you think?!"

Yaen gave a dry laugh. "Then of course that wouldn't be very good, right, Dad?"

"Hmph!"

Sengoku glared fiercely at Yaen, only regretting that the brat's physique was too weak. Otherwise, he would have pinned him to the ground and ground him into the dirt on the spot, broken both his legs, healed them, and then talked about discipline.

Bang!

Admiral Sengoku flung open the office door, stormed back to his seat in a huff, and immediately began dealing with documents, paying Yaen no attention whatsoever.

Seeing this, Yaen did not stand on ceremony in the slightest. He casually shut the office door for Sengoku, then sprawled across the large sofa in the room.

"Ahh~ So comfortable..."

Yaen twisted his waist and let out an involuntary groan, adjusting into the most comfortable position before completely letting himself go.

In fact, this was nothing unusual for Yaen.

Although Sengoku tried to squeeze out as much spare time as possible to teach and spend time with Corazon and Yaen, he could not avoid the constant busyness of handling documents.

Thus, the way Sengoku, Corazon, and Yaen got along gradually developed into a pattern: Sengoku handled paperwork, Corazon trained, and Yaen slept.

Now, listening to the rhythmic scratch, scratch, scratch of writing beside his ear, Yaen felt inexplicably at ease and drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

"This brat..."

Sengoku glanced at Yaen as his breathing gradually became even, and the lines around his brows softened slightly.

In truth, Sengoku knew very well that Yaen was someone who deeply lacked a sense of security. He would not easily enter such a deep state of sleep.

Even when he fell into a light sleep, Yaen would still maintain Observation Haki to some extent to sense danger.

Only at Sengoku's side could Yaen relax enough to fall into such a deep slumber.

Sengoku then shook his head helplessly and continued with his work, though he deliberately softened the sound of his writing considerably.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Yaen suddenly heard a somewhat displeased voice.

"Hey, who are you? How dare you be so disrespectful in Admiral Sengoku's office? Get up, now."