On the other hand, that morning, about four hours earlier...
Just as Gawain got up from the bed, which was filled with incense and had just been changed at four in the morning.
He had to pull his hand out of the Snake Princess's rabbit.
Looking at the alluring woman on the bed, her face flushed with drunkenness, snoring softly, and occasionally drooling.
Gawain took a deep breath.
Sigh, nothing has happened yet; we just cuddled up and slept together.
I started to feel a little reluctant to get out of bed.
What if something really happened? That would be terrible! Wouldn't that mean... the emperor would never hold court again?
Lost in his thoughts, Gawain took a handkerchief and wiped Hancock's mouth and cheeks.
Then he left the room.
As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Gion already standing in the side hall, wiping and maintaining the Kompira while speaking to Gawain.
"How is it, my lord? How does the Snake Princess feel?"
As she spoke, Gion's eyebrows twitched, and even though her smile remained, Gawain still felt a chill run down his spine.
Gawain responded without changing his expression.
"It's not as cold as a real snake."
With just this one sentence, Gawain hurriedly fled the side hall and arrived at the observation deck of his castle.
On the deck at this moment, the veteran officers had already woken up and were ready to train with Gawain.
As for the three new members who just joined yesterday...
Crocodile looked completely at ease; after all, he had been a behind-the-scenes boss before, so waking up early was no big deal.
As for Robin, hiding for so many years, living a life of hardship and uncertainty is nothing new to him; this is even less of a problem now.
Only...
Not far away, Grandpa Rayleigh grabbed Ace by the ankle and dragged Ace all the way to the training ground.
"Little Gawain, let Brother Yi Xiao fight you today. I'll teach this kid a lesson."
At such a young age, he's even more prone to sleeping than us old folks, and he has the same ability as Garp —to fall asleep anytime, anywhere!
Damn it, when has Roger ever slept anytime, anywhere?
Could this guy be a dragon's biological son?
"We haven't made a mistake, have we?"
"How could that be...?"
Gawain waved to Rayleigh, then smiled and, with a cane and Staff Sword in hand, began their morning practice.
The two would warm up by sparring until they were hot all over before proceeding with weight training, which had become a daily routine.
While Gawain was training, Crocodile was also making a flurry of phone calls.
There was no other reason than that after arriving on Gawain's ship, he should gather all his men there.
The organizational structure of the Baroque Works was quite simple.
Apart from the president Sand Crocodile, and Nicole Robin, who could barely be called the vice president.
The organization also has five levels: Chief Commander, Executive Commander, Punisher, Billions, and Millionaire Elder.
At this very moment, Shakky, accompanied by Falcon Pell, was exchanging various intelligence reports with Crocodile.
At the same time, Shakky also figured out the composition of the Baroque Works.
The "Million Elders" department, chosen from among millions with an exaggerated emphasis, is the lowest-ranking yet largest department in the Baroque Works, with approximately 1,800 employees.
The Billions is an exaggerated expression meaning one in a billion. There are two hundred of them, each leading a different team of one million elders, who are active under the command of the commanders.
They are scattered throughout Alabasta and the Grand Line, and their main task is to collect various kinds of intelligence and funds.
The million-year-olds and the Billions do not have code names.
On this, the punishers are a man and a woman; the man is codenamed Mr. 13, and the woman is codenamed Miss Friday.
Neither the number thirteen nor the date Black Friday are considered good omens, hence the two punishers are also known as the Unluckies.
Aside from those who were punished, the Baroque Works had a total of fourteen executive commanders, exactly seven men and seven women.
The codenames of the seven men, from Mr. 6 to Mr. 12.
The seven women are designated as Miss Father's Day, Miss Mother's Day, Miss Monday, Miss Tuesday, Miss Wednesday, Miss Thursday, and Miss Saturday.
Above the executive command are the true executives of the Baroque Works, the chief commander.
There were nine chief commanders in total, but they occupied ten code names.
From the man's perspective:
Mr. 1, Daz Bones, Devil Fruit User.
Mr. 2, Ben Sam, Devil Fruit User.
Mr. 3, Gal Dino, Devil Fruit User the Wax-Wax Fruit.
Mr. 4, Babe, the strongman without Devil Fruit.
Mr. 5, Gem, Devil Fruit User.
From the woman's perspective:
Miss New Year's Day, Paula, Devil Fruit User.
Miss Bon Festival, Ben Sam, Devil Fruit User.
Miss Golden Week, Marianne, painter, psychologist.
Miss Christmas, Drophy, Zoan Mole Devil Fruit User.
Miss Valentine, Mikita, Devil Fruit User.
Speaking of which, I must mention that Miss Valentine is one of the most beautiful women on the Grand Line.
It certainly lives up to the name of Valentine's Day!
Another person we must pay attention to is the user of the Mane Mane no Mi.
This is what it means to be both male and female...
Let's get back to the main topic.
Just by looking at the rows and rows of Devil Fruit, one can tell that Baroque Works has considerable potential.
Not only the chief executive officer, but also many of the executive officers and those responsible for punishment Devil Fruit User.
Looking at the list of personnel, Shakky nodded in satisfaction. The quality and potential were only slightly inferior to the CP9 team led by Lucci.
Shakky spoke softly to Crocodile.
"Have the chief commander gather everyone on the Dark Bird Ship. We need to prepare in Katorea for a while before crossing the desert to the Drum Kingdom."
In short, the task of spreading information should be handled by the commander and his men!
That very sentence has kept Crocodile busy until now...
After all, Crocodile is no longer qualified to have Robin do things for him.
The chief commander and he, Mr. 0, have always maintained a one-way communication. Now, if he wants them to gather, he must personally issue orders.
After working for more than ten minutes, the chief commanders of the Baroque Works all received orders to assemble.
Except for a few individuals who were unable to arrive because they were not in Alabasta.
About five hours later, which was exactly the time when Gawain and Gion had been sparring for a while.
The chief commanders finally arrived in the Katorea City.
Looking at the orderly city, and smelling the faint stench of blood in the air.
Mikita couldn't resist taking out a silk scarf and gently wiping her nose.
"What a disgusting smell, death, blood, wails, ugh..."
With a sigh, Miss Valentine looked towards the enormous Dark Bird Ship in the distance, near the open sea.
"But what's truly unexpected is that today we not only found out who our boss is, we also found out who our boss's boss is!"
Beside him, listening to the Valentine's Day talk, von Clay, with his bright red lipstick painted on, struck a pose of a muscular man looking shy and coy.
"Our boss's boss is actually Celestial Dragon, that's unbelievable."
Even their idol, Lord Ivankov, the Okama King, would be shocked to hear this news!
At this point, von Klay couldn't help but jump around, his two hairy legs sticking out from his cute pink swan costume immediately causing the others present to show disgusted expressions.
Mr. 1, Daz Bones, the user of the Dice-Dice Fruit, even disgustingly interrupted Bon Clay's dance.
"Mr. 0 is urging us to get to the Dark Bird Ship as soon as possible. Considering that the leader of the Dark Bird Ship is Celestial Dragon, I think you idiot, you'd better not waste any more time!"
If you become disliked by the Celestial Dragon, you probably won't have a reason to live anymore, you freak."
Oh~~~.
Upon hearing Daz Bones's words, von Clay grinned, revealing his heavily made-up mouth, and nodded with a mixture of excitement and masculine shyness.
"Are you actually concerned about me, you cold-faced jerk? I get shy, you know."
And you saw right through her true nature. Yes, she's a transvestite from the Karabaka Kingdom ~~~."
After saying that, von Clay looked with a smile at the Dark Bird Ship in the distance.
"Normally, I would definitely give you a loving encouragement, but now..."
"Let's... go see that handsome Celestial Dragon first!"
"Yes, yes, hurry up and go, otherwise what can you do by staying here? Even I, an old man, can't wait any longer, but you slowpokes can't stop dawdling!"
"I'm leaving now, you can do whatever you want. It would be better if you all got killed by the Celestial Dragon!"
Beside her, no sooner had the transvestite von Clay finished speaking than Miss Christmas, whose face and mouth screamed "impatient," quickly strode off towards the dock with her short legs.
Behind her, the group exchanged glances, then silently followed.
It's 11:30 on the Dark Bird Ship.
It wasn't until lunchtime that Hancock finally emerged from Gawain's bathroom, her arms and legs trembling.
As for her flushed face and weak hands and feet, that was obviously caused by soaking in the water for too long.
However, just a second ago she was wearing a happy smile, but the next second Hancock immediately revealed a devilishly angry expression.
Because in her eyes, Gion, far away, had set aside Kompira and was directly engaging Gawain in a fistfight!
Gawain's physique is far inferior to Gion's Gion, and his Armament Haki is several times weaker.
With the rule forbidding dodging, Gawain practically became Gion's punching bag!
Each punch they exchanged generated a terrifying shockwave, creating a scene reminiscent of Maeve Starlight and other women beating up their fellow villagers—a visually stunning spectacle.
What Hancock saw was Gion disrupting Gawain's defensive rhythm with a quick punch, and then delivering a powerful blow to Gawain's stomach!
After that punch, Gawain was sent flying hundreds of meters away. When he landed on the ground, he coughed up a mouthful of blood without hesitation.
Therefore, before Kuma could treat Gawain, Gion lost the right to continue sparring with Gawain.
In a fit of rage Hancock kicked Gion straight into the forest, and the two women began their daily clashes in the woods once again...
And Gawain...
Seeing that the enemy was gone, he took the opportunity to catch his breath for a moment. Beside him, Kuma patted away his wounds.
Standing up, Gawain rubbed his stomach with lingering fear and laughed.
"Hancock came out just in time, otherwise I really think I would have been beaten to death by Gion."
Let's take a 20-minute break early today, grab something to eat, and get some work done.
At this point, Gawain led Kuma to the rest area.
Sitting on the sofa, he watched Ace in the distance with great interest.
At this moment, Ace was among the training group at Black Ice Terrace, being pulled out by Rayleigh for intense solo training.
The hardships I've endured over the past few months, all related to various forms of Haki.
At this point, Ace ate it all again, this time in one go.
Therefore, the way Gawain looked at Ace at this moment was exactly the same as the way a veteran looks at a new recruit.
While Ace enjoys training, he dislikes being forced to train by others.
Seeing Ace grumbling and cursing, Gawain felt an even greater sense of happiness, realizing that the new generation was indeed inferior to the older generation...
As Gawain was pondering, Kalifa came to his side.
"Grown ups!"
Kalifa bowed and said.
"The executives of Baroque Works, Crocodile- affiliated organization, have arrived."
"Well, let Crocodile explain to them. I won't bother seeing them."
However, they are all quite capable and have great potential. Remind me and Yixiao to focus on developing them.
At this point, Gawain gently rubbed his forehead.
"We still need to find a professional mentor. Whether it's our mentor Gion, our mentor Rayleigh, or our mentor Iso, we have all been on board."
These people aren't very good at teaching...
But I can't exactly go to that tutor Tian Bin, can I...?
With a chuckle, Gawain gently patted Kalifa's hand.
"Kalifa, contact Marineford for me and tell them I need to meet with former Admiral Black Arm Zephyr!"
I think Sengoku and Garp wouldn't support this, so let's contact Akainu!
If Sengoku tries to find an excuse to shirk responsibility, then let Sakazuki find the time to invite Zephyr over for me!
Of course, this would apply if Zephyr wasn't at headquarters, but rather in the Grand Line or the East Blue.
Then I'll meet him in person during the rest of my trip!
Having said that, Gawain nodded to Kalifa then put down today's newspaper and turned to leave.
Kalifa has a lot to do, not only coordinating the recently increased workload of logistics and relief plans.
We also have to pay for Gawain Wen's various impromptu ideas.
Looking at Kalifa's retreating figure, Gawain couldn't help but think that the girl's waist had gotten thinner from overwork lately.
It seems I need to find a few professional secretaries, or professionals who can help Kalifa alleviate the financial pressure on her chief secretary.
If he can even think about reducing Kalifa's stress, how can he possibly reduce his own daily pressure?
Not far away, Kalifa had just left when Franky followed her toward Gawain.
Looking at Franky's expectant face, Gawain was really having a headache.
Franky approached Gawain and spoke to Gawain expectantly.
"Sir, hey hey hey, is your training over this morning?"
Oh, it's a little earlier today. Does that mean you can participate in my experiment?
I've improved two more battery packs, but their energy storage performance is still quite poor. Also, I need to study your Thunder- Rumble-Rumble Fruit more thoroughly before I can try to reverse-engineer the various power generation facilities you mentioned to me.
I think our ship is more suitable for hydroelectric power generation, after all, we are surrounded by the sea, and the ship is also equipped with Siphon System.
However, besides that, I always need to combine various energy sources such as firepower, wind power, and solar lights with related points.
These are all ideas you gave me, you can't just not participate, can you?"
At this point, Franky rubbed his pompadour and continued to look at Gawain expectantly.
So Gawain had no choice but to nod.
"Indeed, today's rest time will be half an hour longer than usual."
Okay, wait for me for twenty minutes. I'll grab something to eat and check the newspaper and my latest work progress.
I'll come to your lab to find you by midnight at the latest, and we can work on it until 1 p. m.
That's it!
As he spoke, Gawain waved his hand lightly, and Franky immediately turned and left with satisfaction.
No sooner had Franky left than Lucci arrived.
Lucci walked up to Gawain and said softly.
"Sir, a small naval vessel is approaching nearby. What do you think...?"
"Oh? A small Marine warship?"
Upon hearing this, Gawain clapped his hands lightly.
"Go ask them why they've come. If they mean no harm, then invite them up for a meal; it's lunchtime for us too!"
After saying this, Gawain waved for Lucci to leave, and he could finally look at the newspaper...