Plowing Through the East Blue

"Another wife? I haven't really..."

"You bastard, Leon!"

Once the meaning sank in, Garp gave Leon a Fist of Love.

"How did I end up teaching a disciple like you..."

"Go pack your things. Don't be late tomorrow."

After scolding Leon, Garp walked off with his hands on his hips and his legs spread wide.

Leon pulled a little notebook from his pocket. He flipped past a page already filled with notes and added another mark to a fresh page.

Early the next morning, after reporting to Zephyr that he would be going to sea with Garp on a mission, Leon boarded Garp's Dog Head Warship with his luggage.

He also learned about the mission from Garp's adjutant, Bogard.

Bogard didn't know the mission's exact details either, but based on his years of serving as Garp's adjutant, he guessed there was a good chance their destination was Foosha Village in the East Blue. As for whether Garp would get a sudden whim and cause trouble along the way, even Bogard couldn't predict that...

Got it.

A taxpayer-funded vacation and a visit home...

Sengoku, in the office next door, was so busy he could barely make it home. No wonder he'd become the next Fleet Admiral.

There wasn't anyone else they could rely on...

Garp yawned and swaggered onto the deck, then stood in the middle and waved a hand.

"Set sail!"

They pulled up the anchor and raised the sails.

The Dog Head Warship slowly left Marineford, while adjutant Bogard waited for Garp's next order.

It took him quite a while to realize that Garp, wearing his dog-head hat, had fallen asleep standing up.

"Just pick a route, Bogard."

Leon, who'd expected this, chuckled and stretched out on a deck chair.

"Teacher Garp won't care about the details..."

The warm sunlight made him feel pleasantly drowsy. Leon put on his sunglasses, rested his head on his hands, and enjoyed the sea breeze.

A rare vacation.

Leon had let his guard down too soon. Given Garp's temperament, he wasn't going to let Leon enjoy himself in peace.

Just half a day later, after catching up on sleep, Garp ordered Leon to dive into the sea and catch a Sea King for an extra meal. And from then on, even though they'd already established that Foosha Village in the East Blue was their destination, Garp kept ordering the Dog Head Warship off course.

Leon also got another look at the Grand Line's wildly unpredictable weather.

The sky could be clear one moment, then suddenly pelt them with hailstones as big as fists. A seemingly calm sea could whip up towering waves without warning.

Whenever that happened, Garp would catch Leon off guard and kick him into the sea, or tie him to a balloon and send him soaring into the sky.

According to Garp, it was called pushing yourself and bravely facing danger...

Up in the sky, Leon watched lightning flash through the clouds as a deafening roar filled his ears.

In a situation like this, tied to a balloon, he was no different from a lightning rod.

Leon kicked through the balloon and used Geppo to land safely on the deck of the Dog Head Warship.

The silver bandages on his body had been scorched black by the electricity. When Garp saw Leon's hair sticking out from the bandages in a frizzy mess, he burst into loud laughter.

"Heh heh."

"Teacher Garp, why don't you give it a try?"

"Well... I'm getting old..."

"Bastard!"

"I'm your teacher, and you dare hit me?!"

Sigh...

The steady adjutant Bogard sighed.

Go ahead and fight... just don't break the ship...

"Hey, old man Garp, we could've gone to the East Blue through Reverse Mountain."

"Why did you have to cross the Calm Belt?"

"Isn't this faster? Besides, my warship has Sea Prism Stone fitted to it..."

Leon, now a human engine in the water again, plunged beneath the surface and stopped looking at Garp's ugly mug.

A Sea King was drawn over by the noise Leon made swimming. Leon swung his leg, sending a huge slash flying from it. Even with the water in the way, the astonishing strike cut the Sea King in two.

Before the other Sea Kings in the area could be drawn by the smell of blood, Leon had already dragged the warship away from those waters at high speed.

With his strength now, the massive warship behind him was little more than dead weight.

With Leon towing it, the Dog Head Warship reached the East Blue at an astonishing speed.

"Captain!"

"There's a Marine ship ahead!"

"So what if they're Marines? I'm here to beat up Marines!"

"Bring the ship alongside!"

Sometimes, a person's life passed in the blink of an eye, just like time.

On deck, Leon stared expressionlessly at the sinking pirate ship and the surviving pirates wailing in the water.

"Bogard, how many pirate crews have we run into now?"

"Lost count. More than a dozen, big and small."

Ever since they entered the East Blue, they'd run into pirate crews of all sizes. Some had seen the Marines and fled at once, while others, like the pirates they'd just encountered, had brought their ship alongside...

Leon had taken all of them down in an instant. At first, they'd captured the surviving pirates and brought them aboard the warship, intending to send them to Judicial Island for processing.