"So, you'll be undergoing closed training for the next year?"
Wright crunched away at the senbei—stolen from Old Man Garp, who had swiped them from Admiral Sengoku anyway. "Here, Rosy, have some senbei. Let me tell you, this is Admiral Sengoku's treasured flavor! I wouldn't normally be willing to bring it out for just anyone!"
Rosinante sat on the sofa across from Wright, watching him stuff himself with the treasured-flavor senbei Garp had swiped from his own father. He was completely powerless to complain.
"...Go ahead and eat. I have this flavor all the time." Rosinante held it in for a while, but finally could not resist saying, "You've only been following Mr. Garp for two months, right? And you've already learned all of Mr. Garp's 'essence'?"
"Rosy, you don't understand." Wright gazed sadly out the window. This was Vice Admiral Garp's office at Headquarters. The view outside was not bad, but in Wright's eyes, anything related to Garp carried a certain indescribable feeling.
A deeply stabbing pain.
"Can't you see how I've changed over these past two months?" Wright sighed weakly.
"...You look sturdier, and your presence is stronger?" Rosinante seemed to realize something, and his expression turned strange.
"Wrong. I've become more haggard."
"Long-term, intense mental stimulation can make a person haggard. Put simply, it causes loss of appetite, low spirits, incoherent speech, not wanting to get out of bed, irregular bathroom habits..."
Rosinante's eye twitched violently. Haggard, my ass. Of those symptoms you listed, aside from the last two, why don't you show me any of the first few?
You're stuffing your face, chattering nonstop in front of me, and you're telling me you have no appetite, low spirits, and incoherent speech?
"I'm not eating senbei, little brother. I'm eating my misery..."
"These past two months were simply hell... You were off doing secret training, so you didn't know—but practically everyone at Headquarters knew."
"On average, Old Man Garp beat the crap out of me for eight hours a day—he completely beat the crap out of me!"
"I'm famous throughout Headquarters now, okay? From Fleet Admiral Kong down to newly enlisted Marines, how many people don't know that Old Man Garp has a punching-bag major under his command?!"
"Ah—my dignity, my image, my poise, my future..."
"That old man ruined it all! Aaaaaah—!"
Watching Wright sink into his memories and begin raging helplessly, Rosinante let out a vaguely familiar sigh of satisfaction. "Sometimes, having powerful healing abilities is a misfortune too..."
Rosinante felt a little awkward about that himself. His father, Admiral Sengoku, looked mighty and stern, gentle and wise on the surface, but he was actually an old goofball just like Vice Admiral Garp. Vice Admiral Garp had tormented a newly promoted major at Headquarters for two whole months; without his father's tacit approval... or perhaps even his personal involvement, it simply did not make sense.
After all, his father and Mr. Garp both thought highly of Wright. Ever since Wright joined the Marines, the two big shots had been backing him. First came Teacher Zephyr's personal instruction, and now Mr. Garp. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like his father's handiwork.
Ahem. Better not make a fuss about this.
"Um... Wright." Feeling that they had gone seriously off-topic, Rosinante had no choice but to forcefully steer the conversation back. "I only said we should meet somewhere... Why did we have to come to Mr. Garp's office?"
"And isn't Mr. Garp here?"
"..."
Wright snapped back to his senses and shot Rosinante an odd look. "Tch. Don't you know where Old Man Garp likes to go most? This office is big and quiet, perfect for talking business."
"And after Old Man Garp discovered this morning that I stole all the senbei... ahem, that the senbei were gone, he definitely won't come back before the end of the workday. If it weren't for your business, Rosy, I wouldn't have come to this place of sorrow... Hmph... crunch, crunch..."
Rosinante pressed his right hand to his forehead. Of course he knew where Vice Admiral Garp would go—he could already faintly hear his father roaring in his ears: "You bastard, Garp! That's my favorite flavor!"
Wright had already guessed why Rosinante had come to see him. After cracking a few jokes to ease the mood, he turned serious. "So, Rosy, you specifically asked me out today. Are you facing some kind of difficulty?"
"That thing you absolutely have to do?"
"...I can't hide it from you." Rosinante smiled bitterly. "I just finished training. That Smoker guy went on a mission with Vice Admiral Kuzan, so you're the only one I can discuss this with."
"Wright, you're the best of our generation, whether in combat strength or strategic wisdom. So, I want to ask you something."
"If you uphold justice, but someone closest to you is an utterly evil person, how would you stop his madness when you lack the strength to do so by force?"
"..." Wright stared steadily at Rosinante. "No matter how evil or powerful someone is, he is still only one person. But if his ambitions are great, he will definitely build his own power. And an evil organization with a powerful, evil leader—that is the real threat."
"As someone close to him, your only advantage is that it is easier for you to gain his trust and tolerance. You may be the only light he possesses in the darkness. Your very existence is a shackle restraining his madness."
"Conversely, if you betray him, or die..." Wright bit into a senbei and shifted his gaze to the table before him. "Then he may lose all restraint, destroy everything around him first, and then destroy himself."
"I think there are two ways."
"First, become overwhelmingly strong, challenge him one-on-one, grind him into the ground, and tell him that the biggest fist is right. If he wants to do evil, he has to beat me first!"
"Second, destroy his foundation and prevent him from expanding his power. Assassination, sowing discord, infiltration—use every possible means. Seize control of the lifelines of his organization or uncover major weaknesses. When the time is right, strike in one blow and make his forces collapse. A lone person cannot stir up much trouble on these seas."
"If it were you, you'd definitely choose the first way!" Rosinante said with a smile, as though he had made some kind of resolution. "After all, you have that ability, that potential, and that temperament."
"Which means you'll choose the second." Wright raised his eyes to look at Rosinante, who pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag...
Wright stared darkly at Rosinante's burning shirt shoulder. "Cut it out! With your half-baked personality, what kind of undercover agent are you supposed to be?!"
After frantically putting out the fire on his shoulder, Rosinante rose to take his leave. "Thank you for helping me make up my mind, Wright."
"I didn't, I don't know anything, don't make things up!" Wright rolled his eyes as he watched Rosinante's retreating figure push open the door.
"...Don't die."
"...I'm only going into closed training for a year. Why are you making it sound so serious? Don't miss me too much~"
"Get lost! Right now! Immediately!"
Before you continue