Remnants of the Old Era

"Hina?"

Seeing the little girl suddenly appear, Noah was pleasantly surprised. "Why are you here?"

"Of course..."

Hina grinned, but before she could speak, another calm voice came from behind the door. "Open the door first. Let the boy in."

"Okay."

Hina obediently stepped aside. Noah walked through the door and looked inside, only to see a white-haired old lady in oversized house clothes in the kitchen opposite, washing dishes while glancing at him.

"Have you eaten?"

"Listen to you, it's already past nine. I've finished digesting by now. At this hour, only lazybones haven't had breakfast."

Seeing the familiar grandmother and granddaughter, Noah completely relaxed. He teased them with a grin as he changed his shoes and stepped into the entryway. "Oh, right, Vice Admiral Shizi, when did you..."

Before he could finish, he suddenly saw four old people seated around the dining table to his right, all noisily slurping noodles with their heads down.

Hearing him, the four of them stiffened at the same time, then looked up and narrowed their eyes at him.

Zephyr, Garp, Sengoku, Tsuru.

Other than the current Fleet Admiral, Steel Bone Kong, practically every top figure at Marine Headquarters was here.

Noah: "..."

At that moment, he wanted to slap himself.

Why did his mouth get so careless the moment he saw familiar faces...

"Sorry, Instructor Zephyr..."

Standing at attention and preparing to be scolded, Noah had just planned to start with Zephyr and apologize to each of the big shots when Zephyr raised a hand with a hearty laugh, cutting him off.

"Hey, you weren't wrong. I did sleep in and only just got up. At least for today, I really am a lazybones."

"And this is?" Sengoku looked toward Zephyr inquisitively. This was his first time seeing Noah.

"Noah, one of