At the cabin entrance, Admiral Sengoku patted Tsugikuni Yoriichi on the shoulder as he explained the arrangements for the upcoming meeting. When he mentioned that Tsugikuni Yoriichi would be promoted to Commodore, the smile on Garp's face was impossible to suppress.
A fourteen-year-old Commodore at Marine Headquarters—such a rate of promotion was unprecedented in the Marines. Kuzan, who stood beside Tsugikuni Yoriichi, was already considered a rapidly rising young Marine.
He had strength, achievements, had studied under Zephyr, served as Garp's adjutant, and was now Admiral Sengoku's subordinate.
Even with all those advantages combined, it had been two years since Kuzan became a Commodore. He was already around twenty then.
Yet Tsugikuni Yoriichi was still a minor. To be promoted to Commodore at such an age, there was not another person like him in the entire Marines.
Garp was delighted precisely because Tsugikuni Yoriichi was a young—no, teenage—prodigy he had personally discovered. The better Tsugikuni Yoriichi developed, the more it proved Garp's teaching ability and eye for talent.
Now middle-aged, Garp could already be considered successful in his career. Although he was only a Marine Vice Admiral, with Admirals and the Fleet Admiral above him, his prestige within the Marines was unmatched. Even Fleet Admiral Kong could not compare to him.
What else did Garp have to pursue in his career? Other than preserving peace on the seas before him, he had no desire to climb any higher in rank.
For a middle-aged man whose career had already succeeded, nurturing a young Marine capable of carrying on his will was more important than anything else.
Originally, he had always placed those hopes on Dragon.
But children grew up and stopped listening to their fathers!
As Dragon witnessed more and more darkness within the Marines, he gradually drifted further and further