"Admiral, I've done what you asked me to do."
"But I still find it a little strange. Can that Rubber Fruit really attract the World Government's attention?"
"And if news like this really draws the World Government's people to the East Blue..."
"Won't it disrupt the East Blue's long-standing peace and stability?"
Brilliant sunlight poured across the sea as a small merchant ship drifted slowly over the waves beneath the gentle warm breeze.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi sat cross-legged and barefoot on a cushion at the bow, both hands gripping a fishing rod as he gazed steadily across the sea.
Tensei had just emerged from the cabin and walked over to Tsugikuni Yoriichi's side, where he spoke up to ask.
It was Tensei who had spread the news throughout Marine Headquarters that Tsugikuni Yoriichi was searching for the Rubber Fruit in the East Blue.
He was the chief of the Criminal Investigation Division at Marine Headquarters. In the entire Marines, perhaps no one understood how to "commit crimes" better than Tensei. For him, spreading a rumor under the noses of Headquarters' senior officers was exceptionally easy.
Although he had done as Tsugikuni Yoriichi instructed, Tensei still felt uneasy. He had no idea what impact this might have on Headquarters, and he had not slept well these past few days.
It was only today that Tensei finally gathered the courage to ask Tsugikuni Yoriichi the question that had been buried in his heart.
"Chaos?"
"It won't have much of an effect on ordinary civilians."
"They definitely won't make a big show of searching for the Rubber Fruit. That would only make things suspicious, wouldn't it?"
"Besides, the World Government's people entering the East Blue might even improve public security here."
"It's foreseeable that the pirates active in the East Blue will suffer a