Return Voyage, The One Waiting! (Combined Chapter)

After the Roger Pirates left, Garp's Dog-head Warship did not continue pursuing Roger.

Many of the Marines who had just fought the Roger Pirates had suffered serious injuries and needed time to recover.

Due to the severity of his injuries, Garp's adjutant Bogard could no longer fulfill his duties. Aokiji temporarily took over the position.

It was not just the crew who had been injured. After Garp's series of wild maneuvers, his Dog-head Warship had also sustained considerable damage. Even after emergency repairs, it barely met the conditions to set sail. But in the harsh maritime environment of the New World, the Dog-head Warship simply could not travel far.

For these reasons, Garp planned to head to the nearest port first, repair the warship, and then return to Marineford.

Contact between Roger and Charlotte Linlin had become unavoidable. Once he returned, he planned to gather some powerful rear admirals and vice admirals, reorganize, and set sail again.

As for deploying combatants at the admiral level, Garp had not really considered it. At that level, their movements were no longer something a vice admiral like him could influence. Sengoku only took orders from Fleet Admiral Kong, and most of the time, he had to remain stationed at Marineford.

Although, in principle, Garp could not order around rear admirals and vice admirals either, as long as he threw an arm around their shoulders and said, "Do me a favor," most of them would still listen to him.

Garp knew very well that with just the subordinates on his ship, resisting the Roger Pirates was already extremely difficult. If they continued the pursuit into Whole Cake Island's territory, they might even come under attack from the Big Mom Pirates.

Those people were different from the Roger Pirates. Setting aside their numbers, those pirates would not show the Marines any mercy.

If Charlotte Linlin tied Garp down, it was impossible to say how many crew members aboard the ship would survive.

Without complete preparations, they could not act rashly.

Garp might have been reckless, but unlike Luffy, he used his brain.

Just like when he would later storm Hachinosu Island, the people he brought were not rookies like those currently aboard his ship. He brought members of the elite SWORD unit.

Three days later, Garp's Dog-head Warship docked at the naval port of the New World G-63 Branch. After resting at the branch for a while, Garp's ship set sail once again, heading toward Marineford.

The noon sunlight was like toffee, light and elegant.

Fish occasionally leaped from the sparkling sea, playing beneath the sunlight.

Upon the vast ocean, a Dog-head Warship covered in "patches" sailed across the waves.

It had been exactly two months since Garp's team left Marineford, and the effects of their defeat more than ten days ago still had not faded from the warship.

Of the Marines who had participated in the battle, only half had recovered their ability to move after these days of recuperation. Some were still lying in bed, too weak even to rise.

At present, the most fully staffed section of the ship was probably the engine room. Since the Marines there were generally weak in combat, most of them had failed to withstand the Conqueror's Haki Roger released at the time.

It was precisely because those Marines had fainted that they avoided being injured.

At that moment, only a handful of Marines were scattered around the warship's deck, binoculars in hand as they observed the surrounding sea. Under normal circumstances, there would have been at least twice as many lookouts on deck.

Unlike the Marines faithfully manning their posts, a red-haired youth in a Marine menial's uniform stood by the railing, staring blankly at the sea.

The sea breeze blew, causing the youth's red hair to drift in the wind.

The Marines on deck seemed long accustomed to the sight. They went about their own business, and no one paid any attention to that "menial."

Suddenly, it was as if the red-haired youth had suffered some hidden attack. He clutched his chest with his right hand and slowly crouched down, while his left hand gripped the railing tightly. His face was twisted in pain.

"Yoriichi! What's wrong, Yoriichi?!" The youth's abnormal state caught the attention of a Marine on duty nearby. He shouted and hurried over to Tsugikuni Yoriichi, asking with concern.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi knelt on the deck with his head lowered, offering no answer. Seeing that something was wrong, the Marine hurried into the cabin to call for help.

Not long afterward, Garp and Aokiji rushed onto the deck and gathered around Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

Garp frowned the moment he saw Tsugikuni Yoriichi's condition and asked worriedly, "Yoriichi, what's wrong?! Are you hurt? Or are you sick?"

"Doctor! Go get the ship's doctor!"

Seeing Yoriichi in such pain made Garp nervous, and he immediately shouted.

Only then did Tsugikuni Yoriichi seem to recover somewhat. He said, "No need."

"I'll be fine in a little while, Vice Admiral Garp."

Yoriichi's voice was somewhat hoarse as he spoke. Garp's brow furrowed deeply, unconvinced. Soon, the ship's doctor arrived. At Garp's insistence, he began examining Tsugikuni Yoriichi, but after a rough checkup, the military doctor merely shook his head at Garp.

Garp's eyes widened. He let out an incredulous cry. "What?! There's no saving him?!"

As Garp cried out, the other Marines nearby froze, while Aokiji looked at Tsugikuni Yoriichi in shock.

Seeing their reactions, the military doctor hurriedly explained, "N-No, that's not it. Yoriichi is very healthy. I couldn't find any problems."

"..."

"Bastard! If you don't know, then you don't know. Why were you shaking your head?!"

Garp cursed, shoved the military doctor aside, and crouched next to Yoriichi, carefully studying his complexion. Garp noticed that Tsugikuni Yoriichi's expression had become much calmer by now, as if the pain in his body had already faded.

While Garp had crouched down, Yoriichi had already managed to slowly stand up while holding the railing.

"Yoriichi, what happened to you?" Seeing color return to Yoriichi's face, Garp asked in confusion.

"Uh... I'm fine, Vice Admiral Garp."

"I was only training."

Garp was even more confused. Training? Could training make someone sick? And it was not an external injury, either. From Tsugikuni Yoriichi's condition just now, Garp truly had no idea what kind of training could cause internal injuries.

"Vice Admiral Garp, it's really nothing."

"See? I'm perfectly fine." As Yoriichi spoke, he stretched out both arms with a relaxed expression. He truly did not look sick.

Still uneasy, Garp had the military doctor examine Yoriichi once more before finally relaxing and returning to the cabin. He had just been discussing the Roger Pirates' possible next movements with the others.

A week earlier, news had arrived that Roger had made contact with the Big Mom Pirates. However, the two pirate crews seemed to have clashed. After a fierce battle, the Roger Pirates vanished without a trace.

Garp did not believe the Roger Pirates had been wiped out. He guessed that Roger had most likely obtained what he wanted and was already moving toward his next target. What he had been discussing with the other Marine commanders was where Roger might go next.

Now that he saw Yoriichi was fine, Garp did not linger on deck and returned to the cabin to continue the meeting.

After Garp and the others left, Tsugikuni Yoriichi looked out at the sea, a smile appearing on his face as he murmured, "I finally succeeded!"

"But it's still only the initial stage. I need to take it step by step."

During the return voyage, aside from training the range of his Haki, Tsugikuni Yoriichi had also mastered the technique of making Haki flow.

Outside of training, Tsugikuni Yoriichi had come up with some ideas for improving the Breathing Technique.

That was to combine Haki with the Breathing Technique!

Haki, which could strengthen muscular power and enhance the body's defenses, could also strengthen the Breathing Technique and further train his body!

After days of experimentation, Tsugikuni Yoriichi had finally succeeded.

Sun Breathing—First Form—Dance!

Suddenly, Tsugikuni Yoriichi drew the long blade from his waist. With each breath, dull thumps echoed from Yoriichi's heart. The next second, he swung his sword, sending a Haki slash four or five meters long flying through the air and crashing into the sea.

In an instant, a slash mark nearly a hundred meters long appeared across the surface of the ocean. Five or six seconds later, it vanished as the seawater rushed back in.

After unleashing the strike, Tsugikuni Yoriichi gave a soft grunt and clutched his chest as he crouched down again. Yet his face was full of joy and excitement at his success.

"I succeeded. I really succeeded!"

"Haki can be perfectly integrated into the Breathing Technique, further strengthening my physical abilities."

"Even a brief attempt is enough to put a heavy burden on me now, but as my training deepens, this side effect will soon disappear."

"Once I train this Haki-infused breathing to Constant Concentration, my strength will definitely undergo a qualitative leap!"

If Tsugikuni Yoriichi had used only Haki to enhance his attack, a sea-splitting slash like that would likely have extended only several dozen meters. But with his current Breathing Technique, the power of the slash had doubled.

It had already carved a slash mark nearly a hundred meters long, and it had cut deeper into the sea as well, since the water took two or three seconds longer than before to flow back. That was why Yoriichi was certain that his experiment had succeeded!

Over the following days, Tsugikuni Yoriichi occasionally tested the new Breathing Technique, wanting his body to adapt quickly. The Haki-infused Breathing Technique placed a great burden on the body, but with Transparent World, Yoriichi could clearly tell when his body was reaching its limit.

As a result, he was quite restrained in his training of the new Breathing Technique, causing no harm to his body.

While training the new Breathing Technique, Yoriichi began incorporating Haki into Soru. With flowing Haki supporting him, Tsugikuni Yoriichi's Soru became much faster than before.

Now, when sparring with Aokiji in hand-to-hand combat, if Aokiji did not use his Devil Fruit ability, Yoriichi would send him flying in a single exchange. In terms of physical combat, Aokiji had now been left far behind by Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

After realizing that Tsugikuni Yoriichi had made another terrifying improvement, Aokiji began avoiding Yoriichi whenever possible, afraid that Yoriichi would call him over for hand-to-hand training. Even when Yoriichi caught him a few times, Aokiji immediately made excuses that he had something to do.

Unable to find a sparring partner, Yoriichi could only seek out Garp. Whenever Garp was not busy, he would spare some time to "guide" Tsugikuni Yoriichi. But one would never know until they fought. Once they did, Garp understood why Aokiji avoided Yoriichi.

Garp discovered that Tsugikuni Yoriichi had suddenly grown much stronger again. That terrifying movement speed, the steadily increasing power of his slashes, and his increasingly formidable Armament Haki all secretly shocked Garp.

With Tsugikuni Yoriichi's current strength, across the entire Marines, only a handful of powerhouses could confidently claim to suppress him.

If Devil Fruit abilities were not considered and they spoke only of hand-to-hand combat, perhaps only Garp and his two old comrades could suppress Tsugikuni Yoriichi!

"Hehehe, Zephyr."

"As expected, I understand how to train Marines better than you do."

"Just wait. When you see this kid, you'll probably get quite a shock!"

Garp's warship sailed and stopped along the way, clearing out pirates as it went. Finally, one month later, it returned to Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

The three-month voyage had left every Marine aboard deeply exhausted. Even Tsugikuni Yoriichi could not help letting out a long breath when he saw land, his mood immediately brightening.

When he had first gone to sea, Yoriichi had been exceptionally excited. But after spending so long continuously at sea, even he could not avoid feeling tired.

Leaning out and looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar Marineford before him, Yoriichi could not help sighing. "Marine Headquarters really is unfamiliar to me. I've spent far more time at sea than I have here."

At that moment, the naval port's dock was packed with a huge crowd. They were the families of the Marines, who had learned that Garp was returning and come to welcome the ship.

Beyond their identities as Marines, the people aboard Garp's ship were sons to their parents, husbands to their wives, and fathers to their children.

Behind every crew member was a family.

The Marines aboard had long packed their belongings. Before the warship had even docked, those Marines who missed their families were already craning their necks toward the pier, hoping to see their loved ones.

Garp understood how his crew felt. After coming onto the deck, he had the commissioned officers arrange care for the wounded, then ordered everyone dismissed on the spot and gave the Marines a full half-month of leave.

The moment the warship docked at the headquarters' naval port, the Marines aboard could no longer contain their joy and began cheering.

The gangway was lowered, and eager Marines carrying their belongings hurried down the warship. They found their families among the crowd and quickly left the naval port, surrounded by their loved ones.

After them, the Marines from Garp's ship disembarked one after another and reunited with their families. For a time, the dock was filled with laughter and cheerful voices.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi stood aboard the ship with both hands resting on the railing, watching the reunions at the dock. A gentle smile appeared on his face, but it did not last long before his mood sank.

How wonderful it was for the Marines to reunite with their families. Unfortunately, no one was waiting for him...

Yoriichi withdrew his gaze, sighed softly, and stepped back onto the deck. Just as he was about to ask Garp where he should go next, he noticed someone climbing up the wooden gangway.

Not going down—coming up.

Turning his head, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a Justice coat slowly boarding the warship.

The moment the man stepped onto the deck, he looked toward Tsugikuni Yoriichi. His mouth split into a grin as he said, "Hey! Yoriichi, I've come to take you home."

"Why are you still dawdling on the ship, kid?!"

"You're far too slow at packing up. I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

Tsugikuni Yoriichi looked at the man who had boarded the warship, somewhat surprised. He had not expected the other man to come here. And when Yoriichi heard the words "go home," he was briefly lost in thought.

He did not know how long it had been since someone had said those words to him.

After a long silence, a brilliant smile appeared on Yoriichi's face. Looking at the newcomer, he nodded and replied, "All right, Teacher Zephyr. Right away."

Brothers, after laying the groundwork for the Marines' network of relationships for a few more major chapters, the real voyage will begin. The same enemy will never need a second strike!

(End of Chapter)