One Year

In the blink of an eye, time had arrived at March of the year 1507 of the Marine Calendar.

During this period, Gray felt that many things had happened, yet he also felt as if nothing had happened at all.

Over the past year, aside from training, he spent his days accompanying Baby-5 as she studied and helping her develop her Devil Fruit abilities.

Occasionally, he would head out to sea to help deal with particularly audacious pirates.

And then, there was the show to watch.

Watching Law spend the entire year still struggling to kill Corazon, Gray couldn't help but secretly want to laugh when he thought about the boy's future encounters.

The deeper the hatred now, the greater the love would be later.

Oh right, there was one more thing worth mentioning: at the end of last year, the Donquixote Family added a new member.

Dellinger, a half-fishman who had been picked up the moment he was born.

"Knock, knock."

The sound of knocking at the door pulled Sengoku's thoughts away from his headache-inducing paperwork. "Enter!"

Click.

The office door opened, and Tsuru walked in carrying a file.

"So it's you, Tsuru. Do you have more headache-inducing documents for me?" As he spoke, Sengoku crumpled the paper he had been holding and tossed it to the goat beside him to eat.

"You guessed right. According to intelligence from the North Blue, an organization called the Donquixote Family is inciting wars in surrounding countries to profit from arms dealing." As the Great Staff Officer of the Navy, Tsuru seemed incapable of smiling, always maintaining a calm face and a cool, rational mind.

"You really are my best advisor!" Sengoku rolled his eyes at Tsuru and took the file she handed over.

"This matter must be stopped. The Four Blues are the foundation of our Navy; if we cannot ensure stability there, it is not something we or the World Government wish to see."

"Even so, this brat has the status of a former Celestial Dragon, so it's not easy for our Navy to take action!" Whenever the Celestial Dragons were involved, things became troublesome. Even for a former Celestial Dragon, Tsuru would never decide on an operational order until the moment Sengoku signed the paperwork.

This was the strategy of a wise person.

If there was any scolding or punishment to be had, Sengoku would be the one to shoulder it. This was something the "Iron Triangle" of the Navy had decided upon together.

"There is no need to worry about that!" After a moment of thought, Sengoku issued the order directly: "Their father renounced his status as a Celestial Dragon, so their family is no longer considered Celestial Dragons."

"Considering the World Government's stance, just have him arrested and thrown into Impel Down." As the Navy of the World Government, they often had to consider the World Government's attitude.

Even if he was a former Celestial Dragon, Sengoku couldn't simply order his execution.

"Arresting him is fine, but who should we send?" Holding Doflamingo's photo, Tsuru asked the crucial question: "An ordinary Vice Admiral won't be able to handle this!"

Tsuru's words made Sengoku fall silent for a moment as he carefully weighed the pros and cons.

As the elite of the elite in the Navy, it wasn't that a Vice Admiral couldn't take down Doflamingo; if one couldn't do it, then two or three could.

They would eventually capture Doflamingo, but what about after the arrest?

Would the World Government take offense?

No one dared to gamble on the thought processes of the Celestial Dragons.

Losing a Vice Admiral in vain would not only be a blow to the Navy's combat strength and prestige, but it would also deal an unprecedented strike to the sense of justice held by the lower-ranking marines.

This was something Sengoku did not want, nor could he afford to see.

Seeing Sengoku struggling, Tsuru began to analyze the current state of the Navy for him: "Kizaru is currently responsible for Vegapunk's security, Akainu is stationed in the New World, and Aokiji is responsible for the headquarters' mobile forces. There is simply no spare combat power to call back."

"What about that bastard Garp?" Tsuru had mentioned all three Admirals, so Sengoku, curious about his old friend and fellow Navy hero, asked where he was.

Tsuru: ?

Tsuru looked very confused: "He told me that you agreed to let him take leave to go back and look after his grandson?"

In an instant, the veins on Sengoku's forehead bulged, and his furious roar echoed throughout Marineford: "Garp, you bastard!!!"

He had never said any such thing; it must have been Garp acting on his own initiative, which left Sengoku speechless.

Yet, even so, after venting for a while, Sengoku calmed down again.

There was no helping it; he knew that bastard Garp was just like that, and he would never change in this lifetime.

"Since there is no one else suitable, then it must be Zephyr or you?" After thinking it over, given the current situation of the Navy, Sengoku could only think of Tsuru and Zephyr as suitable candidates.

Zephyr: Former Navy Admiral, current Navy Chief Instructor, who had trained countless figures for the Navy.

Most of the famous Admirals, as well as the majority of Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, and Colonels in the Navy today, had basically undergone training under Zephyr.

Hearing this, Tsuru shook her head: "That's impossible. Ever since that incident, Zephyr's spirit has aged!"

"There's no other way. We're all old comrades, so let me make the trip!" Once she had made up her mind, Tsuru wasn't one to be coy.

"Then I'll trouble you, Tsuru!"

"If you know it's a trouble, then stop troubling me! Honestly, I'm at the age where I should be retiring."

"Hey, hey! I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. The Navy today can do without me, but it cannot do without you!"

It was precisely because of Tsuru, the Great Staff Officer, that eighty percent of the Navy's affairs were handled perfectly.

As Fleet Admiral, he mostly just held meetings and signed documents. If Tsuru were truly gone, he wouldn't be able to finish the daily paperwork even if he worked overtime every day.

"Tch!" Tsuru shot Sengoku a disgruntled glance before turning on her heel to leave, immediately beginning preparations for setting sail.

"Another unremarkable day!" After waking up and washing up in the morning, eleven-year-old Gray sat in his custom wheelchair.

"Armed~ Evolution!" Occasionally acting a bit eccentric and chuunibyou helped keep his mood light.

As the slogan rang out, Gray donned his other piece of signature gear—a pair of sunglasses!

Sunglasses are the real me. Until someone breaks them, I will never admit to being defeated! That was what had run through his mind when his chuunibyou soul first erupted the moment he put them on.

However, these sunglasses were a brand jointly recommended by both Doflamingo and Senor.

Ever since he started wearing them, Gray had become the fourth person in the Donquixote Family whose true self was their sunglasses.

As for the third, that was naturally Vergo, who was secretly undercover in the Navy.

If Gray hadn't seen it in his past life, Doflamingo might have been the only person in the Donquixote Family who knew that piece of intelligence.

After amusing himself for a bit, Gray put aside his playful mindset.

The only reason he wore the sunglasses was so that he wouldn't look so strange while training his Observation Haki.

He was already training his Devil Fruit abilities from a wheelchair; if he also closed his eyes to train his Observation Haki, it would give people the impression that: "This child is crippled, and he's blind too, yet he still lives on so cheerfully and strongly."

Every time they arrived at a new place, the pitying gazes the residents cast toward him left Gray unable to vent his frustration, even if he wanted to.

After all, they didn't mean any harm.