The Navy High Command Is Alarmed

Marineford, Marine Headquarters.

Warships lay neatly moored in the harbor, seagulls circled overhead with cries, and the sunlit sea shimmered with waves—a scene of perfect peace.

Yet the air inside the office was so heavy it seemed ready to drip with water.

Sengoku sat on the sofa by the window rather than behind his broad Fleet Admiral's desk. He held a photograph with worn edges, his thumb stroking its surface over and over.

The photo showed a young Rosinante, his brilliant smile almost dazzling. The child wore an ill-fitting suit and a crooked tie, making an awkward V-sign at the camera.

It had been taken when Sengoku brought him out before he infiltrated the Donquixote Family as a Navy spy.

Rosinante's death was like an unremovable thorn buried deep in his heart. That clumsy but kind child, the child he had secretly taken in and treated as his own, had ultimately died without anyone knowing the full truth. Yet as a Marine Headquarters Admiral, he did not even have the right to mourn him publicly.

Because Rosinante had once been a Celestial Dragon.

Even as a high-ranking Marine officer, Sengoku was not qualified to openly adopt a Celestial Dragon, not even a former one.

That was the World Government's ironclad rule, the cornerstone preserving that hypocritical balance.

Sunlight streamed through the blinds outside, casting alternating bands of light and shadow across the desk, but none of it could pierce the gloom in his eyes.

Just then, hurried knocking sounded at the door.

Sengoku frowned. Just as he was about to reprimand whoever had committed such a serious breach of discipline, the door was violently shoved open.

"Admiral! Fleet Admiral Kong, he—"

A young Marine rushed in with terror written across his face, cradling an exquisite metal box in his hands.