With the warships gone, Windmill City settled down and returned to normal.
"Marshal Sengoku, you three, please come with me! Everyone else can rest at the guesthouse for now!" Shishu said to Sengoku with a smile.
"Of course, Captain Shishu!" Sengoku nodded in agreement and followed Shishu with Zephyr and Garp.
They boarded a military hovercar. Gazing out the window at the Holy Church's headquarters, the former Goa Royal Capital, Sengoku felt dazed.
Had he not known he was still in his own world, he would have thought he had arrived in another.
The towering buildings unlike anything in the Pirate World, the smooth, clean, broad roads, the unfamiliar, advanced forms of transportation, and the prosperous, happy citizens-all of it made him feel as though he had stepped into the future.
Watching the vehicles stream along the roads, Sengoku silently withdrew his gaze.
"Captain Shishu, the East Blue really has undergone a complete transformation under the Holy Church's rule!"
"Haha! Marshal Sengoku, all of this came from the people's own hard work. We in the Holy Church should be thanking them for their support!" Shishu smiled with relief. Wasn't preserving this wonderful sight the very reason they did everything they did?
Listening to Shishu's answer, Sengoku could not help marveling at how different the Holy Church's attitude was. Its refusal to claim all the credit, and its clear understanding of its relationship with ordinary people, shook him again and again.
"Captain Shishu, I wanted to ask... could we join your military structure?" After thinking it over for a long time, Sengoku finally voiced the question he had kept buried in his heart.
Shishu's smile faded into silence at Sengoku's words. "Marshal Sengoku, I'm afraid that isn't possible! The Holy Church's military must remain pure. That is our responsibility to the