Meanwhile, beside a sunlit lawn below the office building, three figures had gathered in a rather unusual arrangement.
Bartholomew Kuma sat upright on a specially reinforced stone bench, his posture composed.
His usually expressionless, square face held a hint of almost tender ease.
He held a strawberry milk ice pop absurdly small in proportion to his palm.
To his left, the petite Lipo crouched on the ground, her long, furry ears drooping contentedly.
She held a carrot-shaped ice pop in both hands, happily nibbling away, her cheeks bulging with each bite.
Crouching on Kuma's right was Enel.
The self-proclaimed god squatted there without a shred of dignity, his Marine cap askew, an ice pop clutched in his hand as he licked it and stared listlessly at the sky.
"Gern's yelling again!"
Lipo suddenly stopped nibbling her ice pop. Her furry ears perked up, and she blinked at the window.
"He sounds... even more desperate than yesterday. Even though Lipo's been sleeping alone for so many nights now."
"Perfectly normal." Enel answered lazily without turning his head, taking another lick of his ice pop.
"If he didn't howl like that three times a day, I'd start wondering whether he'd dropped dead in that mountain of paperwork.
Fleet Admiral? Hah, sounds impressive, but he's really just a glorified clerk.
Nothing like the freedom I had when I was a 'god.'"
Kuma gave a good-natured chuckle, the ice pop looking especially tiny in his enormous hand. "Enel, Gern works very hard too.
With the Marines independent now, there are countless things he has to make decisions about. He's already been very considerate of us."
Thanks to the Mother Flame, Ginny, who had a talent for such work, had now joined the Marines' own Experimental Unit, while Bonney had entered Zephyr's Marine Training Camp.