Marine Headquarters, Marineford, the conference room reserved for senior officers.
The routine meeting had just ended. The air still held the grim tension of strategic map exercises and the smell of ink on documents. Several Admirals and Vice Admirals were gathering the materials in front of them, preparing to leave.
Thud.
The conference room's heavy wooden door was gently pushed open. Garp appeared in the doorway. Unlike his usual boisterous entrances, he seemed... unusually quiet.
In his left hand were boxes of tea and pastries, clearly finely packaged and printed with distinctive Bernian motifs. In his right was a bulging paper bag giving off an enticing sweetness-the scent of senbei and dorayaki drifted faintly through the air.
"Teacher Garp, you're back." Kuzan stopped what he was doing and greeted him first, his tone as respectful as ever.
He keenly noticed that his teacher's face held none of the usual smugness or cheer that came after "plundering" good food. Instead, it was shrouded in a rare, indescribable gloom.
Garp merely nodded to Aokiji, muttered a vague "Mm" in his throat, and headed straight toward the head of the long conference table.
"What a frightening expression~" Kizaru Borsalino twisted his mouth, his gaze moving between Garp and the bags in his hands from behind his lenses. His teasing tone held a trace of barely perceptible scrutiny.
He then turned to the stern-faced Akainu Sakazuki beside him. "Let's go, Sakazuki. Following Fleet Admiral Sengoku's orders, it's time to head to the New World and give those restless 'rats' a 'gentle reminder.'"
Akainu's gaze lingered briefly on Garp, Sengoku, and Staff Officer Tsuru. He read something in Garp's clear reluctance to talk and the faint concern on Sengoku's and Tsuru's faces.
He snorted without asking further, saying only in a low voice, "Mm. The