"This must be Uya. He truly is a young talent. (From the novel 'Heavenly Melody')"
Although he suspected the intelligence was wrong and that Uya couldn't possibly fight Hawk-Eye to a draw, Sengoku still smiled at Uya, after all, Uya was so young and still had a lot of potential for growth.
Just then, Kizaru, while pouring himself tea, said to Sengoku, "It's not just about being a young talent, Sengoku- san."
After a pause, Kizaru picked up his teacup, gently blew on it twice, and continued, "Mr. Uya is very strong, terrifyingly strong."
"Oh?!"
Sengoku hadn't thought much of it at first, but when he heard Kizaru say that, his eyes flickered twice.
However, the Sengoku still didn't pay much attention to it.
After all, with Kizaru's carefree and irresponsible personality, even when capturing a rookie with a bounty of over 100 million, he would still make a few lewd remarks like, "How scary!"
"I am Fleet Admiral Sengoku of the Marine Headquarters Sengoku. Please, have a seat."
Sengoku introduced himself and then invited Uya to sit down. A navy officer came over and poured tea for Sengoku and Uya.
Seeing the familiar figure of Sengoku, Uya's lips curled up slightly. He casually sat down, leaning back in his chair with a touch of laziness, and observed the Marine Headquarters and Sengoku with great interest.
It must be said that the Navy is indeed the strongest force; it would be difficult for any single Four Emperors pirate crew to shake the Navy.
Aside from the three admirals and Sengoku Garp, the vice admirals of the headquarters were no pushovers either.
Of course, for Uya, there was little difference between a lieutenant general and an admiral.
"Inviting me to Marine Headquarters, you didn't just invite me for tea, did you?" Uya glanced briefly at Marine Headquarters before turning to look at Sengoku beside her.
Sengoku didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point. "It's like this, various pirate groups are vying for control of this sea, and the people are suffering. As the Fleet Admiral, I would like to invite you to join the Navy. What do you think?"
"Oh?"
Sengoku's words did not surprise Uya. A slight smile appeared on Uya's lips, and a playful look flashed in his eyes. He said, "Join the Navy?"
"Yes."
Sengoku nodded, his eyes gleaming, and said, "If you join the Navy, I can promote you exceptionally and directly grant you the rank of Rear Admiral of the Marine Headquarters."
"Cough cough!"
Sengoku's words caused Kizaru, who was sitting nearby drinking tea, to choke and almost spit out his water.
Uya sat there silently, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"What's wrong?"
Sengoku turned to look at Kizaru with a puzzled expression, not understanding what was wrong.
In his view, Uya was likely to have the strength of a vice admiral in the Navy, so giving Uya the rank of rear admiral in the Marine Headquarters seemed to be in accordance with the rules and there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Such promotions are not uncommon. In the original work, Admiral Fujitora was promoted to Admiral directly based on his strength during the global military recruitment.
Uya considered Sengoku too young; even if he truly possessed the strength of a lieutenant general, promoting him directly to major general would be more appropriate.
Seeing Sengoku's expression, Kizaru put down his teacup, his lips twitching.
It should be noted that Uya's strength is something even Marine Headquarters himself is extremely wary of, having no chance of victory whatsoever. He has absolutely no chance of winning against Uya.
This level of strength is already extremely terrifying!
Even if the three admirals are already full, with Uya's strength, he should at least be a vice admiral in the Marine Headquarters, and he would have to be someone with a special status, similar to a vice admiral.
Sengoku suddenly blurted out that he was being promoted to Rear Admiral, which made Kizaru look embarrassed. Even if he was a Rear Admiral of the Marine Headquarters, not a Branch Admiral, it was still too low a rank.
"Mr. Sengoku, I told you that Mr. Uya is very strong. Even I'm not confident I can beat him." Helpless, Kizaru had no choice but to directly remind Sengoku.
Sengoku was stunned by Kizaru's words. If he had taken it as a joke when Kizaru first said Kizaru Uya was strong, then this deliberate reminder was obviously wrong!
Moreover, Kizaru actually said that he wasn't even confident of defeating Uya... How is that possible?!
Doesn't this mean that Uya truly fought Hawk-Eye to a draw based on his own strength?
Sengoku stared wide-eyed at Kizaru, Kizaru simply shrugged at Sengoku as if it were the truth.
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.
Just then, a somewhat rough voice suddenly came from outside.
" Sengoku, where did you hide the senbei?!"
As soon as the sound stopped, the naval hero Monkey D. Garp, Luffy's grandfather, walked in, grabbing a donut and eating it without any regard for his image.
After taking a few steps, Garp first looked at Sengoku, then looked at Uya sitting next to him with some surprise, revealing a hint of doubt.
"Who are you..."
"Naval hero Garp, I've long admired your name." Uya took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, looked at Garp, and gave him a faint smile.
Hearing Uya's words, Garp blinked, picked his nose with his little finger without any regard for appearances, walked over, and said, "You wouldn't happen to be that guy who fought Hawk-Eye to a draw, would you?"
"That's him, Mr. Garp," Kizaru casually reminded him from the side.
"Haha, she's even younger than I imagined."
Garp laughed, a hint of interest in his eyes. He had been quite surprised to hear that Hawk-Eye had fought to a draw with a young, unknown newcomer, as it had been a long time since such a figure had appeared on the high seas.
The Four Emperors reign supreme over the seas, Seven Warlords of the Sea suppress their respective regions. Many of these people witnessed the death of the Pirate King Roger, including the current three admirals of the Marine Headquarters, and even some vice admirals. Almost none of them are particularly young.
" Garp, you better stay out of the way." Sengoku glared at Garp, annoyed. This guy was really not living up to the image of a naval hero.
Uya smiled slightly, quite approving of Garp's unrestrained personality, and said, "Sometimes, you can't judge a person by their appearance alone."
The intended meaning of this statement is that although he looks young, his actual age is completely inconsistent with his appearance.
However, Sengoku and Garp certainly didn't expect this. To Garp and Sengoku, this statement sounded like an arrogant declaration that appearance has nothing to do with strength, and that although he was young, he was very strong.
"Haha, you're really young and impetuous." After a slight pause, Garp chuckled at Uya and casually patted Uya's shoulder.
It may look like a friendly pat on the shoulder, but it actually carries a hidden force.
Garp is always straightforward and hates beating around the bush. He felt that Uya was a bit too young and impetuous, so he wanted to test Uya's strength.
Sengoku also felt that Uya was young and impetuous and needed to be tempered, so he did not stop Garp but watched from the side.
Watching Garp's actions, Uya remained calm and continued to sit there with his teacup, as if he truly regarded Garp's tap as a friendly one and completely ignored it.
Garp's eyes flashed with a sharp light at Uya's appearance, and the next moment, his hand landed on Uya's shoulder.
However, to everyone's astonishment, Garp's hand, which had been placed on Uya's shoulder, actually passed right through Uya's shoulder and missed its target!
Uya's body seemed to be just a phantom!
"Huh?!"
Garp exclaimed in surprise, his eyes widening instantly, because his Observation Haki clearly sensed that Uya was sitting there, not an illusion, yet his hand passed right through Uya's body.
This looks like the Elementalization of Logia Air-Air Fruit, but Garp, being the person he is, instantly recognized that it was not the Elementalization of a Logia Devil Fruit!
This feeling is very strange.
Uya was sitting there, but his body seemed to be in another dimension!
To confirm, Garp used Armament Haki and grabbed Uya's shoulder again, but as expected, he grabbed nothing! (To be continued.)