"Pfft!"
Hawkeye couldn't hold back and burst into laughter. He clapped Chiga on the shoulder and said with a rare grin,
"Amazing! Not just anyone can catch this kind of fish!"
Chiga was speechless. He hadn't expected that his catch would turn out to be a big blue man.
Jinbe rolled once on the sand before standing upright with a grunt. The moment he saw the group of Marine higher-ups before him, his mind went completely blank.
Aokiji gave a lazy chuckle.
"Hoo hoo hoo…"
Kizaru adjusted his sunglasses, lips curling into a teasing smile.
"Oh~ isn't this the Knight of the Sea, Jinbe? You've really caught yourself a rare one this time."
Akainu raised an eyebrow, puffing a cigar as smoke curled around his face. His deep voice rumbled like magma.
"Jinbe, what are you doing wandering around Marineford? Don't tell me…"
Jinbe quickly waved his hands, panic written all over his face.
"Please, Admiral Akainu, don't misunderstand! I haven't been a pirate for a long time. I came to invite the King to a banquet on Fish-Man Island!"
Chiga tilted his head, curious.
"A banquet? What kind?"
Jinbe swallowed and replied honestly,
"The day after tomorrow is Princess Shirahoshi's sixteenth birthday. King Neptune is hosting a grand celebration for her. Princess Shirahoshi said she really wants to see you, so she sent me to invite you personally. Everyone on Fish-Man Island is looking forward to your arrival!"
Chiga nodded thoughtfully.
"Is that so? Then I'll attend. Oh, right—how's Shirahoshi doing now? Is she still as prone to crying?"
"No, not at all!" Jinbe said with a proud smile. "Since the day you left, Princess Shirahoshi hasn't cried once!"
"Really? It seems she's grown up quite a bit. That's good. Very good."
Taking the chance, Jinbe extended his invitation to the rest of the group as well. The Marine officers exchanged glances. Garp and Sengoku didn't mind either way, but the three Admirals turned their eyes toward Chiga.
He blinked, then understood immediately. They were asking if he would approve their leave.
He looked at Aokiji, who suddenly seemed much more awake than before—clearly, the man had only been pretending to nap.
Kizaru's expectant gaze was almost shining.
Chiga smiled faintly and waved his hand.
"I'll give you all a week off. If you want to go, go."
Kizaru silently raised a triumphant fist in victory. Akainu and Aokiji exchanged glances, then both turned away with the faintest smirks on their faces.
Hawkeye was naturally included in the invitation and agreed without hesitation. He figured it would be a good experience for Zoro to see more of the world.
Seeing everyone in agreement, Jinbe's broad, honest smile returned. Noticing the fishing gear around them, he said,
"So everyone's fishing? I can dive down and bring some up for you. I promise they'll be big and fresh!"
Zephyr shook his head firmly.
"That takes all the fun out of it. The best part of fishing is the experience. The fish you catch yourself always taste better."
Kizaru muttered under his breath,
"Tch. Old-fashioned as ever. You've been fishing for hours and barely caught a thing. At this rate, we'll starve before we eat."
Zephyr's glare shot over instantly.
"Borsalino, what are you mumbling about over there?"
"Nothing," Kizaru said with mock innocence. "I was just saying Sensei truly has the heart of a teacher. Even while fishing, there's wisdom in every word. His students can only benefit."
"Hmph! Sarcasm doesn't suit you. A monkey's mouth can't spit out ivory."
Akainu: "?"
Jinbe stood between them, sweating bullets, completely unsure what to do. The proud Knight of the Sea now looked like a frightened tuna caught in the wrong net.
Just then, Luffy bounded over. He poked Jinbe's round belly with both hands and exclaimed with sparkling eyes,
"Whoa! What a big fish! How big of a pot do we need to cook you?!"
He was clearly starving and losing his mind. After all, they were supposed to be eating at a restaurant earlier, but somehow he had been dragged into fishing instead.
A large bead of sweat rolled down Jinbe's face as he cast a desperate look at Chiga for help.
This time, Chiga didn't even have to move. Ace was faster. He slammed his signature flaming fist right on top of Luffy's head. Smoke curled upward as Luffy's eyes spun in circles.
Ace sighed, rubbing his knuckles, then turned to Jinbe apologetically.
"Sorry about that. My little brother can be… a bit of an idiot sometimes. Please forgive him."
Jinbe nodded stiffly. Though he didn't know these younger men personally, anyone sitting casually among so many top-ranked Marines clearly wasn't ordinary. They must be from the new generation of legends.
Once the brief chaos died down, everyone returned to their fishing. With Jinbe's unexpected arrival acting as a good-luck charm, their catches soon multiplied.
Before long, the fish they'd caught formed a small mountain beside them.
Akainu flicked the ashes of his cigar into the sea, then turned to Aokiji with a proud smirk.
"I won."
Aokiji blinked, then glanced at their baskets. His own held only a few small clownfish, while Akainu's was overflowing with large ones. He sighed in defeat.
"Yeah, yeah. You win."
Akainu lifted one of the big-headed fish he'd caught and showed it off in front of Aokiji, then deftly produced a knife. With a few clean motions, the fish was neatly deboned — leaving a perfect skeleton intact.
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"I didn't expect Admiral Akainu to have such fine knife skills. Did you practice swordsmanship before?"
Akainu gave a rare chuckle, clearly in a good mood.
"When I first joined the Navy, I studied swordsmanship for a while. But swordsmanship didn't quite fit my Devil Fruit, so I let it go."
Kizaru, who had joined the Navy during the same era, smiled faintly, nostalgia flickering across his face.
"That's right. Zephyr Sensei often praised your swordsmanship back then. Time really flies, doesn't it?"
Aokiji, now chewing on a piece of foxtail grass from who knows where, rested his chin on his palm and listened to his two seniors reminisce about the old days with mild interest.
But the warm, nostalgic mood didn't last long before Luffy's loud voice shattered it.
"I'm starving to death! Can we eat already?!"
Everyone paused — then realized they were hungry too.
Kizaru disappeared in a few flashes of light and reappeared moments later with a pile of firewood. He quickly set up two bonfires: one for grilling fish, the other for cooking fish soup.
Akainu stepped forward, igniting the firewood effortlessly with a flicker of magma. Sengoku took out a bundle of tea from his bag, while Aokiji lazily formed several ice cubes, dropping them into the cups to make refreshing cold tea.
One by one, everyone began grilling the fish on skewers, removing their shirts in the warm sea breeze. Among them, Chiga and Akainu stood out the most, their tattoos illuminated by the flickering firelight.
Soon, the mouthwatering sound of sizzling fish and bubbling soup filled the air, carrying an aroma that drifted across the entire shore.
---