It was August of the year 1504 of the Sea Calendar.
At Marine Headquarters, Marineford, Diarmuid walked out of his office, a cup of coffee in one hand and a lollipop in his mouth. Wearing his Admiral's coat, he strolled casually toward the Fleet Admiral's office.
He hadn't gone far when Hina ran after him from his office, holding a file. "Admiral, you haven't signed this document yet."
Diarmuid stopped and looked back with a sigh. "What is it?"
"The follow-up proposal for the aftermath of the Gotten Island battle in the East Blue," Hina quickly explained.
Diarmuid took the file, flipped straight to the last page, looked at the numbers, and asked, "Are there any issues?"
Hina rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No issues."
"Is that so?" Diarmuid didn't ask anything else. He signed his name on the file and handed it back to Hina. "I hereby declare that from this moment on, Marine Headquarters Commander Hina is on vacation," Diarmuid said with a laugh.
Hina wasn't happy about it. "It's only because the Admiral himself is taking a vacation!"
"I promised Gion I would, so I can't go back on my word, right? I've already postponed it for almost four months. If I delay any longer, she's really going to come to Marineford and chop me up," Diarmuid complained.
Hina knew about the situation. She looked at Diarmuid, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Admiral, where are you two going?"
"The East Blue, I think. We can inspect the aftermath of the Gotten Island battle while we're there," Diarmuid said after some thought. But he quickly realized what she was doing. He reached out and tapped Hina's head. "Don't even think about tagging along. We don't need a third wheel."
"Hmph, I wasn't going to follow you. How shameless," Hina said, a little annoyed, as if her thoughts had been exposed.
Diarmuid laughed and stopped teasing the young girl. After a few more words of caution, he turned and continued toward Fleet Admiral Kong's office. Although he often said things like, "I'm giving myself a vacation," he still had to communicate with the Fleet Admiral to get leave.
He walked down the long corridor, and many Marines stopped to salute him. Diarmuid nodded back to each of them, never ignoring them regardless of their rank.
He arrived at the Fleet Admiral's office door and noticed it was ajar. He could hear voices from inside; it sounded like someone was acting spoiled.
"I don't care! I just got back from the New World after catching a pirate with a bounty of 420,000,000 Berries! I even fought someone from the Big Mom Pirates and won! I deserve a vacation, don't I?" Garp complained from inside.
"Garp, you damn idiot! A vacation? You've been asking for a vacation for the past two years, always trying to go to the East Blue. What's your deal?" Kong roared back.
"Even though I always ask for a vacation, you never approve it! This time, I'm not taking no for an answer. I deserve a vacation, don't I?" Garp said without any sense of guilt.
The Fleet Admiral was helpless. The only reason he was just scolding Garp instead of kicking him out was that Garp had a point. He had been asking for vacations, but none had been approved... However, compared to the hard-working Sengoku, this reckless Garp just seemed so immature. He was already so old, yet he was still so annoying.
"Besides, I have a good reason," Garp suddenly said.
"What good reason?" Kong asked in a low voice.
"My grandson is in the East Blue. You can't stop a grandpa from visiting his grandson, can you? That would be too cruel!" Garp said without hesitation.
"He's your god-grandson!" the Fleet Admiral pointed out.
"What's wrong with a god-grandson? Are you looking down on god-grandsons?" Garp said, clearly unhappy.
"You..." Kong wanted to say something, but he felt there was nothing to say.
Just then, Garp said, "And I'm doing this for the Marines! My god-grandson is very talented. I'm going to train him to be an excellent Marine. Isn't that a good enough reason?"
At that moment, Diarmuid smiled and pushed the door open, walking in. "Fleet Admiral, Vice Admiral Garp, good afternoon."
"Oh, Diarmuid, it's been a while," Garp said with a laugh.
"It has been a while. I heard you just won a battle in the New World?" Diarmuid also asked with a smile.
"It's not that big of an achievement," Garp waved his hand, clearly not trying to brag.
Seeing this, Diarmuid didn't ask anything else and looked at Kong, who showed no expression on his face. Kong simply asked, "Is something wrong?"
Diarmuid was about to speak, but with Garp here, he felt a little awkward. Diarmuid first cleared his throat, then nervously rubbed his nose with his hand. "Well... I'd like to ask for some time off. I promised Gion we'd go on a trip, but because of the situation with Amazon Lily and the Headquarters, we haven't been able to find the right time. She just finished handling her matters in Amazon Lily and has some free time, and I've also finished most of my work... So, what do you think?"
Kong was taken aback for a moment, then a warm smile appeared on his face. "That's great! A trip is great! You young people should go out and see the world more. Are you and Gion officially together now?"
Diarmuid was a little surprised by Kong's willingness to agree, but he smiled and nodded. "I guess so?"
"Hahaha, then it won't be long before Sengoku will be asking for a vacation, too," Kong laughed.
Garp, who was standing nearby, was stunned for a moment, then complained, "That's not fair! Fleet Admiral! This Diarmuid asks for a vacation, and you happily agree? But when I ask for one, you scold me! What kind of logic is that?"
"Diarmuid and Gion are going on a trip. Even in a normal workplace, they'd be allowed time for a honeymoon, wouldn't they? Besides, they don't ask as often as you do!" Kong said, clearly showing favoritism.
Are you kidding me? The complicated and tangled relationship between Diarmuid and Gion was something all the Marine leaders had been watching closely. Now that they seemed to have "achieved a good result," why wouldn't he let them go on a trip to deepen their relationship?
What could you, Garp, compare to that? If you're so tough, go find a wife, too!
"Me? You?" Garp pointed at himself, then at Diarmuid, but couldn't say a word.
Just then, Diarmuid said, "Fleet Admiral, we're going to the East Blue this time. As you know, the biggest battle in the East Blue in the past decade broke out on Gotten Island in June. Although the Marine branches won against the so-called Pirate Alliance, their losses were significant. I plan to go with Gion and comfort the Marines there."
Kong's expression became even more benevolent. He pointed at Garp. "Look at Diarmuid's sense of duty, and then look at you! Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
Garp was taken aback. He was thick-skinned, so he didn't care about that at all. Instead, he took the opportunity to say, "The East Blue? What a coincidence! I was planning to go, too. With my status as a Marine Hero, going to comfort the Marines in the East Blue would quickly restore their morale, right? Then I can just go visit my grandson along the way. Fleet Admiral, would that be acceptable?"
It was a very reasonable suggestion, and his reason for leave was normal and not against the rules. Kong was just making things difficult for him. Now that he had given this reasonable option, Kong couldn't continue to refuse.
"Hmph!" Kong grunted, then said, "Don't take too long!"
Just as expected, Garp had a dog-like face. One moment, he was upset and angry, and the next, when the Fleet Admiral conceded, he was all smiles. "Don't worry, don't worry, it won't be too long!"
Ignoring Garp, Kong turned to Diarmuid. "By the way, how are things with Amazon Lily?"
"They're doing well. They've started cooperating with us in the Calm Belt. Gion plans to set up a Marine outpost on a small uninhabited island next to Kuja Island. It'll be perfect for transporting supplies and strengthening our ties with their country. We're trying to solve their survival issues from the root and change their so-called pirate traditions as soon as possible," Diarmuid said with a smile.
Garp didn't leave either. He sat on a nearby sofa, took out some senbei, and listened. Neither Diarmuid nor Kong paid him any mind.
"Is that so? If we can eliminate Amazon Lily's pirate label from its roots and turn them into a normal country, that would be a great thing for the Marines..." Kong said, nodding in satisfaction. After he finished speaking, he smiled and took out another file from his drawer. "Here, this came from the World Government."
Diarmuid took the file and a smile appeared on his face. The file was a proposal to make "White Hunter" Smoker, who had a bounty of 260,000,000 Berries, a Warlord of the Sea. As expected, the proposal was initiated by the CP organization.
Back in Mariejois, Diarmuid had discussed this with Stussy. When she learned the truth about the Warlords and the Marines' plan, Stussy was shocked, but she quickly agreed to the method. Because she could also benefit from it! And there were many benefits.
Afterward, she also agreed to help create a buzz within the CP organization. After a few months, the Queen had finally made it happen.
"This is great news. What did you tell them?" Diarmuid asked with a smile.
"Of course, I refused them in strong words. After all, Smoker is a 'disgrace' to the Marines. But it seems that's exactly why they want Smoker, who has a bad relationship with me, to become a Warlord. It would help them contain the Marines... Hehehe," Kong said with a laugh.
"And then?" Diarmuid asked with a smile.
"Then? There's no 'then.' Unless we want to quickly eliminate Smoker like we did with Craster, the World Government will definitely make him a Warlord. Before this, I secretly notified Smoker to go into hiding, and at the same time, I sent Kuzan to 'capture' him under the guise of an operation to eliminate him," Kong said cunningly.
"You really go all out for a show..." Diarmuid laughed. After a short pause, Diarmuid continued, "Speaking of which, I'm planning to train that Boa Hancock from Amazon Lily for a few years and also have her become a Warlord of the Sea. With her status as part of the Kuja Pirates, it should be no problem."
"You can handle that yourself," Kong replied.