"What? Is there a problem?" Garp scratched his head, looking around at his colleagues with a dazed expression.
"Hahaha!"
Finally, a Vice Admiral named Basti couldn't help but laugh out loud first, which then triggered even louder laughter throughout the meeting room.
Vice Admiral Bastiou explained while laughing:
"Garp, Barnett and his two associates were Great Pirates who roamed the New World for many years! To deal with all three of them simultaneously in a short time, one would need top-tier combat power at least at the Admiral level. In those waters at that time, only the Roger Pirates were capable of doing that."
"You don't mean to say that Charlotte Linlin, who is only seventeen or eighteen years old, already possesses Admiral-level strength? Setting aside her age, I've never heard of any woman reaching such heights."
Tsuru, who was sitting next to Garp, frowned imperceptibly upon hearing this.
"Huh?" Garp immediately glared at Bastiou with displeasure.
"What? You look down on women?"
Bastiou waved his hand and laughed:
"No, I don't look down on women; it's just that historically, there has indeed never been a female powerhouse who reached the Admiral level. Hahaha!"
"Enough, Garp, sit down first." Fleet Admiral Aether looked at Garp, who still wanted to argue, and rubbed his temples helplessly.
"Humph! Look down on women, and be careful you don't end up falling at their hands one day!"
Garp sat down heavily as if in a huff, crossing his arms.
Sengoku took over the conversation at the right time, bringing the discussion back on track:
"Although the destruction of Barnett's trio by Roger is a good thing for our Marine, it also proves from another perspective that the Roger Pirates' current strength is indeed astonishing."
Aether nodded in agreement and said: "Sengoku is right. Since no one else has any objections, the credit for killing the Barnett Pirate Alliance will be attributed to Roger."
"Afterward, increase Gol D. Roger's personal bounty by 500 million Berries, reaching 2.6 billion! The bounties for all members of the Roger Pirates will also be raised by one level accordingly."
"A fledgling Pirate Crew being able to easily wipe out three established New World powers—their threat level can no longer be underestimated. They are almost the strongest Pirate Crew below the Rocks Pirates. Does anyone else have any other views?"
Aether looked around the room, and after no one spoke, he continued:
"Alright, the next item on the agenda: the proposal regarding Sengoku's promotion to Admiral Candidate. This time, Sengoku successfully cleared out the remnants of Barnett's crew entrenched in the Sabaody Archipelago, a significant achievement. I propose promoting Sengoku to Admiral Candidate. Does anyone have any objections?"
Seeing no opposition, Aether nodded: "The proposal is passed. Next is the security arrangement for the Celestial Dragons' field trip to Kuraigana Island in six months..."
"Wait, Fleet Admiral Aether," Zephyr interrupted.
"What is it, Zephyr?"
"Before... what happened to the family of Vice Admiral Fernando, who was killed by Charlotte Linlin? Although Vice Admiral Fernando himself had a poor reputation, he was a Marine colleague after all. I heard his mother is elderly and has no one to care for her..."
Zephyr, who valued family, asked.
"This..." Aether was momentarily at a loss for words; he knew the old woman's situation but didn't know how to speak of it.
"She's dead," Tsuru's cold voice came.
"Dead?" Zephyr was stunned.
"Yes. She died at the hands of a merchant she had blackmailed into bankruptcy and ruin. Her death was extremely gruesome; every bone in her body was broken. Afterward, that merchant went out to sea to become a pirate," Tsuru stated expressionlessly.
Vice Admiral Bastiou showed a look of disgust:
"Hmph, he must have been blinded by greed after stealing the Fernando family's property and wanted to get something for nothing, which is why he fell into piracy!"
Garp, who held a grudge, immediately retorted:
"I think it's because there are too many 'Marines' like you and Fernando that he was forced to become a pirate! Otherwise, why would a perfectly good merchant's family be ruined?"
"You! Humph!" Bastiou's face flushed red, but considering Garp's strength, he had to suppress his anger.
"Enough," Aether intervened, looking at Zephyr. "The situation is roughly as Tsuru said. Do you have any other questions?"
Zephyr shook his head: "No more."
"Good, then let's continue with the agenda regarding the Celestial Dragons' field trip..."
...The meeting finally ended, and Aether returned to his Fleet Admiral office, letting out a long sigh of relief.
He skillfully locked the door, then like a thief, he crouched down and felt around in a hidden compartment at the bottom of his desk for a carefully concealed small box. Opening the box, underneath a pile of insignificant documents, he finally found the bag of senbei he had been longing for.
"Hahaha, this time my little baby wasn't found by that bastard Garp!"
Fleet Admiral Aether held the senbei tightly in his arms like a peerless treasure, taking a deep, intoxicated breath as if tasting the most wonderful aroma in the world.
"Little baby, here I come~" He rubbed his hands, carefully tore open the packaging, took out a golden and crispy piece of senbei, his eyes sparkling with the light of happiness.
He tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and stuck his tongue out far, ready to welcome this long-awaited delicacy—
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The sound of knocking suddenly rang out!
Aether was so startled he jumped; his first reaction was "Garp is here to steal my food again!" In his shock, his hand shook, and the piece of senbei that was supposed to fall into his mouth bounced upward and, with uncanny precision, got stuck deep in his throat!
"Mmph! Mmph-mmph!" Aether's eyes instantly widened, his hands tightly clutching his neck, his face turning beet red.
In this life-or-death moment, Fleet Admiral Aether used his powerful willpower (and fear of the senbei being discovered); he endured the discomfort and channeled a trace of Armament Haki, covering the remaining senbei in his hand!
"Poof!"
With a faint sound, the senbei in Aether's hand was instantly shattered into powder by the Haki erupting from within, vanishing completely.
"Fleet Admiral Aether! Are you inside? There's urgent intelligence!" The voice of a female messenger came from outside the door.
The female soldier pushed the door open and entered, only to see Fleet Admiral Aether with a flushed face, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes, clutching his neck and coughing violently.
"Fleet Admiral Aether! What happened to you?!" The female soldier was pale with fright and rushed forward.
"No... it's nothing!"
Aether waved his hand with difficulty, grabbed the water cup on the desk, and took several large gulps before he managed to swallow the senbei in his throat. However, the physiological discomfort of having a foreign object stuck in his throat caused tears to slide uncontrollably from his eyes.
He coughed while trying to maintain his dignity as Fleet Admiral,
"Cough cough... I just... choked on some water!"
Looking at the Fleet Admiral's disheveled state, the female soldier already understood something; she quickly lowered her head, her shoulders shaking slightly as she suppressed a laugh.
Fleet Admiral Aether finally caught his breath, wiped the tears from his eyes, straightened his face, and asked with feigned composure: "What is it?"
The female soldier immediately stopped smiling and regained a solemn expression, placing a document on the desk: "Fleet Admiral, urgent intelligence just sent from the Intelligence Department regarding the latest developments on Hachinosu Island."
"Leave it there, you may go now," Aether waved his hand, his voice still a bit raspy.
"Yes!" The female soldier saluted and turned to leave, seemingly hearing a very faint muffled laugh before she closed the door.
As soon as the door closed, Aether immediately took another large gulp of water and let out a long sigh of relief. He looked heart-brokenly at the corner of the remaining packaging and let out a wail:
"My senbei—!"
After mourning his brief moment of happiness, Aether rubbed his still uncomfortable throat, composed himself, and picked up the intelligence report.
When he saw the content about Charlotte Linlin causing celestial phenomena and her strength supposedly skyrocketing, his brows furrowed tightly.
"So... those three guys, Barnett and the others, really might have been dealt with by Charlotte Linlin? This kid Garp's intuition is quite accurate!"
Aether stroked his chin, falling into deep thought,
"However, now that the order has been issued, even if it wasn't Roger's doing, it must be credited to him! Otherwise, if we keep changing our orders, where would the Marine's face be?"
He sighed, somewhat helpless:
"Besides, Charlotte Linlin's bounty was just increased not long ago; it's indeed inappropriate to raise it significantly again so soon. It would easily lead to unnecessary speculation and panic. Forget it, let's continue to observe. If she causes another big stir next time, we'll settle the accounts all at once!"
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