Chapter 56: An Invitation To Cooperate From Fleet Admiral Sengoku
“That one, do I need to step out for a bit?”
Jinbe asked, steeling himself.
He was quite curious about what the Navy wanted with the Black Prince, but he was very aware of his awkward position. The Seven Warlords were ultimately just an external organization that the World Government had enlisted, entirely different from the Navy, which was the legitimate core of the three armed services. There were many secrets they simply had no right to know.
“No problem, it’s not anything that needs to be kept secret. Jinbe, you can just sit there.”
Garp waved his hand casually.
Jinbe’s butt, which had just barely lifted off the seat, sat back down again. He glanced at the Navy Rear Admirals whose faces didn’t look too good, clearly furious but unable to speak up. He didn’t take their dissatisfied glares to heart at all. Among this group of Navy men, only Garp could make him bow his head and obey.
Those three Navy Rear Admirals,
to put it bluntly,
Jinbe could beat them all with one hand tied behind his back.
No matter how honest and rule-abiding he seemed, deep down he was still a pirate, one who despised laws and revered freedom. If he hadn’t understood the meaning of responsibility, the situation might have been completely different now.
In any case, since Vice Admiral Garp said it was fine,
there was naturally no need for him to hurry and leave.
“So, what’s the matter exactly? Your Excellency Vice Admiral, you’re not going to keep us guessing, are you? At this hour, I’d rather go back to sleep than chat with an old man who can’t sleep!”
Prince Elus yawned.
This sleepiness was half real, half fake.
It was already the early hours of the morning; the craving for sleep was a physiological instinct and a long-standing habit—this was the real half. As for the fake half… with Prince Elus’s current abilities, sleep wasn’t an urge he couldn’t control. Even if he didn’t sleep for ten days or half a month, it wouldn’t have any major impact.
The reason he said this
wasn’t some rhetorical trick, but because Prince Elus truly enjoyed sleeping.
Just like the pleasure of savoring gourmet food, sleep could also bring a sense of happiness.
“Ah! It’s definitely time to sleep at this hour.”
Hearing Prince Elus’s words, Garp neither refuted nor got straight to the point. Instead, after glancing at the moonlight outside the window, he agreed with Prince Elus’s statement and even yawned himself, with tired tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.
“……Vice Admiral Garp.”
Rear Admiral Sprugen reminded him.
“Alright, alright!”
Garp perfunctorily grumbled unenthusiastically, cleared his throat, straightened his back, and finally asked: “Prince Elus, what do you think of the Navy?”
“Hm~~?”
The puzzled voice curved twice.
Prince Elus blinked his eyes; the sleepiness in his mind vanished completely. This question was really quite baffling?
“The Navy? Pretty good! They crack down on pirates and protect civilians. Sure, there are shortcomings, but overall, the Navy’s existence maintains order on the Sea, preventing the world from falling into chaotic turmoil.”
He responded perfunctorily.
In his mind, he was still pondering what this could possibly mean.
Unexpectedly,
Vice Admiral Garp suddenly burst into laughter. He looked at Prince Elus with appreciative eyes and said:
“Kid, you’re pretty good!”
“Uh…… flattery?”
Prince Elus was completely baffled, feeling like he couldn’t keep up with Vice Admiral Garp’s train of thought at all. What was going on here? Why the sudden inexplicable praise?
“Kid, let me ask you another one: Do you think the New World would be better with the Navy there? Or does the Four Emperors coexisting better match the New World’s reality?”
This question was quite direct.
Prince Elus suddenly understood.
So they were here to win him over. No wonder they asked about his views on the Navy. Clearly, the foundation of cooperation was the absence of fundamental conflict between them. Prince Elus’s response revealed he had no negative views of the Navy—in fact, quite a positive attitude—which created conditions for deeper cooperation.
As for why the Navy wanted to cooperate with him?
Naturally,
the New World.
The Navy clearly wanted to reclaim the prestige and power it had completely lost in the New World.
The emergence of an Overlord in the New World who wasn’t from a pirate background and even originated from a World Government Affiliated Nation gave the Navy a chance to return to the New World. Even if cooperation failed, as long as the Eckmond Kingdom didn’t abandon its status as a World Government Affiliated Nation, Prince Elus wouldn’t become an enemy of the Navy.
“Vice Admiral Garp, is Fleet Admiral Sengoku planning to have me disrupt the New World’s current order?”
“That’s exactly what that guy Sengoku meant.”
Garp nodded.
Beside him, Rear Admirals Sprugen, Cajetan, and Bishiman all lowered their heads in unison. Who negotiates by directly spilling their own secrets like this? But who could do such a thing except Vice Admiral Garp! No matter how many opinions they had, they could only swallow them.
Unfortunately,
this operation was most likely doomed to fail, the Rear Admirals couldn’t help but think.
Prince Elus was also taken aback by Garp’s bluntness.
This response didn’t follow any script at all!
However,
it also made him realize his mistake. Sitting in front of him was Garp, the famed ‘Iron Fist’, not the wise Fleet Admiral from Navy Headquarters or the renowned Great Advisor. When dealing with an upright man like Garp, it was better to be direct rather than beat around the bush.
“Disrupting the New World’s current order…… even without me, it’s already happening.” Prince Elus straightened his joystick and sat up straight. “However, Fleet Admiral Sengoku surely isn’t planning to plunge the New World into endless war and chaos, right? Does the Navy plan to use the Eckmond Kingdom as a springboard to return to the New World?”
“Mm, that kind of thing…… Bishiman, you explain! I forgot how that guy Sengoku put it! Hahaha!!!”
With that,
Garp showed no embarrassment at all and instead laughed heartily.
“I’m too lazy to remember complicated stuff. You guys like Bishiman haven’t forgotten, right?”
“Ahem!”
Rear Admiral Bishiman cleared his throat. “Prince Elus, I am Bishiman, currently a Rear Admiral at Navy Headquarters…… Um, no need for more superfluous words. Fleet Admiral Sengoku sent Vice Admiral Garp and us to your country this time precisely to establish a good cooperative relationship with your nation.”
“If Navy Headquarters and the Eckmond Kingdom can establish a close alliance, it will surely change the chaotic situation in the New World. Then order will return, and the New World……”
Beside him,
Jinbe, who had been sitting silently like a wooden man while listening to Rear Admiral Bishiman, couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
The Navy
actually wanted to cooperate with Prince Elus!
If Prince Elus really formed an alliance with the Navy, the situation in the New World would undergo massive changes. Moreover, the Eckmond Kingdom was a World Government Affiliated Nation, so there was a natural foundation for cooperation between Prince Elus and the Navy.
Once Prince Elus was won over by the Navy, the Navy would inevitably use the opportunity to return to the New World.
What would become of Fish-Man Island, under the protection of the Whitebeard Pirates?
At that moment,
“Stop, stop, stop.”
Prince Elus interrupted Rear Admiral Bishiman. “Let me ask one thing first.” He looked at Garp and the three Rear Admirals and asked: “Is Fleet Admiral Sengoku planning to take down the Four Emperors?”
“……No.”
Rear Admiral Bishiman thought for a moment and shook his head in denial.
He didn’t dare make things up in front of Prince Elus. No matter how young Prince Elus appeared, he always remembered that this man was a terrifying existence who could fight a humanoid monster like BIG·MOM for three days and two nights without a clear victor or loser. Making things up in front of such a monster—if caught, not only would the mission fail, but it might even stir up a lot of trouble.
“That’s good. I thought Fleet Admiral Sengoku was planning to take down the Four Emperors all at once!”
Prince Elus rubbed his chin and said slowly: “Cooperation…… in principle, I have no objections. But don’t think you can use me as a lightning rod for the Navy. I can’t handle the New World’s pirates ganging up on me alone. Cooperation is fine, but don’t think you can immediately reclaim the authority you lost in the New World right now. Some things need to come slowly; you can’t rush it!”
“If you piss off Old Man Whitebeard and he summons a tsunami to destroy my country, even if I tear down Marineford, I couldn’t recover my lost nation.”
Whitebeard’s terror wasn’t just his top-tier combat power in the world.
The most frightening thing was the destructive power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
That was power enough to destroy the world.
These weren’t exaggerated metaphors. On this planet where the Sea covered more than eighty percent of the surface, Whitebeard casually unleashing tsunamis truly wasn’t an exaggeration to say he had world-destroying power—it was just an accurate description of reality.
Even with a strong person like Garp, who had reached the pinnacle in pure martial power, it still couldn’t conceal the formidable aspects of Devil Fruits. For example, Garp had terrifying strength no less than Whitebeard’s, and it would be hard to say who would win in a fight between them, but Garp didn’t possess world-destroying power.
That was the allure of a powerful Devil Fruit.
They allowed ability users to accomplish many inconceivable things that humans originally couldn’t.
“Rest assured, Prince Elus. I am not intending to use the Eckmond Kingdom as a shield.”
The voice came from the Den Den Mushi.
Garp held the Den Den Mushi in his hand, chuckling as he looked at Prince Elus.
He simultaneously raised his other free hand, first pointing at Jinbe, then at the tightly closed door of the living room.
Jinbe obediently stood up.
He walked out of the meeting room and gently closed the door behind him.
“Introducing myself in this manner is indeed somewhat rude, but given the circumstances, I have no choice. I hope Prince Elus can forgive me. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Fleet Admiral Sengoku of Navy Headquarters.” The man on the other end of the Den Den Mushi said this.
“Fleet Admiral Sengoku…… this is truly an honor!”
Prince Elus eyed the Den Den Mushi.
“Time is precious, so I won’t beat around the bush with you, Prince Elus. My personal opinion is that I hope Navy Headquarters can form an alliance with the Eckmond Kingdom. At some point in the future, the Eckmond Kingdom would support the Navy’s return to the New World, and in return, the Navy would grant the Eckmond Kingdom corresponding authority.”
Navy Headquarters,
the brightly lit Fleet Admiral’s office.
Sengoku, sitting behind the desk, held the microphone and conveyed his sincerity word by word to the young Overlord far away in the New World.
This call
was made by Garp.
Garp had briefly but very clearly relayed his opinion, stating that Prince Elus was someone worth cooperating with.
Sengoku had no doubts about Garp’s judgment, so he suddenly spoke up, directly bridging the vast distance to communicate with Prince Elus.
“Authority? What authority can the Navy give me?”
Prince Elus asked with interest.
“The authority to expand your maritime transport network into Paradise.” Sengoku had clearly done his homework; he knew Prince Elus’s actions in the New World very well.
“……The Navy isn’t planning to return to the New World right now, right?”
“That’s correct. As you said before, as long as Whitebeard doesn’t fall, the Navy won’t rush back to the New World. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit…… that thing really makes it impossible to decide lightly to provoke it.” Sengoku candidly admitted the Navy’s wariness of Whitebeard.
“Then, regarding cooperation…… I’ll give you a reply later, Fleet Admiral. I still need to discuss it with the elders in my family. After all, I’m just a prince right now.”
Prince Elus was already leaning toward cooperating with the Navy.
Cooperating with the Navy wasn’t a bad thing for him.
He wasn’t a pirate to begin with, and the Eckmond Kingdom, as a World Government Affiliated Nation, engaging in some exchange with the Navy was perfectly normal. Most importantly, ideologically, he had a favorable view of the Navy for maintaining order on the Sea.
Aside from the Celestial Dragons as a cancerous tumor, the Navy was generally acceptable.
Having lived two lifetimes under the protection of order—though vastly different kinds of order—this still made Prince Elus prefer order over chaos, so he didn’t dislike the Navy as defenders of that order.
However,
he still wanted to discuss the final decision with his father and grandfather.
Even as someone reborn, he didn’t think himself much smarter than the people of this world. On the contrary, he never underestimated top figures like Sengoku.
Even BIG·MOM, that mad emperor who often lost her mind, had the political cunning matching her Pirate Emperor status when her head was clear.
“In that case, I’ll await your good news.”
Sengoku hung up the Den Den Mushi, ending this call that spanned hundreds of thousands of miles.
“Sengoku, opening up Paradise like this…… is that okay?” On the guest sofa, there was still a petite woman with white hair—Vice Admiral Tsuru of Navy Headquarters, known as the “Great Advisor.”
“You want the horse to run but not let it graze, Tsuru. You understand—it’s impossible. Since we don’t want this Prince Elus to become an enemy of the Navy and even hope to make him a key piece for the Navy to return to the New World and contend with the Four Emperors, how can we do it without offering some benefits?”
“Moreover, tying this Prince Elus to Paradise with sufficient interests isn’t a bad thing!”
Only those with lasting property have lasting resolve.
With enough interests protected by the Navy in Paradise, the cooperation between Navy Headquarters and Prince Elus would be more stable, effectively reducing the risk of the partnership breaking down.
“That makes sense, but Sengoku, don’t raise a tiger that could turn on you—especially since this is a young tiger not even twenty years old that could outlast its hunter.”
Tsuru issued a warning.
“……I know.”
Sengoku narrowed his eyes, looking through his frog glasses at the Grand Line map on the wall. The massive red zones in the latter half—the New World—were so glaring, and he added: “But for now, let’s see. I trust Garp’s judgment.”
