Chapter 29: Today’s Rice Crackers… Are a Bit Salty

Sengoku's words were quite clear.

It implied that there might be a "mole" within the Navy.

The key issue they needed to discuss today was identifying who this mole could be.

After a brief silence, Garp, who was munching on rice crackers, suddenly raised his hand and said, "That warship… it was probably me."

"You?" Everyone looked at him.

"Yeah."

Garp, chewing, picked his nose and then reached back into the bag of rice crackers. "I was escorting prisoners at the time and happened to encounter the Celestial Dragon's ship."

"You encountered it?" Sengoku stood up from his chair. "Did you notice anything unusual?"

"Unusual… not really." Garp smacked his lips, feeling that the rice crackers seemed saltier than before.

"But there was indeed a strange guy on the ship."

He couldn't help but recall the Celestial Dragon's guard who had taken his punch and still managed to stand.

He had used about sixty percent of his strength. Even if the guy was tough, he should have been knocked out and bedridden for at least a month or two.

"A strange guy?"

"Yeah, just gave me a weird feeling."

A Celestial Dragon's guard shouldn't be that strong, right?

Unless he was a member of CP0…

"Maybe we shouldn't focus our suspicions within the Navy?" Tsuru suddenly suggested. "What if the person who did this was a pirate?"

"How would a pirate get into the Calm Belt?" A Petty Officer asked.

Others began to speculate on Tsuru's behalf: "Maybe someone with a Devil Fruit ability that allows them to fly?"

"Or it could be a Fishman."

"Right, the slave who tried to blow himself up with the Celestial Dragon was a Fishman. It makes sense if a companion came to rescue him."

"And even if it was a normal human, some people might be able to do it…"

"A normal human?"

Someone questioned, "Fishmen swimming in the Calm Belt is one thing, but with all the Sea Kings and the distance between islands, how could a human swim that far?"

"The group Garp chased back then, didn't most of them manage it?" Tsuru rested her chin on her hands. "I've heard an old acquaintance of ours might be hiding in the Sabaody Archipelago."

Silence.

Garp and Sengoku exchanged glances. They knew exactly who Tsuru was referring to.

But that wasn't the main point right now.

"Bring me all the bounty posters from the first half of the Grand Line," Sengoku ordered his assistant.

About twenty minutes later…

"This is the one."

Sengoku picked out a tall, slender young pirate from the bounty posters. "Loget Larvin, bounty of 40 million Berries, skilled in firearms and disguise. I think he's the one who attacked the Celestial Dragon. What do you think?" {Fucking pinned in on a dud!}

The officers exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

"I think it's him too."

"Not just think, it is him!"

"Yes, yes, it's him, no one else."

"I just interrogated the witnesses, and they confirmed it was Loget Larvin."

Garp: (⊙o⊙)

These guys are as dirty and despicable as ever.

"Now, send the order to raise Larvin's bounty to 140 million Berries."

"Yes, Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"

The assistant saluted and quickly left the conference room with the bounty poster.

The remaining officers relaxed in their chairs, the atmosphere instantly becoming more relaxed.

So what if a Celestial Dragon was attacked and injured?

As long as no one died, they wouldn't bother with such trivial matters if it weren't for the pressure from the Five Elders of the World Government.

After discussing the attack on the Celestial Dragon, the meeting continued for less than half an hour before it ended.

However, as they were leaving, Tsuru called out to Sengoku, asking with a meaningful expression, "Do you really think a pirate did this?"

"Of course not."

Sengoku shook his head. "It's more likely to be a Navy member than a pirate. If it were a pirate, the Celestial Dragon wouldn't still be alive."

But what did it matter?

Even if the Celestial Dragon had been killed, he had ways to manipulate the situation and deceive CP0's intelligence network.

With this thought, Sengoku quickened his pace and stopped Garp, who was about to leave.

"Hey, Garp."

"What?" Garp looked at Sengoku, puzzled.

The next second, Sengoku swiftly snatched the rice crackers from Garp's hand and quickly poured them into his mouth.

"Crunch crunch crunch~~"

"You bastard, give me back my snacks!" Garp's forehead veins bulged in anger.

As Sengoku chewed, he couldn't help but show a puzzled expression. "Strange…"

Today's rice crackers tasted much saltier than usual. {WTF does it mean?}

…

First half of the Grand Line.

BBQ Island.

Vivian walked through the bustling streets, wrinkling his nose at the smell of barbecue in the air.

"What a disgusting smell."

"Vivian… you still can't eat barbecue?" Tashigi asked with concern from behind.

"Yeah, I don't like it," Vivian nodded.

Two years ago, he had been beaten so badly that he vomited up the barbecue he had eaten, making him hate the smell ever since.

It had left a psychological shadow.

"Where's Captain Smoker?"

"He should be in a tavern in this town," a crew member replied.

Since Smoker always had a cigar, he naturally liked to drink.

During his two years at the Loguetown base, Vivian had the chance to drink with him a few times, usually ending up unconscious and waking up in his dorm bed the next morning.

He didn't know who carried him back, but they must have suffered a lot.

"Before we find Captain Smoker, I want to pick out a suitable sword."

Vivian said, pulling out two large money bags from his clothes and heading towards a weapon shop on the street.