96. The Calm Before the Storm

Before the three could begin analyzing this issue, hurried footsteps approached from outside.

"Admiral! Fleet Admiral Sengoku, please head to the Marshal immediately. There's urgent military intelligence."

A rear admiral seized the task from the messenger officer, delivering the news to Sengoku at the fastest speed possible.

The admiral nodded. "I'll leave the work to you all. I'm heading there now. I wonder what could have made Kong so anxious."

"Yes, sir!"

"Haii~ Take care of your business."

Sakazuki and Borsalino both stood up and walked out the door. After all, they each had their own missions to carry out. Sakazuki, in particular, was eager to find out from Onigumo what exactly had been done over the past six months.

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"These tapes record actual combat training exercises. For confidentiality reasons, aside from us in the Navy, there were no other witnesses."

Onigumo pointed at several neatly arranged video tapes on the table and introduced them to Sakazuki.

Doberman, who was also in the room, respectfully handed over a thick stack of paper reports.

"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, this is a summary of the past six months of battle formation exercises. It includes the strengths and weaknesses of the formations, soldiers' opinions on this combat method..."

The vice admiral did not immediately flip through the comprehensive summary report. Instead, he scanned the room, looking at the nearly ten vice admirals and rear admirals present, and spoke in a deep voice:

"You've all worked hard. Sakazuki thanks his comrades for their unwavering support. Everything is for our Navy. Everything is for justice."

Onigumo stepped forward.

"Sakazuki first recruited two iconic giants for our forces in the past six months. The hardships you endured in that process are far beyond anything we have experienced."

But Sakazuki knew the battle formation matter wasn't as simple as Onigumo made it sound.

Without the concerted efforts of these officers—without the deployment of dozens or even hundreds of warships across the seven routes for testing—it would have been impossible to reach even a rough conclusion in just six months.

"Then, Sakazuki, should we prepare to submit the proposal to the Marshal? After all, training should begin sooner rather than later."

Among the officers, Gion, the only woman in the group, knew the importance of priorities in official matters.

She hadn't seen Sakazuki in six months, and though she wished she could mimic the heroines in the novels she read, throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a warm hug, she was also a soldier. She had to uphold military discipline. In this kind of military conference, what she needed to present was a constructive suggestion.

"Hmm, let me first skim through the main contents of this summary report. That way, I can win the support of Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Garp."

Sakazuki lifted his head and nodded at Gion before quickly lowering it again to scan the key points.

Gion gazed at her lover's side profile—he seemed to have gotten a little tanned. But choosing the military, choosing to be a soldier, meant sacrificing personal affairs.

She still remembered the declaration circulating in the Navy:

"The military gives us strength, responsibility, and duty. We endure pains others cannot endure, and suffer hardships others cannot bear."

Wasn't it because of this that she had been drawn to Sakazuki?

Gion sighed lightly. These words were grand, but only through personal experience could one truly understand the immense weight of the word responsibility.

The word soldier—how much hardship did it truly entail?

Sakazuki was fully absorbed in reading. He had no fear of memorizing reports—having been born in the great land of China in his past life, memorizing documents for briefings was just routine.

Though he secretly wanted to have a match with that disrespectful old man Garp, he had to admit that Garp's reputation and status in the Navy were undeniably high.

If he could gain the support of both Garp and Sengoku, this reform—which involved sweeping changes across the entire Navy—would have a much higher chance of being pushed through under Kong's command.

"Hey~ Sakazuki, senior! I'm late~ Oh~ so sleepy."

Kuzan strolled in from outside, carrying the chill of his Ice-Ice Fruit ability.

The perpetually drowsy frozen man was startled for a moment when he saw the small office filled with officers.

He extended a finger, pointing at them one by one:

"Onigumo, Gion, Doberman, Stornobey, Dalmatian, Momonga, Bastille, Jonathan, Stainless—damn, nearly all the strong-willed rear admirals of the headquarters are here!"

"Uh... um... who are you?"

He scratched his head, struggling to recall the identity of a mustached rear admiral sitting on the floor, fanning himself.

The mustached man straightened his posture and introduced himself:

"I am Kong."

"Yo!"

Kuzan curled in all but his index and middle fingers, raising them in a greeting before heading straight toward Sakazuki.

"Senior? What are you reading?"

"I'm reviewing the summary report. Hmm?! Where was I?"

Interrupted mid-thought, Sakazuki looked up at Kuzan's innocent face.

"You lazy bum, you actually participated in this battle formation experiment?"

"Of course, I put in a lot of effort."

Onigumo's face twitched slightly before he mercilessly exposed the truth:

"Because of your move Ice Age, two of our warships—along with enemy pirate ships—ended up frozen in the sea for two weeks!"

"Don't sweat the details, Onigumo."

Kuzan pulled his newly purchased eye mask over his face.

"And also, because of your Ice-Ice Fruit, after the battle formation experiment was over, the enemy ships couldn't be set on fire by artillery. We had to use several times the manpower to manually sink them."

Jonathan added with a resentful face.

Kuzan casually spread his hands.

"Ara ara, well, that couldn't be helped!"

"..."

"..."

"(｀皿´)"

The rear admirals' expressions varied, but they all turned to look at Sakazuki in unison.

"Junior, could you stay in your elemental form?"

Sakazuki looked at the room full of officers.

"Consider it your penance by acting as an air conditioner."

"Ara ara, what a pain!"

The frozen man scratched his messy curls but still agreed.

For the first time since his transmigration, Sakazuki enjoyed some air conditioning. He secretly decided that from now on, he would sleep in Kuzan's room every summer.

"Burururu! Burururu!"

Just as Sakazuki was refocusing on his report, the Den Den Mushi on his desk rang.

"Sakazuki, notify all admiral-ranked officers to gather in the first conference room immediately. Find Kuzan and report to the Fleet Admiral's office at once."

Sengoku's voice sounded urgent.

Sakazuki frowned. Sengoku had only just been called to Kong's office to discuss military matters, and now he was suddenly convening all officers for a meeting?

"Understood! I will notify all officers immediately."

Sakazuki put down the receiver and looked around at the surrounding officers.

"Inform all admirals to gather in the first conference room immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

The officers responded in unison and quickly left to notify their colleagues.

Gion remained behind, walking side by side with Sakazuki as they headed for the conference room.

Just as they were about to part ways, Sakazuki suddenly pulled her into an embrace.

"I was so busy handling military affairs earlier that I forgot to tell you."

Sakazuki pressed his forehead gently against hers.

"I'm back."

In that brief moment, those simple words—without grand vows or sweet nothings—gave Gion a deep sense of peace.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, looked up at him, and smiled warmly.

"Welcome back."

The two lingered for a moment before swiftly parting, heading off to their respective duties.

"A soldier chooses the military, suffers hardships others cannot bear… hmm, something seems off."

Gion murmured softly to herself.

At this moment, all she tasted was the sweetness that belonged only to him.