Chapter 113: Navy Headquarters

After settling the Mischia father and daughter, Asa had no intention of lingering. He raised his right hand high, his entire arm transforming into pure lightning—

"Zzzzt!"

"Heaven's Judgement!!"

As Asa shouted, a massive bolt of lightning shot upward, striking the vibrant inner wall of the lantern fish's stomach.

"Rumble—"

The lantern fish shrieked in pain and went berserk, thrashing wildly on the sea surface as its entire stomach began to churn.

Stomach No. 3 – Alchemy Island.

"What's going on? Is this lantern fish going crazy again?" Vice Admiral Tsuru asked, barely managing to keep her balance as the tremors grew violent.

"It's definitely that troublemaker Asa!" Garp grumbled. He knew Asa too well—this had his signature written all over it.

"The shaking's getting worse. Something big must've happened," Akainu muttered grimly.

Just as he finished speaking, the stomach walls contracted violently. Golden gastric juice, mixed with chunks of rock, surged forward like a torrent—

A violent wave blasted out of Stomach No. 3, swept through Stomach No. 2, then burst into Stomach No. 1, spewing out Garp and Asa together.

"Tsuru! Be careful!!"

Carried by the flood, the three vice admirals rocketed toward the lantern fish's throat. A small mountain-like tongue blocked their path.

Garp grabbed Sakazuki and Tsuru, dodging the countercurrent with agile movement. Evading the towering tongue, he launched them all upward, flying out through the creature's gaping mouth...

"Are we finally out of that damn thing?" Vice Admiral Tsuru asked, shaking off the grogginess as if waking from a long nightmare.

"We're out. Now, where's Asa?" Garp asked, holding both comrades mid-air with his Geppo. Despite everything, he didn't appear tired—his monstrous physique far surpassed that of any ordinary human.

"Let us down," Akainu grunted, regaining composure and freeing himself from Garp's grip. He, too, stepped onto the air with Geppo.

"Asa... he's either still inside, or he slipped out before us..." Vice Admiral Tsuru said, instinctively analyzing the situation.

It was no longer the dead of night as it had been when they entered. Several days had passed inside the creature's stomach. Now, the sun shone directly above, and the sky was clear.

"Plop!"

A splash below caught all three of their attention.

"Asa, you brat—you really did escape!!" Garp yelled joyfully.

He kicked off into the air, unleashing a volley of Rankyaku slashes.

"Boom!!"

The crescent-shaped air blades tore through the sea in a crisscross pattern, carving deep ravines across the water's surface before they were smoothed out again.

"Hahahaha! Vice Admiral Garp, I'll be going now—no need to see me off!!" Asa shouted, waving at the three before diving into the ocean.

The three floated mid-air, silent for a moment.

"...Isn't Asa a Devil Fruit user? How is he swimming?" Vice Admiral Tsuru furrowed her brows, puzzled.

"Don't think too much, Tsuru. As long as the permanent pointer isn't broken, let's head back to Marine Headquarters," Garp said casually, showing no concern about Asa's escape.

"That's all we can do..." Tsuru sighed, glancing down at the permanent pointer in her hand.

And so, the three vice admirals took to the sky, soaring toward Marineford.

Not long after they left, Asa's head emerged from the water once again. His body was bone-dry, completely untouched by seawater.

"Traveling by moon steps for days... They really are the Navy's strongest."

Asa smirked and followed them from a great distance—using them as unknowing guides.

The lantern fish had not strayed far from the maelstrom. It took the trio only two hours to pass through the Gate of Justice and return to Marine Headquarters: Marineford.

The officer stationed at the gate spotted the three vice admirals soaring in the sky through his telescope and barked out orders.

"Vice Admiral Garp, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and Vice Admiral Sakazuki are approaching! Open the gates immediately!!"

"Yes, sir!" Several sailors in seagull-embroidered uniforms rushed to operate the mechanisms.

"Kakakaka!!"

The massive Gate of Justice creaked open slowly.

The three vice admirals descended and touched down, finally ending their exhausting journey. Only Tsuru showed any signs of fatigue.

"Please verify your military codes and confirm your identities."

A colonel approached with a sharp salute. Formal procedures still had to be followed.

With so many strange imitation and transformation powers in the world, skipping verification could lead to disastrous infiltration.

Garp led the way, with Tsuru and Akainu flanking him. After confirming their identities, they proceeded to the tallest building in Marine Headquarters.

"Didn't the three vice admirals go to support Impel Down? How is it that after so many days, even the warships and accompanying marines are gone?"

The colonel and several other soldiers muttered among themselves, baffled. While Garp was infamous for wrecking warships while chasing Roger, this time he was just supposed to suppress a prison riot—how could it have gone so badly?

"Ah... Vice Admiral Garp? You're back?" A sleepy voice called out. It was Aokiji, who hadn't joined the mission due to other responsibilities. He had just returned.

"Have the fugitives from Impel Down been captured?"

"Pfffft! Hahahaha! More or less!" Garp laughed, picking his nose nonchalantly.

The four of them headed toward the Fleet Admiral's office.

When they arrived, Garp walked straight in without knocking.

Fleet Admiral Kong was hunched over his desk, buried in paperwork. He didn't look up—only one person was this brazen.

"You're back," he said flatly.

Finishing his document, Kong set it aside, arms crossed, calm and collected.

"I already know what happened. Asa escaped. The World Government wanted to cover it up, but Morgans leaked the info. Don't worry about it. Did anything else happen during your time away?"

Kong looked visibly drained.

He had argued fiercely with the Five Elders, pushing for Vegapunk to be punished. He was convinced Asa's escape was tied to him. But the Five Elders didn't want to hear it.

Vegapunk was a genius—worth ten Asas in their eyes. The loss of a mere military general meant nothing to them. If one died, another could replace them. But another Vegapunk?

That might take decades.

"Hahahaha! The World Government distorting the truth again? What else is new? At this rate, only the Navy's reputation keeps taking hits," Garp said bluntly.

"Shut up, Garp!" Kong snapped. "We're not here to discuss Impel Down. On the way back, we encountered the lantern fish—the Sea King species that devoured Alchemy Island, the one that supposedly vanished for over two centuries!" Tsuru interjected.

"What did you say?" Kong instantly rose from his seat, his massive frame radiating pressure, eyes wide in disbelief.

"That lantern fish… the legendary pure gold?"

(End Of Chapter)

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