A short while later, Sengoku arrived first.
Then Garp and Tsuru entered together.
And just like that, the old guard of the Marines was gathered in one room—
minus only Zephyr, who was still away leading the cadets.
"Fleet Admiral, what's going on?"
Sengoku had clearly rushed over. There was even a bit of sweat on his forehead, as though he had assumed some major emergency had broken out.
And when he arrived and saw Garp and Tsuru already there, that suspicion only deepened.
Something serious had definitely happened.
Otherwise, Kong would never have called all three of them here at once.
"Take a look first."
Kong handed each of them a file from his desk.
Lowering his head, Garp skimmed the information in his hand and raised a brow.
"A great pirate said to possess Whitebeard's youthful power? Whitebeard's 'son'?"
"Could it be…"
"that old bastard Whitebeard really had a son?"
"Why haven't I ever heard of him before?"
"This ugly brat does kind of resemble Whitebeard a little. They're both ugly as hell—totally unlike me."
"But then again, when did Whitebeard leave a bastard child in the Grand Line instead of bringing him back to the New World?"
"There's definitely something fishy here."
Sengoku was no less puzzled.
After thinking for a moment, he said,
"I've heard of Whitebeard's 'son' before."
"He's a pirate who only surfaced in the first half of the Grand Line in recent years, but he's very strong."
"Even one of our Headquarters Vice Admirals might not be able to beat him."
"In terms of raw strength, he stands among the upper tier of the Marines' heavy hitters. Even by Vice Admiral standards, he'd count as one of the stronger ones."
Hearing Sengoku's explanation, Garp nodded in understanding.
Normally, he didn't pay much attention to small fry like this.
To him, only people like Whitebeard and Kaido in the New World were worth real notice.
As for Whitebeard's "son"?
Garp had never cared.
Still, since Sengoku had put it that way, Garp figured the man was probably the real deal.
"So the reason you called us here, Fleet Admiral, is because of Whitebeard's 'son'?"
Tsuru looked at Kong and asked.
Someone known as a man with Whitebeard's youthful strength really was the kind of pirate who warranted the attention of all of them.
This was not some random small-time criminal.
He was a true top-tier great pirate.
Even a normal Vice Admiral might fail to bring him down.
"Yes."
"And no."
Kong sighed.
"What do you mean?"
Sengoku asked immediately.
His confusion only deepened.
"I called you here because of Whitebeard's 'son.'"
"But not because I want you to capture him."
"I only wanted to tell you…"
"that he's already been captured."
"I'll be sending people to take custody of him shortly."
"After that, he'll be transferred to Impel Down."
"Captured?"
Sengoku was stunned.
A top-tier pirate this strong—
already captured?
By whom?
"Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino haven't gone out recently."
Tsuru spoke first.
"We've all been at Marineford too."
Garp added.
"Only Zephyr…"
Sengoku looked toward Kong, visibly surprised.
"Fleet Admiral, was Whitebeard's 'son' captured by Zephyr?"
"That would make sense."
A Marine Admiral personally taking down Whitebeard's "son" was something they could all accept.
"No."
"You're all wrong."
"Kai's capture is related to Zephyr, yes."
"But the one who personally brought down Whitebeard's 'son'…"
"was not Zephyr."
Kong smiled mysteriously.
"Try guessing."
"Among all the Marines…"
"besides Zephyr, who else would be qualified to capture a pirate on Whitebeard's 'son's' level?"
The room fell into confusion.
"It's tied to Zephyr, but it wasn't Zephyr himself?"
"Fleet Admiral…"
"you're making even less sense now."
Sengoku looked more and more baffled.
"Fleet Admiral, why not just say it plainly?"
"Marineford hasn't sent out any top-tier combatants recently. Other than Zephyr, who else could deal with a great pirate like Whitebeard's 'son'?"
Tsuru asked.
Kong laughed softly.
"Forget it."
"If I leave you all to guess, you'll never figure it out."
Then his smile faded, and he answered seriously:
"It was Kai."
"The one who captured Whitebeard's 'son' was not Zephyr."
"It was Kai."
Silence.
Dead silence.
Not a sound.
Garp. Sengoku. Tsuru.
All three of them were stunned rigid.
A long moment later, Garp was the first to find his voice.
"Y-you said what?"
"My grandson?"
"Kai captured Whitebeard's 'son'?"
"The pirate said to possess Whitebeard's youthful strength… was defeated and captured by Kai?"
"That can't be right!"
Of everyone here, Garp naturally knew his grandson's strength best.
But even he had never dared imagine that a pirate with combat power worth hundreds of millions of berries could be captured by his grandson.
It was far too shocking.
"When did my grandson become that terrifying?"
"It's only been one year…"
Garp looked completely dumbstruck.
Beside him, Sengoku was in much the same state.
He genuinely suspected he had hallucinated.
What had he just heard?
"Fleet Admiral…"
"Did you just say…"
"that the one who captured Whitebeard's 'son' was Kai?"
"Are you sure?"
"Kai is only five years old!"
Sengoku stared blankly at Kong.
Tsuru was just as shocked.
"A five-year-old defeated a great pirate with combat power worth hundreds of millions?"
"You do realize that a pirate on that level might be too much even for a Headquarters Vice Admiral to handle."
"So what does that mean?"
She could hardly believe it.
A pirate too strong even for many Vice Admirals—
brought down by five-year-old Kai?
This was madness.
"To be honest, when Zephyr first told me, I couldn't accept it either."
"But…"
"the more he explained, the more I had to admit it was true."
"Whitebeard's 'son' really was defeated by Kai."
"Beaten half to death, in fact."
"In other words…"
"Kai may only be five, but he already possesses strength no weaker than a Vice Admiral's."
"And not just any Vice Admiral, either."
"Even among Vice Admirals, he'd be one of the strongest."
Kong's words hit like thunder.
"My god…"
"A five-year-old with Vice Admiral-level combat power?!"
Sengoku's eyes widened.
"This is unprecedented. Completely without precedent."
"Across all history…"
"there has never been a case like this."
Tsuru couldn't help taking a sharp breath.
Forget the Marines—
even across the whole sea, in all these hundreds of years, there had never been anyone who reached Vice Admiral level at the age of five.
"Kai…"
"He's too monstrous."
Kong sighed.
"In just one year, he became this strong."
"I remember clearly—one year ago, he hadn't even mastered Armament Haki and Observation Haki yet."
"And now?"
"He's already reached Vice Admiral-tier strength."
Tsuru's heart trembled.
Then, after a brief stunned pause—
Garp burst into laughter.
"Good! Good! That's my grandson!"
"Kai really didn't disgrace me at all."
"With my blood running through him…"
"of course he'd be this exceptional!"
"A five-year-old with Vice Admiral-level strength!"
"He really did me proud."
Then Garp turned, smug beyond reason, and slapped Sengoku on the shoulder.
"Sengoku, while you're still young, you should hurry up and find yourself a wife."
Sengoku's mouth twitched.
His face darkened instantly.
That damned Garp…
really knew how to get full of himself.
Tsuru, standing nearby, didn't even want to look.
When Garp got like this—
the only winning move was not to engage.
Otherwise, he would absolutely show off right in your face.
"Did you hear that, Tsuru?"
"My grandson Kai is an unprecedented genius!"
"Sigh…"
"It's bad enough that I was so outstanding myself."
"But now even my grandson is this incredible!"
"He's even better than I was when I was young!"
At that point, even Kong was starting to feel annoyed.
Watching Garp's thoroughly punchable expression—
the other three all turned black-faced at once.
"What a shame…"
Garp shook his head.
"You lot probably can't understand what this feels like."
"When it comes to talent, you have to look at my grandson Kai."
"After all…"
"just look at whose grandson he is!"
"With my excellent bloodline running through him, how could Kai possibly be bad?"
Naturally, Kong was speechless.
Sengoku and Tsuru were no better.
There was simply no arguing with him.
After all—
Kai really was that absurdly outstanding.
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