The door to the Admiral's office was carefully pushed open just a crack.
Potts poked his head in, his expression carrying the tragic resolve of a man marching to his doom.
He was holding a stack of new documents in his arm, emergency transmissions from Marine Headquarters. Every single one required the Admiral's "personal review."
Of course, Potts knew that the final destination of these documents was, in all likelihood it was simply to becom a part of the ever-growing "mountain of paperwork" inside the office.
Following behind him was Sanji, carrying a silver tray.
On the tray rested a perfectly sliced Strawberry Mousse Mille-feuille, accompanied by a cup of rich, fragrant black tea.
This was Admiral Renzo's unshakable afternoon tea routine, and Sanji's sacred duty as head chef.
But the moment the two of them took in the scene inside the office, they froze as if hit by a petrification spell.
What did they just see?
Their "God of Sloth," the man who viewed all activity as a natural enemy, Admiral Renzo, was not lying asleep on the sofa!
He still looked lazy, yes, but he was sitting up.
Holding a piece of… wait.
That wasn't Sanji's dessert!
Even more unbelievable-
At the other end of the office, in front of the towering "historical problem" known as the G-5 document mountain, someone was actually working.
A tall, sharp-looking female officer with long blue hair.
Her expression focused, her hands moving like fluttering butterflies.
At a speed Potts himself couldn't even comprehend, she sorted, read, stamped, and archived the ancient documents with flawless precision.
The entire process flowed like water, the perfect embodiment of efficiency and order.
"Efficiency" and "order", these two concepts were rarer in G-5 than legendary ancient weapons.
"Am… am I hallucinating from processing too many documents…?"
Potts rubbed his eyes vigorously, mumbling to himself.
Sanji, on the other hand, entered a completely different shock mode.
His cigarette fell to the floor with a plink, his eyes turned into hearts, and his whole body twisted into an exaggerated S-shape.
"Ooooh-! What a beautiful lady! The way she works, it's as if the Goddess of Poetry herself is composing verses under the moonlight! Who is she? Why would such an angel appear in this den full of stinky men?!"
A moment later, his brain finally connected the dots.
Blue hair.
Rear Admiral uniform.
Someone, Renzo, the ultimate antisocial hermit, allowed to exist in his personal space…
A legendary name surfaced in his mind.
"Don't tell me… she's-"
Right then, both people in the room noticed the disturbance at the door.
"So noisy." Renzo shot them a lazy glance.
"If you're coming in, then come in. Whispering at the door is annoying."
Ain paused her work and looked up, her sharp gaze sweeping toward them.
When her eyes landed on Potts, she gave a brief nod; clearly, she had studied G-5's personnel before coming and recognized its "second-in-command."
With permission, the two finally stepped inside.
Potts looked between Ain and Renzo, and his long-suffering, overworked heart suddenly felt wrapped in a warm glow called hope.
He recognized Ain's rank and realized exactly who she was, a Rear Admiral famed at Headquarters for her precision and efficiency.
'Fleet Admiral… did you hear my desperate prayers?!'
'You didn't just send a mere adjutant.'
'You sent an angel.'
Eyes misty, Potts rushed forward, presenting the stack of fresh documents like a sacred offering, placing them reverently at the corner of the now-cleared desk.
"Rear Admiral Ain! I am Lieutenant Commander Potts of G-5! These are the files just sent from Headquarters. Please review them!"
His voice trembled with relief.
"If you need any assistance regarding the base, please, please order me at any time!"
Ain merely replied calmly, "Thank you for your work, Lieutenant Commander Potts. I will handle it."
On the other side, Sanji demonstrated his full gentlemanly spirit.
He slid gracefully to Ain's side, dropping to one knee, holding the tray high:
"Beautiful miss, please allow me to offer you this creation infused with my deepest passion, Strawberry Mousse Mille-feuille! I am Sanji, the head cook. Serving you would be the greatest honor of my life!"
Renzo watched the two buffoons, sighed, and introduced them to Ain:
"That teary mess is Potts. Nominally a vice-adjutant, actually a glorified chores manager."
"That jumping idiot is Sanji, my chef. Don't mind them. A group of walking trouble."
"Pleasure to meet you," Ain replied politely.
As for Sanji's eager offering, she declined it with simple calm.
"Thank you, but I've already eaten."
Her refusal didn't disappoint Sanji; it shocked him.
He slowly rose, looking from Renzo to Ain, all the little fragments he'd heard over the years from Kizaru, Garp, even Sengoku, suddenly forming a clear picture.
Someone, Renzo, voluntarily introduced.
Someone who rejected his dessert without being instantly disqualified from life.
Someone who could remain perfectly unharmed, even productive, inside Renzo's Absolute Sloth Domain (because anything he doesn't consider "troublesome" is not affected).
But most importantly-
This man, who treated all social interaction as "noise," who found even them troublesome…
Actually… had a friend.
And not just a friend, a beautiful, capable woman.
Sanji felt his worldview cracking.
He always thought Renzo's strength came from his solitude and detachment.
Now it seemed… that wasn't the whole truth.
Their relationship was definitely not ordinary.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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