Diarmuid gave some thought to the matter with Crocodile before accepting Hina's suggestion to leave him alone for now.
Let him run wild for a bit. When the Marines have a suitable candidate and some free hands, they can deal with that guy then.
To be honest, if it weren't for Rosinante being so disappointing and not improving his strength, Diarmuid would have already recalled him from the Donquixote Family and arranged for him to become a Warlord of the Sea…
"Oh, right, Admiral. The Fleet Admiral asked for you in the conference room," Hina said, as if just remembering.
Diarmuid looked at Hina in disbelief. "Something that important, and you're only telling me now?"
"Hehe, I just forgot," Hina replied, looking a little embarrassed.
Diarmuid immediately gathered his files, placed them on the table, and stood up. He took his Admiral's coat from the hanger nearby and asked, "What is it about?"
"It's about Zephyr-sensei. The Fleet Admiral said you'd know," Hina quickly replied.
"Ah… that," Diarmuid nodded. "Come on, let's go to the meeting."
Hina asked happily, "Can I go too?"
"If you go, pay attention and do more of the water-pouring and tea-serving work," Diarmuid shot Hina a glance.
Given her rank as a Marine Captain, Hina was obviously not qualified to attend such an important meeting. Even a Rear Admiral probably wouldn't have the qualifications to participate.
However, as Diarmuid's personal secretary, she had some special privileges. Diarmuid also took good care of her, always bringing her along to let her gain experience.
There would be no issue with letting Hina into this meeting through the back door to serve tea and listen in.
After all, the various high-ranking officials were quite fond of Hina.
Soon, Diarmuid and Hina headed to the conference room together. As they walked down the hallway, Diarmuid saw Garp and Kuzan.
"Hey, Kuzan… no, Vice Admiral Kuzan, Admiral Candidate. Aren't you two going to the meeting?" Diarmuid greeted them with a laugh.
That's right. Over the past two years, Kuzan had been tormented by Admiral Sengoku, completing numerous missions and capturing many pirates. He had also made a name for himself in the New World, re-establishing his reputation as one of the "Marine Monsters."
As a result, he had successfully become an outstanding Marine Admiral Candidate.
When Kuzan heard Diarmuid's voice, he turned and looked at him, sighing a little. "I am on my way to the meeting right now."
"Huh?" Diarmuid paused, then looked at the little boy with Kuzan and the little girl riding on Garp's shoulders. His face twitched slightly. "You're going to the meeting like that? Bringing these two little ones?"
The little boy with Kuzan was clearly Ace. He was very cute, almost six years old, and had a ton of energy. He was also a very smart child.
The little girl riding on Garp's shoulders was undoubtedly Nojiko, who was a few months older than Ace and the big sister of the trio: Ace, Luffy, and Nami.
Upon hearing Diarmuid's words, Ace tilted his head back and said, "Diarmuid-jichan, I'm the man who will become a Marine Admiral! Is there a problem with me listening in on this meeting?"
Garp laughed heartily. "That's right, that's right! Ace is going to be an excellent Marine. Why can't he come?"
"I think you're asking for a beating, Vice Admiral Garp. Aren't you afraid Zephyr-sensei will kick you out?" Diarmuid retorted.
He had to be careful when bringing Hina to the meeting, but Garp was shamelessly bringing his grandchildren to a meeting? Wasn't he just asking for it?
The Marine's Loose Cannon was a well-deserved title. He was getting more and more unruly with age!
Garp hesitated for a moment. "He wouldn't, would he? I think Kong really likes them both."
"That's right, that's right! Diarmuid-jichan, Fleet Admiral-jiichan likes me a lot!" Nojiko said from her perch on Garp's head.
"What? You wanna be a Marine too, little girl?" Diarmuid asked with a smile.
Nojiko raised her hand. "I don't. I want to take over Belle-mère's tavern and be the boss. I'm here to see if Ace is qualified to be a Marine. If he isn't, he can be a doorman for me instead!"
"I'm not gonna be a doorman! I'm gonna be a Marine Admiral!" Ace yelled indignantly.
For some reason, seeing Roger's son, the Pirate King's son, standing here and shouting "I'm gonna be a Marine Admiral" filled Diarmuid with a strange sense of amusement, yet also deep satisfaction.
Right, being a Marine is so much better. Why would you want to be a pirate?
"That's right, that's right! He's going to be a Marine Admiral!" Garp said, even more excited.
He was overjoyed. Ever since his first "main character," Dragon, went astray, he had focused all his attention on these new ones.
Luffy was only three and still a scatterbrain, so there was no need to worry about him yet.
Although Ace was Roger's blood, Garp treated him as his own grandson. The fact that Ace was constantly shouting about becoming a Marine Admiral made Garp incredibly happy!
He had an heir! Roger, you can finally rest in peace…
Whether Roger could rest in peace or not, Diarmuid didn't know, but he did know that if Garp dared to bring these two little brats to the meeting, the Fleet Admiral would definitely beat him into an early grave.
So Diarmuid quickly beckoned to Hina. "Go, Hina. Take these two little ones to Momonga and let them play there. Then come back to pour the tea."
"Yes, Admiral," Hina quickly replied.
Just as Garp was about to say something, Diarmuid glared at him. "Today's meeting is about Zephyr-sensei. Keep your public and private life separate. Don't do anything flashy. You don't want the Fleet Admiral to get a bad impression of Ace, do you?"
Garp paused for a moment before nodding. "That's true. It was too reckless of me…"
After saying that, he took Nojiko from his shoulders and handed her to Hina.
Hina held Nojiko and was about to grab Ace to go, but Ace was circling around Kuzan, shouting nonsense like, "As a future Marine Admiral, why can't I go to the meeting?"
Hina didn't tolerate such a mischievous child. She had, after all, watched Ace and the others grow up. She went up and gave Ace a swift kick, sending him tumbling onto his butt. "Have I not hit you in three days that you think you can act up? Come on! Don't waste my time!"
Garp didn't seem to mind. They were just mischievous kids; a little kick was nothing.
Even though Ace was determined to be a Marine, Garp had kicked him plenty of times for other reasons.
Ace had a deep-seated fear of Hina because she was very close to his mother, Belle-mère. They were like sisters, so Ace even had to call Hina his "Auntie." Hina also kicked him a lot.
So, after being kicked by Hina, Ace—who had just been shouting about becoming a Marine Admiral—completely gave up. His grand venture ended before it could even begin… and he was taken away by the great demon king, Hina.
"Why didn't you try to stop him?" Diarmuid asked Kuzan.
Kuzan rolled his eyes. "You're the only one who can talk sense into Garp-san. I don't have that kind of skill."
After that, the three of them continued on their way and entered the conference room.
Inside, they saw Tsuru sitting at the round table, brewing tea. Zephyr was smoking a cigar he had just lit. Sengoku and Kong hadn't arrived yet, but Borsalino, a guy they hadn't seen in a long time, was sitting in the corner, trimming his nails.
Without thinking, Diarmuid walked over and snatched the cigar from Zephyr. "Sensei, you have asthma. Why are you still smoking?"
"I haven't smoked in a long time, okay? Today is officially my retirement, so I wanted to have one last smoke as an Admiral…" Zephyr didn't get angry about his cigar being taken. Instead, he seemed quite happy.
The matter of his retirement had been dragging on for years. Two years ago, Sakazuki had said with certainty that he would finally be able to retire, but it didn't happen. Today, it seemed he was truly going to retire.
Seeing Zephyr's expression, Diarmuid hesitated for a moment before handing the cigar back to him. "Just this once."
"...Don't worry. I know my own body," Zephyr nodded.
Diarmuid didn't dwell on it and instead looked at Borsalino. "Oh, hey. Long time no see, busy man. Why are you back?"
Borsalino put away his nail clippers. "Oh, my. Admiral Diarmuid. It really has been a long time since we've met."
"Hahaha, you're still as peculiar as ever," Diarmuid laughed.
Borsalino stopped messing around and smiled. "Something came up that required me to come back to headquarters and let you big shots decide on."
"What is it?" Diarmuid asked curiously.
"The Warlord of the Sea, Bartholomew Kuma, wants to be permanently stationed at Punk Hazard. Even though the Fleet Admiral told me not to worry about him, I think this matter needs to be discussed," Borsalino said.
Diarmuid nodded, then asked, "Are you guys in the Special Science Group working on any new high-tech stuff lately?"
"Huh?"
Borsalino was startled. "There is a war weapon project, but it's just a draft right now. No major progress."
"Is that so?" Diarmuid mumbled. That was probably the Pacifista, the war weapon-PX.
It was reasonable that it would take more than ten years to develop something like that for practical use. Given the timeline, it made sense for them to be starting on it now.
"What about the artificial Devil Fruits? Any progress?" Diarmuid asked again.
"You know that Kaido was released a couple of days ago, right?" Borsalino asked suddenly.
"Yeah, what about it?" Diarmuid frowned.
"It has something to do with Dr. Vegapunk. It seems to be related to the artificial Devil Fruit technology… I don't really understand the specifics. But the people from CP-0 have been coming and going from Punk Hazard several times, and they kept mentioning Kaido." Borsalino said.
Diarmuid was a little surprised. "As the supreme commander of Punk Hazard and the head of the Special Science Group, is there really something you don't know?"
"There are a lot of things I don't know. I don't understand scientific research at all. Besides, the CP-0 agents came with orders from the top, so I couldn't interfere." Borsalino said.
After a brief pause, Borsalino continued, "The biggest taboo in scientific research is having a layman lead experts. I don't understand any of it, so I don't get involved. All I need is for them to deliver results on time. My main responsibility is security."
"You've got it easy. Punk Hazard has no magnetic field, so regular people can't find it. As long as you don't run around, there's no danger. So, basically, you just clock in, drink tea, take a nap, clock out, and that's your day, right?" Diarmuid teased.
Borsalino glared at Diarmuid. "Why are you saying such true things?"
"Hahahahaha…" Diarmuid burst out laughing.
Just then, Hina rushed back. Without saying anything to Diarmuid, she quickly took the teapot from Tsuru and began serving tea and water to the high-ranking officials.
Shortly after, Sengoku and Kong walked in, holding files and talking, seemingly very busy.