"Mr. Mihawk... please take me as your disciple... Only by becoming stronger can I have the qualification... to catch up with Lord Shano..."
— It's downright annoying.
He was used to being solitary, always disliking being disturbed, let alone the troublesome matter of taking a disciple.
But strangely, he didn't actually choose to leave.
He didn't know why.
Perhaps... it was because of this Sword Fool Girl, whose pure persistence towards Sword Dao was strikingly similar to his past self?
"..."
Hawkeye was silent for a moment and then suddenly spoke:
"Here's the deal."
Tashigi suddenly looked up, her eyes wide open, even holding her breath.
"Before you catch up with Shano." He said indifferently, "I'll teach you a few moves each day, and then the next day, I'll check your progress."
Tashigi's pupils instantly lit up.
"If I'm satisfied, taking you as a disciple in the future wouldn't be impossible."
"But..." Hawkeye calmly looked down at her, "if you progress too slowly, making me feel you have no talent and are wasting my time—"
"I promise I won't!" Tashigi stood up with a swish, her cheeks flushed with excitement, "I will practice with all my might! I will not let you down! I- I'll go get the sword now!!"
She dropped the newspaper, turned around, and was about to dash out, but tripped over the cabin door threshold and took a tumble.
"..."
Hawkeye watched this clumsy person, fumbling around looking for her glasses, and couldn't help but close his eyes, doubting whether he had made an extremely wrong decision.
Shano, oh Shano.
Where on earth are you? Or stop for a moment, let me catch up quickly...
————
Navy Headquarters, Marinfanto.
"What did you say?!!! Garp!!"
Sengoku slapped the newspaper on the table heavily, his incredulous roar almost tearing off the roof of the Marshal's office.
"Did I say something wrong again?"
Garp was taken aback, then continued idly picking his nose, "But it's indeed a fact, this kid I've known for a long time, even taught him Armament myself."
"What I care about is exactly this!"
Sengoku gritted his teeth, wishing he could give the old coot in front of him a punch:
"Such a big issue, and you only talk about it after seeing the bounty order? The good disciple you trained is now a big problem for the headquarters, having killed two Vice Admirals and taken out a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
"Can he really be considered my disciple? Back then, it was just to repay a debt that I taught a bit of basic knowledge."
Garp shrugged, glanced at the close-up of an injured Akainu in the newspaper, and suddenly giggled:
"But... to push Sakazuki to such a degree, it's indeed quite impressive, puhahaha!"
"Garp!!"
Sengoku's shout resonated in the windows with a buzzing sound, "You still have the mood to laugh?!"
"Why are you so fierce?"
Garp finished picking his nose, casually sticking it on the nearby goat, "Wasn't Onigumo's death his own doing? You clearly understand the course very well, and that Bumaya was an undeniable lunatic, right?"
"Should I still be sad for their deaths? Instead, I feel like the air in Marinfanto is much fresher to breathe..."
As for that Seven Warlords member, Crocodile.
Garp tutted and, having seen him a few times in recent years, intuitively felt that guy had never reformed.
Clearly once a Great Pirate brimming with ambition, after going to Alabasta, he put on a decent facade, capturing pirates even more eagerly than the Navy...
Who knows what schemes are going on behind the scenes!
But that Shano.
After going to sea, he never harassed towns, or robbed merchant ships, and even the title of Pirate Gang was forcibly tarnished upon him by the headquarters.
"Anyway, I don't bear any ill will towards that kid, though if I meet him by chance, I would still catch him!"
Garp grinned, "Speaking of which, if you're so eager to solve this problem, I have an idea, isn't there currently a vacancy in the Seven Warlords? Why not recruit him as the new member?"
A win-win situation!
It would make Shano stop being a thorn in the Navy's side, and in the Seven Warlords, there would be one less guy exploiting legal plundering rights to bully the populace.
It seems like a no-brainer.
"The Seven Warlords..."
Sengoku's face sank.
It must be said, this was indeed a viable approach.
In fact, he didn't even need Garp's suggestion, he had considered it long ago, even considering it a preliminary option when Crocodile had just died.
But not now!
At least not in the short term!
Sengoku stared at the World Economic News Agency newspaper on the table, temples throbbing.
That bastard Morgans... This time, he even added an extra edition overnight, distributing the newspaper globally before the headquarters could apply pressure!
"Navy suffers crushing defeat! Two Vice Admirals dead or injured, Grand Admiral Akainu severely wounded!"
"Seven Warlords member Crocodile confirmed dead, the perpetrator is the same person!"
"Highest bounty ever set in the first half of the Grand Line! 540 million Belly!"
Embellishing and spicing it up, fanning the flames.
Each headline felt like a slap in the face of the Navy Headquarters.
Sengoku could even imagine those pirates in the New World, laughing arrogantly in schadenfreude upon seeing the newspaper.
In such a storm of public opinion, if the Navy were to turn around and offer an olive branch, recruiting the perpetrator as a new Seven Warlord?
Where would the Navy's dignity be?
Where could he put this old face of his?
"Let's wait and see..."
Sengoku took a deep breath, his gaze returning to the bounty order on the table.