After speaking, he looked at the villagers who came to see him off and gave a formal bow. "I'm setting out. Thank you all for taking care of me all this time!"
Hearing this, the villagers' faces revealed reluctance. Even Dadan was the same; her eyes were even a little red.
But she didn't stop Ace, hands on her hips, she shouted: "You brats better watch yourselves out there, don't die!"
"If you meet Luffy on the sea, remember to say hi to him for us!"
Makino said with a smile beside her. "And when you have time, come back to see everyone!"
"I will!"
Ace smiled, nodded, then, without hesitation, pressed down his hat, leaped onto the ship in a single bound, and shouted to the already-prepared umbrella employees: "Set sail!"
As his words fell, the ship slowly pulled away, while the villagers on the dock didn't leave immediately. They continued waving, seeing Ace off into the distance.
Even Garp did the same, smiling as he watched the departing ship. "Looks like stuffing this kid into a barrel back then was the right call!"
Everyone around instantly glared at this shameless old man. He actually had the nerve to say that?
Stuffing your grandson into a barrel?
What kind of grandfather does that?!
Yet despite everyone's dissatisfaction, Garp didn't care at all. Still grinning, he even took out the Den Den Mushi that had just rung, answering cheerfully: "Hello!"
…
"The commander of the 153rd branch base embezzled and accepted bribes, and even colluded with pirates?"
After hearing the words from the other side, Garp's originally smiling face instantly showed a trace of astonishment, then he said in dissatisfaction: "Sengoku, what are you doing? Haven't you been cracking down on corruption and eradicating evil all these years? How could something like this still happen? Could it be that you're all bark and no bite!"
"Bastard, that's the East Blue branch, not the headquarters. I've been stationed at headquarters the whole time. How could I know about something so far away?"
At these words, the Den Den Mushi that had taken on Sengoku's appearance roared in displeasure, but only for a moment.
Then, as if calming down, he spoke irritably: "What am I messing around with you for? Forget it, the commander of the 153rd branch has already been defeated by some kid wearing a straw hat. Just go bring the branch commander back to headquarters for trial."
As he spoke, he seemed to notice that Garp's expression was a bit strange, and immediately frowned: "Eh? What's with you? Don't tell me you won't even do such a small thing just because you're on vacation?"
"No, no!"
Garp quickly snapped back to his senses and laughed dryly: "I got it. Don't worry, when I head back, I'll bring the guy with me! If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up!"
"Wait!"
Hearing that Garp was about to hang up, Sengoku hurriedly stopped him. "There's another mission here at headquarters that I need to assign to you!"
"Hey, hey, hey, Sengoku, I'm on vacation right now!"
Hearing Sengoku's words, Garp started picking his big nose in annoyance: "I don't want to work during my vacation. Let someone else handle it!"
"You don't work during vacation? When you're on duty, when have I ever seen you not slacking?"
Sengoku raised an eyebrow, ridiculed him, then his expression grew serious. "Enough. I'm not joking with you this time; this is something important. If you get it done properly, I'll give you extra days off this month!"
"Alright, for your sake, I'll use my precious vacation time to help you with your mission!"
Seemingly quite satisfied with the condition, Garp's eyes lit up, and he said cheerfully, "Go ahead, what is it?"
Sengoku: "..."
Facing Garp's words, even Sengoku couldn't help rolling his eyes. But he didn't bother saying more; if he did, he feared this old guy would push his luck.
Of course, if this guy doesn't handle things properly, he can forget about vacations next year!
Without dragging things out, Sengoku continued with a serious tone and directly told Garp about the Dark-Dark Fruit.
"The Dark-Dark Fruit?"
Garp frowned, then chuckled: "Ten billion Belly? Which idiot would spend that much money to buy a Devil Fruit like that!"
"We don't know for now. Also, did you remember what I just told you?"
"I remembered, I remembered, don't worry. No matter what, I'm still a Vice-Admiral of Marine Headquarters."
Hearing Sengoku's nagging, Garp waved his hand with a grin. "Isn't it just that the East Blue might get chaotic? Relax, the East Blue is my hometown, how could I sit back and watch those guys cause trouble?"
"I hope so!"
Although he heard Garp's assurance, Sengoku's tone still carried suspicion. But for now, he could only rely on this old guy.
With a sigh, he said, "Then I'll leave it to you. Don't you dare mess things up!"
"I said I know! If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up!"
"Wa—"
This time, before Sengoku could finish, Garp cheerfully hung up the line.
But after the call ended, the smile vanished from Garp's face.
He frowned while showing a rare serious expression. "Dark-Dark Fruit... Ten billion Belly... Who could it be?"
But after muttering that, he immediately returned to his usual cheerful expression and put the Den Den Mushi away.
"Who cares who it is! When the time comes, anyone who dares cause trouble in the East Blue will just get punched sky-high! I wonder if Ace and Luffy, those two kids, will stir things up too?"
...
As time passed, the information about the ten billion belly bounty and the Dark-Dark Fruit spread hotter and hotter throughout the East Blue.
Faced with such a shocking bounty, countless forces turned their attention toward the East Blue.
In an instant, just as Sengoku and the others predicted, the East Blue was indeed about to get lively.
Not only pirates from outside, but even the pirates and bounty hunters within the East Blue received the news, and with their home-field advantage, they immediately sprang into action.
Meanwhile, on a shabby boat somewhere in the East Blue, a boy wearing a straw hat stretched his neck out, placing his head over the shoulder of a short-haired, orange-haired girl, and asked curiously: "Nami, what does today's newspaper say?"