Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku returned to his seat and tossed a file to Garp.
"See for yourself. These are the results of the investigation."
Garp pressed down the fresh lump on his head and took the file from the desk, his expression turning serious as he began to read.
After a couple of seconds, he tossed the file back onto the desk and frowned. "Nothing at all?"
"Correct. Absolutely nothing."
Sengoku picked up his teacup and took a sip, his deep gaze fixed on Garp.
"At first, the investigation was limited to the surrounding islands, but no useful information was found."
"Later, we expanded the search area to cover the entire sea region, but we still didn't find any suspicious individuals."
Garp's brow furrowed into a tight knot.
On the day he met Goku and promised to help find his family, he had already instructed the Marines to search the nearby islands.
However, back then, it was just a general search; the Marines wouldn't have combed through every single corner of every island.
But once they returned to Marine Headquarters and Sengoku issued a formal order, the Marines became much more rigorous. They meticulously searched every island within a day's voyage of where Goku had appeared.
The result: they found no sign of an old man carrying a turtle shell or a bald-headed child.
When they questioned the local residents, every single one of them claimed they had never seen anyone matching those descriptions.
This was where the problem lay.
Goku had said he woke up and suddenly found himself on that strange island.
Even if his family had used some method to drug him and move him to another island, they would have had to do it within a single night.
The Marine search covered an area encompassing a full day's journey, which far exceeded the normal range. Logically, they should have found the island where Goku lived before.
Yet, the search results came up empty.
Not a single island matched Goku's description of his previous home.
Could it be that Goku had been dropped off by some other means?
Like flying?
Or perhaps even space-time manipulation.
Sengoku had considered this, which was why he had the Marines expand their search from the immediate vicinity to the entire sea region.
Even so, the outcome remained the same.
The two people Goku described seemed as if they didn't exist in this world; not a single trace of them could be found.
Unless—
It was all a lie, and those two people never existed at all.
Garp saw the suspicion in Sengoku's eyes and immediately knew what his old friend was thinking.
He shook his head without hesitation. "I know what you're thinking, but I can guarantee you that Goku isn't the kind of kid who lies."
"Yes, I believe Garp is right on this point. That little fellow's heart is incredibly pure, like a blank sheet of paper. He wouldn't lie about something like this."
Tsuru, who had been in the office for some time, nodded slightly in agreement.
"Since you've both put it that way, then perhaps I'm just being cynical."
Seeing that Tsuru—the woman known as the Great Staff Officer—had given such an assurance, Sengoku's doubts vanished.
"Given the current situation, Goku must have been dropped there from another sea. In all the vast oceans, I can only think of one person with that kind of ability."
Garp met Sengoku's gaze, his eyes narrowing. "You mean Bartholomew Kuma?"
"Yes."
Sengoku nodded slightly but then added, "However, it wasn't him. I checked with Vegapunk; he's been at Egghead recently undergoing modifications."
Garp's brow smoothed over for a moment, then quickly furrowed again.
"I didn't think it would be him either. So how exactly did little Goku end up on that island?"
The three of them fell into silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
The reality was that they couldn't find the two people Goku mentioned, nor could they find where he used to live. They had no idea what his true origins were.
After a long while, Tsuru broke the silence.
"The sea always produces abilities we aren't aware of. We don't have a complete understanding of all Devil Fruit powers, so it's difficult for us to see the whole truth right now."
"All we need to know is that the little fellow has been accepted by our Marines. That gives us the opportunity to train him into a qualified and outstanding Marine."
"As for his origins and whatever complications might arise in the future... I believe that by then, the boy will have grown up under our guidance and will be able to handle it himself."
Hearing her words, Garp's frown disappeared. He slapped his leg and laughed loudly. "Hahaha! You're absolutely right! Since his family went to such great lengths to abandon him, we'll just ignore them. We should actually thank them for sending such a talented recruit to the Marines!"
"Once Goku grows up, even if they come looking for him, I'm sure he won't take their side!"
After he finished laughing, he stood up, intending to leave.
But before he could take a step, he stopped, scratched his head, and looked at Tsuru. "But Tsuru, how should I explain this to Goku? The little guy asks me every single day if we've found them yet."
Tsuru took a sip of her tea and smiled. "Didn't the boy mention that his Grandpa Roshi was going to take him to the World Martial Arts Tournament? That's likely a fictional competition. After all, if there were a tournament bold enough to use a title like that, we would have heard of it."
"However, for our purposes, we can make use of this tournament."
"Just tell him that although we haven't found his family, we've heard that the World Martial Arts Tournament isn't happening anytime soon. Tell him it's scheduled for five years from now."
"Tell him that in the meantime, he should train hard with the Marines and go look for his family at the tournament in five years. Of course, we'll tell him the truth when that time comes. I think he'll understand everything by then."
Tsuru's plan was to have Goku stay with the Marines for those five years and receive their full training.
After five years of growth, a more mature Goku might be able to figure out he had been abandoned without them even saying a word.
By that point, having spent five years with the Marines, he would surely have developed deep bonds with them.
Once he realized he had been abandoned by his family, he would feel even more grateful and attached to the Marines who raised him.
But she had miscalculated one thing: she didn't realize that Goku's bonds with Master Roshi and Krillin were deeper than she could possibly imagine.
Upon hearing that Master Roshi and Krillin hadn't been found, Goku, who had already been training at Marine Headquarters for half a month, said to Garp without hesitation:
"Grandpa Garp, I want to leave! I'm going to find them myself!"
--
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]