The sky was clear and the breeze was pleasant.
On the dock, beside the warship with the giant dog-head prow, Gion was seeing off Goku and Garp.
Of course, she was only really there to see off the former; the latter was completely redundant.
"Little Goku, you must come back early. Big sister still wants to cook for you," Gion said with a beaming smile as she crouched down to rub Goku's hair.
"Mhm! Once I find Grandpa Roshi and Krillin, I'll come back to find you!" Goku gave a bright smile.
During his time at Marine Headquarters, aside from Garp, Gion was the one who cared for him the most, so he really liked this gentle and considerate older sister.
Of than that, what he liked most were the mouth-watering meals she prepared that always made him drool.
"Little guy, you need to listen to Garp. Also, I'll have Garp check the lessons I gave you every day," Tsuru said, standing behind Gion and smiling at Goku.
Hearing this, Goku's head instinctively shrank back. He laughed awkwardly, "Ha... haha, I know, Grandma Tsuru."
Tsuru had originally seemed like a kind old woman to him, but ever since he started learning those incredibly difficult subjects under her tutelage, she had become a strict and terrifying grandmother in his heart.
Because of this, even though she cared about him, his affection for her ranked behind Garp and Gion.
"Garp, you better keep a close eye on him," Tsuru instructed after finishing with Goku.
She didn't support Goku leaving Marine Headquarters to look for his so-called family.
But since Garp supported Goku's decision and planned to take him to search other sea regions, she and Gion had come to see them off.
"Hahahaha! Of course I'll watch him! Are you still worried about me?" Garp laughed heartily.
"It's precisely because it's you that I'm worried," Tsuru shook her head helplessly.
The man might be reliable when it came to hunting down pirates, but as for taking care of children...
''Well, Luffy would have something to say about that.''
"I'm telling you, Garp! If anything happens to little Goku, I won't forgive you!" Gion rubbed Goku's head a few more times, then stood up and looked at Garp fiercely.
"Hahaha! Don't you worry!" Garp laughed, then jumped onto the warship and called out to Goku, "Let's go! Goku!"
"Coming!" Goku replied, waving to Gion and Tsuru. "Goodbye, Sister Gion! Grandma Tsuru!"
With a swift leap, he also jumped onto the warship.
Tsuru and Gion waved from below, watching them depart.
As the warship gradually drifted away from the dock, for some reason, Tsuru had a faint premonition that the little guy's departure might result in something quite extraordinary.
But after thinking about it seriously, she felt that with Garp's supervision, nothing major should happen.
...
On the warship, after leaning on the railing and feeling the sea breeze for a while, Goku jumped down and turned to ask Garp, "Grandpa Garp, where are we going now?"
Although he wanted to search, he didn't really have a direction.
During his voyage from that island to Marine Headquarters, he had realized the sea along the way was completely unfamiliar.
In the past, even in the vast ocean, he could sense the direction of Kame Island and swim there or use the Flying Nimbus.
But now, he couldn't distinguish the direction of Kame Island at all, leaving him with no way to find it.
Of course, Master Roshi and Krillin weren't on Kame Island right now, but on another island, so finding Kame Island wouldn't have helped anyway.
But if he could find Kame Island, finding the other island would only be a matter of time.
"We're going to the East Blue!" Garp gave a hearty laugh.
"I have business there anyway, so we'll start our search from there!"
''In his heart, he didn't think Goku could find his so-called family.''
''Even if they did find the island where he used to live, those two people would likely have vanished long ago.''
The reason he agreed was because he saw the persistence and determination in Goku's eyes; he knew that even if he didn't agree, the little guy would surely sneak out on his own.
Since that was the case, he might as well take the boy along.
"The East Blue? I understand." Hearing the answer, Goku nodded innocently.
A few days later, they successfully passed through the Calm Belt and arrived at an island in the East Blue.
Before the warship had even fully docked, Goku jumped off impatiently and ran into the island, leaving behind a sentence that was gradually scattered by the sea breeze:
"Grandpa Garp, I'm going to look for them!"
Garp stood at the bow and laughed, "Hahahaha! What an impatient little fellow."
With a wave of his hand, he dispatched two teams of Marines into the island to help Goku search.
...
"Grandpa Roshi! Krillin! Where are you?!"
Goku ran through the island, shouting at the top of his lungs.
The townspeople looked on curiously, gossiping about whose child this was.
Small animals in the forest looked up, curiously eyeing the intruder.
Without exception, no creature answered his question.
After wandering through the entire island, Goku scratched his head dejectedly. "It seems Grandpa Roshi and Krillin aren't on this island."
Although disappointed, he quickly regained his spirits, believing he would find them eventually.
"Right, it seems almost a month has passed now."
He suddenly thought of something and started counting on his fingers.
''Grandpa Roshi said the World Martial Arts Tournament would be held in a month, so they should be going there.''
''If I find the place where the World Martial Arts Tournament is held, won't I be able to find them?''
He talked to himself, his eyes growing brighter.
''Hehe, I'm so smart. Grandpa Roshi and Krillin will definitely be there!''
''I need to ask Grandpa Garp if he knows where the tournament is held.''
Feeling happy about his good idea, he crossed the forest and entered the town, preparing to return to the warship to ask Garp.
While he was rushing through a deserted alley, a few hushed whispers drifted into his ears.
"I heard we don't have any missions this time out at sea, just helping that little guy find someone?"
"Seems like it. If there were a mission, Vice Admiral Garp wouldn't have brought us to look for someone first."
"Sigh, what is Vice Admiral Garp thinking? We already helped search once last time. If we could help the little guy find his family, we'd certainly be happy to help."
"But that kid went missing in the South Blue, and we're in the East Blue. There's no way he'll find his family here."
"You're right. Besides, we Marines should be fighting pirates. What's the point of running around looking for someone's family? I heard the kid isn't even a member of the Marines yet."
"Sigh, let's stop talking. Since we're Vice Admiral Garp's subordinates, let's just follow his orders."
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