Chapter 6 — Is Everyone in the Marines Insane?
Early the next morning, on the final day before the Pirate King's execution, Uchiha Madara opened his eyes after spending the night resting on the rooftop.
For someone like him, who had once lived alone underground for decades, something like a bed was completely irrelevant.
Garp, on the other hand, came up to the rooftop first thing in the morning, carrying senbei and yawning. After greeting Madara, he casually handed over the bag in his hand.
"So, Brother Madara, how'd you sleep last night?"
Madara did not react violently. He simply took the senbei and started eating.
"Not bad. It's been a long time since I looked at the sun this seriously."
That answer caught Garp a little off guard. Laughing, he reached into Madara's bag of senbei, grabbed a handful, and started eating too.
"Hahahahaha! So that's what a ninja is like? No wonder you got so strong."
Madara, however, seemed completely indifferent.
"It's nothing. I just lived in hell."
As he spoke, Madara pulled out the command saber Gion had left behind the day before. But instead of gripping the hilt, he continued pinching the blade between his fingers and asked,
"More importantly… is this the brat's sword?"
Garp recognized it at a glance. It was the command saber of his old comrade Sengoku. Even though Sengoku didn't actually use a sword, as a future Fleet Admiral, he still needed to have some kind of sidearm.
"Ah, that. It's Sengoku's command saber. He used to like it quite a bit, but later he stopped using it."
Madara frowned slightly.
This was not some decorative prop. It was a genuinely good sword—slightly beyond the level of one of the Fifty Skillful Grade Blades. For a weapon like this to be discarded felt like too much of a waste.
"Sengoku always liked leaving it unsheathed in his office. I used to use it to scrape my boogers, so later he stopped using it. Around… right where you're holding it, actually."
After saying that, Garp stared blankly at Madara's hand.
Madara also lowered his head and stared at his own hand. In his mind, only one word echoed over and over.
Booger… booger…
Then, with a quick spin of the blade, he grabbed the hilt and looked expressionlessly at the Garp in front of him.
"To be honest… are all Marines mentally ill?"
Garp waved a hand dismissively at Madara while picking his nose.
"Eh, Sengoku doesn't use swords anyway. Back then, I saw how much he treasured it, so I just felt like messing with him."
Madara looked at Garp, who was still digging in his nose, and couldn't help lowering his head to stare at his own right hand again.
A thought surfaced in his mind.
If only I were an Edo Tensei body right now.
Garp, however, didn't notice that Uchiha Madara's aura was growing more and more dangerous. With one hand still picking his nose, he reached out with the other toward Madara's bag of senbei.
As if suddenly thinking of something, Madara asked,
"Do you usually pick your nose with only one hand?"
"No. I usually alternate."
...
Boom—
A gigantic skeletal Susanoo suddenly appeared on the rooftop and punched Garp flying.
Sengoku's expression instantly turned grave as he looked toward Madara and Garp's position. His heart jolted.
Don't tell me Madara really turned hostile?
Then he heard Madara's grief-stricken roar:
"SENGOKU! DO NONE OF YOU MARINES HAVE BRAINS?!"
The moment he heard that, Sengoku let out a breath of relief and hurried toward the rooftop where Madara was.
By the time he arrived, he saw a murderous-looking Uchiha Madara—and beside him, Garp, laughing without the slightest remorse while continuously slapping Madara on the back.
Sengoku wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like there was a huge Susanoo flickering in and out of existence behind Madara.
Then he saw Garp get sent flying a second time.
No, he hadn't imagined it.
No need to change his glasses.
Madara suddenly turned his head toward Sengoku, clearly preparing to demand an explanation.
The Marines keeping watch over an uncertain factor like him was understandable—but tormenting him was another matter entirely.
Sengoku could only stand there with an awkward smile, wiping cold sweat as he faced the Uchiha Madara who seemed on the verge of exploding.
The two of them silently stared at each other.
Madara glared coldly at Sengoku, waiting for an explanation.
Sengoku, meanwhile, was using his classic delay tactic—wait for Madara to speak first, then start bargaining.
Just as the atmosphere became unbearably awkward and Sengoku was about to say something, a sudden change erupted.
"Die, Master!!!"
Gion came charging in with a scabbard in hand and used Soru to slash directly at the Susanoo.
Then she realized something.
The atmosphere… seemed off.
She had rehearsed this several times on the way over. That strike should have been overflowing with the Will of Fire. Master was supposed to praise her with satisfaction.
...
The Susanoo grabbed Gion in one hand and clenched her, then placed her in front of Sengoku.
At the same time, with its other hand, it picked up Garp, who had just run back, and also placed him in front of Sengoku.
Garp seemed a little embarrassed about being carried around like that, so he raised a hand and greeted Sengoku.
"Yo~ Sengoku."
Beside him, Gion noticed this and inwardly sighed that old ginger was still spicier.
As expected of Vice Admiral Garp. I still have a lot to learn in the art of annoying people.
Then she also raised a hand toward Uchiha Madara.
"Yo~ Master."
Uchiha Madara said nothing, expressionless.
The Susanoo, however, shoved the two of them even closer to Sengoku.
Sengoku wore a pained expression and clasped his hands toward Madara.
"Mr. Madara… one for each of us, how about that?"
Madara did not speak.
The Susanoo also showed no sign of moving.
"Ah… fine. I understand."
Sengoku let out a long sigh, grabbed Garp—who was still picking his nose—with one hand, and grabbed Gion—who was still muttering about the Will of Fire while holding the Patricidal Filial Sword scabbard—with the other.
Watching Sengoku's retreating back as he walked away cursing under his breath, and looking at the "Filial Sword"—ah, no, the command saber—that he had forgotten to return because he'd been too angry, Madara swore that he had never wanted to become a villain more than he did right now.
......
After a while, Sengoku returned to Uchiha Madara, bringing with him Garp—whose face was covered in spit from being scolded—and Gion, who had finally shut up but still had the Will of Fire burning in her eyes.
The two of them bowed at the same time and, in equally perfunctory voices, said,
"We are deeply, terribly sorry."
Madara took a deep breath.
He knew very clearly that his blood pressure had risen.
In the end, Sengoku stayed by Madara's side with a helpless expression, while Garp and Gion left laughing all the way.
Watching the two figures leave, Madara slowly asked,
"How long do you think you can stay Fleet Admiral?"
"Or maybe… I'll collapse before even taking office," Sengoku sighed.
Then he countered,
"How long do you think you can stay a master?"
"I never accepted her as a disciple."
Seeing that Uchiha Madara still hadn't taken the bait, Sengoku openly revealed a disappointed expression.
Madara's blood pressure rose even higher.
At the same time, he became even more certain of one thing:
The Marines really were all sick in the head.
Madara suddenly thought of someone—someone he had never gotten along with at all.
Senju Tobirama.
It seemed like Tobirama was always in about the same state of mind Madara was in right now.
Madara imagined himself as Senju Tobirama, then imagined there being three Hashiramas around him—
No.
Absolutely not.
That was not something one should think about.
At the same time, Gion was skipping happily behind Garp.
She had suddenly realized that Vice Admiral Garp seemed like a bottomless treasure trove.
She herself had spent the entire night racking her brains, only to barely manage to make Master a little speechless.
But Vice Admiral Garp?
It was as easy for him as breathing to nearly drive both Master and Future Fleet Admiral Sengoku to suffocation.
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. Suddenly, she raised a hand.
"Vice Admiral Garp, I have a question!"
Garp was a little surprised. Gion didn't seem to like him much before, so why was she taking the initiative to talk to him today?
"What is it, little Gion?"
"I want to know how Vice Admiral Garp managed to make Master and Fleet Admiral Sengoku half-dead with anger without any effort at all!"
Garp burst into laughter.
So that was it.
"Hahahahahahaha! Of course that's because I applied my wisdom, made strategies from afar, and carried them out with meticulous precision!"
Gion immediately turned her head away in annoyance.
"Hmph. Fine, don't tell me then. No need to make things up just to brush me off. The entire Marine force knows Vice Admiral Garp doesn't have a brain. So annoying."
Garp choked.
This girl wasn't so easy to fool, huh?
"Ahem, ahem. Just joking, just joking. Little Gion, remember this—the most important thing is sincerity. The kind of sincerity where you wholeheartedly don't treat the other person like a person at all!"
Gion's eyes lit up.
Finally, he was getting to the important part.
Then the two of them eagerly began discussing the matter in detail.
Gion even solemnly took out the scabbard of the Patricidal Filial Sword and seriously asked Garp whether he wanted to learn.
"Ahem, little Gion… let me teach you something. Playing with death means messing around without actually dying. It doesn't mean doing something that will definitely get you killed. I still want to live a couple more years."