"It's really you, old man!"
Shano laughed heartily, "Isn't it a bit over the top, Navy Headquarters, sending you just to catch me now?"
I've only been in the Grand Line for two months.
This is the kind of treatment Roger got!
"Can't be helped. Over in the New World, Hundred Beasts and Whitebeard are having a grand old fight, manpower is tight, so even though I was having a good vacation, I got pulled back... oh, wait, this is top-secret military information, I shouldn't have told you."
"But you've already told him, Mr. Garp!!!" The surrounding Navy Soldiers shouted in frustration.
"Puhahaha!"
Garp scratched his head and laughed, "Ah, slipped out! No big deal, it'll be in the newspapers in a couple of days anyway!" Suddenly, he turned serious, "Shano, actually, I'm here on behalf of the World Government to talk to you about the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
"Seven Warlords of the Sea, huh?"
Shano rubbed his chin, "So you're trying to recruit me? Even the World Government is interested?"
"That's right, haha, defeating two of the Seven Warlords in a row, even the Five Elders couldn't sit still. Well, as long as you say yes, your Bounty Order will be nullified right away, and you'll enjoy... tch, why are there so many pages in this document, it's such a hassle, how about we just meet face to face to discuss?"
"Meeting is fine, but it should just be you coming, old man?"
Shano paused, "Don't let it be that when we meet, I suddenly find you've brought along some creepy guy in sunglasses or an eyepatch."
"Ha? Of course not!"
"Alright, I'll dock the ship and wait for you. Let me check the Nautical Chart, hmm, the rough coordinates should be..."
Click.
The call ended.
In the restaurant, everyone exchanged looks, and finally, their eyes all focused on Shano.
"Brother, are you really going to stay here and wait for the Navy to come?"
Nami couldn't hold back any longer and asked urgently, "You can't trust them easily, what if it's a trap..."
"Don't worry."
Shano sat back down and continued eating breakfast as usual, "If it were anyone else, maybe not, but that old man's words can be trusted."
"Yes, that's right." Smoker agreed deeply, "Old Man Garp is indeed like that, even with enemies, he wouldn't do such a thing."
"Though you've left the Navy, you still seem to admire him a lot." Robin blinked and said.
"The title of Navy Hero has thundered across the seas for decades. What child dreaming of joining the Navy hasn't grown up hearing his stories?"
Smoker sighed.
It's a pity that among the Navy's top brass, not everyone is like Mr. Garp.
"Alright, the captain said there's nothing to worry about, so don't overthink it!"
Nami wanted to say more, but Zeff interrupted her with a hearty laugh, banging the table with his spoon:
"Keep eating well, everyone!"
...
The Endgame dropped anchor and stopped.
After finishing breakfast, Shano was lazily lying under a sun umbrella waiting, glanced at the sea beside him, seemed to think of something, and suddenly raised his head:
"Hey, Nojiko."
Nojiko, who was on the lookout tower observing for any sign of Navy battleships, quickly poked her head out:
"What's up, brother?"
"Freeze this area, make an ice field as wide as possible."
Shano pointed to the right side of the ship's rail.
"Eh?"
Nojiko seemed puzzled.
"You guys haven't met that old man, so you don't know his temperament."
Shano chuckled, "Regardless of whether I agree to the Seven Warlords pact or not, after so many years without seeing each other, he's bound to want a fight when the business is done. You wouldn't want us to start fighting on the Endgame's deck, right?"
Fighting on the deck of the Endgame?
Nojiko imagined for a moment and shivered, Endgame had been with them for two months now, and she had grown fond of it; she didn't want it destroyed just like that.
"Got it, brother."
She nodded, put aside the binoculars, and leaped from the lookout tower.
Head first, letting her body fall.
As she was about to hit the sea, she took a deep breath, thrust her hands forward, and the cold air stored in her body exploded —
"Ice Age!"
In an instant, piercing cold streams radiated outward from her palms!
Crack, crack, the once turbulent sea was instantly frozen into a silver-white icy plain.
Shano was taken aback.
No, what era?
How could this move share the same name?
I wonder what Aokiji would think if he saw this.
"How was that, brother!"
Nojiko clapped her hands with a grin, raising her head to look at Shano on the ship, "It's about a hundred thousand square meters, is that enough?"
"It's enough."
Shano gave a thumbs up, stood up, went to the railing, and leapt down, landing on the ice.
Though it's also called Ice Age.
But unlike the smooth, mirror-like icy surfaces that Aokiji's ability created.
Nojiko's ice had a layer of snow about half a meter thick on top, sparkling with fine silver light under the sun.
It crunched when you stepped on it.
"A perfect arena."
Shano grinned, gazing into the distance, "Now, just need to wait for the old man to come over..."
...
More than an hour later.
On the distant horizon, a shadow of the Doghead Battleship finally appeared.
On the deck, Garp was sitting cross-legged on the rail, devouring the bag of Rice Crackers he stole from Sengoku's office.
Beside him, his second-in-command Bogart helplessly reminded him:
"Mr. Garp, we're almost at the destination, shouldn't you take out the documents and prepare for it?"