The Gates of Justice opened.
Solomon’s warship entered the circular current that linked the World Government’s three major facilities.
"The ship is rocking quite a bit, Saint Solomon. Would you prefer to wait inside your cabin?"
"Borsalino. I came out because it brought back old memories for a moment. The Gates of Justice at Marine Headquarters were destroyed once before, weren’t they?"
Kizaru thought Solomon was a truly mysterious man. He looked like a young man, yet carried the air of an aged sage.
That was true of his use of Magecraft, but Solomon was an unknown existence in general. Even Marine Intelligence could not dare gather information on the Celestial Dragons, so even an admiral like Kizaru only knew scattered fragments.
Kizaru, with his strong interest in science, was naturally curious as well.
And so he committed the discourtesy of asking a Celestial Dragon a question first.
"Hm? Are you wondering how long I’ve lived?"
"...My, my. I spoke out of turn without thinking. If I offended you, then I apologize~"
How scary~
Splash. A wave struck.
"Well. That’s a difficult question. I’ve never really cared about my age up to now. A mage like me has a very different concept of lifespan from ordinary people."
"I see. Compared to giants, who can live for three hundred years?"
"Ahaha. How mean. I’m not that old. Still, I stopped counting properly after a hundred... so by human standards, I suppose I’ve lived a long time."
"Should I be calling you an elder, then?"
"No, no. Not that. I’ve never once thought of myself as an old man. I may not have eternal youth, but I more or less see everyone from the perspective of a man in his twenties, so could you not treat me like an old person? It hurts my feelings."
When Solomon put on a troubled, almost tearful expression, Kizaru scratched the back of his head and thought to himself that he’d really gone and done it now~
"I can already see the harbor of Marineford. There’s no need for you to return to your cabin after all."
"Thank you again for indulging such an awkward request."
"Not at all. I’m the grateful one for how generously you smoothed over the disgrace I showed during this mission. Whew. That Pirate Empress’s kicks are no joke. If she weren’t bound by the Seven Warlords system, she’d be a serious problem for the Marines~"
Kizaru did not show it outwardly, but he was deeply ashamed of having been turned to stone by Hancock through a moment of carelessness. In truth, he considered it a mission failure.
If Saint Solomon hadn’t covered for me, I might’ve caused trouble for everyone at Marine Headquarters~
Once the Marines confirmed that Solomon’s ship was nearing the harbor, the officers who had been waiting in advance rose to attention beside a red carpet leading all the way to headquarters, with a military band standing by as well.
"This is an excessive welcome ceremony. Kizaru, was it like this when other Celestial Dragons came too?"
"...No. It’s been quite a long time since the gods made an official visit, so it seems Fleet Admiral Sengoku put a great deal of effort into this."
"The Marine officers who should be busy carrying out justice have wasted their time because of me alone. I should have said beforehand that there was no need for a pointless welcoming event like this."
Solomon was sincerely apologetic. Unintentionally, he had interfered with the Marines’ official duties.
"Oh, how kind of you. But please try to see it from our side as well. Even if you are willing to overlook it, there’s no guarantee other Celestial Dragons would think the same."
Kizaru, trying to keep Solomon from feeling too burdened, pointed out that skipping the ceremony entirely as Solomon wished might itself become an issue with other Celestial Dragons.
As expected, the smooth way Kizaru spoke, having handled more Celestial Dragon escort missions than anyone, kept Solomon in reasonably good spirits.
Receiving the orderly salute of the Marines and the enthusiastic cheers of the Marineford citizens the Marines had mobilized in advance, Solomon stepped onto the soil of Marineford under Kizaru’s guidance.
"Justice! Vice Admiral Garp is over there to greet you!"
"Vice Admiral Garp?"
One of the Marines at the front, holding a portable Transponder Snail, informed Kizaru that Garp had been assigned to handle this welcoming ceremony and personally attend to Solomon.
For a moment, Kizaru thought he must have misheard and questioned the Marine again, but the man firmly repeated that Garp was scheduled to take over from Kizaru and be Solomon’s dedicated escort.
"That’s strange~ There’s no way Fleet Admiral Sengoku would make this kiiind of appointment~"
No. Fleet Admiral. Is this really right?
Looking at Sengoku approaching from afar together with Garp, Kizaru instinctively felt that something was going very wrong.
And on top of that...
Why does Vice Admiral Garp’s presence keep getting bigger?!
This is Conqueror’s Haki...?!
Instinctively, Kizaru stepped in front of Solomon and drew out his Armament Haki to the fullest.
"Galaxy!!!!!!! Im!!!!!!pact!!!!!!"
So he hadn’t misheard after all.
Even for Kizaru, whose specialty was speed, Garp was moving at such terrifying velocity that he was hard to track precisely. Kicking off the ground ten times in an instant with [Soru], one of the Six Powers techniques, Garp rushed forward and wrapped his symbolic iron fist in Conqueror’s Haki as he roared in fury.
"Vice Admiral Garp’s gone insane! Stop him!"
Horrified, Kizaru broke out in a cold sweat as he braced for the collision, prepared to die... or at the very least be out of action for half a year.
Just before Garp’s signature Conqueror’s Haki-coated strike, bearing the shape of a galaxy, could crash down on Kizaru and Solomon behind him—
Sengoku, who had hurried after him, smashed that lunatic bastard Garp in the back of the head and drove him into the ground.
With nowhere to go, Garp’s Conqueror’s Haki thankfully dispersed into the air without injuring a single person.
"Keep me pinned down like that, Sengoku!!! Otherwise I really will kill that bastard Solomon!"
"Hey! You son of a bitch, Garp!!!!!!"
Sengoku, as if he had returned to the hot-blooded days of his youth, shouted a stream of vulgar abuse that a Fleet Admiral should never utter in public as he threw his full strength into restraining the senile madman—his friend, and a disgraceful one at that.
D-Did I live?
Kizaru, who had been prepared for death, barely managed to open the eyes he had half shut. Letting out a sigh of relief, he helped Sengoku put handcuffs on Garp’s wrists.
Meanwhile, Solomon was only blinking, unable to properly process the situation.
Garp... we were comrades-in-arms. Why do you bear me such deep resentment...?
"Garp."
"Shut up. Don’t call my name with that filthy mouth of yours!!! Mage King Solomon!!!!"
"Has this bastard Garp still not come to his senses?! That man is a highest-ranking Celestial Dragon, someone even the Five Elders can’t treat carelessly!"
Sengoku, his insides twisting as he imagined how on earth he was supposed to explain this incident to the people above, exploded in frustration. No matter that Garp was the Hero of the Marines, there was no way to cover this up. There were too many witnesses, and he had even used Conqueror’s Haki coating. This was unmistakably attempted murder of a Celestial Dragon.
As Sengoku staggered under a stress-induced headache, Garp raised his head from the ground with all his strength and revealed the source of his hatred.
"You clearly said you’d only support us!!! You said we were the leading figures of this era!!!"
"You lunatic! Akainu! Bring a gag! Where’s the gag?! We have to shut Garp’s damn mouth!"
While Akainu hurried to fetch one, Garp, unable to suppress his rage, revealed the horrifying truth of that day with tears hanging pathetically from his face.
"If you apologize sincerely even now, I’ll forgive you! Why did you lie and steal the final blow?! If nothing else, even if it wasn’t me, then at the very least Roger should have been the one to finish off Rocks!"
"What?!!?!"
"Listen well, Sengoku. The one who defeated Rocks at God Valley was neither me nor Roger!!!!"
Garp might not care about claiming credit, but his pride as the Hero of the Marines reached the heavens.
He had never once forgotten that shocking experience, and for his entire life he had carried that resentment with him.
He could hardly storm into the Holy Land Mary Geoise, grab the bastard by the collar, and drag him out, so he had waited and watched for the day the man would come outside. But until Garp had grown old enough to be treated as an elder of the Marines, he had never gotten the chance to meet him.
Giving off an almost demonic aura, Garp shook Sengoku off through some incomprehensible strength and shattered the handcuffs with raw power alone.
Seeing Solomon wearing the face of a guilty puppy that seemed to say, "Ahaha, sorry, my friend..." only made Garp even angrier. Pointing wildly at him, he let out a monstrous roar laced with Conqueror’s Haki.
"!!!!!!!"
Garp believed that if he didn’t settle the decades-old bitterness of God Valley here and now, he never would.
Solomon, you disgusting kill-stealing bastard.
Roger and I did all the damage-tanking and fighting in that team battle, and you dared steal the glorious pentakill finisher as the support?!
"People called me the Hero of the Marines, but I was never proud of it for a single day! Because!!! The final blow on Rocks, when we had him all but beaten!!! That damned bastard over there!!! Swooped in and snatched it for himself!!!!"
Having grasped the situation to some extent, Solomon finally realized, belatedly, that he had made a mistake long ago with an old friend now gone gray with age, and that he had never once apologized for it over all those long years.
His sense of time was too different, and his personality was far too easygoing for a man who was, at heart, just a timid little commoner. He had never once considered the pride of Garp, a soldier who lived and died by honor.
In any case, after Garp’s confession of conscience—
The Marine officers, who had only just heard in the meeting the truth behind the Rocks Pirates and why Garp had become the Hero of the Marines, collectively lost their souls on the spot.
It wasn’t summer, but let’s just say it had that kind of feeling.
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