Chapter Ninety-Five: Three Days

Must I line up?

In other words...

If you want to challenge Whitebeard, do I have to stand behind Whitebeard in the queue?

With a faint smile, as Chu Yi’s unhurried words drifted over, Mihawk’s pupils contracted slightly, and the right hand gripping the wooden sword could not help trembling.

It was not fear.

It was excitement.

To challenge Whitebeard, to challenge the strongest man in the seas, what kind of grandeur was that?

For no other reason than Chu Yi’s measure alone, Mihawk was willing to wait.

So the moment Chu Yi finished speaking, Mihawk nodded at once. Then, sitting cross-legged where he was, he hugged the wooden sword and once again began his “focused” practice.

He would wait here for three days in silence.

And after those three days, the century-defining battle between Chu Yi and Whitebeard would begin.

As for Mihawk, after giving up the idea of challenging Chu Yi, Tiger finally let out a quiet sigh of relief. Yet whenever he thought of Chu Yi fighting Whitebeard, a wry smile slowly surfaced on his face.

“You little brat, you really are no pushover.”

“Challenging Whitebeard... only someone as outrageous as you could come up with something like that. But precisely because of that...”

“I’m willing to go along with your nonsense, aren’t I?”

Thinking of this, Tiger exhaled, and that bitter smile instantly turned into one of comfort. Then he led the way for Chu Yi.

“Brat, I know a good place to train. Come with me!”

“All right!”

After temporarily handing the captive Smoker and Lucci over to Mihawk for supervision, Chu Yi quietly gave the order and began summoning the shadow clones he had created, following Tiger to the place where his grueling training was about to begin.

As for Tiger, he truly was an old hand on Fish-Man Island.

Before long, he had brought Chu Yi to a secluded and tranquil training ground.

This had once been Tiger’s own place for practicing Fish-Man Karate. Though fierce beasts roamed the surrounding dense forest, for beings like Chu Yi and Tiger, those beasts were nothing more than food to fill their stomachs.

Besides, precisely because those beasts were around, the training ground Tiger found for Chu Yi saw very few visitors, so there was no need to worry about anyone interrupting his cultivation.

As for the surroundings...

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Not bad at all.

Ahead was a small waterfall, and the spring water within it was clear and cool, carrying a faint sweetness when drunk.

The terrain all around was very flat, and the space was wide. In particular, the lawns nearby had been trimmed by Tiger and were as neat as a football field. After training, lying there to rest would be extremely comfortable.

It was practically an ideal place to cultivate. After seeing it, Chu Yi was very satisfied and naturally thanked Tiger.

After that, with time pressing, Chu Yi exchanged a few hurried words with Tiger before beginning to quietly train his shadow clones.

Seeing Chu Yi start his cultivation, Tiger naturally did not wish to disturb him.

Only when he left and prepared to return to the Dragon Palace to report to Neptune and Queen Otohime about the Whitebeard Pirates did Tiger, still uneasy about Chu Yi training alone here, turn his head for one last glance. To his surprise, he discovered that Chu Yi’s true body was, just like Mihawk usually did, sitting there cross-legged in silent reverie, which made the corner of Tiger’s mouth twitch fiercely several times.

“One or two of them, and they both train by thinking?”

“Hmph, in the future I’d better keep the brat far away from Mihawk, or else...”

“That kid is going to become unreliable before long!”

With that thought, Tiger no longer paid Chu Yi any mind and hurried toward the Dragon Palace.

Yet as he left, Tiger could never have imagined that just after he muttered that under his breath and his figure vanished, Chu Yi, who sat cross-legged there, allowed the corners of his mouth to rise ever so slightly.

“Tiger, more often than not, real cultivation does not depend on grueling labor.”

“It depends on...”

“Enlightenment.”

One day later.

Marineford, current headquarters of the Navy.

Leaning quietly on a sofa and munching on senbei, the Navy Hero Garp was silently watching the man before him: none other than Fleet Admiral Sengoku, who did not need to maintain his dignity in Garp’s presence and was now flying into a furious rage!

“That bastard Sakazuki! I told him not to act rashly, and he still refused to obey orders!”

“And now look at this! Several hundred elite Navy soldiers have been taken prisoner on Fish-Man Island. How are we supposed to save face now? Fish-Man Island is such a special place, something like this should never have happened! And if Sakazuki had captured Shura and the fish-man at his side, that would have been one thing, but now even he has been defeated. How am I supposed to explain this to the Five Elders!”

“Demotion! He must be demoted!”

“Garp, make room for me! I want Sakazuki to start over from captain, appointed under you!”

Still unsated by his furious roaring, Sengoku grabbed a pile of documents from the desk and hurled them to the floor, and only then did the rage in his heart ease a little.

Then, taking a deep breath to settle himself, he crouched down to pick up the scattered files from the ground. Only then did Sengoku let out a self-mocking laugh and say to Garp, “Garp, did I lose my composure?”

“Not really, not really!”

Waving a hand carelessly, Garp laughed heartily a few times, bit down on the senbei in his palm, and then suddenly said seriously, “But this matter, Sengoku, you really need to handle it properly. The special nature of Fish-Man Island is not only because it is Fish-Man Island. Don’t forget the old veteran behind it!”

“Mm, I know.”

Thinking of Whitebeard as the power backing Fish-Man Island, Sengoku developed another headache. In particular, with recent intelligence reporting that Whitebeard, who had long remained inactive, was actually preparing to set sail for Fish-Man Island, Sengoku rubbed his forehead and looked utterly powerless as he complained to Garp, “Have you heard, Garp? That guy Newgate is planning to go to Fish-Man Island. Do you think he and Shura might...”

“Impossible!”

Without even giving Sengoku the chance to finish, Garp chuckled and said, “Just from the way Shura does things, you can tell he and Newgate are destined not to walk the same path. Besides, Sengoku, you completely misunderstood what I just meant. What I really meant was, can this old body of mine go take a look around Fish-Man Island?”

“After all...”

“It sounds very interesting there right now!”

“You?”

Staring at Garp in astonishment, Sengoku understood his meaning the instant he heard it, and then fell into deep thought.

“If you want to go, there’s no problem.”

“If Sakazuki wants to go back, it won’t take much time, and with Kuzan there to support him, we might even gain a great many unexpected benefits.”

“But...”

After hesitating for a moment, a gleam flashed in Sengoku’s eyes as he suddenly smiled.

“But if you go personally, wouldn’t that be giving Shura too much face?”

“All right, Garp, give the younger generation a few more chances!”

“Anyway... you don’t want the position of Admiral, do you!”

As soon as he said that, ignoring Garp’s indignant roar, Fleet Admiral Sengoku smiled as he dialed the Den Den Mushi and began issuing orders and mobilizing forces.

And amid the Navy’s meticulously arranged deployment...

The three-day deadline passed in the blink of an eye.