Chapter 332: G-8 Branch

Chapter 332: Chapter 332: G-8 Branch

Chapter 332: G-8 Branch

Marine G-8 Branch.

Inside a modest office, a lavish meal sat untouched on the desk.

Jessica stood nearby with her arms crossed.

She was a beautiful blonde woman, and although her words sounded caring enough, her tone left very little room for negotiation.

"What’s wrong, Jonathan?"

She glanced toward the plate.

"Not hungry today?"

Jonathan gave her a bitter smile.

He was a lean man with an otherwise ordinary appearance, apart from his thick eyebrows and even thicker handlebar mustache. The mustache nearly covered the space between his nose and upper lip, stretching outward toward his cheeks.

His white shirt was slightly wrinkled, the sleeves casually rolled up to expose his forearms. Combined with his plain white trousers and black belt, he looked less like the commander of a Marine branch and more like a middle-aged neighbor who spent his free time fishing.

Jonathan lowered his gaze to the food in front of him.

Then his expression became even more miserable.

"Jessica."

"Yes?"

"There seem to be more vegetables than usual today."

Jessica smiled pleasantly.

"That’s because you need to eat more vegetables."

Jonathan swallowed.

"You know I’m not particularly fond of them."

"And you know you’re going to finish them."

Jessica’s tone remained gentle.

"I hate wasting food."

Jonathan looked at the plate again.

Nearly half of it was covered in green vegetables.

Other matters could usually be discussed with his wife.

Food was different.

Jessica was perfectly reasonable right up until someone tried to waste what she had cooked.

Jonathan picked up his fork.

"Can we negotiate?"

"No."

"Not even a little?"

"I’ll stand here until you finish."

"..."

Jonathan fell silent.

After a long internal struggle, he stabbed a piece of vegetable with his fork.

His expression resembled that of a condemned man preparing to swallow poison.

Slowly, painfully, he brought it toward his mouth.

BOOM!

The entire office shook.

Jonathan’s fork stopped halfway.

Another tremor followed.

He calmly lowered the fork back onto his plate.

Jessica stared at him.

Jonathan pretended not to notice.

A few moments later, the office door burst open.

A Marine rushed inside.

"Vice Admiral Jonathan!"

Jonathan’s expression immediately became serious.

"What happened?"

"The base has been damaged by a Sea King!"

Jonathan paused.

"Damaged?"

"Yes, sir!"

The answer sounded ridiculous even to the Marine delivering it.

Jonathan leaned back slightly.

The G-8 Branch was a fortified Marine installation.

Its walls were reinforced heavily enough to withstand direct cannon fire.

A Sea King appearing out of nowhere and damaging the fortress in a single attack was difficult to imagine.

Jonathan frowned.

"How large was it?"

The Marine hesitated.

"We... couldn’t determine that accurately."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

"You couldn’t determine its size?"

"It happened too quickly."

The Marine swallowed.

"According to the reports, the creature may have been comparable in size to the base itself. Possibly even larger."

"By the time the soldiers recovered from the impact and tried to identify it, the Sea King had already submerged again."

Jonathan rested his chin on one hand.

"A Sea King large enough to damage G-8..."

He looked thoughtful.

"But why would something like that deliberately attack this fortress?"

His eyes drifted toward the desk.

"Could there be something delicious hidden in the walls?"

The Marine froze.

He had no idea how to answer that.

Jonathan noticed his discomfort and waved a hand.

"Never mind."

He straightened.

"Have the relevant officers assess the damage and casualties."

"Yes, sir."

"Send the engineering crews to the damaged section immediately."

Jonathan continued.

"I also want an estimate for how long repairs will take."

His expression became more serious.

"This branch is responsible for maintaining security in the surrounding waters. We can’t afford to leave part of the fortress compromised for long."

"Yes, Vice Admiral!"

The Marine saluted and hurried out.

Jonathan stood.

He turned toward Jessica.

"Well."

He gave her an apologetic smile.

"Looks like I have work to do."

Jessica glanced at the untouched vegetables.

Then back at him.

"If that Sea King really came here looking for food, perhaps it was attracted by all the vegetables you keep trying to waste."

Jonathan’s smile stiffened.

Jessica sighed and began clearing the table.

"Go."

"I’ll deal with this."

Jonathan relaxed slightly.

"Sorry."

Then he quickly left the office before she could change her mind.

...

Elsewhere inside the G-8 Branch, the people responsible for the sudden disaster had already entered the fortress.

Chopper’s nose was running.

Tears clung to the corners of his eyes.

He was not crying voluntarily.

The method they had used to enter had simply been far too terrifying.

Big Shark had slammed directly into the outer wall.

The reinforced structure had cracked open beneath the impact, creating an opening large enough for Axel and the others to enter during the confusion.

To Chopper, it was exactly the kind of reckless behavior he had only ever read about in adventure stories.

Actually, it was worse.

The entire Marine base was now on alert.

Soldiers were running everywhere.

Alarms and shouted orders echoed through the fortress.

Chopper looked at Axel in disbelief.

"Couldn’t you have entered a little more quietly?"

Axel glanced at him.

"You clearly could have!"

Vivi added immediately.

Axel could fly.

He could conceal sound.

He could control his movement with absurd precision.

Sneaking into a fortress should have been easy for him.

Instead, he had chosen to have a gigantic Sea King ram the wall.

Axel yawned.

"Too much trouble."

Vivi stared at him.

Axel rubbed one eye.

Spending so much time traveling at sea had made proper sleep difficult, and his already damaged body was not appreciating it.

"Anyway, start looking for a sea chart." ℯ

Vivi blinked.

"A sea chart?"

She frowned.

"I thought we came here for a Log Pose."

Axel looked at her.

"If you steal a random Log Pose, how are you going to know which island it points to?"

Vivi froze.

He was right.

A Log Pose recorded the magnetic field of a particular island.

But without knowing which island had been recorded, the device itself would not provide a name.

Vivi slowly turned toward him.

"I thought you had some way to tell."

Her voice became sharper.

Axel waved dismissively.

"I’m not omniscient."

"If someone hands me an unmarked Log Pose with no other information, I can’t magically guess which island it’s pointing toward."

Vivi’s eye twitched.

Axel continued.

"The Marine officer responsible for storing them might know."

He shrugged.

"But I doubt he’ll politely explain everything to the people robbing his base."

Chopper nodded seriously.

"That makes sense."

Vivi sighed.

Axel pointed toward the interior of the fortress.

"A sea chart is different."

"The islands and locations will be labeled."

"As long as I know where Alabasta is relative to our current position, I can get us there."

Vivi looked at him curiously.

"How?"

Axel answered simply.

"I can distinguish direction accurately."

"If the map itself is reliable, navigating from it isn’t difficult."

Vivi stared at him for another moment.

"I really don’t understand what your ability actually is."

Axel gave no explanation.

Instead, he stretched.

"You three go find the chart."

Vivi blinked.

"You’re not coming?"

"I’m going to rest."

"Rest?"

Vivi looked around at the Marine fortress they had just broken into.

"Yes."

Axel crouched beside a patch of grass inside the base and lay down without hesitation.

"The magnetic fields around the Grand Line are chaotic."

"They’re uncomfortable."

He closed his eyes.

"Besides, you don’t have to search if you don’t want to."

Vivi’s expression changed.

Axel added lazily,

"I’m not the one desperate to reach Alabasta."

"..."

Vivi stared at him.

Then accepted defeat.

"You win."

She turned.

"Chopper. Karoo. We’re going."

"Right!"

"Quack!"

The three prepared to leave.

Then Wapol spoke.

"I’m going to rest too."

Silence.

Axel opened one eye.

Wapol immediately straightened.

His expression became solemn.

"On second thought..."

He placed a hand over his chest.

"It would be my greatest honor to search for a sea chart for Lord Axel."

Vivi stared at him.

Chopper stared at him.

Wapol pretended nothing was strange.

Of course he had considered another possibility.

This was a Marine base.

He could simply run to the nearest officer, reveal who Axel was, and ask them to rescue him.

It was tempting.

Very tempting.

Unfortunately, Wapol had also seen Axel fight.

He had seen what happened on Drum Island.

And he had just watched him subdue a Sea King large enough to make ordinary Sea Kings flee in terror.

Did anyone in this branch actually have a chance of stopping him?

Wapol seriously doubted it.

If they were standing in Marineford, perhaps he would take the risk.

Here?

Absolutely not.

For now, being an obedient prisoner was much safer.

....

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