One Piece: Shanks' Little Jasmine

Chapter 127 Debate

When Moko returned to the Navy Headquarters, she didn't see a group of vice admirals suffering from famine like last time. However, she did see two admirals whose energy had been drained by their work. The two of them had lost their usual lively energy and were exhausted, lying on the sofa in their office. Their bodies were full of weakness and fatigue, and Moko felt that their souls were about to float away.

Although there were many documents on her desk, Moko glanced at them and found that none of them were left over from a month ago. This indeed showed that the two generals had done their jobs well, at least during the month she was away. This was truly rare for the two lazy generals.

Moko nodded with satisfaction and generously placed the pastries that Moxiang had brought back on the small table next to the two of them. The action of opening and closing the door did not wake the two of them. After Moko left, the two generals who were sleeping soundly opened their eyes instantly and couldn't help but smile when they saw the pastries.

From morning until afternoon, Moko had handled countless tasks, but documents kept pouring in like an endless stream. Moko took a breath, rubbed her stiff neck, and straightened up.

"That's all for today. The rest of the documents can be sent from the archives tomorrow."

"Ah."

Aesop's voice sounded somewhat distracted. Moko looked up in confusion and noticed that Aesop was staring at her hands. Only then did Moko realize that she had forgotten to take off the ring on her ring finger. Usually, when working at Marine Headquarters, Moko would take off the ring and hang it on her necklace. She had just forgotten this time. However, it was nothing to hide. Apart from not being able to reveal Shanks' identity, it was actually quite normal for someone her age to have a lover. It wouldn't matter if he saw it.

"Aesop?" Moko called out again, trying to be patient.

"Huh?" Aesop finally snapped out of his daze, realizing he'd been spacing out for ages. He grabbed the files in a fluster and rushed out the door, leaving only a faint echo in the office, "I'm going to the file room."

Moko shook her head helplessly, picked up the remaining documents and continued working on them. Not long after Aesop left, there was another knock at the door.

"Enter."

Moko responded and continued working on the documents in her hands without looking up. The person who came in from the Sengoku side was a junior naval officer who was delivering a message. Seeing that Moko was still working, he didn't know whether he should speak at this time. The amount of documents around Moko was too frightening. Not only on the desk, but also on the floor, the documents piled up like a small mountain, comparable to those at the Sengoku Marshal's office.

"What is it?"

Closing the processed documents, Moko looked up at Xiao Haijun, who was startled awake by the mountain of documents and immediately stood up straight.

"Yes, Miss Moko. Marshal Sengoku said you should go to his office when you have some free time."

"Okay, I'll be there in a bit. You can go back and report to Marshal Sengoku."

"Yes!"

The young navy officer respectfully withdrew from the office, completely unlike Aesop's absent-minded nature. Moko wearily pinched her brow; indeed, handling everything alone was too tiring. Moko knew about Aesop's training at the camp. Those who became navy officers naturally wanted to become stronger, capture pirates at sea, earn merit, and become rank-holding navy officers. Aesop still had the opportunity to choose to go to the front-line combat department, so Moko wasn't in a hurry to urge Aesop to learn document processing. However, after this year, the destinations of this batch of new navy officers would be determined. As for Aesop's choice, let him be.

Moko quickly finished processing the remaining documents and then went to the Marshal's office. Standing at the door, Moko could faintly hear arguing coming from inside the office. It sounded like Sengoku and Garp were talking. It seemed like Grandpa Garp had eaten Sengoku's senbei again.

"Dong dong dong."

With doubt in his heart, he knocked on the door. Immediately, he heard footsteps moving inside, and the arguing stopped instantly. Before Sengoku could speak, the door was pulled open, and the person who opened it was Corazon.

"It's nice to meet you again, Miss Moko."

"Xiaomiguo?" Moke blinked, somewhat confused.

"Haha, alright, Xiaomiguo, stop blocking the door. Xiaomo just finished dealing with a whole day's worth of documents, are you going to make her stand there?"

Sengoku's teasing voice came from inside. Corazon then noticed the weariness in Moko's eyes and quickly stepped aside to welcome her in. Besides Sengoku, Garp was also sitting on the sofa with a displeased look on his face. But when he saw Moko enter, the displeasure on Garp's face vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced by a kind and gentle smile.

"Oh, Xiao Moke, you're here. Come and sit down."

Since they were all very familiar with each other, there weren't many rules or regulations. Moko sat down next to Kapu, and Meimei, who had been spacing out, immediately jumped onto the sofa, found a comfortable spot, and lay down on Moko's lap.

"Does Marshal Zhan Guo have something to discuss with me?"

Moko gently stroked Meimei's fur and looked at Sengoku.

"Borusalino and Kuzan's jobs are all being dumped on you."

It wasn't a question, but a certainty. This wasn't exactly a secret, and it wasn't surprising that Sengoku knew about it. However, Sengoku knew those two's personalities better than anyone else, so it wasn't strange that she was handling most of the work.

“You can’t handle the work of two people by yourself. If you get too tired, Garp will turn the Navy Headquarters upside down.”

As he said this, Sengoku looked at Garp with a helpless expression. Garp blinked and laughed wildly, as if he wasn't being talked about at all.

"Hahaha, Zhan Guoneng is really good at joking, hahaha."

No one agreed, because this was exactly the kind of thing Garp would do. Moko could already picture Sengoku's expression when he saw the collapsed office building; it would probably be even more speechless and laughable than when he saw the training ground collapse.

"So the Warring States Marshal had a solution?"

It's impossible to get those two to work hard, but Moko is curious what solution the Warring States will come up with.

"Are you still only having that navy guy I picked last time with you?"

Sengoku picked them randomly, thinking that if Moko came back later and needed help, he could pick a few more. But Moko was so capable that she could handle all the work by herself, and the navy officer he picked was never really useful.

However, being useless doesn't mean he should spend all his time thinking about things unrelated to work. As Moko's assistant, he should first learn document processing, not spend all his time in the training field. Moko is kind and doesn't say these things, but that doesn't mean he can pretend not to see them. Since Moko is reluctant to say harsh words, then he will be the bad guy.

"Yes, Aesop has helped me a lot."

Moving documents and relaying messages is hardly helpful; anyone can do those things. Besides, if Moko is going on field trips with him later, is he supposed to protect her? Sengoku frowned slightly at this thought, but thinking that Moko would definitely not agree to a forced change of assistant, Sengoku still didn't bring up the matter of replacing Aesop directly.

“It’s still a long way from when that naval officer will be trained to help you with your affairs. Xiaoguo’s health has almost recovered recently, but going to the combat department would still be too much of a burden. Let him work with you on naval affairs until he’s fully recovered. That way, he can help lighten your load.”

Sengoku's words were already as tactful as they could possibly be, and Garp had no objection to them. He believed in the idea of ​​constantly becoming stronger through one's own strength, no matter how weak one was, one should always have a righteous heart and a desire to become stronger. But he couldn't see that in Moko's assistant.

He took Moko's efforts for granted and had no intention of helping her share the burden. As for becoming stronger, of course, he occasionally saw the desire in Moko's eyes on the training field, but so much time had passed, and his fellow Marines had all become capable of standing on their own, while he was still living in Moko's shadow. Garp would never allow someone with such fleeting enthusiasm to stay by Moko's side. He didn't bring Moko to the Marines to take care of a child who hadn't been weaned yet.

“Xiao Moke, I personally taught Xiaomiguo how to handle work. Since the people around you can’t help, having Xiaomiguo around makes things easier.”

"Zhan Guo is right, Xiao Mo Ke, you need to have a helpful assistant by your side."

Garp nodded firmly, his eyes serious and earnest. Moko looked at Sengoku, then at Garp, and finally understood what the argument she had heard before coming in was about. Garp had originally wanted Sengoku to give her an easy job, but because of Borsalino and Kuzan, and because Iso was completely unable to help share the burden, she was now too busy, so Garp naturally got angry.

"Little Moko, if you don't like it, then you can come with Grandpa. You don't have to do anything on Grandpa's boat."

"Hey, Garp, didn't we agree on this?"

Zhan Guo was now in a panic. If Xiao Mo refused to cooperate, he would really have a headache. No one but Xiao Mo could control those two troublemakers.

"Who said we were on good terms? All I know is that my precious granddaughter is almost sick from exhaustion. I'm taking Xiaomo with me today. You can find someone else for this lousy job."

"Kapu, you really are always so impatient. How about I arrange a few more capable assistants for Xiaomo? I'll make sure Xiaomo isn't overworked."

"Humph!"

……

The two argued for a long time without reaching a conclusion. Eventually, they both became red-faced and furious, and it looked like they were about to fight. Moko quickly stepped in to separate them.

"stop!"

Moko glared fiercely at Garp and Sengoku, and the two imposing big shots immediately wilted and obediently sat down in their seats. Moko put her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks angrily.

Although I shouldn't be thinking like this at this time, Corazon really thinks that Miss Moko is so cute like this. She has a vibrant energy that is completely different from her usual appearance. Her soft cheeks make me want to pinch them (?ˉ??ˉ??).