Ten minutes before Sengoku contacted Benedict.
Grand Line, First Half, Xuanwu Marine Branch.
A luxurious and enormous cruise ship was docked at the harbor.
On this grand vessel, figures clad in black Cipher Pol Zero were stationed. Not only there, but also on either side of the lowered ladder, the same was true.
Sengoku, Garp, Kenzhiro, and others arrived one after another, awaiting the arrival of someone from the ship.
From the Noxus family, introducing himself as Grusa, a butler.
Whether he was truly a butler or not was of little consequence.
What mattered was that his appearance represented the Noxus family, and by extension, the meaning of Noxus Saint.
Despite the two sides being opposing forces.
However, daring to come here, they must surely possess confidence.
An old man, impeccably dressed in a tailcoat, sporting a handlebar mustache, with an arrogant demeanor, holding a diamond-encrusted cane, slowly descended.
He was Grusa, the butler of the Noxus family.
Sengoku took a glance at Grusa, then looked at the two individuals beside him, both clearly powerful.
Even this butler named Grusa was no simple figure.
"Admiral Sengoku, we meet again." Grusa looked at Sengoku, who stood at the forefront, and smiled faintly.
Sengoku heard this, his brow furrowed slightly, and he responded placidly, "If it were possible, I would prefer not to see you again."
Having been to Mary Geoise and protected some Celestial Dragons he found bothersome, he wasn't entirely unfamiliar with Grusa, having even exchanged a few words with him before.
However, those exchanges had been thoroughly unpleasant.
This was because Grusa had maintained a surly expression throughout and had even bossed him around, dictating how he should act and so forth.
"There's no need for such sentiments, Admiral Sengoku."
"I have come bearing friendship."
Grusa tapped the ground a few times with his cane, then spoke again.
"I don't believe we have any friendship between us, Butler Grusa." Sengoku retorted immediately upon hearing Grusa's words.
Despite Sengoku's refutation, although Grusa maintained an arrogant facade, he still managed to keep his temper in check at this moment.
Grusa was an accomplished diplomat.
At the very least, when certain internal decisions of the Celestial Dragons were involved, Grusa, dispatched by Noxus, was often the one to communicate and organize matters.
"Friendship, you see, can be acquired at any time with sufficient mutual interest."
"The World Government and Xuanwu Marines can be enemies, or they can be friends."
Likewise, he was also a thorough capitalist.
Sengoku and the others frowned slightly at this, and were also somewhat surprised.
Since the intention was to build a boat of friendship upon interests, there would inevitably be transactions involved.
And when it came to what could be used for trade, their first thought naturally went to Shanks.
After all, Shanks was the son of Noxus Saint.
However, how such a transaction would occur was not something they could decide.
Thus, Sengoku excused himself and contacted Benedict.
After contacting Benedict, Sengoku then said to Grusa, "Our Fleet Admiral is very interested in your visit and is on his way."
"Therefore, please wait a moment, Butler Grusa."
Sengoku merely stated Benedict's interest, but made no mention of any transaction.
Grusa understood this and did not rush or seem surprised.
After all, this was within their expectations.
"Since Fleet Admiral Benedict will be coming personally, I shall wait."
Upon saying this, Grusa had some Cipher Pol Zero members bring a luxurious set of table and chairs, a teapot, a set of teacups, and a plate of pastries from the ship. These were arranged, and Grusa was seated to drink tea and await.
Garp, seeing Grusa calmly sipping tea, glanced at Sengoku and Kenzhiro, noticing that many experts had come to their side, and they now stood like bodyguards watching him drink tea. He felt a pang of embarrassment.
"Sengoku, why don't we get some food too?"
"On our own territory, are we really going to let someone look down on us like this?"
Sengoku's cheek twitched slightly at Garp's words.
"Is Garp really going to make a fool of himself at a time like this?"
Just as he was about to tell Garp not to be ridiculous, he heard Kenzhiro calmly say, "Good idea."
"However, I'd like to have some grilled meat."
"The meat of the Crocodile King would be quite good, but unfortunately, there are no Sea Kings around here."
Garp heard this and immediately gave a thumbs up, laughing, "Kenzhiro, you truly know how to live."
"While we don't have Crocodile King meat, we do have sea eels. Their texture is also quite good. Shall we go for them?"
Kenzhiro nodded seriously and said, "Yes."
Garp immediately turned and looked at the lazing Borsalino beside him, shouting, "Hey, Borsalino, you're the fastest. Hurry up and prepare. We're going to have grilled sea eel."
"Understood!" Borsalino heard this, did not refuse, and immediately turned into a beam of light to go prepare.
Seeing this scene, Sengoku couldn't help himself and punched Garp on the head.
"Garp, what are you trying to do?"
"This is our Xuanwu Marine's headquarters in the Grand Line."
"Don't disgrace yourself here."
As the chief person in charge of the Xuanwu Marine's Grand Line Branch, although not the Fleet Admiral, he exercised similar authority.
Therefore, Sengoku adjusted his position, being very strict in all aspects.
He completely treated himself as the Fleet Admiral.
Garp paid no mind to Sengoku's displeasure, instead laughing heartily and pulling Sengoku along to grill meat.
On the other side, Grusa merely glanced at the scene before retreating back into the cruise ship.
Continuing to stay here would make Grusa feel like he was of the same ilk as these commoners.
Although he possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, many of the marks had been lost due to previous battles.
Therefore, it took Benedict quite some time to arrive.
He took the opportunity along the way to make some more marks.
Having a few more of these set up was not a bad thing.
Approximately ten minutes later, Benedict arrived at the Xuanwu Marine Branch in the first half of the Grand Line from the East Blue Xuanwu Marine Headquarters.
"What are you guys doing (⊙０⊙)?"
"Grilling meat in broad daylight?"
When Benedict arrived, he saw Sengoku and the others grilling, and heard their loud laughter. He was momentarily confused, then looked at the enormous, luxurious cruise ship beside them, as if he understood something.
"The Celestial Dragons are too arrogant."
"Putting on airs of superiority in front of me, drinking tea and eating pastries with tables and chairs, they have no manly presence at all."
"So, we are teaching them how to be men."
Garp, speaking frankly, laughed heartily.
Benedict heard this and felt a bit speechless.
But then he joined in.
As for Grusa, who had already received the news and arrived by the ship's side, he couldn't be bothered.