"Sir! Admiral Aokiji, sir! Please wake up!"
"I'm awake, I'm awake," Aokiji grumbled, lifting his eye mask. He removed his feet from the desk and spread his knees apart to better accommodate his height. "Seriously . . . interrupting a perfectly good nap . . ."
"So you were asleep," Vice-Admiral Tsuru said, rolling her eyes. The grunt who had given the wake-up call sat back down.
"Asleep, awake, what's the difference?" Aokiji's eyes drifted to a corner of the conference room and lingered there. "Anyway, what's this meeting about again? Garp?"
"Some business about a new pirate," Vice-Admiral Garp said with a shrug of his massive shoulders. "I wasn't paying attention. Tsuru?"
The lower-ranked soldiers in the room shifted and murmured among themselves as Tsuru sighed. "We're here to discuss the threat of a young woman who recently entered the Grand Line."
"Ah, right," Garp said, shoving his hand into a box of rice crackers. "Cherry something or other, right?"
"Cherry Bomb Sakura," Tsuru said. "She's a decent fighter, but she's more proficient with ninjutsu, from what the reports have said. And considering how many soldiers she's taken out with her physical prowess alone, well . . ."
"Ninjutsu, huh?" Aokiji said, his eyes still trained on the empty corner of the room. "Is she from Wano?"
"Unlikely, but we're looking into it," Tsuru responded.
"Why 'Cherry Bomb'?" Garp asked. "Does she smell good or something?"
"Don't be disgusting. Reports say she has pink hair and tends to dress in shades of pink. Not to mention that her name is Sakura."
"Right, right." Garp shoved another fistful of crackers into his mouth and spoke around them, spraying crumbs. "So what's the big deal? Slap a bounty on her, distribute wanted posters, and that's that, ain't it?"
"That's the problem," Tsuru said. She nodded to the group of grunts she'd invited. "Would one of you kindly explain?"
"Sir, yes sir," the one who had spoken up to Aokiji said. He stood and saluted. "Bounty posters cannot exist without a photograph or an illustration of the criminal, and no one so far has successfully captured her image on film, sir."
"Surely someone's seen her face," Aokiji said. "Or has everyone gone face-blind all of a sudden?"
"P-Pardon me, sir," another soldier said, standing as the other one sat down with a salute. "None of us—th-that is, none of us who survived—remember what she looks like. She moves so fast, all we can see is a blur of pink."
The other soldiers nodded in assent.
"And there you have it," Tsuru said, folding her hands on the table.
"So, what, we can't put out a poster without a photo?" Garp said, indignant. He slammed his box of crackers on the table, startling the standing soldier into sitting down once more.
"You know as well as anyone that we can't," Tsuru said, patient as ever. She sighed. "If all we have is a name and a vague description, by the time someone sees her and realizes who it is, it will be too late."
"Oh, whatever. Can't we try it?"
"If you'd like to bring that idea up with Sengoku, you're more than welcome to."
"Eh, no thanks," Garp grumbled. "Too much of a hassle, and he never likes my ideas. So what now?"
"In lieu of a wanted poster, I was considering extending an invitation to the young lady to see if she would be interested in joining the Warlords."
"Is there an open spot?" Garp said in surprise.
"Even I knew that," Aokiji muttered, rolling his eyes before returning them to the corner of the room.
"We extended an invitation to the captain of the Sun Pirates, Jinbe," Tsuru said. "But he said he needs time to consider the offer. In the meantime, we could invite Cherry Bomb Sakura, and should she accept, we would simply tell Jinbe that we rescind our offer."
Garp let out a laugh. "Seems disingenuous to me! 'You know that lucrative position we want you for? Just kidding, we gave it to someone else!'"
"I'm sure he knows the possibility is there," Tsuru said. "What I want to know is, how can we contact Cherry Bomb? As far as we know, she has no established crew or ship we can hunt down, and she certainly doesn't stick around on a ship long enough to hear anyone out."
"Maybe she likes cherries," Garp suggested. "We set out a bunch of cherries under a box with a stick propping it up—"
"She's not you," Tsuru snapped. "Be serious."
"I'd like to hear your idea, then!"
"The only thing I can think of is trying to detain her on her next attack long enough to speak with her," Tsuru said, covering her mouth as she spoke. "But we don't know her temperament. She might pretend to hear us out, only to attack the messenger."
"Vice-Admiral Tsuru, what if we had someone follow her?" one of the grunts suggested. "After she attacks the next ship, she has to go somewhere, doesn't she?"
"Yeah," one of his comrades said, exasperated, "but by the time anyone's recovered enough to do any following, she's long gone."
"Or perhaps you're volunteering?" Tsuru said, resting her head on her hands. "It's not a bad idea, soldier."
"Th-Thank you, sir," the grunt responded, looking away. "But perhaps—uh, I was thinking of someone else—"
"So you're the idea man, not the action man," Tsuru said dryly. "I see. Don't count on a promotion in the near future."
"My apologies, Vice-Admiral!"
"That's all this meeting was really about," Tsuru said, turning back to Garp. "I am of the opinion that we should put out a notice to all personnel, both to warn of Cherry Bomb's presence and to apprehend her alive if possible. All reported activity of late has been on the Grand Line, so I doubt we'll need to alert the stations in the Blues."
"Sure, sure, I'll pass along the message," Garp said, waving a hand before stuffing it back into his cracker box.
"Now, something's been bothering me . . ." Tsuru trailed off and turned to Aokiji. "Kuzan, what is so interesting about that spot in the room? You've been staring there this entire time."
"Oh . . . someone's there," Aokiji said. "They're hiding their presence."
"Excuse me?" Tsuru said sharply. Several of the grunts drew their weapons, and Garp placed his hands on the table, gripping it. With one mighty motion, he ripped a chunk of the table out and threw it into the corner of the room. As it landed and shattered into splinters with the force of the impact, the source of the aforementioned person became known, as they leapt out of the way with a front flip and landed neatly on the other side of the room. The person looked up, revealing themselves to be a young woman wearing a red cheongsam and a kitsune mask over her face, though her pink hair was visible.
"Now, now, hold your fire," Aokiji said lazily. The lower-ranked soldiers sheathed their weapons, though they huddled close together, gazing at the intruder fearfully. Garp glared at her, sitting back down with a huff, and Tsuru sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Why didn't you say something earlier, Kuzan?" she asked.
"I didn't detect malice," Aokiji replied, watching the intruder nonetheless. "No point in attacking a sitting duck, right?"
"Your lazy justice is as strong as ever. Young lady, are you perhaps the Cherry Bomb Sakura we've been discussing?"
"I am," Sakura replied, straightening up.
"You wanna tell us why we shouldn't capture you right now?" Garp demanded.
"Oh? I thought you didn't have a bounty on me yet," Sakura said, the smirk evident in her voice though her face was hidden.
"You little—"
"Easy, Garp," Tsuru said, raising a hand. "Ms. Sakura, why did you come here? Did you intend an ambush?"
"I only came to see if I could gather intel," Sakura confessed, maintaining a defensive stance. "I happened upon this room when I heard someone coming."
"So you hid yourself with genjutsu in order to eavesdrop? That's not very ladylike."
"You know your stuff," Sakura said. "And I never claimed to be a lady, ma'am."
"You heard what we talked about," Aokiji said. "Do you want to be a Warlord?"
"So casual," one of the grunts whispered.
"No," Sakura said.
"So blunt!" another grunt whispered.
"I have my own goals, and being a Warlord isn't one of them," Sakura said. "Thanks, but no thanks."
"Then let's cut a deal," Aokiji said. "Let us take a photo of you, and we'll let you leave peacefully for now."
"Aokiji, don't you dare!" Garp yelled, slamming his fist onto what was left of his section of the table.
"Yeah, no thanks," Sakura said. "It's much easier to get around without my face being known. I appreciate your kindness, however." She inclined her head in a mockery of a bow.
"Of course," Aokiji said with a nod. "But you won't be leaving this room regardless."
Sakura tried to move her feet and looked down. At some point, ice had spread across the floor in a trail leading from Aokiji directly to her, and now her feet were immobilized, frozen in ice.
"Well done," Tsuru said, rising from her chair. "Ms. Sakura, do come quietly."
The next few moments passed in a blur. Only the most well-trained eyes saw what really happened: With a few motions of her hands, Sakura once again vanished to the naked eye; Garp flew at her with his fist drawn back, but instead of striking her, he hit the ground; and the ice shattered with the impact. By the time any normal person caught up with the series of events, Sakura was gone, no doubt having leapt out the window among the cloud of ice kicked up in the fuss.
"She's really gone this time," Aokiji confirmed, leaning back in his chair with a frown. "Her presence has vanished."
Tsuru sighed. "Garp, why did you let her escape?"
"Can it, hag!" Garp snapped, standing up and brushing off his hands. "I thought I was hitting where she was!"
"She likely messed with your senses," Aokiji remarked. "Made you think, for a second, that she was a few feet away from her actual position."
"Well, thanks for telling me now!"
"This meeting is now adjourned," Tsuru said loudly. "Garp, your orders to spread the word about Cherry Bomb remain unchanged."
Garp grumbled under his breath and stalked out of the room, snatching up what remained of his box of crackers on the way.