Gion's thoughts were quite straightforward. The X3 branch needed someone strong from the headquarters to suppress the situation, and since Wood was currently active in that region, she figured she might get a chance to settle some scores with him.
Naturally, her request was immediately rejected by Sengoku.
What a joke, Sengoku thought. Gion's current strength could easily place her among the top ten within the entire Marine Headquarters. With all the major incidents happening recently, causing unrest throughout the Grand Line, how could Sengoku allow a top-tier combatant like Gion to be wasted on a small branch in the West Blue?
Especially now, even though the headquarters had plenty of strong individuals, most of the top elites were not exactly reliable.
After the tragic death of his family, Zephyr had lost all enthusiasm and had focused solely on education for years, no longer personally pursuing pirates.
Vice Admiral Tsuru was busy with administrative work, and the normal operations of the headquarters relied heavily on her.
As for Garp, Aokiji, and Kizaru, these guys were masters at taking it easy, often "battling" pirates with bounties over a hundred million for several days.
Green Bull and Chaton were indeed more dependable, but they were currently occupied monitoring several large pirate crews at sea, to prevent them from causing trouble during this critical time.
In a vast Marine Headquarters, the only people who could be considered diligent were Akainu Sakazuki and Momousagi Gion.
One couldn't tolerate the existence of any evil in his eyes, and the other was so devoted to her work that she sought to quickly grow stronger through battle to catch up to a certain someone.
Sending Gion to the X3 branch in the West Blue would mean losing one of the most hardworking members on the Grand Line.
Besides, the pirates in the West Blue were hardly a threat. Even sending a seasoned Marine Captain from the headquarters would be enough to handle them. There was no need to send someone as highly regarded as Gion.
To be blunt, many of the Marine officers assigned to regional branches were those not highly favored by the headquarters.
Those with great potential were usually kept at headquarters for further development so they could eventually take over when the older generation retired.
Take Smoker, for instance. He was assigned as a Marine Captain in a local area because of his straightforward personality and sharp tongue.
"Gion, you don't need to worry too much. Sengoku is just trying to scare you," Garp said casually. "Now that we know Wood hasn't really betrayed us, there's no way Sengoku will abandon an asset like him."
"Besides, think about it. Why did it take two days for headquarters to hear about the death of the X3 branch's commanding officer? From the information we have, it looks like Wood took out that unlucky guy, Rock, with just one slash, and while others were injured, their lives weren't in danger."
"It's simple: even the people at the X3 branch were helping Wood. They delayed reporting to headquarters for two days, which was clearly to give Wood and his crew time to escape and avoid being caught by stronger forces from the headquarters."
Garp, despite his seemingly carefree attitude, was far from foolish and saw through the situation clearly. From the start, he hadn't worried that Wood would betray them or that Sengoku would take drastic action against him.
To be honest, Garp thought Wood handled the situation quite well. He got rid of a disgraceful Marine, while also increasing his notoriety as a pirate.
Furthermore, his assault on a Marine branch meant that no one would suspect him of being a Marine in disguise anymore.
After all, if he were a Marine pretending to be a pirate, he wouldn't be crazy enough to attack his own people, would he?
"Garp, shut up!" Sengoku snapped.
Sengoku was trying to educate the younger generation, but Garp's constant banter was getting on his nerves.
Sengoku even suspected that the reason people like Wood, Aokiji, and others were so laid-back and reckless at times was because they spent too much time around Garp, that old rascal.
Gion was a Marine prospect he held in high regard—steady, reliable, and free from bad habits. Sengoku was determined not to let Garp corrupt her.
Unfazed by Sengoku's scolding, Garp simply pulled out another bag of rice crackers from who knows where, opened it, and began munching away as if nothing had happened.
"In any case, Wood violated Marine discipline by taking it upon himself to kill the X3 branch's Marine Captain without reporting it first," Sengoku continued. "Given his current situation, and the fact that the former Marine Captain at X3 was indeed a disgrace, we won't issue a bounty on Wood, but a punishment is still necessary!"
Garp's antics had made Sengoku lose face in front of Gion, but in truth, his plans were just as Garp had predicted.
There was no way Sengoku would abandon Wood. Not only was Wood's combat power a valuable asset to the Marines, but his character and values were also highly appreciated by the older generation.
Unless Wood did something truly unforgivable, Sengoku would never consider discarding such talent.
Although he wouldn't impose a severe punishment on Wood, Sengoku was still displeased with Wood's reckless behavior and felt the need to give him a proper warning.
Meanwhile, on the Grand Line, the Dark Maru had just crossed the Red Line from the East Blue, entering the Grand Line once again, marking the end of their treasure-hunting journey across the four seas.
In the span of three months, Wood and his crew had explored over thirty treasure sites across the four seas.
Out of these thirty locations, about ten turned out to be false leads. As for the other twenty-plus sites, they did manage to find some treasures.
After scouring more than twenty treasure locations, Wood and his crew accumulated a total of 82 million Berries.
As for this total amount, Wood could only say he was disappointed. The pirates in the four seas are really just too weak. There's hardly any profit to be made.
After three months of hard work, the treasure they found wasn't even worth more than the people on their ship.
Notably, after Wood took down the X3 branch's Marine Captain, Rock, his bounty saw a significant increase.
Originally, Wood's bounty was 50 million Berries, but after causing havoc at the X3 Marine branch, his bounty was raised to 120 million Berries.
And it wasn't just Wood who got a bounty increase—his entire crew was now wanted as well.
Yes, you heard that right. Although there were only about a dozen people on Wood's ship, every single one of them now had a bounty on their head.
Russ's bounty was set at 30 million Berries, while the rest of the crew had bounties ranging from over 10 million Berries to a few million Berries.
Aside from Wood, who topped the list with a bounty of 120 million Berries, the second-highest bounty went to Nico Robin, the Devil Child, at 80 million Berries.
*********
Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 230+ at patreon.com/Betek.