Red Line, Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Inside Pangaea Castle, the center of power of the World Government, the Five Elders struck their respective poses in a spacious, brightly lit room.
Saint Ethanbaron V.
Nusjuro, the Warrior God of Finance, sat on the sofa and slammed the newspaper onto the table.
A cold glint flashed through his sharp eyes.
“CP9 is a pack of useless trash.
They couldn’t even capture a fleeing ability user.”
The prisoner being taken was infuriating enough.
What truly enraged the Five Elders was that the World Government had only learned the full story through the newspaper.
It was unforgivable.
Though they were unwilling to admit it, every sign pointed to the same fact: the World Government’s control over the sea was weakening.
Saint Saturn narrowed his eyes.
“They encountered a member of the Roger Pirates who had awakened Conqueror’s Haki and eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
We cannot place all the blame on them.”
“The Op-Op Fruit user is still in Beelzebub’s hands.
Inform the Marines.
Have Borsalino make a trip and capture Beelzebub and the fugitive alive at all costs.”
“That arrangement will also help confuse outsiders.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
Logically speaking, for a strategic weapon as important as the Op-Op Fruit, the God’s Knights should have been deployed.
Only then could success be guaranteed.
However, both the Op-Op Fruit and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit possessed extreme high-speed movement abilities.
Among the World Government and the Marines, only Borsalino could counter such powers.
In pure speed, if the Glint-Glint Fruit claimed second place, no one on this sea dared claim first.
Not even the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
After considering every factor, Borsalino was the most suitable choice.
“As for the remaining members of the Roger Pirates…”
Saint Saturn paused.
“Send CP1 to warn Rayleigh.
If anything like this happens again, the agreement between the Marines and Roger is void.”
“Agreed!”
“Agreed!”
…
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Inside the Admiral’s office, Sengoku, who was currently serving as a Marine Admiral, ended his Den Den Mushi call and looked toward the slacker trimming his nails.
“Borsalino.”
“Go to Paradise immediately.
The World Government demands that Beelzebub Seven and that fugitive be captured alive.”
Kizaru put away his nail clippers, his sleazy face drooping.
“Sengoku-san, my vacation.”
Kizaru felt truly helpless.
Whenever an emergency arose, he was always the one who had to go personally.
Sengoku gritted his teeth.
“Once this mission is over, I’ll promote you to Admiral.”
Kizaru’s eyes lit up.
Everything else was secondary.
The important part was that after being promoted to Admiral, his salary would rise to 10.8 million berries a year.
Money filled Kizaru with motivation.
“I’ll leave now.”
Watching Kizaru turn into a beam of light and depart, Sengoku wearily rubbed his brow.
He had originally thought that the public execution of the Pirate King, Roger, would at least make the pirates on the sea settle down for a while.
There’s no future in being a pirate.
Don’t believe it?
Look, even the Pirate King was captured alive by us Marines and publicly executed.
But no one had expected Roger’s final words about the great treasure to throw the entire sea into outright turmoil.
Not only were more and more people setting out to become pirates, even nobles from certain countries had begun doing the same.
With one side growing while the other was stretched thin, the Marines’ manpower was becoming increasingly strained.
“Roger, you really played us all.”
A week before Roger’s execution, Golden Lion had stormed Marine Headquarters, destroying more than half of Marineford and causing countless Marine casualties before finally being thrown into Impel Down.
After Roger’s death, the other members of the Roger Pirates had behaved relatively peacefully.
Only the Demon Heir, Bullet, and Beelzebub, who had recently abducted a World Government prisoner, had stirred up storms across the sea.
Fleet Admiral Kong was about to head to the Holy Land Mary Geoise to become commander-in-chief of all forces.
From now on, the burden of the Marines would fall on Sengoku’s shoulders.
Thinking of how that bastard Garp was still living freely in the East Blue, Sengoku hurriedly dialed a Den Den Mushi and roared.
“Damn you, Garp!”
“Get back here this instant!”
Sengoku’s position was simple.
Why should he suffer through miserable overtime while that bastard Garp enjoyed a vacation?
As brothers, they had to share hardship.
The Den Den Mushi mimicked Garp’s expression.
“What?”
“You promised me three months of vacation.
It’s only halfway through.
If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to sleep.”
Looking at the disconnected Den Den Mushi, Sengoku took off his seagull cap and grabbed at his afro with both hands, beginning to gaslight himself.
“Forget it.
Garp may not have achieved merit all these years chasing Roger, but he’s at least worked hard.”
…
Paradise, waters near Jaya.
“Captain.”
The doctor bowed slightly.
At the bow, Seven dismissed his plasma sword, in a less than pleasant mood.
“Coming to me is useless.
I’m an ability user.
I can’t open Seastone handcuffs.”
He was only a thin layer away from unleashing a flying slash, yet no matter what he did, he could not break through that final barrier.
The doctor probed carefully.
“Then could you say something to Mr.
Mihawk?”
If the Seastone handcuffs could not be opened, how was he supposed to find a chance to escape?
It was not that following Seven was bad.
The key problem was that after the World Government’s failure, they would definitely send stronger attack dogs after them.
The doctor did not want to die, nor did he want to be captured.
When he had first eaten the Op-Op Fruit, the doctor had devoted himself wholeheartedly to treating people and saving lives in his hometown.
As a result…
Because the World Government wanted that Devil Fruit, his hometown was destroyed, and he was captured alive.
After finally escaping to Sandy Island in the chaos, he fell into Cipher Pol’s hands again.
He had thought Seven would be his savior.
He had not expected to become a prisoner once more.
The most unsettling part was that after their ship reached the waters near Jaya, Seven stopped moving forward and simply lingered in the surrounding sea.
“Captain, are you looking for something?”
Seven pulled out a telescope.
“Yeah.
Go back to mopping.
Don’t block my view.”
To reach Skypiea, they had to ride the Knock Up Stream.
Leaving aside the danger, simply encountering the Knock Up Stream was already extremely rare.
In other words, it was entirely a matter of luck.
Seven planned to wait a little longer.
If he still could not find the Knock Up Stream, he would head up first by himself and use the giant golden pillar to buy Musou Isshin.
The main reason he wanted to travel by ship was to build a bond with Mihawk.
Some pirate crews relied entirely on the captain’s force to intimidate their members.
Some relied on emotional bonds.
Others bound each other through shared interests.
Captain Seven, however, wanted all of it.
Since his current strength was not enough to intimidate them by force, building feelings and binding interests together were especially important.
With the Rocks Pirates as a perfect example of what not to do, he absolutely had to learn from their mistakes.
In just half a day, the surrounding sea experienced clear skies, violent storms, lightning, thunder, and every kind of terrible weather.
When night fell, Seven still had not found the Knock Up Stream.
“Mihawk, wait on the ship for a bit.
I’ll go up there first and check the route.”
Lightning tore through the darkness.
Seven transformed into a streak of deep-blue thunder and shot straight into the sky.