The silence stretched.
"Fleet Admiral." Borsalino had his feet propped on the meeting table, hands tucked behind his head, chair rocking back and forth. He yawned, then asked, "It's one East Blue branch Captain. Is all this really necessary? Why are we wasting our time here?"
Before the stone-faced Sengoku could respond, Vice Admiral Tsuru spoke, her voice hard-edged. "Borsalino, take this seriously. This is far more than a minor branch mutiny."
She frowned, flipping through the documents in her hands.
"Dante Ashford... I've heard that name more than a few times now. Quite the ambitious brat."
She closed the file. "You're worried about Zephyr, aren't you?"
"Yes!" Sengoku let out a look of resignation. "That kid was the one who took Zephyr away. We thought he'd just brought him back to East Blue for retirement. We never imagined..." He trailed off. "Just as you said-"
He sighed. "We seriously underestimated this punk's ambition."
"Hmph!" Arms crossed, sitting ramrod straight, Sakazuki scoffed. "An old geezer with one arm left. What difference does it make if he's joined the mutiny?"
"No. Zephyr's arm has been restored." Sengoku shook his head. "According to the intel Captain Smoker sent back, they located an Op-Op Fruit user. Zephyr's right arm has been fully healed."
He glanced at Sakazuki, who frowned, clearly ready to fire back.
Sengoku knew exactly what Sakazuki was about to say. So his right arm is back. He's still just an old has-been. What threat could he possibly pose to Marine HQ?
Sengoku's voice went hard. "It appears Dante has allied himself with a Shichibukai."
In an instant, every face in the room tightened.
Shichibukai... anyone chosen to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea was no weakling.
And there was only one Shichibukai stationed in the East Blue right now. Namely... Bartholomew Kuma, the Tyrant.
"Has the Tyrant lost his mind?" Tsuru asked in surprise. "Why would a Shichibukai ally with a tiny Marine branch? Is he throwing his position away? He's not worried about the World Government revoking his title?"
"I don't have the full picture, but the alliance between Branch 16 and Shichibukai is confirmed." Sengoku drew a deep breath, nodding grimly. "Shichibukai's forces, combined with Zephyr... I don't like admitting it, but that kid now commands significant power."
And there was one more theory he didn't voice aloud.
Why would a Shichibukai take such a massive risk to ally with Marine Branch 16?
If it was just a partnership, fine. But if that brat had somehow made a Shichibukai his subordinate...
Wouldn't that mean Dante had been deceiving Marine HQ from the very start? Anyone capable of earning a Shichibukai's allegiance was no weakling. So all that talk about corruption, about broken will, had it all been a lie?
That was right, when the Marines received word that Branch 16 had allied with a Shichibukai, Sengoku's face had been a picture of disbelief, though something seemed to click in his mind, too.
No wonder Mock was clearly so powerful, yet Dante had been able to hold his own against him for so long! So his strength wasn't insignificant after all!
As Fleet Admiral Sengoku's words sank in, the dismissive looks on everyone's faces vanished.
Shichibukai's own forces were never weak to begin with. Add to that Chief Instructor Zephyr's Neo Marines and that Marine Captain's power base in the East Blue... with all those forces gathered together, Marine HQ couldn't afford to take this lightly.
"Looking at it that way..." Tsuru seemed to have realized something, her voice going tense. "From Bartholomew Kuma suddenly holing up in the East Blue, to Mock leaving those waters, to Zephyr joining up there, the kid planned this all along?!"
"I said it at the time, a degenerate Marine Captain like that was going to be trouble eventually. He should have been hauled straight to the Marine Court!" Sakazuki let out a scoff, his voice thick with displeasure. "And now? Hasn't he already become trouble?"
He directed his glare at Garp, who had been munching on snacks since the meeting began.
"Don't you owe us an explanation, Vice Admiral Garp?"
"Explanation? Explain what?" Garp didn't bother acknowledging Sakazuki's accusation, still working through his snacks with a hearty chuckle. "I'm not close to the kid!"
Not close, their asses!
He'd taken the gifts. And those snack supply deals for HQ? He negotiated those personally. Was that the face of a man who barely knew the kid? Everyone stared at Garp, but before any of them could speak, Sakazuki, his furious as a storm cloud, rounded on him and shouted, "You went out there to investigate personally! You personally guaranteed there were no issues!"
"Ah, did I? Bwahaha!" Confronted with Sakazuki's outburst, Garp remained utterly unconcerned and scratched his head. "Then I do apologize. Looks like the old man got fooled by the kid too. The little brat really is a slippery one!"
This old fox...
Sakazuki's furiousened further at Garp's flat denial. He moved to slam the table and press the issue.
"Enough! We don't have time for squabbling!" Sengoku cut in with a sharp grunt, silencing Sakazuki.
He suspected the old bastard Garp probably knew something, but he'd already chewed him out. Pushing further would be pointless, he couldn't really drag the old man to the Marine Court. He glared at Garp, but watching the man still chuckling away over his snacks stirred an involuntary fury in Sengoku's chest.
He swallowed it, mindful of the matter at hand, and his voice went hard. "We have to settle this quickly. The damage to Marine HQ's reputation is already enormous."
A Branch Captain leading a defection... with the former Marine Chief Instructor?!
If the pirates got wind of that, they'd make the Marines a laughingstock. "Captain Smoker has already sent word, Marine Branch 16 has started expanding its territory in the East Blue. The region is in chaos!"
"In the East Blue? The man's not planning to enter the Grand Line?" Tsuru paused at Sengoku's report, her frown easing as she processed it. "The East Blue... what's the brat playing at? Planning to carve out his own kingdom there? As long as he stays out of the New World, it won't upset the balance there, though."
She let out a heavy sigh. "The rise of Mock, with that demon bloodline... it's truly giving me a headache!"
She lifted her head and looked at Sengoku. "Perhaps we don't need to rush. As long as the brat stays put in the East Blue, the fallout is manageable!"
"We can't afford to wait!" Sengoku's face twisted into a look of resignation. "Celestial Dragons are preparing to descend to the East Blue!"
Just as expected, those words hit the room. Every face hardened.
Celestial Dragons? This changed everything. If a Celestial Dragon ran into danger, they would all pay the price.
"What is a Celestial Dragon doing in the East Blue?" Tsuru was still frowning. "Can't we stop them?"
"No one makes choices for the World Nobles, unless they refuse on their own." Sengoku gave her a pointed look, then shook his head. "So we have to move fast."
"Wipe them out." Once Sakazuki grasped the gravity of the situation, he stopped hounding Garp. His tone carried an edge now. "Deploy the Buster Call. I'll lead the force myself."
"Come on, isn't that a bit much?"
"He's right, and Zephyr-sensei... he might not have done it on purpose."
"Zephyr-sensei is retired. We can ask him what happened first!"
"Celestial Dragons are already descending. We don't have time for that."
"But Zephyr-sensei..."
At Sakazuki's proposal, some agreed. Other Marine officers hesitated.
Many of them had trained under Zephyr. The last operation had been painful enough, they had barely swallowed it, and in the end Zephyr retired. Now they had to go through it again?
Admiral Sakazuki was right, though. Celestial Dragons were descending.
If this wasn't resolved quickly and a Celestial Dragon came to harm, Marine HQ would answer to the World Government, not just the East Blue.
A flicker of weariness crossed Sengoku's face. He could not believe he was facing the same choice again.
But as Fleet Admiral, he could not afford to hesitate. If a Celestial Dragon was endangered, the situation would spiral far beyond control.
He sighed in resignation, made his decision, and slowly closed his eyes. He folded his hands on the table. "We'll do as Sakazuki says. Deploy the Buster Call. Borsalino, you go too. If Zephyr and Dante surrender, bring them back and send them to the Marine Court. If they refuse..."
His voice went cold. "Destroy them on the spot. And eliminate Marine Branch 16 along with Shichibukai's forces-"
He didn't finish.
At that moment.
*Purupurupuru, purupurupuru!*
Another Den Den Mushi rang out. Sengoku tensed, hurriedly pulling a personal Den Den Mushi from inside his coat.
This was his portable Den Den Mushi, but he rarely used it. Calls normally came through the one on his desk. This one only rang when someone couldn't reach him there, when the matter was urgent beyond delay.
Few people even had this number.
Sengoku's eye twitched. He had a bad feeling about this. Something told him another disaster was already unfolding.
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