A bright light in the dead of night is always conspicuous, and the soaring flames had drawn the attention of nearly the entire G-8 Marine Base to a single point.
"It looks pretty lively over there. What happened?"
Staring at the distant fire, Sherlock calmly adjusted his glasses with a serene expression, his mind quickly analyzing the situation.
According to his plan, after the Straw Hat Pirates reunited, they were supposed to keep as low a profile as possible to avoid attracting the Marines' attention. However, Sherlock knew all too well that plans were just plans, and unexpected complications were bound to arise during execution.
Take Luffy, their idiot captain, for example. When it came to causing trouble and creating accidents, he never failed to deliver.
Furthermore, the Sorcerer could guess in his sleep that this guy would habitually show up in the most chaotic and troublesome place possible...
"Well, I think I can guess what's going on..."
Sherlock let out a helpless sigh, then summoned his magic carpet and sped off toward the blazing fire.
G-8 Base Control Room.
"I didn't expect him to be defeated so easily."
Vice Admiral Jonathan stared at the screen with a look of surprise. Even through the monitor, he could still feel the intense heat of the raging inferno.
Fortunately, the area where they had been fighting was an open clearing; otherwise, this massive fire would have surely caused severe damage to Navarone.
"Even though Logia types can be countered by certain natural elements, the effect shouldn't be this drastic..."
Shaking his head, Jonathan turned to his adjutant and asked, "It looks like things are wrapped up on Black Crow's end. What's the situation with Crocodile?"
"Everything is normal, Vice Admiral."
The young Lieutenant Commander looked perplexed. "Strangely enough, Crocodile's Sea Prism Stone handcuffs were unlocked, but he actually gave up on escaping. I have no idea what he's planning."
"Now, with Rear Admiral Alan's assistance, Crocodile has been fitted with the Sea Prism Stone handcuffs once again."
"Is that so..."
Hearing this news, Vice Admiral Jonathan breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, he hadn't expected this night to be quite so "lively" either.
(Next up is dealing with the Straw Hat Pirates. Heh, looking at the time, it's almost time to pull in the net.)
Stroking his straight mustache, a faint smile crept onto Jonathan's face.
"Pass down the order. Wait until their ship is trapped by the Fangs of Navarone before sending men to surround them. Remember, I want them alive."
"Yes, Vice Admiral!" The Lieutenant Commander gave a crisp salute upon receiving the order. Just as he was about to leave, the Transponder Snail on the desk suddenly rang out.
"Purupurupurupuru..."
The unique ringing echoed continuously in the somewhat empty control room. Jonathan raised an eyebrow as a terrible premonition suddenly washed over him for no apparent reason.
Raising a hand to signal his adjutant to wait, Jonathan composed himself and picked up the call.
"Vice Admiral! Vice Admiral, disaster has struck!" An anxious voice immediately burst from the receiver, while the Transponder Snail perfectly mimicked a terrified expression.
"..." The bearded Vice Admiral's face grew as dark as night.
Fred had splattered petroleum everywhere during his fight with Luffy and Sanji, so the moment it was struck by Usopp's Firebird Star, the entire coast instantly turned into a sea of fire. Billowing thick smoke mingled with the raging flames, looking just like the legendary Crimson Hell.
"Cough, cough..."
Sanji coughed violently. The thick smoke and toxic gases produced by the burning petroleum made even this heavy smoker deeply uncomfortable. The intense heat evaporated the moisture from the air, baking the skin on his face until it felt bone-dry.
"Luffy! Luffy! Where are you?" The curly-browed cook grew increasingly anxious, knowing full well that his idiot captain had been completely enveloped in a mass of petroleum just moments ago!
Sanji vigorously waved his hands to clear the smoke obstructing his vision. After searching around for a bit, he finally spotted his captain in an open clearing that hadn't been swallowed by the flames.
"Hey! Luffy! Snap out of it!"
Sanji grabbed Luffy by the collar and shook him violently, but the latter showed no response whatsoever. His soot-stained face was as still as a corpse's.
"You bastard..." Sanji's curly eyebrow twitched repeatedly. Suddenly, a stroke of genius hit him. In a flash of inspiration, he roared right into Luffy's ear:
"Luffy! Dinner's ready!"
!!!
The food-obsessed captain, who had been playing dead a second ago, snapped his eyes wide open instantly. He executed a sudden kip-up and leaped to his feet, a sudden movement that nearly knocked Sanji flat on his back.
"Where? Where? Where's dinner?"
Luffy wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, looking around frantically. But the idiot quickly realized that there was nothing around but flames and black smoke, causing him to pout in disappointment.
"What a rip-off, there's no dinner at all..." With that, his energy slumped instantly, and his body began to sway precariously, looking as though he was about to pass out all over again.
Whack! A vein throbbing on his forehead, Sanji delivered a swift kick right to Luffy's head.
"Don't you dare pass out again, you bastard!" The curly-browed cook let out a long, helpless sigh. He looked in the direction of the Going Merry, his expression turning grim.
"With the fire raging this hard, the Going Merry won't be able to get close at all. How are we supposed to get back on the ship?"
However, right at that moment, a familiar and magnetic voice drifted down from above them.
"Get up here, quickly."
Sanji and Luffy looked up to see the Sorcerer floating above them on his magic carpet. He was looking down at them composedly, adjusting his glasses with his signature, unchanging gesture.
"Sherlock!" x2
"A bomb?! What bomb?"
Vice Admiral Jonathan roared at the Marine on the other end of the Transponder Snail. Although he had heard it perfectly clearly the first time, he simply refused to believe his own ears.
"We discovered a squad of captured Marines inside a giant safe in the storage room... along with a massive time bomb," the Marine soldier repeated word for word.
"Although its appearance is slightly different and its size is several times larger, we have verified that this massive bomb is the very one Crocodile originally planned to detonate in Alubarna!"
"Didn't that bomb mysteriously vanish? How could it end up here?!" The Marine Lieutenant Commander listening in from the side felt his jaw nearly drop to the floor.
After arresting Crocodile, the Marines had strictly interrogated almost every member of Baroque Works, but no one knew the exact location of that giant bomb, which reportedly possessed a five-kilometer blast radius. This was one of the key points the Marines were currently investigating.
"So, the Straw Hat Pirates recovered that bomb..." Vice Admiral Jonathan's face became incredibly grim, entirely devoid of his previous confidence.
"I recall that it's a time bomb, right? When is it set to detonate?"
"At 9:30 PM. There are less than 40 minutes left until detonation." The Marine on the other end of the line carefully measured his words before continuing, "If you open the base gates right now and order a full evacuation of G-8, we should still make it in time."
For the longest time, G-8's greatest asset had been its unique geographical layout. As long as the base gates were closed, the inner sea of Navarone would experience low tide every night at 9:00 PM. Countless hidden reefs on the seabed would emerge like fangs, making it impossible for any ship to move.
Granted, once the tide receded, it would be absolutely impossible for the escaping pirates to sail away. But by the same token, the Marines wouldn't be able to escape either!
The only way to bypass the low tide issue was to open the base gates before 9:00 PM.
"Make it in time... Hehehehe..."
Slumping back into his chair, Vice Admiral Jonathan let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "I thought that as long as we held the final line of defense, the Straw Hat Pirates could never escape G-8. Now it seems they never intended to break through the gates by force from the very beginning. Everything they did before was merely to distract us and buy time."
"Who would have thought... Who would have thought that I, the fisherman, would end up trapped by my own net..." Jonathan rested his forehead in his hand, a profound sense of defeat welling up inside him.
This form of indirect extortion wasn't exactly a high-level strategy. Under normal circumstances, the resourceful Vice Admiral Jonathan could easily come up with plenty of effective countermeasures. Unfortunately, he no longer had the luxury of time to think.
Jonathan knew very well that he was left with only two choices:
Compromise. Open the base gates to ensure the inner sea's water level doesn't drop, and order a full evacuation of G-8. However, doing so means the Straw Hat Pirates will take the opportunity to slip away cleanly.
Enforce Absolute Justice. Keep the gates shut and fight to the bitter end against these vile pirates. But by conservative estimates, that massive bomb will destroy at least a third of the base, causing unquantifiable casualties.
On one hand were the lives of thousands of Marine soldiers; on the other was the justice he upheld as a Marine.
(If it were Sakazuki, he would probably choose the latter without a moment's hesitation...)
For some reason, Jonathan found himself thinking of his former colleague in this situation. He also remembered that the very reason he left Marine Headquarters to transfer to Navarone was precisely because he couldn't agree with Admiral Akainu's brand of "Absolute Justice."
Looking at it from this perspective, this multiple-choice question didn't seem so difficult to answer after all.
Exhaling a long breath of stale air, the bearded Vice Admiral's eyes cleared as he came to a decision. Turning his head toward the main screen of the control room, he saw two ships using the cover of night to sail rapidly toward the base gates.
"The Straw Hat Pirates..." Jonathan narrowed his eyes slightly, muttering in a voice only he could hear.
"You'd better hope I don't cross paths with you next time!"
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze