The stage no longer belonged to Finn.
With Fleet Admiral Sengoku taking the lead, there was little need for him to speak. The old man had decades of political experience, and he wielded it now with surgical precision. What began as negotiations over Doflamingo's Warlord appointment evolved into a masterclass in bureaucratic maneuvering, Sengoku extracting concession after concession from the Five Elders.
Most were minor, admittedly. Expanded autonomy for certain Marine branches. Priority requisition rights for confiscated pirate assets. Accelerated approval process for scientific research budgets. Small victories, but Finn had learned long ago that empires were built on the accumulation of small victories.
The discussions stretched on. Representatives from CP agencies offered their input, their voices measured and careful. The Five Elders debated amongst themselves, their ancient faces unreadable. And through it all, the conclusion remained inevitable.
They would compromise with the "evil and despicable" pirate Doflamingo.
Grant him the position of Warlord of the Sea, then recover the stolen Heavenly Tribute.
The decision left a sour taste in Finn's mouth, but he'd expected nothing different. The performance had been necessary, the outcome predetermined. Such was the nature of politics at this level.
Eventually, the conversation shifted to broader strategic concerns. The situation in the New World. Smoker's activities. The looming shadow of the Four Emperors. Standard operational briefings that Finn could recite in his sleep.
When the moment felt right, Fleet Admiral Sengoku rose smoothly from his seat. "If there's nothing else requiring immediate attention, we should return to Marineford and formalize the arrangements."
The Five Elders offered a few parting words of encouragement, the kind of hollow platitudes that senior officials dispensed like candy. Finn maintained his respectful expression as he and Sengoku turned toward the door, though internally he was already thinking three steps ahead.
Doflamingo's appointment needed to be processed. The Heavenly Tribute recovery required coordination. And there were always a dozen other fires that needed putting out.
The office door closed behind them with a quiet click.
Inside, Queen Stussy remained standing before the Five Elders' desk. Her posture was perfect, her expression attentive. The very picture of a loyal subordinate.
Saint Peter, Saint Peter, gave her an approving nod. "Go ahead. Smooth things over, but don't make it too obvious."
Stussy's smile was demure, professional. "Please rest assured, my lords. Admiral Finn and I have maintained a cordial working relationship over the years. I doubt he holds any genuine grudge over today's... disagreement." She paused delicately. "Still, it would be prudent to mend any potential friction. I wouldn't want personal matters to interfere with your broader strategic objectives."
The Five Elders exchanged satisfied glances. This. This was the caliber of subordinate they valued. Competent, proactive, and utterly dedicated to the World Government's interests.
After a few final instructions, Stussy excused herself and slipped out of the office, her heels clicking softly against the polished marble floors.
Finn and Sengoku stood waiting by the elevator bank, neither speaking. The corridor was empty save for them, the ornate walls of Mary Geoise stretching away in both directions. Somewhere in the distance, Finn could hear the muffled sound of footsteps approaching.
Fast footsteps. High heels on marble.
He glanced at Sengoku, who was examining the elevator call button with exaggerated interest.
The footsteps grew louder, then Stussy rounded the corner. She was moving quickly, her usual grace slightly compromised by her pace and the tall heels she wore.
"Slow down," Finn called out, his tone light with amusement. "We're not going anywhere. You're going to break an ankle in those things."
Stussy's shoulders relaxed visibly as she approached. Good. Finn wasn't angry. Of course he wasn't angry, this had all been coordinated beforehand, but there'd been a small, irrational part of her that worried anyway.
"How was I?" she asked, a genuine smile breaking through her professional mask. "Convincing enough?"
Finn's expression shifted immediately, his eyes narrowing in mock fury. "You just wait. I'll get you back for that performance later."
Stussy's smile only widened.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku watched the exchange with thinly veiled amusement. In the beginning, he'd harbored reservations about Stussy. She was CP-0, after all. One of the World Government's top intelligence operatives. Trusting her had seemed dangerously naive.
But he'd trusted Finn, and Finn had never steered him wrong.
Years had passed since then. Stussy had proven her value time and again, facilitating intelligence exchanges, running interference within the CP agencies, quietly supporting Marine interests from within the enemy camp. She'd become, in her own peculiar way, an ally. Not a Marine, never that, but something close enough to matter.
Sengoku found himself genuinely impressed with Finn's accomplishment. To turn a senior CP-0 operative into a secret collaborator was no small feat. It required leverage, charm, strategic thinking, and impeccable timing.
His gaze drifted to Finn's profile. The young man was handsome, there was no denying it. Sharp features, confident bearing, that natural charisma that made people want to follow him.
Was that it? Had Finn simply seduced her?
Sengoku clicked his tongue softly. "What a waste..."
Finn turned, confusion evident. "What's a waste?"
"That there aren't more high-ranking officials like Miss Stussy in Mary Geoise," Sengoku replied smoothly, though his thoughts were running in a different direction entirely.
If only there were more. Finn could work his magic on them too. Build a whole network of secret allies embedded in the World Government's power structure.
Finn's eyes narrowed slightly. What is the old man going on about?
First you become Fleet Admiral, and now you're getting strange ideas? Don't tell me Sengoku has his eye on someone up here in Mary Geoise and wants me to play matchmaker?
I'm definitely writing this down. Chief of Staff Tsuru needs to know about this.
Oblivious to Finn's internal commentary, Sengoku cleared his throat. "I'm heading back to Marineford. You two..."
"Ah, well," Finn started, adopting a slightly sheepish expression. He rubbed the back of his neck, not quite meeting Sengoku's eyes. "I was thinking I'd stay in Mary Geoise for another day or so. The New World situation is extremely volatile right now, and Queen Stussy likely has intelligence that hasn't been included in the official reports. I thought it would be valuable to conduct a more... thorough debrief."
He paused, then added quickly, "Official business. Purely official business, of course."
Sengoku didn't bother hiding his smirk. He could call Finn out on the transparent excuse, but what would be the point? Honestly, he approved. The stronger Finn's personal connection to Stussy, the more reliable she'd become as an intelligence asset. If that required the two of them spending time together, so be it.
"Do what you need to do," Sengoku said simply.
He turned and stepped into the elevator. The doors slid shut with a soft hiss, leaving Finn and Stussy alone in the corridor.
Finn watched the elevator descend, still smiling.
Then he blinked.
Wait. I didn't get on.
Back in the office of the Five Elders, the discussion had already returned to Doflamingo.
"That man didn't seek the Warlord position without purpose." Warcury's voice was cold, measured. Saint Warcury's eyes carried a cruel glint. "After staying quiet for so many years, building his little North Blue empire... he's making his move now. The question is, what does he really want?"
"Have we confirmed the situation with the rest of the Donquixote bloodline?" Saint Peter asked, his fingers steepled before him. "Are the other family members truly unusable?"
Mars, the Elder with the long beard, shook his head slowly. "We've tested them all. That bastard Doflamingo possesses the purest bloodline of this generation. The others are diluted to varying degrees. Inferior stock."
"They could only contribute if we extracted and pooled their blood en masse," Warcury added grimly.
Saint Peter's expression tightened almost imperceptibly. "Then it seems we have no choice but to keep him alive... for now."
Silence settled over the room for a moment. Then Saint Peter spoke again. "What about Vegapunk's Lineage Factor research? Is there any possibility his technology could bypass the bloodline requirement entirely? Allow us to activate Uranus directly?"
"We've been funding that research through multiple channels," Warcury confirmed. "Though given Vegapunk's intellect, he may have already deduced what we're truly after."
Nusjuro sighed, a rare show of weariness from the sword-bearing Elder. "It doesn't matter if he's guessed. What can he do with suspicions? Nothing. We simply need his Lineage Factor technology to reach maturity."
"Yes," Warcury agreed, and something cruel flickered in his eyes. "Once that happens, we'll no longer need to maintain such extensive bloodline reserves. We can finally deal with the Nefertari clan. And we can begin culling the useless Celestial Dragons cluttering Mary Geoise. Reduce our burden significantly."
If Finn had been present for this conversation, he would have been shocked.
He'd long suspected that Mary Geoise harbored terrible secrets. He'd theorized that Uranus, the most mysterious of the three Ancient Weapons, might be hidden somewhere within the Holy Land's walls.
The Five Elders' discussion confirmed both suspicions.
The Ancient Weapon capable of destroying the world, Uranus the King of Heaven, was real. And it belonged to the World Government.
According to ancient records, Uranus was an enormous spacecraft. Legends claimed it had been brought to this world by the moon people in ages long past, a weapon of incomprehensible power. Through circumstances lost to history, it had fallen into the possession of the Twenty Kings during the Void Century.
For over eight hundred years, it had been passed down as the ultimate guarantee of the World Government's supremacy. The final trump card.
But Uranus required activation. And activation required blood.
Specifically, it required the bloodlines of the Twenty Kings, the original founders of the World Government. Their descendants, the Celestial Dragons, were the only ones whose blood could interface with the Ancient Weapon's operating system.
Eight centuries of intermarriage and genetic drift had taken their toll, however. Most modern Celestial Dragons possessed bloodlines too diluted to activate Uranus individually. The purity simply wasn't there anymore.
Mary Geoise's leadership had discovered a workaround. What they lacked in quality, they made up for in quantity. By collecting and purifying blood from multiple diluted descendants, they could synthesize enough pure material to activate the weapon.
This was the real reason the Five Elders tolerated the existence of so many worthless Celestial Dragons. These pampered, incompetent parasites who caused endless problems and consumed vast resources... they were being kept as living blood banks.
When the time came, their blood could be harvested and refined to fuel Uranus, allowing the World Government to annihilate any threat to its rule.
Of course, the system maintained redundancies. Each major Celestial Dragon family retained a few individuals with exceptionally pure bloodlines. These rare specimens could activate Uranus with their blood alone, no purification necessary.
Doflamingo was one such pure-blooded individual from the Donquixote family.
This was why the Five Elders, despite their obvious fury at his repeated provocations, continued to spare him. He was too valuable as a backup option. A hidden chess piece they might need to play.
Doflamingo understood this dynamic perfectly. It was why he could be so fearless when dealing with the highest powers in the world.
What Doflamingo didn't know was that Mary Geoise's position was weaker than it appeared.
Uranus couldn't actually be activated at present.
The Twenty Kings had become Nineteen when the Nefertari family refused to ascend to Mary Geoise. They'd remained in Alabasta, and over the generations, their bloodline had grown weak. Only King Cobra and his daughter Vivi remained, and neither possessed the purity necessary for activation. Even pooled and purified, their blood was insufficient.
The Five Elders had originally planned to abduct them both for a forced breeding program, ensuring future generations of usable Nefertari blood.
Then Vegapunk's research into Lineage Factors had presented an alternative.
The technology stunned the Five Elders. If it reached full maturity, they could potentially bypass the bloodline requirement altogether. Activate Uranus through artificial genetic manipulation rather than harvesting Celestial Dragon blood.
If that became possible, the Nefertari family would become expendable.
In the original timeline, Vegapunk's Lineage Factor technology had indeed matured. The changes it enabled had prompted an assassination attempt against the "traitorous" Nefertari clan during a World Conference, though the attempt had apparently failed.
Around the same time, the Five Elders had stopped valuing Doflamingo and made plans to eliminate him in Impel Down.
As for the masses of useless Celestial Dragons still infesting Mary Geoise...
The Five Elders exercised more caution there. The world had grown accustomed to the existence of these parasites over eight centuries. If Mary Geoise suddenly began purging them en masse, it would raise questions. Create instability. Invite suspicion.
More pragmatically, the Five Elders refused to rely on a single method of activating Uranus. Redundancy was paramount. If Vegapunk's technology failed for any reason, they needed the traditional bloodline option available.
So the plan was to gradually reduce the Celestial Dragon population over time. Manage the transition smoothly. Cull the most worthless specimens while retaining enough useful bloodlines as insurance. Ease the burden without triggering a crisis.
Such were the secrets buried deep within Mary Geoise.
Warcury smiled suddenly, as if struck by a pleasant memory. "We should count ourselves fortunate that we placed Vegapunk with the Marine Science Unit at Punk Hazard. If we'd forced him to relocate to Mary Geoise immediately, that fire would have destroyed everything..."
Indeed, the original plan had been to position Vegapunk within the Marine Science Corps as temporary cover. After a transitional period, the Five Elders had intended to bring him directly to Mary Geoise for dedicated Lineage Factor research under their direct supervision.
Then Dragon and Fisher Tiger had attacked Mary Geoise and burned it to the ground.
Even now, the memory sent chills down their spines.
The incident had permanently altered their calculations. All five Elders now agreed: Vegapunk was safer with the Science Unit. Let the Marines protect him. Mary Geoise had proven itself vulnerable.
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