Marine HQ, Marineford.
On a leisurely afternoon, Sengoku was sitting on the balcony eating rice crackers. Gion had been right—his mood had been excellent lately.
Recently, reports had come in from Marine bases all over the world saying that a large number of bounty hunters had suddenly appeared.
At first, Sengoku had been puzzled. Weren't bounty hunters supposed to send captured pirates to the auction houses instead?
Ever since White Ghost left the Marines, those auction houses had gone back to normal. Sengoku himself had secretly continued the business on the side. The income wasn't huge, but even mosquito legs were still meat.
So he didn't hold back.
After all, the World Government was always causing trouble for the Marines.
If he did it quietly, so what? It wasn't like they had proof. And even if they did, Sengoku would just stiffen his neck and say Marine funding wasn't enough.
After that, the Five Elders couldn't be bothered arguing with him anymore.
In the end, the Marines' little side income was nowhere near enough anyway—they still depended on the World Government.
Letting the Marines make a little extra money was fine. At least it vented some of their resentment.
Back to the point—
Afterward, Sengoku had people investigate properly, and the results shocked him.
In the end, it turned out that many of these people were those with old injuries that couldn't be healed. They were going out and making money purely to buy the medicine in White Ghost's hands.
Of course, that situation had both good and bad sides.
Some pirates were also going crazy trying to get money for the medicine, attacking villages and kingdoms even more brutally than before.
Sengoku didn't care much about that part. Pirates raided countries all the time anyway.
Some pirate crews would just finish looting a place, their bounties would rise—and not long after, their heads would be delivered to a nearby Marine base in exchange for cash.
So Sengoku's feelings were mixed.
That brat's medicine had indirectly caused a lot of pirates to disappear.
A lot of people were happy about it too.
Take Whitebeard, for example.
Ever since his health recovered, he had been chopping Kaido down with just a few swings, scaring the hell out of people across the New World.
Because of that, Sengoku had once called White Ghost through the Den Den Mushi and cursed him out, strongly demanding that the medicine never again be sold to the Whitebeard Pirates.
At the time, White Ghost had only said one thing:
"Even if they don't buy it from me, would they stop taking it from someone else? They're pirates."
Sengoku had gone quiet after that.
Besides, White Ghost had already left the Marines. Sengoku wasn't in a position to say too much.
On the Marine side, only a handful of people could still really speak to that brat now.
Garp, relying on his thick skin, had shamelessly freeloaded a few bottles of medicine from White Ghost.
After Sengoku found out, he shamelessly asked Garp for some too.
As for Zephyr, Ain had given him several bottles, and the old man had accepted them with a smile.
Sengoku had originally wanted to get some from Zephyr as well, but Zephyr had said just one sentence:
"This was given to me by my disciple. I fought for the Marines my whole life. Can't I have something good for once?"
Sengoku had immediately been too embarrassed to ask again.
In the end, the medicine had been analyzed by the Marines. The conclusion was simple:
It was far too complicated.
They could identify only a few ingredients, while several others couldn't be determined at all.
At the time, Kizaru had lazily added from the side that, given White Ghost's personality, even if they knew the formula, they still wouldn't be able to manufacture it.
Sengoku agreed with Kizaru's judgment.
That thing was clearly White Ghost's core secret, so there was no point spending a huge sum trying to replicate it.
Whenever Sengoku thought about the medicine, he thought of White Ghost, and couldn't help cursing himself for not being thick-skinned enough back then.
Just look at what that brat had in his hands—Ancient Zoans, Mythical Zoans, Logias, all kinds of things, plus famous blades.
Back then, he should've opened his mouth like a lion.
Those two Mythical Zoans, Sengoku didn't dare dream about. If he had asked for them, White Ghost would have exploded on the spot.
But that Lightning Fruit?
That one, Sengoku definitely still dared to think about.
Fortunately, White Ghost didn't know what Sengoku was thinking. If he did, he'd probably transform into a dragon, fly straight to Marine HQ, and blast the place with a few heat breaths.
Sengoku was currently feeding rice crackers to his pet goat while drinking tea.
At that moment, Vice Admiral Tsuru walked over holding a stack of documents and handed them to him directly.
"This is the information we found."
Sengoku took the documents and offered her the rice crackers in his hand. Tsuru didn't stand on ceremony and started eating them right away.
As Sengoku flipped through the papers, his brows slowly furrowed. In the end, he let out a long sigh.
There wasn't much in the file.
It was about the weapons Contena had used the last time White Ghost fought Lampfire.
Those same weapons had now appeared in the Revolutionary Army's hands.
There weren't many of them, but their killing power was astonishing.
The royal armies of various kingdoms had been beaten so badly they couldn't even raise their heads.
"That brat really is connected to Dragon," Sengoku couldn't help cursing.
Tsuru dusted off her hands and said, "So what if we know? Can we restrict him? Or threaten him into not selling weapons to the Revolutionary Army?
"Besides, do we have any evidence that it was him who sold them?"
Sengoku rubbed at his temples.
A warning?
What use would that be?
That brat had an explosive temper. If they pushed him, he might just fall out with them on the spot.
If White Ghost were only an ordinary top-tier powerhouse, Sengoku wouldn't be so worried.
But that guy's mobility was far too strong.
And his crew—
Most of them could fly.
On top of that, there was a user of the Lightning Fruit, one of the most destructive Logias around.
And last time, they had even snatched someone away from White Ghost's hands.
That was no different from a tiger finally catching its prey, just about to enjoy the meal—only for someone else to suddenly come and steal food right out of its mouth.
How could that not be infuriating?
Sengoku sighed again.
"What the hell is wrong with this era? One after another, none of them know how to behave."
Tsuru asked, "How do we report this to the World Government?"
"How else? Just report it truthfully. There's no evidence proving White Ghost gave anything to Dragon," Sengoku said gloomily.
Tsuru nodded. "Then we'll report it that way. The Five Elders aren't fools. As long as White Ghost doesn't go too far, they'll probably turn a blind eye."
Sengoku nodded in agreement.
"There are plenty of people selling weapons on the seas. He's not the only one.
"Oh, right. Try contacting that brat. The Marines need some too."
Tsuru looked out at the sea, her expression helpless.
"You know that won't work. After what happened last time, he cut off contact with the Marines.
"At this point, only Zephyr and Garp can probably still reach him.
"Even Gion said it's hard to get in touch with him now."
Sengoku slapped his own forehead, feeling the ache coming on.
"What the hell is that brat trying to do? He doesn't want to be a pirate, and I refuse to believe he's just wandering around the Four Blues for fun."
Tsuru shook her head.
"I can't guess what he's planning either. The only thing I know is that his final goal is in the New World."
Sengoku stroked his goat's head and stared out at the sea, thinking silently:
The New World?
Three Emperors… and then one more?
Wouldn't that completely throw everything into chaos?
If that happened, the Marines would have even less room to intervene in the New World.
Sengoku turned to Tsuru.
"Where is that brat now? Still fooling around in the East Blue?"
Tsuru took another file and handed it to him.
Sengoku opened it.
"He's already entered the South Blue? Is he seriously planning to tour all four seas first, then head into the New World to carve out his own empire?"
Then Sengoku thought of the Red-Haired Pirates—the current plague in the New World, running around seizing territory everywhere.
His face immediately darkened. His good mood vanished on the spot, and he turned back to continue handling official business.
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