Shortly after, Shanks and his men slowly walked out of the cabin and immediately spotted Kyle and the CP0 agent up ahead.
Shanks was not at all surprised that CP0 would appear here, but he didn't say anything at this moment.
Kyle continued speaking into the Den Den Mushi.
"Saint Saturn, I'll now hand over the Red Hair Pirates to CP0, but speaking of which, there's one more thing I need to inform you about."
"Just now, someone impersonated CP0 in an attempt to abduct the Red Hair Pirates and also attacked us Marines, intending to kill us, so I killed them. Daring to impersonate CP0 is clearly disregarding the World Government, and executing such criminals is my duty."
"However, Saint Saturn, you don't need to thank me. Sharing your burdens and the Government's burdens is my responsibility."
...
"You did... very well!!!"
"I have important matters to attend to now, so I'll end the call here."
With that said, Saint Saturn hung up the Den Den Mushi directly, his expression somewhat grim.
A miscalculation.
That brat Kyle seems a bit restless, doesn't he?
He wouldn't turn out to be another troublemaker like Garp, would he?
No, probably not.
Saint Saturn shook his head.
From his interaction with Kyle, he could tell that Kyle was much more diplomatic than Garp.
Someone like him has the potential to become a blade for the World Government. Of course, exactly how to hone this blade to make it serve them would require careful consideration...
---
"Here! Give it back to you."
Kyle tossed the Den Den Mushi back to that CP0 agent. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he asked, "By the way, you two aren't fake CP0 agents, are you?"
Upon hearing this, the two instantly trembled and spoke without a moment's thought.
"Of course not, we're real, real ones!"
"It's impossible to call one of the Five Elders directly if we weren't, right?"
"That's true."
Kyle nodded.
"Alright, take the Red Hair Pirates and leave this warship."
Having achieved his goal, Kyle directly gave them their marching orders.
He had long anticipated that Shanks wouldn't be taken to Impel Down, especially after talking with him.
The Five Elders would definitely not allow such a thing to happen.
If that were the case, then he certainly couldn't stop it. Even if he forcibly escorted Shanks to Impel Down, Shanks would just be released, without a doubt.
Given that, this current outcome was actually better.
It didn't particularly offend the Five Elders, and he secured benefits for the Marines and himself. This was the best possible result.
Of course, if he had obediently followed orders and made no demands, the Five Elders would have been happier, but that was impossible.
Did he really consider himself a loyal subject?!
"Kyle, can you give Gryphon back? I can buy it with Berries at market price."
Suddenly, Shanks turned and asked Kyle.
Gryphon was a Supreme Grade Blade, one of the top swords in the world. A sword of this caliber was hard to come by.
But that was secondary; the most crucial part was what Gryphon represented. It was a sword Rayleigh had given him, and he had used it for so many years that he had grown attached to it.
Kyle cast a faint, indifferent glance at him.
"What kind of daydream are you having?"
"Besides, I don't want Berries."
"Then what do you want? I can trade another Supreme Grade Blade for it, or a Devil Fruit. Name it, as long as I can manage it and think it's reasonable, I can give it to you."
Shanks immediately followed up.
"You have another Supreme Grade Blade?"
Kyle raised an eyebrow.
"No, but I can go find one, steal one!"
"Then come find me when you have one. No deal for now."
Shanks' face showed difficulty; he wanted to say more, but Kyle spoke before him.
"If you keep yapping, you won't be able to leave."
Upon hearing this, the CP0 agent immediately urged, "Shanks, don't cause trouble. Let's go!!"
They didn't want to stay there a second longer and wished to leave immediately, yet this guy Shanks was still dawdling.
Seeing Kyle's attitude, Shanks didn't waste any more words. After giving Kyle a long, hard look, he turned and left.
He boarded the CP0 ship that had pulled up alongside and slowly sailed away.
Glancing at the ship sailing off into the distance, Kyle turned to Zephyr and said, "Let's go, Zephyr teacher. Return to Marine Headquarters."
"You little rascal, you dare blackmail the Five Elders?"
"Hey! Zephyr teacher, you can eat your words carelessly, but you can't speak carelessly. What blackmail? I just explained to Saturn the possible consequences if the Red Hair Pirates were 'rescued'."
"I didn't explicitly ask him for anything, you know!"
"You only didn't explicitly ask. Who couldn't understand your implication?"
"By the way, are they really going to release the Red Hair Pirates?"
Zephyr was a bit puzzled.
Hearing this, a faint smile curled on Kyle's lips.
"Zephyr teacher, that's where you're wrong. It's not a release, it's being 'rescued'. You'll know the specifics when the papers come out in a couple of days."
"There will definitely be some force appearing midway to rescue the Red Hair Pirates..."
---
A week later, Kyle and the others finally returned to Marineford.
What surprised him was that, besides many warships docked there, a pirate ship was also moored at the Marineford port.
Kyle was stunned for a moment. Since when could pirate ships dock at the Marine Headquarters port?
He looked up towards it. The Jolly Roger had a black background with a red sun pattern in the center.
With such distinctive features, there was no need to guess which pirate crew it belonged to.
The Sun Pirates!!
Instantly, memories of the Sun Pirates surfaced in Kyle's mind.
The Sun Pirates, founded by Fisher Tiger, who later died from refusing human blood transfusions.
After that, "Knight of the Sea" Jinbe became the second captain of the Sun Pirates, and then Jinbe accepted the World Government's invitation to become a Warlord.
Calculating the timeline, it was exactly the year 1514 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
Meaning, this was probably when Jinbe was becoming a Warlord?
Otherwise, Kyle couldn't think of any other reason the Sun Pirates could be appearing here so brazenly.
"Warlord..."
Kyle murmured softly.
He remembered that Jinbe's condition for becoming a Warlord was releasing Arlong, right?
"Arlong..."
Kyle's eyes narrowed slightly, a cold glint flickering within them.
...
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