The time is 9:00 AM, 54 hours before Portgas D. Ace's public execution.
Marineford has gathered nearly 100,000 Marine elites. The ordinary residents of the residential area—the families of the Marine Soldiers—are scheduled to evacuate today.
The entirety of Marineford seemed very busy. On his way to the cafeteria, Taro encountered several groups of evacuating civilians; they will be evacuated to Sabaody Archipelago. At the pier, Marine transport ships are standing by.
The war is getting closer!
"Buri buri buri"
"Taro, come to my office for a moment!" Sengoku's voice came through.
Taro: "..."
I haven't even had my damn breakfast yet!
...At the door of Sengoku's office.
Taro held a bowl of noodles in one hand and two bags of buns in the other, with another bun in his mouth, staring blankly at the guards.
Seeing Taro's gesture to open the door, the two guards had expressions like they were constipated.
Helpless, Taro reached out his foot to kick the door, and only then did the guards hurriedly knock for him.
"Come in!"
After the door opened, Taro walked in casually.
"Taro, how dare you!" Sengoku's veins bulged with anger seeing Taro like this.
Taro chewed a few more times and swallowed the bun. "Marshal, I couldn't help it. You called me before I even had breakfast!"
In the room, Garp, Tsuru, and the Three Admirals were all present. Akainu's face darkened, while Garp laughed loudly.
Vice Admiral Tsuru gave Taro a sharp look. "Alright, everyone is here. Let's talk business."
Walking to a small table and putting down his breakfast, Taro asked Garp with his eyes if he wanted some. Garp laughed and waved the senbei in his hand.
Taro shrugged and started eating on his own.
"Now, 100,000 Marine elites have completed their assembly, and the Science Unit has also arrived. Along with the five Seven Warlords of the Sea already waiting at Mary Geoise, our deployment is complete!"
Sengoku said in a deep voice, then paused and rubbed his forehead helplessly. "What's hateful is that Pirate Empress, who refuses the summons!"
Taro knew the Empress would eventually come, so he wasn't worried at all. He buried his head and ate the noodles heartily.
"Slurp, slurp!"
The sound of slurping noodles made Sengoku even angrier. He slapped the desk and roared, "Taro!"
Taro was eating with his head down. Startled by Sengoku's roar, he almost face-planted into the bowl. He turned his head and looked at Sengoku blankly.
"Huh?"
Seeing Taro's expression, Sengoku gritted his teeth in hatred.
"When you're finished eating, get lost to Amazon Lily, support Vice Admiral Momonga, and capture Boa Hancock!"
Taro wiped his mouth and said calmly, "Marshal, she'll come. Just wait a bit longer."
Seeing everyone looking at him, Taro had to give an explanation.
"Although Amazon Lily is in the Calm Belt, Marine warships are not affected by it. Attacking Amazon Lily is easy for us."
Sengoku nodded. "Go on."
"As far as I know, only the Empress's ship is towed by two giant snakes to navigate the Calm Belt!"
"In other words, once war breaks out, Amazon Lily is a dead end with no escape. As the ruler of a nation, she must have this much foresight."
"So, she will come."
After Taro finished speaking, he noted the expressions of the two tacticians.
At this time, Kizaru, who had been clipping his nails, spoke up. "As expected of the ink dragon, how scary. To analyze so much in such a short time."
Damn, this old schemer is being sarcastic again!
After thinking for a while, Vice Admiral Tsuru also accepted Taro's judgment. She looked at him. "Then what is her purpose for doing this?"
"Pirates, what other purpose could they have? They just want to show their value so that we Marines take them more seriously!"
Taro made up some nonsense. He couldn't say it was for Luffy!
Akainu snorted after hearing Taro's words but didn't speak.
Taro continued to bluff, "I think that Pirate Empress will eventually make a request that makes us feel awkward but is actually harmless."
Hearing this, Sengoku was slightly stunned. "What request?"
"I don't know that. I'm not a pirate, how can I guess what they're thinking?" Taro shrugged.
"The request itself isn't important; it's just about showing an attitude."
Sengoku nodded. "That woman is very strong. If she can come, our strength will be even greater, and victory will be more guaranteed."
You're overthinking it, Marshal. When this woman comes, she won't just be slacking off; she'll be openly throwing the game!
Taro complained in his heart, then realized he also planned to act, so his expression became strange.
He didn't know that his changing expression was being watched by Garp and Aokiji, who hadn't spoken.
Especially Aokiji, who had been pretending to sleep with his eye mask on since Taro entered the office. At some point, he had pulled up his eye mask slightly, and now his gaze toward Taro was sharp.
After finishing his analysis, Taro lowered his head again and focused on finishing his breakfast. The room fell silent for a moment.
After an unknown amount of time, Taro had finished breakfast and was getting sleepy when the office's den den mushi rang.
"Buri buri buri"
"Marshal, this is Momonga. Boa Hancock has accepted our summons, but she has one condition."
Sengoku picked up the den den mushi. Hearing Vice Admiral Momonga's words, he couldn't help but glance at Taro before saying:
"What condition?"
"She demands to go to Impel Down to see Ace!"
Sure enough, it's here. Luffy is coming!
Taro's eyes narrowed.
Aokiji saw Taro's expression and began to think.
He thought Sengoku would need to consider it for a long time or discuss it with everyone, but surprisingly, Sengoku agreed readily. "Agree to her terms!"
After hanging up the phone, Sengoku looked at Taro. "It turned out exactly as you predicted!"
Vice Admiral Tsuru also looked at Taro with admiration. "Ace is a key figure now. Her wanting to see him does put us in a difficult position, but she has no connection with the Whitebeard Pirates or Ace, so seeing him once doesn't matter!"
"Taro, everything is within your expectations!"
Taro waved his hand and smiled modestly. "Hehe, just a lucky guess, a lucky guess!"
Aokiji suddenly spoke up.
"Taro, since you're so good at guessing, do you think we will win this war?"
As soon as Aokiji threw out this question, everyone looked at Taro.
Taro felt his scalp tingle. Win? Win my ass! But how the hell am I supposed to answer this?
When Taro didn't answer immediately, Aokiji changed his question. "Can we defeat Whitebeard?"
This question was much easier to answer.
Without thinking, Taro said, "Yes!"
Hearing this answer, Sengoku and Akainu were very satisfied. Garp's eyes darkened slightly, while Vice Admiral Tsuru, Kizaru, and Aokiji were lost in thought.
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