Red Line, Holy Land Mary Geoise
Inside a spacious, brightly lit chamber within Pangaea Castle—the center of power of the World Government—the Gorosei sat in their respective positions.
Saint V. Nusjuro, the Warrior God of Finance, slammed a newspaper onto the table, a cold glint flashing in his sharp eyes.
"CP9 is a bunch of trash. They couldn't even capture a single runaway ability user."
The loss of a prisoner was certainly infuriating.
But what truly angered them was that the World Government had learned of the entire incident through the newspaper.
That was simply unforgivable.
Though they were unwilling to admit it, all signs pointed to one fact—their control over the seas was weakening.
Saint Saturn narrowed his eyes.
"Encountering a member of the Roger Pirates who has awakened Haoshoku Haki and eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit… we can't entirely blame them."
"The Ope-Ope no Mi user is still in Beelzebub's hands. Notify the Marines and have Kizaru dispatched. He must capture both Beelzebub and the fugitive alive."
"This arrangement will also help mislead the public."
"Seconded."
"Seconded."
Logically, for a strategic asset as important as the Ope-Ope no Mi, the God's Knights should have been deployed.
Only then could success be guaranteed.
However, both the Ope-Ope no Mi and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit allowed for high-speed, instantaneous movement. Within the World Government and the Marines, only Kizaru could counter such abilities.
In terms of speed, if the Glint-Glint Fruit ranked second, no one on the seas would dare claim first—not even the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Considering everything, Kizaru was the most suitable choice.
"Regarding the remaining members of the Roger Pirates…"
Saint Saturn paused.
"Send CP1 to warn Rayleigh. If anything like this happens again, the agreement between the Marines and Roger will be void."
"Seconded."
"Seconded."
Marineford
Inside the Admiral's office, Sengoku ended a Den Den Mushi call and looked at the man lazily trimming his nails.
"Kizaru."
"Head to Paradise immediately. The World Government orders the live capture of Beelzebub Astrix and the fugitive."
Kizaru put away his nail clippers, his expression drooping.
"Sengoku-san… what about my vacation?"
The man who loved slacking off the most had eaten the fruit that required the most work. Whenever something urgent happened, he was always the one sent out.
Sengoku gritted his teeth.
"Complete this mission, and I'll promote you to Admiral."
Kizaru's eyes lit up instantly.
Everything else was secondary—the real benefit was the salary increase to 10.8 million Berries a year.
That alone filled him with motivation.
"I'm leaving now."
Watching Kizaru transform into a beam of light and vanish, Sengoku rubbed his temples tiredly.
He had thought that Roger's public execution would at least suppress piracy for a while.
Being a pirate has no future. Even the Pirate King was captured and executed by the Marines.
But Roger's final words about the great treasure had thrown the entire world into chaos.
More and more people were setting out to sea to become pirates—even nobles.
As one side grew, the other weakened. Marine manpower was stretched thinner by the day.
"Roger… we were all played by you."
A week before his execution, Golden Lion had rampaged through Marineford, destroying over half the base. Countless Marines had died before he was finally imprisoned in Impel Down.
After Roger's death, most of his crew had remained quiet.
Only the Demon Heir, Bullet—and now Beelzebub Astrix—were stirring up trouble.
Fleet Admiral Kong was soon to depart for Mary Geoise to become Commander-in-Chief of the World Government forces.
From then on, the burden of the Marines would fall entirely on Sengoku.
Thinking of Garp, who was still enjoying himself in East Blue, Sengoku immediately grabbed the Den Den Mushi and roared:
"You bastard Garp!"
"Get back here right now!"
Why should he suffer through endless work while Garp relaxed on vacation?
As brothers, they should share the burden.
The Den Den Mushi mimicked Garp's face.
"Nani?"
"The agreed three-month vacation is only halfway done. If there's nothing urgent, I'm going back to sleep."
The call cut off.
Staring at the Den Den Mushi, Sengoku removed his seagull hat and grabbed his afro in frustration.
"Forget it… Garp has worked hard all these years capturing Roger. Even if there's no merit, there's effort."
Paradise, waters near Jaya Island
"Captain."
The doctor bowed slightly.
"For the sake of my cleaning and night shifts these past few days… please show some mercy and remove these Seastone handcuffs."
At the bow, Astrix deactivated his Thunder Sword, clearly in a poor mood.
"Don't ask me. I'm a Devil Fruit user—I can't remove Seastone handcuffs."
He was only a hair's breadth away from unleashing a Flying Slash—but that final step still eluded him.
The doctor probed cautiously.
"Then… could you ask Mr. Mihawk?"
If he couldn't remove the handcuffs, escape was impossible.
It wasn't that following Astrix was bad—but after this failure, the World Government would undoubtedly send stronger forces.
The doctor neither wanted to die nor be captured again.
When he first ate the Ope-Ope no Mi, he had been full of hope—wanting to heal others in his hometown.
But because of that very fruit, his home was destroyed, and he was captured.
He had barely escaped to Alabasta in the chaos, only to fall into CP's hands.
He had thought Astrix would be his savior.
Instead, he had become a prisoner once again.
What troubled him most was this—
after reaching the waters near Jaya Island, Astrix had stopped advancing and was lingering in the area.
"Captain… are you looking for something?"
Astrix raised his binoculars.
"Yeah. Go mop the deck. Don't block my view."
To reach Sky Island, one had to ride the Knock-Up Stream.
Setting aside the danger, even encountering it was extremely rare.
It was purely a matter of luck.
Astrix decided to wait a little longer.
If he still couldn't find it, he would go up himself and use the golden pillar to purchase Musou Isshin.
The reason he had chosen to travel by ship was mainly to build rapport with Mihawk.
Some crews relied on strength to maintain order.
Some relied on emotions.
Others relied on shared interests.
Captain Astrix…wanted all of them.
Since his current strength wasn't enough to dominate, building relationships and aligning interests became crucial.
With the Rocks Pirates as a negative example, he had to learn from history.
Within half a day, the surrounding sea experienced extreme weather in rapid succession—clear skies, violent storms, lightning, and thunder.
As night fell, Astrix still hadn't found the Knock-Up Stream.
"Mihawk, stay on the ship for now. I'll go up first and scout the way."
Lightning split the darkness.
Astrix transformed into a streak of azure electricity and shot straight into the sky.
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