An 11-fold return.
Looking at the carcass of the Sea King, which stretched 800 meters across the ocean surface, Sean immediately lost interest.
Despite its massive size, an 11-fold increase in yield wasn't enough to meet the standards of Type 2 Jerky.
It was a bit of a waste, as Sea Kings over 500 meters weren't something one could encounter anywhere and everywhere, even within the Calm Belt.
Regardless, a single specimen like this was enough to cover the needs of the ordinary Marines in the New World for over a month.
After giving Blueno a few instructions, Sean departed.
'''
The following day.
Countless News Coos flew toward every island across the sea.
The latest edition of the World Economic Journal instantly set the entire world ablaze.
[New World Marines Launch Operation Thunder; Former Warlord Doflamingo Killed]
[The Detailed Process of How Doflamingo Usurped a Kingdom]
[Monogamy Became a Joke in Dressrosa]
[The People Headquarters Marines Dared Not Kill... The New World Marines Say: "We Dare"]
[Enies Lobby Invaded by Pirates, but the Force that Destroyed It Was the Headquarters Marines]
[A Buster Call Returns, but This Time the Target Was One of the Three Major Marine Institutions]
[The Pirates Who Invaded Enies Lobby are the Straw Hat Crew, Who Were Personally Arrested Twice by Fleet Admiral Sean]
...
The entire newspaper was almost entirely dominated by these two events.
One exposed the darkness of Dressrosa and the swift strike of Operation Thunder. The other highlighted the absurdity of the disaster caused by the Headquarters Marines.
Morgans had even included a special note based on inside information. It claimed that the Buster Call was triggered because Aokiji, during his tenure as an Admiral, had granted the authority to initiate a Buster Call to the then-Chief of Enies Lobby.
Two years ago, that so-called Chief was dismissed due to his involvement in a case involving the Campbell family of the East Blue.
However, at that time, Admiral Aokiji had forgotten to retrieve the Den Den Mushi used to trigger the Buster Call.
Consequently, the current Chief, in a state of panic during the pirate invasion, mistakenly grabbed the Buster Call Den Den Mushi, and thus...
The situation was so bizarre that everyone who read the paper was left speechless.
'Wait, so the pirates that Fleet Admiral Sean caught twice and sent back to Headquarters ended up escaping?'
'And they didn't just escape; they triggered the Enies Lobby incident yesterday.'
'The most ridiculous part is that because of Aokiji's mistake, a Buster Call was launched...'
'And finally, the most unacceptable part: after the Buster Call was activated, it didn't just fail to wipe out the Straw Hat Crew—it sank Enies Lobby and killed ten thousand of its own Marines?'
'Just how incompetent are the Headquarters Marines to pull off something this stupid?'
'And the culprit behind it all is now the new Fleet Admiral of Headquarters?'
Public opinion exploded instantly.
However, the other event in the same issue provided a stark contrast.
While many people were vaguely aware of Doflamingo's usurpation, almost none of the common folk knew the details. In Dressrosa, many people had even viewed Doflamingo as a hero.
But now that the paper was out, the entire process of the coup and the hidden darkness of Dressrosa shocked the entire world.
'There's actually a Devil Fruit with a terrifying ability like the Hobby-Hobby Fruit?'
'So, King Riku was framed back then?'
'The World Government knew all of this and chose to remain silent?'
'Good grief, Doflamingo was actually a Celestial Dragon?'
The Headquarters Marines knew as well, but they dared not act because of Doflamingo's identity?
Such discussions spread rapidly across every island.
Of course, with the reports of the Enies Lobby incident serving as a foil, the most discussed point was...
Look at the New World Marines...
They don't care if you're a Celestial Dragon; if you do something evil, they'll take you down!
Now look at the Headquarters Marines. They were invaded by five rookie pirates at Enies Lobby, and then, because of the Fleet Admiral's blunder, a Buster Call was triggered.
Worst of all, after a full Buster Call, they didn't kill a single pirate, but instead wiped out ten thousand of their own men.
Comparing the two, the Headquarters Marines were absolute trash!
Normally, reporting either the Enies Lobby incident or the Dressrosa event alone would have caused a stir, but it wouldn't have reached this level.
But when the two were reported simultaneously, creating such a vivid contrast, the public outcry became a supernova.
At this moment, Morgans was grinning so hard his mouth nearly curved into a circle.
He had already predicted that sales would explode and had tripled the print run. Yet, he realized he had still underestimated the reaction.
Excited shouts to "increase the print run immediately!" continued to echo from Morgans' office.
'''
At the same time, the Five Elders were starting to get a headache.
"That fellow Morgans really dares to report everything. Contact him immediately and tell him to stop the follow-up reports. We need to cool this down!"
"That might be difficult. Although he cooperates with us, he likely won't yield when it comes to what news he reports."
"Then issue a CP order and kill him!" the blond Elder roared in fury.
The other four sighed softly.
If they could, they would have done so long ago.
After all, the man was one of the emperors of the underworld. If they moved against him, they would push the entire underworld to the opposing side of the World Government.
More importantly, even if they didn't fear the fallout with the underworld, killing Morgans wasn't easy. The World Government had yet to discover his usual hiding places.
"Setting Morgans aside for a moment, there are several problems we must handle immediately!"
"First, since the paper's release, more than forty Affiliated Nations have contacted the World Government demanding an explanation regarding Dressrosa."
"Second, according to reports from CP agents, calls for Aokiji to step down are currently echoing throughout the world."
"Third... Doflamingo was killed by Akainu. What should we do about the location of 'that thing'?"
The eldest of the group, the curly-haired Elder, spoke up.
Indeed, the World Government was in a bind.
The first problem was manageable; if worst came to worst, they could just replace the Fleet Admiral. It wouldn't matter who took the position as long as they were obedient.
But the second problem was a real headache.
What did the Dressrosa incident prove?
It proved that the World Government had openly condoned a pirate's usurpation of a kingdom.
What would the other Affiliated Nations think?
It was Dressrosa today; would they be next?
If this wasn't handled correctly, it could cause a violent tremor in the World Government's system of rule.
As for the third problem, that was the most troublesome of all.
The item Doflamingo held was, for the Celestial Dragons...
It was incredibly important; if it were to fall into the wrong hands... it would be truly dangerous.
'''
The day after the incidents in Dressrosa and Enies Lobby were exposed, the World Government announced that Aokiji was relieved of his position as Fleet Admiral, with Kizaru succeeding him. Simultaneously, Tokikake was promoted to Admiral of the Marine Headquarters.
While Tokikake was far from possessing the strength of a true Admiral, the Headquarters currently only needed to handle pirates in the Four Seas and Paradise—the first half of the Grand Line. Thus, his strength was sufficient to suppress his assigned territory; lowering the entry threshold slightly didn't matter.
Otherwise, with Akainu having departed for the New World, Aokiji dismissed, and Kizaru becoming Fleet Admiral, the Headquarters would be left without a single Admiral.
As for why Aokiji didn't remain an Admiral after stepping down... the man had simply left the Marine immediately upon receiving the order, and his current whereabouts were unknown.
However, Sean knew that Aokiji was incapable of betraying the Marine to join the pirates or the Revolutionary Army. Therefore, his path likely mirrored the original story... he had probably joined the Sword unit.
Because of this, Sean couldn't help but sigh. Even without Akainu in the picture, this guy just wasn't destined to be Fleet Admiral.
Regarding the matter of Doflamingo, the Five Elders dispatched special agents into Dressrosa to search for a certain dangerous item belonging to him, requesting the cooperation of King Riku and Sean. Neither King Riku nor Sean refused the request.
What the Five Elders didn't know, however, was that at that very moment, inside the Fleet Admiral's office at the New World Marine Headquarters, Sean was examining Princess Violet and an object she had brought.
It was a box, and inside was a small, high-tech device. The device bore an emblem—the exclusive crest of the Donquixote Family, one of the twenty families of the Celestial Dragons!
"I don't know exactly what this is, but I happened to discover that Doflamingo had hidden this thing in a secret location using the power of the Glare-Glare Fruit," Princess Violet explained. "Thinking it might be useful to you, Fleet Admiral Sean, I retrieved it and brought it back with Admiral Akainu."
Hearing this, Sean nodded. Although he didn't know its specific function, based on what Princess Violet said, this item must have been very important to Doflamingo. Could this be the leverage he used to threaten the Five Elders?
"Senior Sakazuki, who else knows about this item?"
"No one. Only Princess Violet and I know," Akainu replied, shaking his head.
"Good. This matter ends here. No one else can know, especially not the Five Elders!"
"Sean, do you know what this is?" Akainu asked, curious.
"I'm not sure, but if I'm guessing correctly, this is likely why Doflamingo could be so arrogant and why the World Government compromised so many times," Sean replied. "Furthermore, the mark on it is the crest of the Donquixote Family among the Celestial Dragons. Until we figure out its purpose, we absolutely cannot let the Five Elders know."
"After all, our goal is not the limited justice of the former Marine, but a Justice that Reigns Over All!"
"And the Celestial Dragons... they will eventually be our target as well!"