Marine Headquarters, Fleet Admiral's Office.
The office was silent, the atmosphere very oppressive.
Kizaru leaned his hands on his knees, Vice Admiral Tsuru frowned slightly, and Sengoku paced back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back.
Even the usually boisterous Garp was unusually quiet, his expression somewhat serious.
In their hearts, they all pondered one question.
Where exactly did Zephyr go?
Even if he encountered a powerful enemy, it was impossible for him not to even have time to contact Headquarters.
"Could he have run into an ultra-large Sea King and been swallowed? If so, that would explain the lack of Den Den Mushi signal."
After a long silence, Garp spoke in a deep voice.
No one replied; Sengoku seemed to be waiting for something.
Another ten minutes passed before the office door finally knocked. Sengoku quickly walked over and opened it.
Outside the door, a panting Marine Commander Brandnew stood holding a thick stack of documents.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, all the information you requested is here."
"Mhm, you may go."
Sengoku nodded, took the documents from his hand, turned, and walked to the sofa, placing the documents on the coffee table in front of him.
"What's this?" Garp picked up the closest stack of documents in confusion, scanned a few pages, and his pupils suddenly constricted slightly.
Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had been silent, found a photograph from that stack of documents.
The photo showed a small town with flowers everywhere and wooden houses lining the streets.
At first glance, the town was filled with vibrant flowers and trees, and one could even see leisurely cats and dogs lying comfortably in front of shops, dozing.
But upon closer inspection, one would notice that there wasn't a single resident visible in the town in the photo.
It was as if the photographer had specifically asked all the residents on the entire street to leave when taking the picture.
Kizaru also picked up a few photos.
The photos also depicted villages, islands, and towns.
But all these photos, without exception, shared one commonality: they showed not a single human figure.
Vice Admiral Tsuru placed the photo on the coffee table. Facing Kizaru's and Garp's confused gazes, she explained: "This is information related to recent population disappearances that our General Staff Office, in conjunction with the World Government, compiled overnight."
"Population disappearances? Why are you investigating this?" Garp was puzzled, but quickly caught on, frowning: "Do you mean to say that Zephyr's disappearance is related to the missing ordinary people in these towns?"
"But many of these village disappearances are clearly related to the countless human trafficking incidents at sea," Kizaru said, picking up a document about pirates abducting people and selling them to slave masters.
Sengoku tapped on a photo placed in the center of the coffee table with his index finger, drawing their gazes. He said in a deep voice: "Little Tsuru and I also considered the issue you raised. Therefore, all the missing person cases appearing here have undergone thorough screening. These cases occurred in the Grand Line, not far from the Calm Belt, especially within a thousand-mile radius of Alabasta. I had Brandnew organize manpower to conduct a thorough study of these cases, and ultimately, all clues pointed here."
The photo he tapped with his index finger was actually a simplified map.
On the map, the most prominent feature was the Red Line, which occupied half the page.
Marked on the right side of the Red Line with an X-shaped mark was Reverse Mountain.
Ahead was a large expanse of brownish-yellow land, and the largest landmass among them was clearly the Alabasta Kingdom.
And a small mark, specially highlighted with a red marker, clinging closely to the Red Line and less than a few tenths the size of Alabasta, had three characters written on it.
Garp read out those three characters.
"Mushibugyo Country?" (Bug Kingdom)
His brows knitted together.
"Never heard of this place."
"It's normal that you haven't heard of it," Sengoku said, looking at the simple map. "This country only appeared in the Grand Line a few years ago. If it weren't for its sudden application and acceptance into the World Government's affiliated nations a year ago, even our Marine intelligence wouldn't have collected any information about this suddenly appearing kingdom before then."
"Affiliated nation? What does that have to do with population disappearances?"
Garp picked up document after document, scanning them, growing more alarmed with each one.
Just in the documents he had read, there were already over ten thousand accumulated missing persons cases, involving dozens of large and small settlements.
"Of course, it's related. You see, with such a massive number of missing person cases, even the World Government would investigate carefully. And after multiple investigations and concerns, CP agents discovered that all the missing people eventually went here. Furthermore, when the CP investigators entered this small country, which is backed by the Red Line, they also found those missing people..." Sengoku pointed again to the red circle on the map.
"So, this affiliated nation called Mushibugyo Country is actually a gathering place for slave traders disguised as an affiliated nation? And the higher-ups approved their application for affiliated status? What are the Five Elders thinking? Is it really just about the money?" Garp's face showed clear anger.
"Not quite."
Sengoku, however, shook his head and continued: "The CP investigators initially thought so too, but later, after questioning, they learned from those who had been trafficked there that they had voluntarily remained in Mushibugyo Country, becoming residents of that kingdom, and no one forced them."
Vice Admiral Tsuru added: "Everyone says the same thing, including the king of Mushibugyo Country."
"King?" Kizaru scratched his head, not understanding.
"Meaning, everyone in that country gathered there from other places. This method of gathering included human trafficking, human selling, pirates sailing the seas, adventurers venturing out, and merchants engaging in maritime trade. Even their king came from somewhere else."
As Vice Admiral Tsuru spoke, she pulled another photo from the documents and placed it in front of them.
The person in the photo was familiar to everyone present.
Garp froze.
"Isn't that Rorschach?"
The photo showed Rorschach standing on the ruined street of the Kingdom of Prince's capital.
Vice Admiral Tsuru chuckled: "It's him, but what I want you to see is the corpse lying at his feet."
"Corpse?" Garp picked up the photo and looked closely, discovering that indeed, there was a robust but terribly deceased corpse at Rorschach's feet.
Before he could ask, Vice Admiral Tsuru said: "The owner of this corpse is Mig Jones, who originated from this Mushibugyo Country and once served as the captain of that country's army."
Garp held the photo, still confused: "So, what does this have to do with Zephyr's disappearance? Are you suspecting that Zephyr also went to this Mushibugyo Country?"
"We don't know," Sengoku shook his head. "It's just a suspicion due to the geographical location and the connection to the missing population."
"Since there's already a suspicion, why don't we just send someone to check it out?" Garp suggested.
Kizaru stood up, lazily saying, "How about I go take a look?"
Sengoku waved his hand, "No need, I've already sent Aokiji. He'll go to this Bug Kingdom, and Rorschach will search the Calm Belt. With both methods, a warship as large as Zephyr's couldn't possibly disappear into thin air. I believe we'll get news soon."
On this day, above the perpetually calm waters of the Calm Belt, a massive warship, like a seagull soaring through the sky, spread its wide wings and plunged from hundreds of meters high, heavily slamming into the sparkling sea surface.
The hundred-meter-long hull crashed down, immediately splashing waves over ten meters high, scattering water all around.
The tremendous impact sound attracted the gaze of the most common natives of the Calm Belt: Sea Kings.
"Brother Rorschach! Sea King approaching on the right!"
Hibari, standing at the top of the crow's nest, instantly spotted a massive black shadow rapidly approaching beneath the distant sea surface.
Without Hibari's reminder, Rorschach, who had returned to his human form and hastily changed into a Marine uniform, had already noticed the unusual activity around them.
He didn't even need to use his Observation Haki to sense it.
Because a mountain-sized wave had already risen on the sea surface outside the Kirin.
"Palmer! Stabilize the helm!"
Rorschach instructed Palmer, who was standing behind him, gripping the helm, then turned to face the colossal creature, as large as a mountain, estimated to be no less than five hundred meters in size by sight alone.
Splash!
Waves taller than the Kirin surged rapidly, making the warship beneath their feet rock violently in the seawater.
Rorschach spread his palm, and faint electric flashes sparked in his palm. A golden hair tie wrapped around his silver hair melted into golden liquid, flowing out and onto his palm.
The golden liquid twisted, quickly forming a golden sphere, which was then encased in a hazy electrical glow.
Roar!
The rising colossal wave peak burst open, and a two-hundred-meter-diameter maw emerged from it. Under Bepo and the others' terrified gazes, it let out a deafening roar, snapping and swallowing towards the Kirin.
And at that very instant, the electric-entwined golden sphere in Rorschach's hand shot out with a whoosh.
The golden sphere flew with such incredible speed that, across the entire Kirin, no one's vision, except for Eneru's lightning-enhanced Observation Haki, could possibly catch that golden blur.
The next moment, what appeared before everyone's eyes was the Sea King's gaping maw, now pierced through from front to back, with a fifty-meter-diameter tunnel of flesh and blood.
Only then did a buzzing electrical noise reach their ears.
Ignoring the shocked gazes of the soldiers, Rorschach splayed the fingers of his right hand. Invisible air currents rapidly converged, forming a massive air barrier. With a powerful impact, it slammed into the Sea King's corpse, which was still falling undiminished towards the Kirin.
With a dull thud, the Kirin slid back several hundred meters across the sea surface, while the Sea King in front was stopped by an immense force and slammed into the sea.
Exploding seawater splashed everywhere, and large amounts of bloody water, thick with the smell of gore, poured out from the breached body of the fat-headed fish-shaped Sea King, quickly dyeing the sea within a thousand meters a crimson red.
"Start the paddle wheels! Let's get out of here." Rorschach waved his hand.
"Yes, sir!" Bepo led his team into the ship's cabin to start the steam paddle wheels.
Presumably, the strong smell of blood here would soon attract more Sea Kings.
Whoosh.
A golden sphere flew from a distance, quietly hovering in front of Rorschach. With a casual gesture, he transformed it into long golden threads, which automatically flew to the back of his head, encircling his flowing silver hair, pulling it together, and reforming into a golden ring-like hair tie.
He turned around and looked at Eneru, Hibari, and Law, who were standing on the deck.
"To expand our search range, we'll now split into three groups. Eneru and I can both fly, and our Observation Haki range is wide enough. We'll split up and search forward. Law, you and Hibari stay on the Kirin, follow the central axis of the Calm Belt, and move forward. If you discover anything unusual, contact me immediately via Den Den Mushi."
"Mhm, Brother Rorschach, please be careful," Hibari said solemnly.
Rorschach nodded, and strong winds swirled around his body. With a leap into the sky, he shot up from the Kirin's deck and swiftly flew towards the distant sky on the left.
Eneru's body crackled into tiny electrical arcs, disappearing from the ship. When he reappeared, he was already hundreds of meters up in the sky, flying towards the right side of the sea.
Meanwhile, the Kirin activated its steam paddle wheels and sailed straight ahead.
A few minutes later, above the sea area about twenty kilometers to the left of the Kirin, Rorschach's body was supported by invisible air, flying at high speed through the vast sky.
Small electrical arcs surged from within his body, extending in all directions, amplifying his Observation Haki's range several times, easily covering an ultra-large sea area with a radius of twenty kilometers and the sky above it.
Every scene within his Observation Haki's range was clearly perceived by Rorschach, and even seen with his eyes.
Compared to other people's Observation Haki, which could only roughly sense the aura, emotions, and energy fluctuations of other things.
Rorschach's Observation Haki, amplified by the power of lightning, formed an ultra-wide-range monitoring effect, similar to a God's Eye view.
The electrical currents extending and flowing in the surrounding air were his eyes.
Eneru's "Mantra" (Mind Network) worked on the same principle.
Under this ultra-wide-range perception, Rorschach's search efficiency was very high. In just half a day, he meticulously searched every inch of the sea area to the left of the Kirin.
Unfortunately, apart from seeing some traces of Sea Kings, he found nothing.
The vastness of the Calm Belt made even Rorschach, with his abundant stamina, feel a little fatigued.
Both controlling air currents for flight and using Observation Haki required stamina.
After searching for another two hours, as the sky over the Calm Belt began to darken, Rorschach sighed and stopped in mid-air.
After searching for so long, neither Law nor Eneru had called him on the Den Den Mushi, indicating they likely hadn't found anything either.
Thinking this, Rorschach, while manipulating the air currents to fly towards the central axis of the Calm Belt, pulled out Hibari's Den Den Mushi from his pocket and dialed her.
He retracted the electrical currents flowing in the surrounding air to avoid interfering with the Den Den Mushi's communication.
"Purupurupuru, purupurupuru..."
The Den Den Mushi rang for over ten seconds, but no one answered.
An ominous premonition gradually rose in Rorschach's heart.
Oh no!
Something happened to Hibari's group!
(End of Chapter)
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