At Marine Headquarters, in Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, here is the latest battle report," Aokiji said, handing a stack of documents to Sengoku.
"Ooh, I've got quite a stack myself~" Kizaru added with a lazy smile, his own pile just as thick.
"Hmph. It's not enough," Akainu growled, holding the largest stack of reports of all.
His expression was fierce, clearly unsatisfied.
"There are still too many pirates in the sea. We cannot let our guard down until every last one of them is eliminated!"
"Good, good. At the current pace, our efficiency is already terrifying," Sengoku said, his face beaming with a rare smile.
With another Admiral-class Seraphim, the anywhere door and an Admiral now wielding two Devil Fruit abilities, the Marines had become an overwhelming force across the world.
Victories were pouring in one after another.
They had not only dealt with countless pirate crews but had even begun reclaiming territories from the Four Emperors and the Revolutionary Army.
With a record like this, what more could Sengoku ask for?
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, what about the Straw Hat kid?" Akainu suddenly asked in a deep voice.
"Didn't you send a Seraphim after him?"
Recently, Straw Hat Luffy had caused a massive incident at Enies Lobby, openly declaring war on the World Government.
It was a grave insult to the world, the government, and the Marines.
How could Akainu, who held the Marines' prestige above all else, tolerate such a thing?
At the mention of this, a helpless expression crossed Sengoku's face.
He shook his head.
"He managed to escape the vicinity of Enies Lobby and is currently missing..."
As soon as he said this, almost everyone's gaze shifted to Garp.
They all knew what had likely happened; Garp had secretly helped his grandson.
As colleagues for many years, Sengoku could only sigh.
"Hahahahaha! Have some rice crackers!" Garp laughed loudly, acting as if nothing was wrong and offering the snack around the room.
The others were caught between laughter and exasperation.
Only Akainu let out a cold snort, giving Garp a look of deep dissatisfaction, which the old Vice Admiral simply ignored.
"Hah..." Sengoku shook his head and was about to continue when suddenly, his Den Den Mushi began to ring.
"Yes?" Sengoku answered.
The next moment, a panicked shout erupted from the other end.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku!! The G-7 base is under attack by the Beast Pirates! Requesting support, requesting support!!"
It was the voice of the Vice Admiral stationed there, his voice filled with extreme anxiety!
In an instant, the expression on every face in the room changed drastically.
"What happened?!" Sengoku shot to his feet, his face turning ashen.
In response to his question, only a shrill scream came from the Den Den Mushi before the call went dead.
"Hello?! Hello!!" Realizing the line was cut, Sengoku's face contorted with furious killing intent.
"What's the situation?" Garp's expression turned grim, the veins on his forehead bulging.
"Why would the Beast Pirates suddenly attack the G-7 base? With our current deployments, even if Kaido led the attack himself, a sneak attack like this shouldn't be possible... unless they have a new method!"
"Could it be that the Beast Pirates have developed some new technology of their own?" Tsuru said coldly, her eyes flickering.
"I don't know, but now is not the time to consider that," Sengoku gritted his teeth and ordered coldly.
"We're going to G-7 now! Move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
Opening a door, they stepped through and arrived at their destination instantly.
The sight that greeted them was one of total devastation.
The entire base had collapsed into rubble, and countless Marine soldiers lay dead or wounded on the ground.
Even the base's Vice Admiral was lying in a pool of blood, his fate unknown.
"Search the area! Find where the Beast Pirates went and bring them to me!" Sengoku roared, his face a mask of fury.
"Over there!" Kizaru called out.
Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.
In the distance, a group of Beast Pirates was retreating through a pink door of their own.
"What?! they have an anywhere door too?!" Sengoku and the others stared in furious disbelief.
They never imagined that such an advanced piece of technology could have been replicated by Kaido's crew.
Vegapunk himself had said that the space-traversing technology was nearly impossible to copy.
How did they manage it?
"Hey, the Marines are here," King, one of Kaido's top commanders, noted calmly from beside the door.
Queen, standing next to him, shook his bulky body and gave them a taunting wave, his face twisted in a mocking sneer.
He was showing off, making it clear they could also come and go as they pleased.
"...Damn you!" Seeing this, even the normally composed Sengoku's face turned ugly with rage.
"You want to die!!" Akainu roared, lunging forward without hesitation.
"Inugami Guren!!"
The power of the Magu Magu no Mi erupted from his hands, transforming into a massive dog's head made of lava that shot towards the enemy, empowered by the secondary vibrations of the Gura Gura no Mi.
BOOM!
The attack slammed into the ground where the door had been, blasting a massive, scorched crater into the earth.
But there was no trace of King or Queen.
They had vanished the moment Akainu made his move.
While they might not be a match for an Admiral in a direct fight, escaping through a door was easy.
"Damn it! They got away!" Akainu roared in frustration.
"Quick! Save the wounded!" Sengoku ordered, surveying the raging fires and destroyed buildings.
The two Seraphim assigned to the base were heavily damaged, almost scrapped.
The losses were catastrophic.
"Damn them..." Garp was furious.
He cared deeply for his fellow Marines.
How could anyone slaughter them like this?
At that moment, Garp wanted nothing more than to go to Onigashima and wipe the Beast Pirates from the face of the earth.
Tsuru sighed deeply while Aokiji and Kizaru remained silent.
Only Akainu's face was a mask of pure, murderous rage.
He shared Garp's desire for vengeance, but his was born from a need to protect the Marines' absolute authority.
"Quick! Get the medical personnel over here..." Sengoku was directing the rescue efforts when the Den Den Mushi at his waist rang again.
"Yes?" he answered. When the caller identified themselves, Sengoku's face changed.
"The G-9 base?"
A sense of foreboding washed over him.
He connected the call, and the sounds of explosions, fighting, and screaming immediately filled the air.
His heart sank.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! G-9 is requesting support! The Big Mom Pirates are attacking! Casualties are heavy...!"
Before the report could finish, another sharp scream cut through the line.
"Not good! To the G-9 base, now!"
This time, Sengoku didn't hesitate.
He and the others rushed through a newly opened door.
As they arrived, they saw Katakuri and other Big Mom Pirates executives standing by their own door, watching them from afar.
"Marines," Katakuri said, a sarcastic sneer on his face.
"You're too late."
"DIE!" Akainu roared and charged again.
Kizaru, not even bothering to aim, fired a laser beam from his fingertip.
Katakuri moved, blocking the laser with a powerful Mochi-based defense before immediately retreating through the door, which vanished behind him.
BOOM!
Akainu's devastating attack hit nothing but empty ground once more.
"Damn these bastards..."
The coordinated attacks, the hit-and-run tactics, and the open provocation had successfully enraged Sengoku and his Admirals.
"Issue the order immediately!" Sengoku commanded. "Form small teams! Each will be led by an Admiral-class Seraphim, supported by three Warlord-class Seraphim! All troops are to deploy to our major bases via the anywhere doors to prevent further losses! Sakazuki, you three have your own assignments at our most important strongholds!"
Just as Sengoku finished deploying his forces, another call came in.
"Hello?"
"Fleet Admiral! It's not good! Big Mom and Kaido have joined forces! They've stolen the Dyna Stones!"
At these words, Sengoku and Tsuru suddenly understood.
"So that's it!" Sengoku said through gritted teeth. "The base attacks were a diversion! Their real target was the Dyna Stones... the primary energy source for the Seraphim!"
He, Garp, and Akainu instantly traversed to the Marines' primary Dyna Stone storage facility.
Even though they knew the enemy was likely long gone, they had to see for themselves.
The facility was in shambles, and a massive portion of their Dyna Stone supply was missing.
"...Damn it!" Sengoku was furious.
The Marines had been completely outplayed.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, let's go to Onigashima now and counter-attack!" Akainu suggested, his eyes burning with violent rage.
"I believe that with just myself and Aokiji, we can crush them!"
"Alright!" Sengoku agreed in the heat of the moment. "Take a team of Marine elites and go!"
They opened a door and arrived at Onigashima moments later.
But what they found was an empty, silent island.
"Huh?" Kizaru frowned, and then his eyes widened in horror.
"Not good! Get back! The entire island is rigged with explosives!"
They spun around to retreat, but it was too late.
The ground beneath them lit up, and an earth-shattering explosion erupted, tearing the sky apart.
"Ice Age!!" Aokiji reacted instantly.
An incredible wave of cold air erupted from his body, encasing the island in thick, solid ice just as the blast hit.
BOOM!!
The blast was still powerful enough to throw them back, but Aokiji's ice had absorbed the worst of it.
They were rattled and covered in dust, but miraculously unharmed.
"They deliberately provoked a war, massacred our Marines, and stole our technology and resources!" Sengoku seethed, his voice trembling with rage.
"People like them must be brought to justice! They will pay a heavy price for this!"
At that moment, even the planned execution of Portgas D. Ace had to be postponed.
"By my order," Sengoku declared to all forces, his voice echoing with absolute authority.
"Search the entire sea for any trace of Big Mom's and Kaido's fleets! Find them!"
"I want them to pay the price!"
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