"Heavenly Yaksha Donquixote Doflamingo teams up with Alucard, one of the Yonko, to steal 60% of the Heavenly Tribute."
Upon seeing today's front-page news, King Riku of Dressrosa swallowed hard. Donquixote… Could it be the one from Dressrosa eight hundred years ago?
King Riku shook his head, barely managing to drive the fear from his body. Even though his two daughters were now pirates, they were safer than if they had remained in Dressrosa. He was an old man with nothing to lose, so there was nothing to be afraid of. He just needed to govern his country well.
However… the matter with this Donquixote was truly unsettling. He could only pray that nothing bad would happen.
....
"I'll go tell the Captain. There's a new pirate crew that wants to join us." At the ruins of the Arderay Kingdom, after incorporating a new large pirate crew, Matthew was about to go into the city to report, but Stragus grabbed his arm and said in a low voice, "Alucard-sama doesn't care about things like this at all. On the contrary, if you bother him with such a small matter, you'll be the one to suffer."
Matthew was silent for a moment. He agreed and gave up on reporting. He then said, "Sigh, I just don't get it. Why did the Captain leave those three agents alive before the final blow?"
"Who knows? The Captain just said they would be useful, so we let them live." Stragus also shook his head, bewildered. Recently, thanks to the vast amount of resources gained from the Heavenly Tribute, the Alucard Pirates' strength had grown exponentially. While he wasn't sure if these new recruits could be called a true fighting force, having more foot soldiers to use as cannon fodder was a plus.
Stragus then unfolded the last page of the newspaper and frowned. "But lately, there have been a lot of news reports about Admiral Candidate Borsalino destroying pirate crews. We fought him before, and he never struck me as the diligent type."
Although the front page of the newspaper made Alucard and Doflamingo's robbery of the Tribute the headline, the paper had more content. The second page was dedicated to reports about Marine Admiral Candidate and G-2 Branch Commander, Borsalino, continuously destroying three pirate crews in the first half of the Grand Line.
As a former member of the Golden Lion Pirates, Stragus had fought against a younger Borsalino and Sakazuki. When it came to destroying pirates, Sakazuki was the one who took action, while Borsalino was a lazy man. So his repeated pirate-destroying sprees were very strange.
"Anyway, it's boring just sitting around. I want to go to the Grand Line to see what's happening," Stragus suggested.
Matthew frowned. "We shouldn't. We've just publicly shamed the government. They'll probably send a force to deal with us soon. We should be preparing here, not leaving."
Stragus thought it over and nodded. "You're right. I'll put off traveling the Grand Line for now."
As Alucard's crew had anticipated, the government was enraged after 60% of the Heavenly Tribute was stolen. They weren't foolish enough to send an army immediately, but they did hold a meeting to discuss the matter as soon as possible.
"Zephyr-sensei, oh, my apologies, Vice Admiral Zephyr. Fleet Admiral Kong has invited you to Mariejois for a round-table conference regarding the Heavenly Tribute incident." An officer came to Zephyr's home in Marineford to deliver the message. Judging by his slip of the tongue, he was also one of Zephyr's former students.
But when he saw Zephyr, the officer wondered if someone was impersonating him. Zephyr was half-lying under a pine tree in his yard, enjoying the cool air. He was drinking [JEREZ] sake with his legs crossed, looking like a loafer.
After listening to his student's message, Zephyr uncrossed his legs and opened his closed eyes. "Is there any need for me to go?"
"Huh?" The officer couldn't understand what Zephyr meant.
"Go back and tell the Fleet Admiral that I'll be right here, waiting for the results of my punishment."
"Sensei!" The officer was shocked and, in his slip of the tongue, called him "Sensei" again.
"That's enough. Go back and report," Zephyr said, dismissing his guest. The officer winced, sighed, bowed, and left.
Zephyr poured the remaining half-bottle of sake onto the soil of his yard, tears streaming down his face. "My fault… it's all my fault…"
Over 500 Marine recruits died because of the Heavenly Tribute hijacking. If Alucard hadn't let them go in the end, even more would have died. Zephyr was filled with guilt.
The officer returned to the Marine Headquarters building and reported Zephyr's answer. The entire room fell silent. After a long moment, Kong spoke. "Alright, I'll go speak to him. Sengoku and Tsuru, come with me. Garp, you stay here. You'd just fall asleep anyway."
Garp played dumb and turned his head to the side, leaving in his usual carefree manner, but the direction he was headed was Zephyr's home.
At the same time, less than a hundred miles from the Holy Land of Mariejois, high in the clouds, Doflamingo was using his String-String Fruit ability to quickly make his way there. He smiled maliciously. "Fuffuffuffu… Just you wait, Celestial Dragon bastards, and you government leeches! I'm almost there!"