Chapter 497: Deduction
"The Government is absolutely conducting a secret recruitment."
The Den Den Mushi on Brett's table carried the sharp, distinctive voice of an old acquaintance. "They've been remarkably careful about it. Spread across several dozen countries in the first half of the Grand Line. A few hundred to a thousand recruits per country."
"Movement at that scale, distributed that thinly, would be nearly impossible to detect without dedicated effort."
"Yes, I know your intelligence capabilities are extraordinary, Morgans." Brett turned his eyes toward the ceiling. "The only thing I actually care about is where these people end up."
"Brett, really." The voice on the other end took on a mildly aggrieved tone. "You're asking rather a lot. The ships transporting these prospective soldiers are all crewed by CP operatives. My people won't go anywhere near those ships. Tracking their specific movements is completely out of the question."
Brett's mouth twitched. There was not a shred of genuine grievance in any of that. "There's a real story buried in this. The kind that reshapes the world's political situation when it comes out. If what I'm looking into turns out to be true, you get first access to everything, in full detail."
"Ha ha ha! Well, that does create a professional obligation to make an effort."
Morgans sounded considerably more motivated now.
"Approaching those ships directly is, as I said, impossible. But confirming their likely resupply stops is a different matter entirely."
"By tracking the direction of their departures, we can narrow down which islands they'd realistically stop at. Post watchers at all viable options. Build a rough route map that way."
"Eventually, you trace the path."
"Impressive work." Brett meant it. He kept his voice light, but anyone who understood the logistics of what Morgans was describing knew the scale of human resources he had quietly deployed.
"So. Where do they end up?"
"Unknown."
Morgans sighed. "The ships approach the Red Line. They go up to Mariejois."
"What happens after that, whether they stay in the city in the clouds or transfer to different ships and continue somewhere else, I have no way of knowing."
"I see."
Brett gave a small nod.
That wasn't a failure on Morgans's part. The World Government had shifted into full wartime footing. Mariejois was locked down in a way it hadn't been for a very long time. The free-flowing intelligence that used to leak from that place was gone. When it came to pure counter-intelligence capability, the World Government was the strongest institution in the world.
"Although." Morgans added this with the particular cadence of someone about to offer a personal theory. "I don't think those people actually left the Red Line."
"No hard evidence. But the New World is pirate territory. Every Government presence there is through the scattered G-series Marine bases, and nothing else."
"If this operation needed to stay hidden from the Navy as well, the New World would be a poor choice."
Brett's eyes sharpened.
"Morgans, you're a genius."
The logic was clean. The Government had already lost two research facilities in the New World. One to Brett, one effectively self-destructed. Placing their most critical new base back in the New World a third time seemed extremely unlikely. The smarter move, the more defensible move, was to keep it somewhere under their direct and total control.
On the Red Line itself.
Right in front of them, but completely beyond reach.
"Ha ha ha! Well, after this point I'm genuinely out of options." Morgans laughed with his full chest. "But when everything becomes clear, don't forget who gets the story first."
"That goes without saying. This is exactly the kind of news that needs to reach every corner of the world immediately."
The call ended.
Brett gathered Momousagi, Tesoro, and Jinbei.
"On the Red Line?" Jinbei frowned the moment Brett laid out the conclusion. "In Mariejois?"
"That makes it genuinely difficult." Tesoro shook his head. "If it's inside Mariejois, are you going in yourself?"
"Not a good idea." Brett exhaled slowly.
Walking alone into the enemy's headquarters before a war had even started would require an arrogance he didn't think he could justify. Not yet.
"So it comes down to Kake after all." Momousagi said it as a statement.
"Exactly." Brett nodded. "Mariejois is outside what we can reach from here."
Only someone on the inside could investigate.
"I'll go see him directly." Momousagi straightened. "Another visit."
"In person, yes." Brett agreed. "Using a Den Den Mushi is too easy to intercept. The Government is still watching for contact between you and the Navy's senior officers. Don't hand them an easy target."
Momousagi thought it over briefly, then nodded.
"Go check in on what Chaton has actually found." Brett said. "And tell him what we've pieced together."
What had Chaton found?
That story had begun somewhat earlier.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
A small gathering had been underway in Chaton's private residence at Headquarters, with drinks, good lighting, and the flushed, cheerful face of a certain Admiral making himself completely at home.
The man wore his sunglasses indoors without apparent self-consciousness, and his expression currently shared a considerable amount of ground with Chaton's in the "concerning to look at directly" department. He was grinning and red-cheeked.
"The Science Division has been fully handed over to Doctor Caesar by the Five Elders. I'm completely out of the loop on everything happening there now." The man known as Kizaru said this with the warm satisfaction of someone who has successfully unloaded an unpleasant responsibility. "Finally, some peace. I've been wanting out of that situation for the longest time."
The timing.
Chaton's expression had been growing progressively stiffer for the past several minutes. It had now reached the terminal stage.
He had been buying this man drinks for days. Days. And this was the sum total of useful information he had received. A single sentence, after he'd spent the better part of his budget on quality alcohol.
Borsalino, you infuriating man.
You could have told me this in five seconds on the first day.
Chaton said nothing. He ground his teeth in silence.
After seeing Borsalino out, Chaton stood alone in his rooms and stared at the middle distance.
Dead end. Now what?
What he failed to notice, in his mild intoxication, was the expression on Borsalino's face as he wandered off alone. The Admiral who seemed like he was never paying attention to anything wore, at that moment, a look of someone who has been thinking carefully.
"What an inconvenient situation this is shaping up to be." He murmured it pleasantly to the night air, shuffling along in no apparent hurry. "Who does one talk to about a retirement package these days..."
Chaton spent the following days in frustration. Every path he tried to find toward the Science Division turned out to have a closed door at the end of it. He could see no angle from which to obtain what he needed.
And then, on an evening when he had taken his chair out onto the terrace again, someone came up from below.
"Gion-chan!"
He nearly shouted it.
His excitement was immediately tempered.
"So, Kake." Momousagi looked at him with her usual directness. "What have you found?"
What could he say?
Nothing, was the honest answer.