Several days after the fierce battle at Drum Island, Kanata's crew was recuperating in the Kamabakka Kingdom.
Everyone was exhausted, but they'd judged staying on Drum Island posed higher risks.
The Navy apparently didn't have the capacity to send pursuit forces from there—things had been remarkably quiet with no word whatsoever.
As Kanata checked her body's condition with light stretching, Ivankov knocked and entered after.
"Feeling well, Witchy Girl?"
"Ivankov. Did you bring today's paper?"
"Yes. It just arrived."
After fighting so spectacularly, she'd expected some newspaper coverage, but these past few days had contained no articles about it.
A strange situation, but not incomprehensible.
"Today's paper had nothing about the Drum battle either. What's going on?"
"For both the World Government and the Navy, they can't exactly announce in the papers that they lost despite deploying major forces including an Admiral. It's only natural."
The papers were still filled with news about the Golden Lion Pirates appearing in the first half of the Grand Line. Nothing about Kanata's crew.
From what she'd skimmed, those were the notable articles. The Roger Pirates and Whitebeard Pirates were apparently still rampaging everywhere as usual.
While they planned to stay in the Kamabakka Kingdom for now, she had no intention of remaining on this island indefinitely.
She'd like to go to the New World after maintaining the ship at Water Seven, famous for shipbuilding, but what to do?
"If possible, I'd like to add a shipwright to the crew..."
"I don't have any leads there either."
As she pondered what to do, a piece of paper fell from the newspaper.
It must have been tucked inside.
"A bounty poster?"
"Yes... This is your bounty poster. Let's see, the amount is..."
Picking it up, Ivankov checked the amount, rubbed her eyes and checked again, massaged her temples and checked once more.
"Th-this amount in the first half of the Grand Line!? This is completely unprecedented!?"
"Let me see."
Taking the poster from the sweating Ivankov, she read the amount.
"Dragon-Slaying Witch" Kanata. Bounty: 1,200,000,000 Berries.
"...I see. Indeed, I've never seen an amount like this."
"It's about you!? Why are you so calm!?"
"No matter how high the amount goes, what I do doesn't change. Though troublesome people might increase."
Flipping through the newspaper, several more bounty posters slipped out.
"Giant Shadow" Feiyun. Bounty: 230,000,000 Berries.
"Red Mane" Zen. Bounty: 330,000,000 Berries.
"Six Harmonies Great Spear" Junxi. Bounty: 300,000,000 Berries.
"Bombardier" David. Bounty: 70,000,000 Berries.
Those who'd demonstrated their abilities in the previous battle had all been given substantial bounties. Feiyun and David were updates, but their amounts had risen considerably.
"Tremendous... I wonder what the total bounty amounts to?"
"Rough calculation puts it over two billion. We've become quite famous."
"You're so carefree..."
As Kanata laughed lightly, Ivankov put her hands on her hips with an exasperated expression.
However, she lined up the bounty posters.
"Dragon and Tiger aren't wanted? Since they fought against Zephyr and Sengoku, I thought those two would become wanted as well."
"Right, I was curious about that too... But there don't seem to be any more posters in the paper, so we can assume they're not wanted, I suppose."
Like Ivankov, it was somewhat concerning that Dragon, Tiger, Samuel, and other capable fighters weren't wanted.
She couldn't understand what the World Government or Navy were thinking. No point worrying about it.
"Samuel will probably make a fuss about not getting a bounty after trying so hard."
"Normally not having a bounty is better... But well, if you're a pirate, you'd think it adds prestige."
"I don't recall calling myself a pirate. We don't have a ship name or crew name either."
"Really? Come to think of it, I've never heard one. You're only called the 'Witch's' crew, aren't you?"
If Zephyr's words were true, the Navy wouldn't have time to focus on them for a while. They could take their time recuperating and consider future plans.
Even for building strength, this island had the right environment. No need to force a move, Kanata thought.
☆
A town located near the world's center—Marineford.
In a hospital room adjoining Navy Headquarters, Sengoku was reading today's newspaper while sipping tea.
Then a noisy man appeared noisily.
"Hey, doing well, Sengoku! I brought rice crackers for your visit!"
"Are your injuries okay? I brought fruit, I'll leave it here."
"Excuse me, Vice Admiral Sengoku. I've brought tea."
"You're too loud, Garp! This is a hospital—can't you be quiet! And thank you for the fruit, Tsuru. Belk, thanks for the tea too."
Though it was Sengoku's private room, Garp sat in a chair as he pleased and started eating his own crackers.
Sengoku and Tsuru sighed simultaneously, but they knew well this was how he was. Tsuru also sat in a chair at Sengoku's invitation, while Belk put tea leaves and hot water in a teapot, preparing tea.
"I saw the paper. So you're not making that incident public after all?"
"Of course not. Even if it was an Admiral who went to subjugate with three vice admirals and four warships, to not capture them but return defeated instead..."
"It means they were opponents strong enough to injure you that badly. What was it actually like?"
"Well..."
He explained how they'd been completely different in strength from when he'd fought them a year ago, and how they'd assembled a crew of quirky, skilled people, including his impressions of Kanata.
While sipping the tea Belk had brewed, Garp seemed to be thinking with an unusually serious expression.
"Quite the rookie appeared. Fleet Admiral Kong was in an uproar too."
"I'm curious where they hid for a year... But the biggest question is how they made such dramatic improvements in just one year."
"Couldn't you win one-on-one?"
"No, it was consecutive battles against multiple people. But even fighting the 'Witch' alone, I didn't come away unscathed."
He and Zephyr had pushed them to the brink together. Without carelessness or overconfidence, he was confident they'd had the forces to capture them reliably.
But reality didn't work that way.
If he'd fought one-on-one to the end, Sengoku might still have had a chance to win... But the defeat was likely due to the many powerful crew members supporting Kanata.
"Can you believe it? There are multiple crew members who can fight against me or Zephyr without backing down. It was like Rocks' ship from the old days."
"Rocks."
Garp repeated that pirate's name with an extremely disgusted expression.
"The difference is that the crew cooperates with each other. Even on Rocks' ship, if the crew had gotten along, we might have lost. There's a possibility the 'Witch's' ship could become that way."
"...You're rating the 'Witch' pretty highly, Sengoku. Did losing bother you that much?"
"...Losing is part of it, but yes... Maybe because the 'Witch's' appearance keeps overlapping with a certain woman."
"Overlapping?"
"Octavia—'The Echo.'"
This time, following Garp, Tsuru also made a disgusted face.
"Don't bring up that unpleasant woman's name. For the government, there are countless incidents with just Rocks they'd like to cover up, but adding that woman makes it too many to count."
"But that woman should be dead, right? That's what I heard."
"Only hearsay. No body was found."
"Whether a body would remain after that fierce battle is questionable."
"If she's alive, that would be a major incident. Could that woman, who causes trouble just by walking, spend five years without causing any?"
Tsuru spat out while munching on a cracker she'd taken from Garp.
As he poured tea into Sengoku's empty cup, Belk posed a question.
"I'm still new, so I don't know much about the pirate called 'Rocks'... But was this woman Octavia such a troublemaker?"
"More than a troublemaker. When she got involved, basically nothing good happened."
"Royalty who fell for her at will would spend fortunes and bankrupt their nations, islands she rampaged on became scorched earth... Yeah, nothing good happened."
"Bounty of three billion five hundred million. 'The Echo,' Octavia... If asked who the strongest pirate of that era was, it would undoubtedly be Rocks, but the one woman he'd trust with his back was Octavia."
Tales about her were a dime a dozen, but most weren't in the papers.
That's why not many knew about her.
"Her face was always hidden by a mask. There were various theories—that she had beauty to topple nations, that she was unbearably ugly, that her face was severely injured..."
"A Conqueror's Haki user, with black hair and a spear as her weapon..."
"—..."
"...You three?"
All three fell silent simultaneously. Silence enveloped the room, and Belk waited somewhat confused for someone to speak.
No way, Sengoku was the first to speak.
"Did she have a child?"
"Just listing similarities... It's not zero."
"Hey now... Give me a break. I'm being told to go meet her instead of Zephyr to escort a Celestial Dragon."
"You, Garp? What is the government thinking..."
"Well, I personally had some business too... Maybe I'll question her directly."
"...What business does a Celestial Dragon have with that woman?"
To Sengoku's question, Garp gave a dismissive answer: "How would I know?"
The New World seas were already rough enough.
Whitebeard and Roger clashing, the Golden Lion making strange moves in Paradise, giving the Navy nothing but headaches.
Having remnants from Rocks' ship increase again now was the last thing they needed.
"When Zephyr returns to duty, he'll handle the 'Golden Lion,' Garp will accompany the Celestial Dragon meeting the 'Witch,' and I'll go to the New World—"
In the middle of Tsuru's explanation, there was a knock at the hospital room door.
After responding, when the door opened, the man wearing a "Justice" coat began speaking rapidly in a flustered manner.
"Excuse me, Vice Admiral Sengoku. I heard Vice Admirals Tsuru and Garp were here... Ah, good. You're here."
"What's wrong, did something happen?"
"An emergency summons has been issued to all officers."
An emergency summons was no small matter. Wondering if another troublesome incident had occurred, Sengoku put his hand to his forehead and urged him to continue.
The man checked the paper in his hand and opened his mouth heavily.
"Two critical matters. First, 'Big Mom' Charlotte Linlin has moved, and the Queen Mama Chanter, believed to be carrying her and executives, was sighted near the Sabaody Archipelago. Second... um, a strange weather phenomenon occurred in the West Blue where lightning has continued falling for several days."
"...Lightning has continued falling?"
"Yes. We don't know details, but the entire island became scorched earth, and there are zero survivors..."
"...So she's alive, that woman."
"Speak of the devil, I guess. What kind of island became scorched earth?"
"An ordinary town... and notably, a large building believed to be an orphanage was confirmed."
"An orphanage... We don't know her aim, but nine out of ten times it's that woman."
Neither the messenger nor Belk understood, but the three vice admirals seemed to know from just that information who'd caused it.
Makes sense that Fleet Admiral Kong would issue an emergency summons, Sengoku thought, sipping his lukewarm tea.
"It's urgent, right? Where are we gathering?"
"Ah, yes. An emergency response headquarters is being set up in the grand conference room—"
Garp and Tsuru were led out by the messenger in a hurry.
Only Sengoku and Belk, who wasn't subject to the summons, remained.
"Here, you eat too. It's good."
"Thank you."
Belk took a rice cracker from Sengoku and ate it.
The room was wrapped in silence, but with today's newspaper in hand, Sengoku muttered:
"The seas will get rough ahead. Considering the former Rocks crew members are all moving, the eye of the storm is probably the 'Witch.'"
For better or worse, the situation would shift dramatically.
Because that nightmarish pirate crew hadn't completely disappeared yet.
***
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