"OPEN FIRE! KILL THEM ALL!"
The order to attack was aggressively barked by Captain Nezumi to his greedy subordinates. Having already prepared for a violent boarding, the corrupt Marines roared and instantly charged onto the deck of the White Dragon.
"Teach them a lesson," Bardock ordered casually, waving his hand.
Without a moment's hesitation, the new recruits instantly stepped forward to intercept the charge. This had been explicitly agreed upon beforehand; whenever possible, the relatively low-stakes battles in the East Blue were to be handed over to the rookies to temper their skills.
Even though they were considered 'rookies' among the monster-filled White Dragon crew, against these East Blue Marines, they were absolute gods of war. Galdino, Kid, and Killer tore through the enemy ranks like a hot knife through butter. It was a completely one-sided massacre. Within minutes, the Marine forces were completely overwhelmed, screaming and flying in every direction. Soon, not a single Marine was left standing.
Honestly, the only reason the Marines were simply knocked out rather than violently dismembered was because of Bardock's strict 'no-kill' order prior to the engagement. Otherwise, instead of just taking a beating, the 16th Branch would currently be enjoying a one-way group tour to the Underworld.
Seeing that the situation had gone catastrophically wrong, Captain Nezumi's cowardly instincts kicked in. He immediately began quietly backing away, slinking toward the edge of the ship to slip into a lifeboat and make his escape.
Bardock clearly saw the rat scurrying away but pretended not to notice. He waited patiently until Nezumi had furiously rowed his little lifeboat a significant distance away from the White Dragon. Then, he gave Enel a subtle nod.
Enel sneered, raising his hand toward the sky. "El Thor."
KRA-BOOOOOOM!
A massive, blinding pillar of apocalyptic lightning violently struck the ocean. The spectacularly unlucky Captain Nezumi was instantly deep-fried into a charred, smoking rat. He collapsed into the bottom of the ruined lifeboat, completely unconscious.
With the battle officially over, Kid and Killer cracked their knuckles, looking incredibly unsatisfied. The Navy forces in the East Blue—or more specifically, the 16th Branch—were just too pathetically weak to even serve as a proper warm-up.
The unconscious and groaning Marines, including the charred Captain Nezumi, were unceremoniously piled up in the center of the White Dragon's main deck.
"Mansherry, go ahead and stabilize the ones with critical injuries. Don't let any of them die," Bardock commanded, smoothly assigning tasks. "Daz Bonez, Sai. You two are in charge of the interrogation. I want a comprehensive, detailed ledger of every single corrupt, immoral act these scumbags have ever committed. Find out exactly where they hid their physical ledgers or evidence. Enel, once they confess, you're going to fly out and physically secure that evidence. Let's give 'Big News' Morgans a nice little exclusive."
With their orders issued, the crew efficiently went to work.
"What a massive pain in the ass. It would have been so much faster to just electrocute all of them," Enel grumbled lazily, though he didn't actually refuse Bardock's assignment.
During the interrogation process, other members of the crew inevitably joined in. With Robin utilizing her Flower-Flower Fruit and terrifying psychological pressure to assist, the efficiency skyrocketed. It didn't take long to completely break the Marines and extract full confessions.
Just like their Captain, these subordinates were classic bullies—cruel to the weak, but pathetic cowards when faced with true strength. They had aggressively abused their military authority, essentially operating as ruthless pirates while hiding behind the righteous uniform of the Navy. Their atrocities were no less sickening than the pirates they claimed to hunt. In fact, because they wore the skin of 'Justice', their actions were infinitely more detestable.
Once Enel received the locations from the confessions, he instantly vanished into the sky to verify the claims. Fortunately, out of a desperate need for self-preservation against their own corrupt Captain, a few of the Marines had secretly hoarded concrete, physical evidence of Nezumi's extortion and bribery schemes. This made Bardock's plan significantly easier.
When Enel returned, he brought back a massive stack of irrefutable, physical evidence—more than enough to drag Captain Nezumi straight to the execution block at Enies Lobby. Bardock had Robin meticulously organize the ledgers, documents, and photographs into a highly compelling dossier, which they immediately faxed directly to the President of the World Economy News Paper, 'Big News' Morgans.
That giant bird-man was a chaotic opportunist who absolutely loved watching the world burn. He was certainly not going to pass up a golden opportunity to publicly humiliate the Navy and boost his sales. Morgans excitedly replied that the leaked intelligence was incredibly valuable. He promised to publish it immediately, though he noted that while it wasn't quite massive enough for the global front page, it would undeniably be the absolute headline of the East Blue edition.
Bardock lavishly praised Morgans, complimenting him as a true pioneer of journalism—a man of absolute integrity who refused to bow to authority and possessed the immense courage to expose the World Government's corruption.
Morgans enthusiastically fired back, heavily praising Bardock's profound, shining sense of justice, aggressively encouraging the pirate captain to 'dig up' more exclusive scoops for him in the future.
The very next day, Bardock purchased a freshly printed newspaper from a passing News Coo. Right on the front page of the East Blue edition was a massive, damning headline: "A Rat in the Granary: The Shocking 'Pirate' Career of a Corrupt Marine Captain."
The highly detailed article viciously exposed how Captain Nezumi had transformed the East Blue's 16th Branch into his own personal mafia, documenting his rampant extortion and collusion with pirates.
Bardock smiled, highly satisfied with the outcome. However, there was one specific man who was absolutely not satisfied.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
SMASH!
Fleet Admiral Sengoku violently slammed his fist onto his desk, practically shattering the heavy mahogany wood.
"THAT BASTARD MORGANS!" Sengoku roared, his face flushed with absolute fury. "How dare he publish such a damning report without consulting Headquarters first?!"
He angrily grabbed his golden Den Den Mushi, fully intending to scream at Morgans and demand an immediate, global recall of the current edition. But right as his finger hovered over the dial, he stopped.
He forced himself to calm down. He knew exactly how Morgans operated. If the avian media mogul actually cared about the Navy's reputation, he would have called Sengoku privately beforehand to negotiate a cover-up. The fact that the paper had already been distributed meant that demanding a recall now would be an impossible, humiliating battle. He couldn't afford to aggressively alienate Morgans and completely destroy their working relationship over a single, corrupt Captain in the weakest sea.
Sengoku sighed, rubbing his throbbing temples. He would have to delegate the media fallout to Vice Admiral Tsuru; she was far better at navigating political negotiations with that damn bird.
However, the immediate, pressing issue was dealing with the absolute embarrassment that was Captain Nezumi. Fortunately, Vice Admiral Garp's fleet had just recently crossed the Calm Belt and arrived in the East Blue. Sengoku decided to let the Hero handle the trash.
Sengoku immediately dialed Garp's secure frequency.
A few minutes later, Garp's iconic dog-headed battleship aggressively altered its course, cutting through the waves at maximum speed directly toward the Conomi Archipelago.
Meanwhile, back at Marineford, Vice Admiral Tsuru picked up her own Den Den Mushi and began dialing Morgans, preparing for a highly tedious diplomatic headache.