To be honest, when Ren heard over the Den Den Mushi that his flag had been burned, he was more than a little stunned.
Not long ago, he'd been laughing at how bold Buggy was, mocking Big Mom for her bad luck in crossing paths with such a troublemaker.
He never expected the exact same thing to happen to him so soon after.
"What exactly happened?"
"It seems to be the work of a rookie pirate from the first half of the Grand Line."
Saori explained after hanging up the Den Den Mushi. The call had come from the king of the island in question, who had laid out the full details.
"Bounty of 130 million berries. A pirate named Gecko Moria. The moment he came ashore, he launched an attack, sacking the town before the guard forces could even react."
"Later, when the guards mobilized, they couldn't stop him either — they were quickly overwhelmed. Finally, after burning our flag and replacing it with their own, they simply sailed away."
"What a brazen bastard! Lord Ren, let me go deal with this guy, how about it?"
Saya feigned indignation, though in truth, the moment she thought about joining the battle and getting a Marines bounty herself, she was practically itching to go.
"Fighting an opponent like that is too dangerous for you."
Ren didn't approve.
Moria might look like just another rookie, but in this era, any pirate who earned a bounty over 100 million as a Supernova possessed combat power rivaling that of a Sweet Commander or a Flying Six — even without Haki.
Saya wasn't much of a fighter. Relying solely on her illusion abilities, there was no telling how things might go wrong.
"Alright then... What's the best approach here? A guy like this isn't worth your personal attention, is it?"
Saya pressed further.
"Have Shichigatsu take a squad of Oni soldiers and handle it."
Ren thought for a moment before answering.
Shichigatsu's strength was quite solid. While he hadn't reached the level of an All-Star, if you compared him across eras, he wouldn't fall short of someone like Ulti or X Drake twenty-odd years down the line.
Saori quickly got in touch with Shichigatsu.
Shichigatsu, who had been fighting alongside Yayoi near an island in the New World, received his orders and immediately broke off with a separate squad to begin pursuing Moria's crew.
But the New World was different from Paradise. In Paradise, the various sea routes rarely intersected, so if you knew which route someone was on, tracking them down wasn't especially difficult.
In the New World, however, no one could predict where Moria's crew would head next.
Out on the open sea, Moria's bounty had crept up again after his attack on a Wano-affiliated island and his bold escape. Clearly, in the Marines' eyes, Moria's crew had become an even greater threat.
In reality, the Marines were also weighing the possibility of recruiting him as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
"Well, either way, he'd have to survive first before we could even discuss that."
Kuzan scratched his head, cutting off the heated argument between Sengoku and Sakazuki.
Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino were still officially vice admirals at this point, but behind closed doors, they were already being considered as candidates for admiral.
They had earned the right to sit in on meetings like this one.
"Whether it's this Gecko Moria or that clown Buggy, crossing Wano and Big Mom means they're going to face enormous trouble going forward."
"If they survive, their reputation will speak for itself. If they die, there's nothing more to discuss."
"That's true enough, but it seems Backy actually repelled one of the monsters within the BIG MOM Pirates — Charlotte Daifuku."
"What a terrifying rookie. Maybe we should bump his bounty up a bit more?" Borsalino said with a lopsided grin.
"According to the intelligence from Morgans, it appears Buggy's crew and another group of rookies worked together to drive off Charlotte Daifuku."
Sengoku pulled out a stack of paper documents. Shanks' photo was among them.
"This red-haired kid... Why does he look familiar?"
Karp adjusted his reading glasses, uncertain.
"Familiar? Well, it would be strange if he didn't look familiar. After all, this kid was an apprentice who sailed with the Pirate King Roger himself."
"He's also one of the two babies who went missing during that war."
Sengoku stated flatly, his expression betraying nothing.
"If that's the case, then could this guy be..."
Vice Admiral Tsuru started to speak, then stopped herself halfway through. She picked up her teacup but didn't drink, simply letting out a sigh.
"Troublesome individuals keep popping up one after another. I've run into a problematic one myself."
She produced a file of her own: "Donquixote Doflamingo. He hasn't entered the New World yet, but he's already turned the first half of the Grand Line practically upside down."
That was an exaggeration, of course. But Doflamingo had indeed focused his efforts on Paradise, infiltrating various underground forces at every level and inserting his people into every kind of operation.
In Tsuru's eyes, he was an absolute menace — a relentless agitator.
"That Donquixote kid? He's already cut ties with the Celestial Dragons, hasn't he? Why not just arrest him outright?"
Karp set Shanks' photo down and countered.
"That's exactly the problem. The boy's combat abilities are only passable, but he's incredibly cunning. Every single time, he catches wind of our operations and slips away before we can move."
Tsuru shook her head, her voice tinged with frustration.
There was one more thing Tsuru didn't say aloud.
If Doflamingo ever caught wind of intelligence related to the Seven Warlords of the Sea, he would absolutely find a way to become one himself.
The troubling situations kept piling up. The Marines wanted to deploy more forces to the New World, but the reality on the ground simply didn't allow for it.
After establishing a few new Marine branch bases, they had no additional footholds to spare.
Meanwhile, back in Paradise, the two babies who had gone missing after the God Valley incident — the very ones Sengoku had just been discussing — were now sitting together, drinking and throwing a banquet.
Buggy and Shanks had their arms draped over each other's shoulders, chopsticks stuffed up their noses, dancing a duck dance around a bonfire.
"You red-haired bastard, I couldn't stand the sight of you at first, but you know what? You're not half bad!"
Both Buggy and Shanks were the type of people who could socialize with absolutely anyone.
Shanks was the more restrained of the two, but Buggy was genuinely a social butterfly — practically a mirror image of Luffy.
After their combined forces had repelled Daifuku, Shanks had suggested they throw a party together.
The two who had initially disliked each other got completely drunk and immediately started freestyling and dancing.
Buggy had nearly pulled out a bottle of sake to swear brotherhood with Shanks on the spot.
If Enel and Beckmann hadn't held them back, those two might have already become blood brothers by now.
"With captains like these, you guys really have your work cut out for you."
Beckmann let out a long sigh, though it was unclear who exactly he was referring to.
Before Enel could respond, Inuarashi put on an air of maturity and chimed in: "The feeling's mutual."
Meanwhile, in the New World, Shichigatsu had finally managed to track down Moria's movements after several days of searching.
"Those guys really aren't afraid to die. They provoked us and then immediately went and picked a fight with the Marines too."
The newspaper reported an incident from a day prior — an attack on Marine Base G-1, with Gecko Moria identified as the culprit.
Marine Base G-1 was the very same branch that would become the new Marine Headquarters after the Paramount War, years in the future.
[
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