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Marine Headquarters, Marineford
"So you simply... came back."
Fleet Admiral Sengoku looked at Kizaru with an expression that had moved somewhere past grim and into something more like exhausted resignation.
"Fleet Admiral, I'm already counting it as a success that I came back at all. They have at least three individuals whose strength is comparable to mine, possibly greater. If things had gone differently, I could very easily have lost."
Sengoku was quiet for a moment.
"You're certain. Not beneath your level."
"Completely certain. And I suspect they were holding back."
Kizaru thought about it. Kaito, who had watched the whole thing with the relaxed air of someone following a mildly entertaining sporting event. Zegion, who had fought him. And then the maid who had said nothing, done nothing, and nonetheless given him a very clear and very specific feeling of danger the entire time she was in his peripheral vision.
He found himself revising his earlier assessment of the Jura-Tempest Federation upward in a way that was not particularly comfortable.
"Three powerhouses at Admiral level." Sengoku leaned back. "The Jura-Tempest Federation."
He turned it over in his mind alongside what Kagaya had told him in an earlier call. The highest echelon of the entire Jura-Tempest Federation consisted of three people. Rimuru, the Queen. Kaito, the Regent. And a third individual whose listed position was, apparently, "Couch Potato."
He set that aside for the moment.
Cross-referencing Kizaru's physical description with the intelligence Hina had sent back, the young man was almost certainly the Regent. If the Regent and the maid at his side both matched Admiral level, then whoever was responsible for the Federation's military affairs was unlikely to be the weak link in that chain.
Sengoku ran the rough numbers and felt something cold settle in his chest.
Conservatively, six Admiral-level combatants on open display. Hidden strength, by any reasonable estimate, at least two more. Eight. He doubted he could assemble eight Admiral-level fighters from the entire Marine Headquarters command structure if he tried.
How had a single country produced this many?
The more he turned it over, the more it irritated him, so he made the executive decision to hand that particular headache to the Gorosei and move on.
"I'll bring this to the Gorosei. A war seems unavoidable at this point. Make sure you're ready."
"Understood. Then I'll head out."
Sengoku nodded. Kizaru turned and left the office.
The moment the door closed behind him, he began mentally working through which massage parlor had the best availability on short notice. He had just fought a serious battle. Recovery was a professional obligation.
Sengoku sat alone and thought carefully about what a war with the Jura-Tempest Federation would actually look like.
The best realistic outcome, he concluded, was mutual destruction.
That conclusion did not sit well with him. He was Fleet Admiral, appointed by the World Government, and his loyalty to that office was genuine. But it was not unconditional. The Marine high command and the World Government were not the same thing, and he had never confused the two. The future of the Marines was his responsibility. Mutual destruction was not an acceptable price.
An idea formed.
He picked up a Den Den Mushi and dialed.
Pere~pere, pere~pere~!
"Moshi moshi! This is Kagaya."
"Hahaha! Mr. Kagaya, it's Sengoku."
"My goodness, what a surprise! What brings you to call, Mr. Sengoku?"
Kagaya was genuinely puzzled. The Jura-Tempest Federation hadn't caused any significant trouble recently. Probably. As far as he was aware.
"It's like this..."
Sengoku laid out everything that had happened at Sabaody Archipelago, exactly as it had occurred, leaving nothing out.
Kagaya listened.
When he heard that Kaito had taken a Celestial Dragon and was preparing to trigger a war, his mind moved through a very specific sequence. First, begin preparing war materials. Second, dispatch people to disrupt Marine Headquarters logistics and slow their mobilization. Third, have Benimaru begin assembling forces immediately.
As for having any opinion about Kaito creating the situation in the first place, that was simply not a consideration that existed. Their job was not to ask why. Their job was to be ready when the boss said it was time.
"So, Mr. Sengoku. What is the purpose of this call?"
"Heh heh. I was thinking that if our two sides go to war, neither of us comes out well. So what if we did it this way instead..."
As Sengoku laid out his idea, Kagaya felt something shift in his expression. He listened carefully, and the more he heard, the more he found himself nodding.
"Mr. Kagaya, what do you think?"
"Hahaha! I'm completely in agreement, Mr. Sengoku. Though I should mention, if a war does begin, it won't only be the Marines deploying, will it. There are the others to consider."
Something went cold and sharp in Sengoku's eyes.
"The others? Those 'brave souls' who sacrifice themselves so willingly for the World Government?" He paused. "I will personally ensure the World Government is made aware of their 'heroic contributions' and submits full compensation on their behalf."
Kagaya smiled into the Den Den Mushi.
"Hahaha! Mr. Sengoku is absolutely right."
And just like that, over the course of a brief conversation, the fate of whatever elite forces the World Government would eventually send was quietly settled between the two of them.
"Then it's decided."
"Decided."
"I won't keep you from your work, Mr. Kagaya."
"Of course. Goodbye, Mr. Sengoku."
Click.
Sengoku set the Den Den Mushi down and let out a long, slow breath. The Marines would come through this without catastrophic losses. That was what mattered.
For anyone wondering how Sengoku, a man known for his loyalty to the World Government, had arrived at this particular arrangement, the answer came back to Hina.
She had reported everything she observed in the Jura-Tempest Federation to him, in detail and without omission. And in what she described, Sengoku had seen something he had not expected to find: a genuine possibility of changing the shape of this world for the better.
His loyalty had never been blind. If it had been, he would not have put Aokiji forward as a candidate for Fleet Admiral to counter the World Government's preferred choice of Akainu. As it turned out, even Akainu, once he held the position, had not proven to be the World Government's obedient instrument. If anything, his open contempt for the Celestial Dragons had made that abundantly clear.
Sengoku picked up another Den Den Mushi.
"This is Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Please connect me to the Gorosei."
"Of course, Fleet Admiral. One moment."
The operator moved without hesitation. You did not make a Fleet Admiral wait.
The Den Den Mushi was carried quickly to the Gorosei's office, and their voices came through shortly after.
"Sengoku. This had better be important. And has Smulet been retrieved yet?"
Sengoku absorbed the lack of any greeting with practiced patience.
"That is precisely what I'm calling to report..."
Slime World, Jura-Tempest Federation
"Wow, so this is Rimuru-sensei's country? It's incredible!"
"Kenya, the look on your face right now is genuinely embarrassing. Have some dignity."
Alice, blonde and relentlessly tsundere, delivered this assessment to Kenya with the expression of someone who had been embarrassed by association.
"You're not any different!"
"Why you little—"
"Alright, you two, please stop before we've even arrived. We're about to see Shizu-sensei, and making a scene would be rude."
Chloe smiled as she stepped between them, and the argument deflated.
"Hmph!"
"Hmph!"
Rimuru watched the two of them sulk in opposite directions and felt a smile pull at the corner of her mouth despite herself.
She turned back toward the city gate of the Jura-Tempest Federation and felt something she hadn't expected: the particular warmth of returning somewhere that had quietly become home.
"Hehe! Kai-chan, I'm back!!!"