Before Gion could think any further, the noisy voices coming from the other end of the Den Den Mushi instantly pulled everyone's attention back.
The voice did not belong to Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
It sounded young, spoke quickly, and carried obvious exhaustion.
"This is Marine Headquarters Operations Command Room! State your identity and code phrase!"
In the background, the rustling of papers mixed with overlapping reports and shouted orders. The entire command room sounded like chaos, thick with tension and urgency.
Zaraki ignored the procedural question.
He simply held the Den Den Mushi, though his gaze had already passed over it and landed on Viola, who was still on the deck.
The woman was curled up, yet she struggled to raise her head. In her eyes, there remained only the last faint trace of hope.
Her pain and hatred were the reason he was acting.
"I'm looking for Sengoku," Zaraki said flatly.
The young Marine on the other end clearly froze for a moment, as if he had not expected anyone to speak in that tone, but he still replied dutifully.
"The Fleet Admiral is currently presiding over an emergency meeting. Please—"
"Tell him Zaraki is looking for him."
"W-War Demon Zaraki?!"
The young voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief.
A burst of frantic collisions followed through the line, as if the messenger had been so startled he knocked something over.
Then came silence.
Even the sea wind over the deck seemed to pause during that short wait.
Gion unconsciously tightened her grip on the hem of her clothes, while Yamakaji bit down so hard on his cigar that it bent out of shape.
...
At Marine Headquarters...
"Heh... Fleet Admiral Sengoku, it seems the Marine weapon Headquarters is so proud of isn't very good at following orders."
"Could it be that this is why your Marines have been unable to locate him? If so, perhaps our CP0 intelligence network can lend a hand."
Sengoku's voice came through, clearly suppressing his anger.
"This is an internal Marine communication! It has nothing to do with you!"
"Don't say that, Fleet Admiral."
That gloomy voice was unhurried and full of mockery.
The CP0 agent sat inside the meeting room as an observer forced in by the Five Elders, a thorn Sengoku could not remove for the moment.
"We are here under the orders of the Five Elders to assist the Marines in handling matters related to Kaido of the Beasts. After all, Zaraki's unauthorized actions have not only placed the Marines in a passive position, but the Warlord invitation mission he was supposed to complete has also been turned into a farce... Oh, I almost forgot."
The voice paused, and the amusement in it deepened.
"Now it seems he has not only made no progress, but intends to... cut down a Warlord instead?"
The moment those words fell, several breaths in the room abruptly caught.
And that CP0 agent clearly enjoyed that feeling.
His mockery made the atmosphere inside the Marines' highest-level meeting room extremely oppressive.
The Marine officers present were all iron-blooded men, yet at this moment, they were silent, their faces ugly.
Only Akainu was unusually quiet.
He did not answer the provocation in rage as he usually would.
He merely leaned back in his chair, the brim of his Marine cap casting a shadow over most of his face, making his expression unreadable.
Only those familiar with him knew that this silence was far more dangerous than any roar.
Akainu sensed something was wrong.
Everything about that brat Zaraki's movements was strange.
No matter how talented a sixteen-year-old boy might be, it was impossible for him to brush against Whitebeard, provoke Kaido, and then turn toward a Warlord without some kind of preparation.
That was not courage, but stupidity.
And Zaraki was not stupid.
His disappearance had been too clean, more like a planned operation.
It did not match his usual fearless and reckless way of doing things.
Something behind this had been overlooked.
Then, in that heavy silence—
Purupurupuru... Purupurupuru...
A clear, urgent Den Den Mushi ring suddenly echoed through the entire conference room, breaking the deathly stillness.
Swish!
Everyone's gaze, including that of the masked CP0 agent, instantly focused on the ringing Den Den Mushi on Sengoku's desk.
The atmosphere suddenly tightened.
"Hah... Hah..."
Before Sengoku could move, the CP0 agent let out a strange laugh, his voice filled with schadenfreude.
"Looks like I really did bring good news. Fleet Admiral Sengoku, perhaps... that uncontrolled Marine weapon who keeps running around has finally reached his limit and is calling for help?"
Those words made the faces of the Marine officers present instantly darken, and fists clenched silently beneath the table.
"Shut your mouth!"
Sengoku slammed his palm onto the desk, his roar exploding like thunder.
He no longer paid any attention to that sarcastic bastard and grabbed the Den Den Mushi from the desk.
The CP0 agent's body stiffened slightly, a cold flash passing through the eyes beneath his mask.
Then he gave a disdainful snort and finally quieted down.
Sengoku picked up the receiver, his heavy breathing clearly audible.
Anger was anger, but in this moment, a trace of hope he did not even want to admit rose in his heart.
A call for help?
Good.
A call for help would be best.
As long as it was a request for rescue, it meant that brat was still alive.
As long as he was alive, as long as Sengoku could confirm his position, then no matter how big a mess he had made, Sengoku could still find a way to patch it up.
Even if he had barged into Totto Land or tried to flatten Onigashima.
Hurry up.
Give me a location!
This old man will send people to support you immediately!
With that urgency in his chest, Sengoku connected the call in a deep voice.
"This is Sengoku."
The Den Den Mushi's mouth opened, but the voice that came through was not the young man's voice he expected.
Instead, it was a familiar, calm female voice, though it carried an urgency that could not be hidden.
"Fleet Admiral! It's me, Gion!"
Gion?
Sengoku frowned.
The hope in his heart fell short, but a trace of relief followed.
Gion and Yamakaji had been following Zaraki.
Since she was the one calling, it meant Zaraki's situation was at least still somewhat under control.
"Where are you? Where is that bastard Zaraki?!"
On the other end, Gion seemed to take a deep breath before reporting at high speed.
"Fleet Admiral! He... he is in the waters near Dressrosa!"
Dressrosa?
Sengoku's mind instantly located the kingdom ruled by Donquixote Doflamingo, the Heavenly Yaksha and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
What was he doing there?
Wasn't the current priority avoiding Kaido's pursuit and stabilizing the situation?
A thread of ominous unease wrapped around Sengoku's heart.
Sure enough, Gion's next sentence drained the color from Sengoku's face at a visible speed.
The Den Den Mushi spoke in Gion's anxious voice, each word landing clearly.
"He said... he's going to cut down a Warlord first as a warm-up!"
The conference room fell into deathly silence.
Sengoku's hand froze in midair with the receiver still raised.
Time inside the conference room seemed to freeze, and everyone's expression stiffened.
The Den Den Mushi held in midair was like a fuse, the other end connected to a bomb powerful enough to blow all of Marine Headquarters into chaos.
Gion's clear, urgent voice, carrying a faint tremor, echoed through the Den Den Mushi's mimicked mouth and into the dead-still air.
"...He said he's going to cut down a Warlord first... as a warm-up!"
Warm-up?
That word struck the nerves of every Marine higher-up like an invisible hammer.
Behind Sengoku, Chief Staff Officer Tsuru's wise face showed a rare trace of astonishment.
Aokiji, who had been resting with his eyes closed, lazily lifted one eyelid, and the narrow gap revealed scrutiny and confusion.
On the other side, Akainu, who had remained silent like a volcano, sat beneath the shadow of his cap, the darkness over his face seemingly deepening as a wisp of hot steam slowly leaked from the corner of his tense mouth.
The masked CP0 agent leaned forward slightly.
The two dark holes in his mask seemed to turn into greedy whirlpools, trying to suck in all the Marines' embarrassment and panic.
"Put him on."
Sengoku's roar finally shattered the suffocating silence. He almost shouted the Den Den Mushi out of shape, veins bulging at his temples.
"Give the Den Den Mushi to that lawless little bastard!"
A brief commotion came from the other end.
Then a steady, familiar voice sounded, even carrying a bit of laziness, standing in sharp contrast to Sengoku's fury that was about to erupt.
"Fleet Admiral, why are you shouting so loudly? Didn't eat enough dinner?"
"Zaraki."
Sengoku ground out the name through clenched teeth.
He forced down the impulse to flip the table, every word squeezed out from between his teeth.
"I don't care what kind of madness you're up to this time. Do you know Kaido is behind you? According to the latest intelligence we've received, King under his command has already locked onto your previous course. If you stay on that route, the main fleet of the Beasts Pirates will catch up to you in, at most... half an hour. And now you want to go to a fixed island? Are you trying to die faster?"
Half an hour.
That time estimate made the air in the conference room tighten again.
Everyone understood what it meant.
On the vast open sea, half an hour still left room to maneuver.
But once he landed on an island that could not move, there would be nowhere left to retreat.
He would have no choice but to face the world's strongest creature and its earth-shattering rage.
Yet the answer from the other end was so casual it was infuriating.
"Oh, half an hour."
Zaraki's tone did not waver at all, as if he were judging whether a dish had been cooked long enough.
"That's enough time to cut down Doflamingo."
Click.
Before Sengoku could say another word, the call was cleanly cut off.
The Den Den Mushi, which had been imitating Gion's anxious expression, instantly returned to its blank original look, its mouth closing tightly as it made that crisp disconnecting sound.
That click struck harder than any of the mad words before it.
It was like a loud slap across the Fleet Admiral's face, across the face of Marine Headquarters, and across the face of the Warlord system established by the World Government.
Sengoku kept holding the Den Den Mushi, frozen in that position.
The conference room fell into an even stranger silence than before.
Everyone stared blankly at Sengoku's face as it shifted from red to blue, from blue to purple, and finally into a steely gray.
At that moment, a faint scrape of a chair sounded.
Everyone looked over and saw that the CP0 agent had already stood up.
He straightened his spotless white suit and gave Sengoku a flawless noble's bow.
"It seems the Marines have more important internal matters to handle."
His voice still carried that strange, mocking smile.
"In that case, I will not disturb you any longer. What I heard today, I will report truthfully to the Five Elders."
"Stop right there."
Sengoku slammed the Den Den Mushi onto the desk with a loud bang.
However, the CP0 agent merely paused and did not turn back.
"Sengoku."
Tsuru's calm voice rang out at the right moment, and one hand gently pressed down on Sengoku's arm before he could raise it.
"Let him go."
Sengoku turned his head, his eyes filled with anger and confusion.
Tsuru shook her head, her gaze deep and steady as she analyzed calmly.
"If he reports it now or we report it later, the result will be no different. But if you stop him here, it will only prove that we are guilty and trying to cover up the truth."
Sengoku's chest rose and fell violently, his heavy breathing clearly audible.
Of course he understood that logic, but thinking of the situation that brat was about to face made him burn with anxiety.
Being hunted by a Four Emperor while also trying to cut down a Warlord with connections reaching the heavens.
This was no longer madness. It was suicide.
Once CP0 embellished the matter and pushed it up to the Five Elders, the World Government might not offer any help.
Worse, they might stab Zaraki in the back at the most critical moment.
The charges were already prepared for them: destroying the agreement with the Warlords and openly challenging the authority of the World Government.
"What exactly... is that brat trying to do?"
Sengoku slammed his fist onto the table, cracking the solid wooden surface on impact.
"Perhaps he's doing it on purpose," Tsuru said again.
"On purpose?" Sengoku froze.
"Deliberately making this matter huge. Deliberately letting everyone know he intends to cut down Doflamingo." Tsuru's gaze swept over every officer present. "He isn't a fool. On the contrary, he is sharper than anyone. When a sharp person makes what looks like the stupidest decision, there must be a deeper purpose behind it. Perhaps cutting down Doflamingo itself is a misdirection."
Misdirection?
A gleam flashed through Akainu's lowered eyes.
The others in the conference room also fell into thought.
Tsuru's analysis seemed to pull a reasonable thread out of the tangled mess.
"Whether it's misdirection or not," Sengoku said, taking a deep breath as his gaze sharpened again, "we have to prepare for the worst. It's already too late to send a fleet there. The only one who can reach him before Kaido, and might still be able to protect someone from that brat's hands..."
He did not finish, but everyone understood who he meant.
That man was the Hero of the Marines, and also the old bastard who had vouched for Zaraki like he was his own troublesome grandson.
In theory, he was the only person who could stop that madman head-on.
"Notify Garp," Tsuru said calmly and decisively, finishing Sengoku's sentence for him. "Tell him to redirect at once from the Wano route and move toward the Dressrosa route... to bring that troublesome brat home."
Sengoku did not hesitate.
He grabbed another black emergency-line Den Den Mushi and quickly turned the dial.
The atmosphere in the conference room grew unbearably heavy amid the Den Den Mushi's purupuru ringing.
Everyone's gaze gathered on the Den Den Mushi that was about to connect, while inside, they were all silently turning over Tsuru's words.
Misdirection?
Perhaps.
Hopefully, it truly was misdirection.
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