"Bwahaha! Sean, you brat, it's been a long time since you've checked in on this old man!"
"Garp, old man, same rules as always: one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which one do you want first?"
Hearing this, Garp's heart skipped a beat. This opening was far too familiar. While Sean's "good news" always brought him joy, the "bad news" was invariably a massive headache.
"Give me the good news first!"
"Alright. Ace has successfully completed his first mission leading troops at sea and has captured the target pirate."
"Ace, huh... Not bad. It seems he's already become a qualified Marine!"
As with their previous conversations, the good news left Garp feeling gratified. But then came the inevitable.
"Alright, spit it out. What's the bad news? I'm ready!"
"The bad news is that your grandson, Luffy, set sail to be a pirate ahead of schedule. Furthermore, Ace's mission this time was to capture Luffy, so..."
"What?! Luffy already set sail as a pirate, and he was caught by Ace the moment he left?"
"Exactly. I'm sure you can guess why I sent Ace instead of Lucci, right, old man?" Sean said meaningfully.
Garp let out a soft sigh. Why send Ace? It was obvious. Sean was showing him immense respect; Ace would never kill Luffy, opting instead to capture him.
"Old man, seriously, your grandson is a lost cause. Why not let Dragon try and have another one?"
"You brat... You know about Dragon?"
"Duh. Did you forget what Lucci and his team's original line of work was?" Sean retorted.
Truthfully, having an entire squad of CP9 members was incredibly convenient. For intelligence gathering on matters like this, he only had to give them a nudge, and they would handle the rest.
"Sigh, Sean, he is my own grandson after all. Could you possibly..."
"Enough. I'll have him transported to Headquarters. What happens next is up to you, but I suggest you seriously consider my previous proposal. Otherwise, I won't be sending Ace your way anymore!"
"I'll consider it. Thanks, Sean!"
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Sean sighed. Although Garp said he would consider it, Sean suspected that Garp would ultimately let Luffy go. Having read the original story, he knew Garp's personality all too well.
"Messenger!"
"Rear Admiral!"
"Notify Kaku. He is to be responsible for escorting Luffy to Headquarters tomorrow to be handed over to Vice Admiral Garp!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
'''
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
The second batch of recruits, totaling 228 people, had gradually arrived at the 16th Branch. Including Usopp, a total of 229 people began the second round of recruit training.
"Rear Admiral, the quality of the recruits from these two rounds is significantly higher than the first."
"Hmm? Are there talents more outstanding than Ace or Sophia?"
"Not exactly. Those two weren't recruited through conventional channels, so they aren't a fair comparison."
"Fair enough. So, tell me, what kind of talent did you find?" Sean asked with a nod. Lucci was right; Ace and Sophia were special cases.
"Among the new recruits, three have a Doriki exceeding 100, and sixty-seven are over 20."
"According to the recruitment officer, if there weren't a quota limit, over five hundred people would have met the criteria for the first round! Since this recruitment covered the entire East Blue, combined with our Operation Thunder and Morgans' extensive reporting, every recruitment center was incredibly popular."
'Three people over 100 Doriki?'
That was interesting. In the East Blue, anyone with a Doriki of 100 was definitely a powerhouse. However, just as Sean was reflecting on this, Lucci continued.
"But Rear Admiral, one of them is a bit troublesome."
"In what way?"
"He says he wants to challenge you to a duel in swordsmanship. If you win, he'll join the 16th Branch; otherwise, he refuses to join."
"A duel in swordsmanship? Where did this come from?"
"Apparently, it's because of Morgans' reports. In the section introducing you, he described you as the greatest swordsman in the East Blue..."
"Fine. What's his name?"
"Roronoa Zoro!"
'Pffft—!'
"Who did you say?"
Hearing the name, Sean spat out the tea he was about to swallow.
"Roronoa Zoro. According to the files, he was originally a bounty hunter from the Isshin Dojo in Shimotsuki Village. He's a sword fanatic! Aside from hunting pirates for living expenses, his greatest pleasure is dueling famous swordsmen. It seems he has never lost a fight until now."
'Never lost?'
That wasn't surprising. The East Blue was filled with small-fry; there was hardly anyone who could actually challenge him. Even if Zoro was still relatively weak, remaining undefeated in the East Blue was no anomaly.
"I'm quite interested in him. Arrange it; I'll play with him on the training grounds this afternoon!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
'Purupurupuru...'
Just as Lucci was about to leave, the Den Den Mushi on Sean's desk rang.
"This is Sean!"
"Rear Admiral Sean, this is Kaku!"
"Hmm? Kaku, what's going on over there?" Sean asked quickly. Kaku's voice sounded wrong—there was a distinct sense of weakness in his tone.
Beside him, Lucci's expression grew solemn. He knew Kaku's strength well. Even on the Grand Line, there weren't many people who could seriously injure him. What on earth had happened?
"Rear Admiral... the mission failed. We were attacked just as we were leaving the Calm Belt to enter the Grand Line. Twelve accompanying Marines are heavily injured, and the rest are all wounded..."
"Who did this?"
"The leader of the Revolutionary Army... Dragon!!"
'BAM!!!'
Hearing those words, Sean smashed his desk with a powerful Hakuda blow, completely shattering the furniture.
'Dragon?'
'I spared Luffy out of respect for Garp and Makino, and I even sent him straight to Garp. And in return, you attack my men and leave so many of them wounded?'
"I understand. Report your current position immediately. I'll have Blueno come and take over. Prioritize getting the heavily injured back to the Branch for treatment!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
'''
After obtaining the precise coordinates, Sean contacted Blueno and ordered him to use his ability to make the trip.
A moment later...
"Lucci, do you have any intelligence on the Revolutionary Army in the East Blue?"
"I do, but not much. After all, whenever intelligence surfaces, CP9 immediately moves in to assassinate or capture the sources, so..."
'Right. So basically, most of the people who actually knew something were either slaughtered by you guys or tortured to death after being hauled back,' Sean thought.
That was the gist of it, wasn't it?
"As far as I know, the Army Commander responsible for the East Blue is Belo Betty, and the Deputy Army Commander is Ashiru. Is that correct?"
"The Army Commander is indeed Belo Betty, but as for the Deputy... I'm not entirely sure."
As Lucci spoke, he was inwardly shaken.
Sean had once again demonstrated an incredibly formidable capacity for gathering intelligence. It wasn't strange for him to know about Belo Betty—after all, the woman had a bounty—but Deputy Army Commander Ashiru...
Lucci had never even heard the name.
"Messenger!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
At the call, a messenger immediately pushed open the door and entered.
"Go to the training camp and tell old man Sanders that I need to borrow Usopp for a few hours. Bring him here!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
"Lucci, you have a photo of Belo Betty. In a moment, I'll describe Ashiru's appearance, and then we'll have Usopp draw her. Once we have that, we'll hunt them both down!"
After the messenger departed, Sean turned back to Lucci.
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
At this moment, Sean was genuinely furious.
He had always found the Revolutionary Army irritating. According to the records, the Revolutionary Army would constantly incite rebellions within various nations. However, once they seized control of a country and the World Government dispatched a massive fleet to reclaim it, these people would simply vanish.
If they had no intention of holding the territory, why bother taking it in the first place?
Was it simply to leave the civilians—who had been duped by their rhetoric—to be slaughtered by the arriving suppression forces?
And now, they had dared to provoke him directly.
Several Marines had been severely injured, and it was still uncertain if all of them could be saved.
Sean was not the type of person who enjoyed keeping the peace or letting things slide.
'Since you want a war, I'll give you a war!'
That was Sean's current plan.
Of course, Sean wasn't reckless; he didn't actually intend to take on the entire Revolutionary Army using only the 16th Branch.
But if he could capture Belo Betty and Ashiru, he wouldn't mind giving the world a preview of the Paramount War.
Whether it was Marine Headquarters or the World Government... they would likely be more than happy to cooperate!