"Seriously... this is far too sudden!"
Marine Headquarters.
New Marineford.
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Sakazuki hung up the Transponder Snail and crushed his cigar into the ashtray. His expression was clearly unpleasant.
At a turbulent time like this, sending soldiers to help a Warlord eliminate pirates was something Sakazuki opposed with every fiber of his being.
In his eyes, whether it was the Warlords or the rookie pirates of the new era, it would be best if they beat each other's brains out and died together.
After all, to him, pirates were pirates.
They all deserved to die.
Inside his office, several old men were drinking tea and chatting, showing no respect for him as Fleet Admiral.
Garp and Sengoku were even discussing which region produced the best rice crackers.
Sengoku took out a pack of crackers Corazon had given him and kept showing it off in front of Garp.
That infuriated Garp.
After all, his son had gone off to become a revolutionary, and his grandson had become a pirate. He had no juniors around him at all.
So he immediately snatched Sengoku's crackers and poured them all into his mouth.
Sengoku was so angry his beard nearly stood on end. The two old men almost started wrestling on the spot.
Veins bulged on Sakazuki's forehead. Finally, he could not endure it anymore.
"Hey! You retired old bastards..."
"Calm down, Sakazuki."
Tsuru's steady voice rang out, cutting off both Sakazuki's outburst and the argument between Garp and Sengoku.
Everyone turned to look at this great strategist, whose prestige in the Marines was immense.
"And you two. Be quiet when serious matters are being discussed!"
With one look from Tsuru, Garp and Sengoku, who had just been grappling, instantly behaved.
They feared neither heaven nor earth, but they feared little Tsuru's anger.
Because she would really hit them.
Seeing this, Sakazuki no longer wanted to waste time. He directly told Tsuru about the World Government's latest order.
These old fellows were only semi-retired. After all, the Marines were currently short on both manpower and combat strength.
For many matters, Sakazuki still consulted their opinions, especially Tsuru, this wise veteran Marine.
"I see. So the Five Elders chose to help the Warlords?"
"I wonder if this is to maintain the balance of the sea and prevent another Warlord defeat, or if it is because of that man..."
Sengoku folded his arms. Light flashed across the lenses of his frog-shaped glasses.
"Black Gun?"
"Yes."
Tsuru interlaced her fingers. Her thin, upright figure sat at the desk as she analyzed the situation.
"Although the World Government publicly listed Ozz as a hostile figure two years ago, they never revoked his Celestial Dragon status."
"So whether this is a stabilizing move or using someone else's blade to kill, we still cannot say for certain."
As they analyzed the matter, Garp kept crunching on rice crackers with an utterly carefree expression.
He laughed without a care in the world.
"Is it really that complicated? Maybe that brat Ozz just thinks it'll be fun~"
Crunch, crunch.
Everyone ignored Garp's interruption, as if they were already used to his unserious behavior.
Tsuru, as the Marine who understood the involved party, Doflamingo, the best, seemed very interested in the events about to unfold in Dressrosa.
She had been pursuing Doflamingo for many years. She understood that brat's temperament far too well.
"Do you still remember what happened in Alabasta two years ago?"
Sakazuki bit his cigar and thought for a moment before saying in a low voice,
"That was Crocodile's incident, right? A Warlord attempted to seize a nation and was defeated by Straw Hat Luffy."
"Yes."
Granny Tsuru nodded, then continued.
"That incident alone was enough to show that after Ozz publicly declared more than twenty years ago that he would no longer use the title Black Emperor, he truly stopped managing his subordinates too closely."
"That was why Crocodile was defeated and sent to Impel Down without Ozz appearing to interfere at any point."
At that moment, a female soldier hurried in and handed over a report.
The others passed it around and read through it.
"These past few years, I've been watching Donquixote Doflamingo's movements. His underworld business has expanded to an unprecedented degree!"
"Garp's grandson, Straw Hat Luffy's crew, Trafalgar Law, the Revolutionary Army, and even traces of Fire Fist Ace have been found on the island."
"With all these forces combined, Doflamingo's Donquixote Family alone cannot possibly withstand them."
"If Ozz does not provide support, failure is all but certain."
Sengoku looked at the photos of those familiar young faces in the report and frowned.
"They're all familiar faces from two years ago..."
"But since the World Government is intervening, the ending may still be uncertain."
"No... Doflamingo has almost no chance of winning."
After thinking for a moment, Tsuru finally gave her judgment.
Because this was the flow of the times.
His defeat aligned not only with the wishes of the Straw Hats and Law, but also with the interests of the Revolutionary Army and the World Government.
There were countless reasons for him to lose, but not a single factor that would let him win.
Especially since Ozz most likely would not act personally.
In other words, Doflamingo had no winning path at all.
"So this Marine operation..."
Sakazuki nodded, thought flashing through his eyes.
...
"Act?"
"Well... more or less. That's the order I received."
New World, Dressrosa.
Inside an utterly ordinary restaurant in the city, two utterly ordinary figures sat across from one another. One of them looked extremely cautious.
Ryokugyu was honestly confused too.
He had been standing guard perfectly fine at the Holy Land, only for Marine Headquarters to suddenly issue him an order. Then Saint Saturn had indirectly hinted that he could "communicate properly" with Ozz.
Originally, out of trust in Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, he had planned to come here and simply muddle through.
He just had not expected to run into this person the moment he entered Dressrosa.
At first, he had been somewhat stubborn.
But once Ozz released a pulse of Conqueror's Haki, Ryokugyu immediately understood what he should do.
It was not that he lacked the dignity of an admiral.
The Five Elders' orders were more important.
Besides, Ozz was a Celestial Dragon.
In a way, he could be considered half one of their own. Ryokugyu felt no psychological burden at all.
As for Ozz, he had not expected the Marines to take such a passive attitude.
Doffy's popularity was truly terrible~
But he did not really care.
After all, over the years, Ozz had not asked Doffy for much money. He had even allowed him to build such a large business by borrowing his name and influence.
Doffy had also done plenty of rotten things that deserved karmic punishment.
Ozz had already been more than benevolent enough.
Doffy's failure was completely within Ozz's expectations. After all, he had drawn far too much hatred. In the end, Dressrosa could not be protected either way.
Whether Ozz sold the land or not did not really make much difference.
The only pity was that the current Doffy was still full of confidence, believing himself to be one of the masterminds behind the Dressrosa incident.
He was still laughing his usual "fufufufu."
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