Sphinx.
The Outer Isle.
It has been a year since the elders of the White Wolf Pirates carried out a sweeping purge of spies within Sphinx.
Even the veteran hands—long used to dealing with Marine and Cipher Pol agents—couldn't stop one infiltrator after another from slipping in. Yet once inside, every spy immediately sensed Sphinx had changed.
All intelligence about the White Wolf Pirates had vanished.
Key industries—and with them most of the islanders of Sphinx—had all disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only guards, staff, and pirates.
All of Sphinx—
—was physically divided into two zones: inner and outer.
If you can't get into the Inner Isle, you can't grasp first-hand intelligence on the White Wolf Pirates.
That has driven the recent intelligence teams up the wall.
Only the Marines' own embedded sources felt a sliver of relief.
Though they couldn't infiltrate the Inner Isle, they had someone inside the White Wolf Pirates. As long as goods moved between the Inner and Outer Isles, there would always be a way to pass messages through.
"Cuckoo, come in!"
"Cuckoo, come in!"
Using a special mini Transponder Snail, the Marine handlers were sure they had ferried messages into Sphinx's Inner Isle.
Only after months of repeated calls did a reply finally arrive.
"...Cuckoo reading."
Hearing the girl's voice on the other end, the Marine handler finally exhaled.
"Cuckoo, why no contact for so long? Has the White Wolf Pirates put to sea? Any recent moves?"
He rattled off questions in a torrent—proof of the pressure they were under.
Rumors kept spreading that member nations wanted to withdraw.
Nine parts false, one part true.
In the end, their own tradecraft was being tested—what they could find, who they could verify.
They had already identified several countries that truly intended to quit the World Government, but who knew how many more would follow?
The New World was clearly the hardest hit.
Because the confidence to walk away came from the White Wolf Pirates themselves; only after receiving the White Wolf's reply did these nations feel bold enough to confront the World Government head-on.
So rather than hunt the leavers one by one,
they aimed at the source.
Since someone was inside the White Wolf Pirates, why not have that person report the member nations directly?
No one expected this:
both spies embedded with the White Wolf Pirates vanished at the same time, and stayed dark for over half a year. The handlers, numb with dread, suspected Magnus had uncovered them—and disposed of them.
Only recently did word return.
It turned out the main force of the White Wolf Pirates had left Sphinx nine months ago, destination unknown, and only just returned.
That gave them a real scare.
You couldn't blame Cuckoo or Blackfish for missing their check-ins; the fleet's departure coincided with the big purge. The Marines had no way to seed fresh agents onto Sphinx then, so contact was impossible.
"Cuckoo," of course, meant Tsuru.
Cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds' nests—here, the Marines had placed a promising recruit with the White Wolf Pirates, hoping the pirates would "raise" her into something useful.
But they could never guarantee a recruit wouldn't defect.
So they hedged.
They never told Tsuru she wasn't the only spy inside the White Wolf Pirates. If she betrayed them, any discrepancy between her reports and the other agent's would give the game away.
They overestimated Zefa and underestimated Tsuru.
Fresh to the White Wolf Pirates, Zefa had received only crash-course training from the Marines—and was not yet sixteen.
Tsuru, who had always watched her crewmates with a covert, suspicious eye, saw through Zefa almost at once.
Especially when the White Wolf Pirates were about to sail.
The panic on Zefa's face was plain as day.
A few simple probes—
—and Tsuru was certain.
Zefa, like her, had been planted by the Marines.
Only Zefa's naive look made Tsuru suspect Zefa had been sent as a decoy to muddy the waters.
Given how shrewd White Wolf Magnus was,
he might well have noticed Zefa's true identity already.
As for herself—
Tsuru didn't know if she had been exposed. But if Magnus had noticed and done nothing, didn't that mean he simply didn't care that she was a spy?
Tsuru didn't know whether Zefa had passed anything on.
After thinking it through, she decided to share only harmless scraps.
"Some time ago, we left Sphinx and went to Wano."
"Wano!?"
At that word, the handler's voice shot up an octave.
He hurriedly pressed on:
"What did White Wolf Magnus go to Wano for—does he plan to ally with them? Damn it, if that's true, we've got a problem."
A problem?
Tsuru hesitated.
Wano's samurai were strong, yes—but strong enough to make them panic?
After all,
Magnus alone had pressed all of Wano down so hard it couldn't lift its head.
The Marines clearly feared an alliance between the White Wolf Pirates and Wano.
But from Magnus's attitude,
he didn't seem to care one bit whether they allied or not.
"Message received. You did well."
Perhaps not expecting an apprentice crewmate to know much more, the handler quickly moved on.
Compared to what was about to happen, Wano didn't matter.
"Cuckoo, I need you to find out what's happening with the member nations. We have intel that a significant number of them want to quit the World Government and join the evil White Wolf Pirates."
The handler's voice turned solemn.
"I want you to gather the list of those nations as soon as possible. If we can't stop them, this could shake the Government's foundations and throw the world into turmoil."
He appealed to duty and reason.
He didn't know Tsuru had already taken part in discussions about the member nations—and had even offered Magnus a strategy to reduce civilian casualties.
Yes.
In Tsuru's mind, the only reason she spoke up to help Magnus was to spare ordinary people. If eleven nations withdrew, the World Government would surely retaliate.
And when that happened, the ones who bled would still be common folk.
So Tsuru hoped to narrow the battlefield. Even if that played into the White Wolf's hands, it would confine the fighting to a showdown between the World Government and the White Wolf Pirates.
Because she didn't know whether Zefa had reported anything,
Tsuru didn't hide the broad strokes.
"I know that a bloc led by the Steel Country, Gordenstein, plans to leave the Government and seek protection from the White Wolf Pirates."
Steel Country would be exposed sooner or later, but Tsuru withheld the specific list.
Without noticing it herself,
Tsuru's trust in the World Government and the Marines had frayed.
When did it start?
Perhaps—
during her first days as a slave, everything began to shift.
She'd been in the Marines for less than a year. What bond could she truly have? She had joined for justice; if the Marines couldn't give her justice, why should she stay?
Even so, Tsuru hadn't completely abandoned her faith in the Marines.
So she hesitated.
By exposing a major power like Gordenstein, she could keep the Government's focus off the small, vulnerable countries.
Those nations had done nothing wrong—it was the World Government that was at fault: their exploitation of the weak, their indulgence of the Celestial Dragons, all leading to this bitter harvest. If they were wise, they would reflect, not lash out in shame and rage when nations left.
That was Tsuru's conviction.
Knowing the inside story, she was certain these member nations sought to withdraw not because the White Wolf had incited them, but because of the Government's own sins.
They lacked a pillar to lean on, so they chose the White Wolf.
Thus—
however reluctant she felt,
Tsuru had to admit:
in this affair,
the World Government was not the side of justice.
So even as a Marine, she did not want to help the Government—
—did not want to help them carry out wrongdoing.
If the withdrawal of these eleven nations could force the Government to reflect on its past, that might not be a bad thing.
Tsuru did not understand this:
a regime warped from birth would never choose restraint when challenged. Faced with a force that dared defy it, it had only one response—overwhelming force.
Especially after the news about Rocks spread, the World Government could no longer sit still.
Harold and Rona allying with Magnus? In their eyes, that alliance was flimsy.
Harold had his own country and power base.
Rona's plan to form a "New Navy" wasn't exactly a secret.
With a little pressure,
the Government could pin both Harold and Rona in place.
But Rocks was different.
Five years ago he boarded Magnus's ship as a new recruit.
His rise could be traced step by step:
from barely fighting a Marine Vice Admiral to a draw the first time he appeared—
—to now,
defeating a top leader of CP0 head-on.
All in less than five years.
How could the World Government not be stunned?
Most importantly,
Rocks was a crewmate of the White Wolf Pirates.
Though Rocks had left the crew, few knew it, and fewer still believed he—practically raised by Magnus—would truly break with him.
Which meant—
the White Wolf Pirates effectively had a second top-tier combatant besides Magnus.
That alone
forced even the World Government to take the White Wolf threat seriously.
Top-tier might, Pure Gold, and a constant flow of talent.
Especially the fact that Magnus possessed Pure Gold was no longer a secret.
Meaning:
if Magnus wished, he could spend a hundred—even two hundred—years cultivating an army of elites, forging a truly undying host.
At that point,
unless the Government promised their loyal top fighters immortality too, they would be ground down by Magnus, year after year.
Either don't fight—
—or fight to annihilate the White Wolf Pirates in one blow.
Which made intelligence paramount.
"Is White Wolf Magnus confirmed on Sphinx?"
While Magnus prepared to stand with those eleven nations against the World Government, the other side had no intention of waiting.
In Mary Geoise, the figure before the Empty Throne radiated suffocating pressure.
"Yes. Confirmed."
A Five Elder knelt on one knee, head bowed in submission.
"Clip the White Wolf's wings first."
Elbaf had already been spooked; any stir now sent its giants scattering like rabbits.
If they knew where the White Wolf Pirates were holed up, they would have struck already—wiping them out to the last man. As it was, the Outer Isle of Sphinx was little more than an empty shell.
Imu and the Five Elders had no desire to act personally.
But the Marines were useless, and the White Wolf Pirates truly threatened them—even daring to strike Mary Geoise.
Once was more than enough.
"If those member nations want to leave, let them leave."
"Ready the Seven Warlords and the Marines."
"Once we confirm the list, send the Warlords to strike—and have the Marines, under the pretext of hunting the White Wolf Pirates, encircle Sphinx."
Public anger at the Marines had been stoked.
Even the World Government couldn't order the Marines to attack member nations, even "former" ones.
But a siege of the White Wolf Pirates? That was different.
Even if the Outer Isle was an empty shell,
supplies still had to move.
And if the Government had to embarrass itself to crush the White Wolf Pirates—so be it. Would those wayward nations still dare protest after that?
Their attention fell on a handful of larger states led by the Steel Country, but member nations were only a trifle.
The White Wolf Pirates were the mortal threat.
"If they intend to unite with Wano, we will destroy Wano first."
"Their samurai are respectable fighters."
"This operation will both clip the White Wolf's wings and bolster our own ranks."
They would not repeat their Elbaf mistake.
This time, they would not give the White Wolf Pirates any chance to rescue Wano.
News moves slowly across the sea—
—especially in isolationist Wano, which had scant channels to the outside world.
By the time Magnus received word, months had passed.
Wano had been seized by the Celestial Dragons.
Sukiyaki was captured.
Only a few hundred samurai escaped; the rest had been turned into demons.
Before the war even began,
Imu had slammed down a vicious opening move.
(End of Chapter)
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