The New World, post-war Dressrosa.
All those who came here because of the Doflamingo incident couldn't help but feel emotional when they saw this nation reduced to something like ruins. The Marines were helping treat the wounded. At the forefront, Green Bull had his head wrapped in bandages and was leisurely drinking tea.
"Well… I guess that means my mission is basically complete, right?"
After all, Dressrosa was one of the World Government's allied nations. Being saved was naturally something Green Bull was willing to see, and it aligned with his sense of justice. As for capturing the Straw Hat Pirates, however, he felt somewhat powerless. [Fire Fist]Ace and the Revolutionary Army's Sabo were simply too troublesome—without a prolonged battle it would be hard to take them down, and one misstep could provoke public outrage in Dressrosa, a World Government allied nation. With the World Conference about to convene, if someone filed another complaint against him then…
"What a headache…"
And during this time, two major Marine figures also arrived in Dressrosa. The Marine Headquarters' Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and the Marine Headquarters' Grand Inspector, former Fleet Admiral Sengoku. When they arrived, Green Bull was in the middle of taking a call from Fleet Admiral Sakazuki via Den Den Mushi.
"Hey!!! Green Bull!!!"
"What the hell are you doing, letting everything be exposed to the public!!! What do you expect the World Government and the Marines to do after this?!"
The Marine soldiers nearby shrank back in fear when they heard this. Green Bull also wore a pained expression.
"Don't be so angry, Sakazuki. There was really nothing I could do about this~"
"What did you say?!"
"Doflamingo's status is special. He's a former Celestial Dragon and also one of the Shichibukai. Strictly speaking, he's only nominally under the World Government and is affiliated with Saint Orin… You know the kind of influence they have. Once the information was exposed, there was nothing I could do~"
"Celestial Dragon?!"
Hearing that Green Bull had such an unspeakable difficulty, Sakazuki suddenly clenched his fist. The cigar in his hand was burned to ash by searing magma. He headed for the Holy Land, wanting to ask the Elder exactly what this all meant.
...
The Holy Land Mary Geoise, Chamber of Authority.
Sakazuki, draped in the Fleet Admiral's cloak, stood before the five elders with a cigar clenched between his teeth, his expression grave.
"It was an order from you people up top to have Green Bull help Doflamingo deal with the Straw Hat kid Luffy, wasn't it~?"
"But why let something so disgraceful drag the Marines into public opinion? Now the whole world knows that the Marines' actions in Dressrosa were carried out together with Doflamingo!!!"
"Even though Doflamingo was arrested afterward, the Marines' reputation still took a hit. Why did you do absolutely nothing in terms of public opinion control?!"
The five elders looked at Sakazuki, watching him rage.
"Watch your words, Sakazuki."
"What is your reputation worth, anyway?"
Saint Saturn spoke up, berating Sakazuki without restraint. There was no other reason—there truly were dealings between him and Orin. The other elders also wore dark expressions. They had all received threats from Doflamingo, who used the Celestial Dragons' national treasures and secrets as leverage. As a result, they tacitly allowed Saint Saturn to deploy Marines and CP to help Doflamingo. Everything Sakazuki mentioned was something they were well aware of.
The full exposure of the Dressrosa incident was indeed a humiliation and a source of negative publicity for both the World Government and the Marines. But what could they do? Capture Morgans? Or question Orin about why he couldn't keep his people in check? Pressured externally by Orin and internally by the Celestial Dragons, the elders were already seething. Now, with Sakazuki repeatedly calling them Celestial Dragon puppets and Orin's puppets, their mood grew even worse.
"Mind your tongue, Sakazuki."
"As Fleet Admiral, you let a combat asset as powerful as Kuzan leave the Marines, and now he's even standing on Blackbeard's side. What reputation do your Marines even have left?!"
Sakazuki gritted his teeth when he heard this.
"That idiot is no longer a Marine. Wherever he goes or whatever he does has nothing to do with us anymore!!!"
At that point, turmoil also surged in Sakazuki's heart. That bastard Kuzan, who claimed he wanted to stop Orin and the like, had actually joined the pirates. One headache after another. Just as Sengoku once said—being Fleet Admiral really isn't easy…
...
The New World, post-war Dressrosa.
Inside a deep, massive crater, a man lay sprawled on the ground in a starfish shape. He wore a pink feathered cloak, his blood-colored sunglasses shattered. Shadows covered his face, making his features indistinct.
Marine soldiers swarmed in from all sides, pointing their guns at Doflamingo as they began the arrest.
"They're actually arresting a Shichibukai!!!"
"That kind of monster… has he really been defeated?"
Nervously, they stepped forward, preparing to put Seastone handcuffs on him.
At that moment, a tall cloaked figure approached from the perimeter.
"The Marines?"
The tall figure seemed not to hear the Marines' warnings at all and walked straight forward. Bullets struck his body as if they were hitting steel. Even when Marine officers rushed in, they were simply grabbed by the head with one hand and casually flung away, kicking up massive clouds of dust among the ruins.
The figure arrived before Doflamingo and slowly revealed his face.
It was the face of a fish-man.
It was Tiger, the one absorbed by Orin, originally positioned opposite Enel to handle external affairs and now responsible specifically for internal matters. As a fish-man even stronger than Jinbe, he also served a binding role to some extent. After systematically learning the power of Haki, Tiger, as the strongest fish-man, elevated his strength by combining Ryuo with Fish-Man Karate, leaping straight into the realm of those newly entering the Yonko tier.
Many famous fish-men relied on the Fish-Man Karate talent of striking water—flicked droplets could shatter gold and stone. Whether one could "strike water" was also a standard for judging a fish-man's strength. And if the water were replaced with thick, flowing Armament Haki instead?
That would be…
[Strike Haki]!!!
With dense Armament Haki flowing around his body, no Marine could stop Tiger's advance. He walked straight to Doflamingo's side.
At this moment, Doflamingo seemed to sense something. His eyes slowly opened in the shadows, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"As expected… there really was a backup plan…"
His heart settled, feeling that Orin truly hadn't abandoned him. But what he didn't expect was that in the very next second, Tiger took a brand-new pair of blood-red sunglasses from his chest and put them on Doflamingo.
"This is something Orin asked me to give you—your new sunglasses…"
"But I won't take you away."