Upon hearing Diarmuid's words, Spandine was momentarily taken aback, then chuckled and said, "I'm decent at a bit of scheming and trickery, but when it comes to personal strength, I'm truly lacking. Therefore, I need some competent subordinates to back me up."
After a short pause, Spandine turned to the CP-9 agent next to him and said, "Why haven't you thanked the Admiral yet?"
The agent was quick to react, immediately looking at Diarmuid and saying, "Thank you for the compliment, Admiral."
"Heh heh heh, what is your name?" Diarmuid asked with a smile.
"Who's-Who, my name is Who's-Who, and I am a member of CP-9," the agent quickly replied.
Spandine spoke up delightedly, "That's right, Admiral. He is the strongest fellow under my command. He has executed numerous missions without a single failure."
"Who's-Who, is it?" Diarmuid murmured, his gaze becoming more thoughtful.
If he remembered correctly, this man should be one of Kaido's high-ranking officers in the future, right? One of the Tobi Roppo? In any case, he was a powerful figure. He was an Ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, the Saber-Tooth Tiger form.
This was why Diarmuid found him somewhat familiar at first glance. After a closer look, realizing the guy seemed genuinely capable, Diarmuid had asked the question.
So, the question was: How did a capable man, highly favored by Spandine, inexplicably end up joining Kaido's crew?
And it looked like, with Lucci absent from CP-9 as the top elite, Who's-Who seemed to have taken Lucci's place, becoming the most outstanding agent in CP-9?
When Diarmuid arrived in this world, many stories had not been fully told, so he naturally wasn't completely clear on the subsequent developments. Otherwise, he would know that the Gum-Gum Fruit, which originally fell into Luffy's hands, was actually supposed to be held by Mariejois. Who's-Who was the one escorting the Devil Fruit, but he was attacked by the Red Hair Pirates and the fruit was stolen by Shanks, eventually making its way to Luffy.
That one failure was Who's-Who's only failure as a member of CP-9.
However, perhaps due to the Devil Fruit's special nature, or perhaps because CP-9 does not tolerate failure, after the failure became an established fact, Who's-Who was stripped of his identity and imprisoned in Impel Down. In the original story, he even met Jinbe there. Later, following Teach's rampage in Impel Down, he escaped and joined Kaido's subordinates, becoming one of his top executives.
Of course, those were events that happened in the original story.
Now, Shanks hadn't had a chance to cause trouble yet and had been dealt with by Diarmuid. The one sitting in Impel Down was Shanks, not Who's-Who, a case of "what goes around comes around."
Without Shanks' meddling, Who's-Who had never experienced any failure. Coupled with the lack of competition from Lucci, he was now highly anticipated within CP-9 and was Spandine's most favored subordinate.
His future was bright.
Unfortunately, Diarmuid was unaware of these developments. If he knew, he would only need to flip through the records of the Devil Fruit storage at Mariejois to find the Gum-Gum Fruit, which he believed was impossible to find again.
Although he didn't know the reasons behind these events, Diarmuid had his own theories.
First, he immediately ruled out the possibility of Who's-Who being Kaido's spy, specifically infiltrating CP-9. This was highly unlikely, as Kaido was currently short on capable officers. If he were Who's-Who's boss, he would never send him out as a spy. Furthermore, CP-9 members were mostly adopted and trained from childhood, which largely eliminated the possibility of internal problems.
Therefore, Diarmuid judged that Who's-Who eventually working for Kaido could be like Drake, a spy sent by a World Government agency.
Excluding that possibility, the only other possibility was that he betrayed the government in the original story. The reason was hard to guess, but Diarmuid generally theorized it might be related to Rob Lucci.
After all, one mountain cannot hold two tigers. Who's-Who should be a formidable individual, and Lucci was not someone to be underestimated. When two equally outstanding people clash in the same place, they either become good friends or fierce rivals.
Perhaps the two became rivals, and for various reasons, Who's-Who lost the internal struggle, defected from CP-9, and became one of Kaido's underlings.
Diarmuid chose not to dwell on these reasons, as it was pointless—these events had already been altered.
But Diarmuid was also not going to aid an enemy. Who's-Who was currently one of Spandine's subordinates, and Spandine was determined to join Diarmuid's faction. Therefore, theoretically, Who's-Who was one of their own.
Diarmuid didn't plan on revealing anything more to him, but since he had this innate advantage, he couldn't let such an excellent person be driven into Kaido's hands.
Thus, Diarmuid smiled and said, "An excellent person like you deserves more attention and better treatment. Keep up the good work. Spandine is a good leader; as he said, his personal strength is lacking, so he will naturally favor you more. Your future is very bright. If this guy ever treats you unfairly, you come straight to me. I'll take care of it for you, or perhaps even transferring you to the Navy wouldn't be bad, hahahaha."
Although Who's-Who didn't quite understand why this Marine Admiral held such inexplicable goodwill toward him, he wasn't someone who was clueless. He immediately replied, "Yes, thank you for your regard, Admiral. Chief Spandine treats me very well."
Spandine didn't know what was going on with Diarmuid, but the Admiral having a good impression of Who's-Who was a good thing for him. His valuation of Who's-Who instantly rose, and he said without hesitation, "Even without the Admiral saying so, I was already planning to train this young man as my right-hand man. Perhaps he will even take over my position in the future, hahahaha!"
Yes, since he was already planning to send his idiot son to the Navy, and since the Admiral had a good impression of Who's-Who, he should definitely invest more in him. If Who's-Who truly proved excellent, it wasn't impossible for him to take over CP-9 later!
Ultimately, Who's-Who was only a small figure to Diarmuid. A single word from him could influence Who's-Who's destiny.
Without further delay, after a few more encouraging words, Diarmuid and Spandine entered the ship's cabin. The ship, which was moored in the Mariejois port, quickly set sail toward Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
…
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Inside a small room at Crescent Port, Vergo was sitting there, reading a newspaper.
Many people were aware of Vergo's predicament. They heard he had offended Admiral Diarmuid somehow and was consequently marginalized. Now, he was merely a dispatcher at Crescent Port, with a few Marine soldiers under his command, responsible for logging the entry and exit of common ships and warships traveling to and from Mariejois.
As is typical, once Vergo lost favor, his former friends quickly distanced themselves from him. Most people in Diarmuid's faction knew his identity, so in general, no one truly sought him out on a daily basis.
Vergo seemed content with the peace. Since his identity was completely exposed, he no longer held much hope for the future. Just passing the days quietly like this was fine; no one bothered him. He clocked in daily, drank tea, read the newspaper, and being a transparent Rear Admiral was quite alright, wasn't it?
Just as Vergo was drinking tea, reading the newspaper, and preparing to spend a leisurely day, his Den Den Mushi suddenly rang. Vergo turned to look at it, his expression slightly surprised—it was his Young Master?
That's right. Since his identity was completely exposed, Vergo no longer needed any fancy disguises. The job Admiral Diarmuid had assigned him was to serve as Doflamingo's liaison, after all.
So, he could openly communicate with Doflamingo.
Folding the newspaper and placing it on the table, Vergo picked up the Den Den Mushi and said, "Young Master?"
"Fuffuffuffu, how have you been lately, Vergo..." Doflamingo chuckled softly.
Vergo gave a helpless smile. "Neither good nor bad. I'm just an invisible man now."
"That's not bad either. Speaking of which, I'm now one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. You can come back anytime," Doflamingo said.
In contrast to Diarmuid's lack of concern, Doflamingo only had a few capable subordinates. Vergo was a rare talent excelling in all aspects, so Doflamingo still valued him greatly.
Vergo first laughed, then said, "Even if I wanted to, the Admiral wouldn't let me go, would he? Do you think I'd dare to run away secretly?"
"Fuffuffuffu, how frustrating. That Diarmuid fellow..." Doflamingo also let out a somewhat helpless laugh.
After they chatted and reminisced for a while, Doflamingo finally asked, "Has Diarmuid returned to Marineford?"
"Not yet, but apparently, he will in the next couple of days. Before, Aokiji and Gion had already returned. They escorted Silvers Rayleigh to Impel Down. I heard the Admiral went to Mariejois to report on his duties," Vergo said calmly.
Indeed, being a dispatcher at the port meant he was well-informed of various movements, with the exception of confidential mission information, which he couldn't access.
"Is that so?" Doflamingo muttered, not dwelling on it too much. Instead, he said, "Once Diarmuid returns, go and see him. Tell him..."
Diarmuid possessed Doflamingo's Den Den Mushi, so he could contact Doflamingo anytime to ask him to do things.
Doflamingo naturally also had Diarmuid's Den Den Mushi, but he dared not contact Diarmuid so casually; their statuses were unequal. Therefore, he preferred to have Vergo step forward, as Vergo at least had some rapport with Diarmuid and was the 'underground line' that Diarmuid himself had acknowledged.
After a long moment, Vergo's expression was one of surprise, but he quickly replied, "I understand, Young Master. I will relay these words to the Admiral..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a CP-9 ship docking in the distant port, and Diarmuid's tall figure descending the gangplank.
Seeing this, Vergo quickly said, "Young Master, the Admiral has arrived at Marineford."
"Oh?" Doflamingo sounded surprised on the other end, then said, "Then go and do your duty, Vergo."
"Yes," Vergo replied, then hung up the Den Den Mushi.
He then stood up and walked toward Diarmuid.
…
"Once you return, immediately send your son over. Which department do you want him to work in?" Diarmuid asked Spandine.
Spandine smiled and simply said, "I leave it entirely to your command, Admiral. I'm not familiar with the Navy, after all."
Diarmuid nodded, dropped the subject, and waved his hand. "Alright, hurry back and attend to your own matters. I need to go see the Fleet Admiral..."
"Yes, Admiral," Spandine replied, then left without any delay.
Diarmuid then turned and looked at Vergo, who was standing not far away, seemingly waiting for him. His expression was slightly complicated, and he finally said, "Get back to the office and wait for me."
Vergo's eyes lit up, and he quickly replied, "Yes, Admiral!"
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