Zephyr did not come, because with The Black Order and Marine on the move, Mary Geoise needed to keep some fighting force there too. Zephyr and Kong had to stay at headquarters.
Sengoku was in the same boat. With The Black Order's Fleet Admiral and Thor out in action, they needed an Admiral to stay behind as well.
On top of that, Sengoku had to train his special powers and could not leave for long until the training was done.
Even Admirals had these duties, so you can imagine what it was like for a Fleet Admiral.
Once you become Fleet Admiral, many things are out of your control. As an Admiral, you can ignore a lot and still have some freedom, but as Fleet Admiral, heavy pressure weighs on you, and you can't easily leave headquarters.
Just like how, if not for dealing with Aatrox, Makima could not easily leave The Black Order headquarters either. That was part of her duty.
Tsuru watched the Marine fleet arrive downstream on the Santo River, and she felt a bit emotional. When did the World Government start sending out so much fighting force all at once?
In the past, Marine was already the ruler of the seas. No matter how tough the pirates were, they would run at the sound of Marine's name. But now, Marine had to team up with another group and even borrow pirates' power. It was just too strange.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru."
After the fleet reached shore, Marines ran out from it. Ah Xing walked at the front and came up to Tsuru.
In terms of rank, Ah Xing was an Admiral and Tsuru a Vice Admiral, so Ah Xing outranked her.
But Vice Admiral Tsuru was from the same generation as Garp, Sengoku, and Zephyr, so Ah Xing still respected her a lot.
"Where are the people from The Black Order?" Tsuru glanced behind Ah Xing and did not see anyone from The Black Order, so she asked.
"Roger's pirate crew has arrived too. I'm worried they might take advantage of the chaos to do pirate work, so I asked The Black Order to keep an eye on them."
Ah Xing said.
Pirate work, of course, meant looting and killing.
Pirates, you had to watch out for them.
But now they were allies, so while caution was needed, having Marines do the watching would be too touchy. The Black Order had no such issue, since they were the ones who suggested this team-up.
Ah Xing was young, but he thought things through carefully. Sengoku made a good choice handing the position to him.
Tsuru nodded to herself in her mind. A Marine Admiral could not just have strength; he needed brains too.
After Ah Xing spoke, he ordered the Marines he brought: "Help Alabasta's kingdom army move civilians out! For anyone who wants to leave, use warships to take them to other islands!"
Against Aatrox, numbers did not matter, so he never planned to use these Marines to fight Aatrox. They were just for clearing the area in this early stage.
Ah Xing gave the order, and the Marines started moving. Some Vice Admirals were even among them.
But these Vice Admirals were not like Tsuru or Garp. No need to say more about Garp, but Tsuru was the one who could chase Seven Warlords member Doflamingo all the way later on. She was not like an average Vice Admiral.
"Head to Yuba first. Garp is waiting there."
Once only Tsuru and Ah Xing were left, Tsuru led Ah Xing toward Yuba and said at the same time, "Is Makima with the pirates too?"
For this woman Makima, all us old friends saw her the same way. Whatever Sengoku thought back then, that's what we thought, so Tsuru was still on guard with her.
"No, she said she had to go to the pyramid to talk with the heir of the death god, so she left ahead. She split off halfway to here."
"..." Tsuru frowned. This Makima had vanished mysteriously again, just like before in the Jaltzburg kingdom.
Back in the Jaltzburg kingdom, Makima had arrived early, but she only acted at the end, letting many people get hurt badly up front.
Sure, she turned things around and pushed back Aatrox, but her way of doing things still felt off.
And now it was happening again...
It gave a bad feeling.
But if she could bring a good outcome, then they would just have to accept it...
Tsuru and Ah Xing hurried toward Yuba.
Meanwhile, behind them, after the Marine fleet arrived, Roger's pirate ship docked not far away too.
"Following behind a Marine Admiral like this makes it look like we're chasing the Marines."
Gaban leaned on the railing and said with a bold laugh, "Out at sea for so many years, and this is the first time for something like this!"
[A book friend I've known for ten years recommended this reading app to me, Wild Fruit Reading! It's really great, I use its audio books to pass time while driving or before bed, you can download it here .yeguoyuedu]
"Guhahaha..." Whitebeard laughed too. "Teaming up with Marine is something pirates should never do!"
On this ship were Gaban, Rayleigh, Whitebeard, and Thor. Only four people, but if they joined forces, they would be the strongest pirate crew on the seas.
Thor started on this ship, but to avoid suspicion, he switched to a Marine ship. When they were almost at Alabasta, he came back.
Thor had linked the World Government with the pirates. He watched Tsuru and Ah Xing head off from the ship and said in a deep voice, "Alright, let's follow too. Get ready ahead of time at the battle spot."
"Roger over there... I wonder how he's doing."
Rayleigh looked out at the sea with some worry.
From Dressrosa to Alabasta was no short trip. Luring Aatrox from there to Alabasta was a tough job on its own, even with Mumei's instant move power...
It probably would not be easy.
"If Roger can't do it, then no one in this world can." Gaban said, "You don't know how strong Roger is now. He can definitely pull it off!"
Rayleigh had not seen Roger's current strength, because he had been locked up on Pandora Island this whole time.
He had heard about the changes in Roger on the way here and knew he ate a devil fruit, but that was just hearsay. He had seen Aatrox's power with his own eyes, so he did not feel Roger's strength much, but Aatrox's left a deep mark.
"Escaping a chase like this to Alabasta is only possible with Roger and Mumei together." Thor said at this point, "No one else can help. Let's trust them for now."
An official saying to trust pirates sounded funny, but they could not laugh.
Because that was the truth. Right now, Roger was the only one in the world who could fight Aatrox for a short time.
They...
Were too weak compared to Aatrox.
They went quiet, and in that silence, with a desire to get stronger, they set off for Yuba.
----
You can read 30 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi
Pssst, Free tiers can read 3 chapters in advance