Marine Headquarters, Marineford. Fleet Admiral's Office.
Fleet Admiral Kong sat behind his desk, brow deeply furrowed as he stared at the intelligence report in his hand.
The information on the page gave him a headache.
"Whitebeard's 'son,' Edward Weevil."
"Bounty: 170 million berries."
"Age: 21."
"Recently appeared in the first half of the Grand Line…"
Silently setting the report down, Kong rubbed his temples and let out a low sigh.
The sea really was producing every kind of monster these days.
Even as Fleet Admiral, he felt helpless.
There were more and more pirates appearing—
while the size of the Marines did not seem to be growing at all.
Facing the endless pressure created by the rising tide of piracy, Kong's burden as Fleet Admiral had become crushing.
"It's all that bastard Roger's fault!"
"He dies, and fine—but then he just had to leave those final words behind."
"He threw the whole world into this damned Great Pirate Era."
"If not for Roger, this sea would never have produced so many pirates."
Kong hated Roger to the bone.
It was Roger's final declaration that had thrown the seas into uncontrollable chaos.
Countless pirates were now springing up everywhere.
Waters that had once been relatively calm had become more chaotic than ever.
Even the Marines were starting to feel overwhelmed.
"Do we really…"
"have to move forward with that proposal from above?"
"The Seven Warlords plan?"
"Gather seven notorious top-tier pirates into a single government-backed force, use them to frighten the rest of the pirate world, and maintain temporary order on the seas?"
Kong sank into thought.
As Fleet Admiral, he naturally had no desire to compromise with pirates.
But neither could he ignore the orders coming from above.
Besides—
with the number of pirates continuing to rise, even he had begun to realize something.
The Marines alone might no longer be enough.
They needed another way.
Some other strategy.
Otherwise, there would be no suppressing this increasingly chaotic sea with Marine power alone.
At that moment, Kong finally understood.
The Seven Warlords proposal was not something born of choice—
but of necessity.
It might be the only way to bring temporary order back to the seas.
"Even a pirate said to possess the strength Whitebeard had in his youth has now shown up in the Grand Line…"
Kong lowered his gaze to the intelligence report in his hand once more.
He had heard of Whitebeard's "son," Edward Weevil.
Recently, the man had become a pirate of ill repute.
And he was strong.
Very strong.
Just the title "possessing Whitebeard's youthful strength" was enough to prove that much.
"Whether he's truly Whitebeard's son…"
"that still remains to be seen."
"But there's no denying that the boy is powerful."
"Even our Headquarters Vice Admirals might not be able to defeat him reliably."
"His strength has almost certainly reached the threshold for being invited to join the Seven Warlords."
"The only thing he lacks is enough personal fame—and enough influence of his own."
Kong raised an eyebrow.
A pirate invited into the Seven Warlords had to meet more than one requirement.
Strength alone wasn't enough.
He also needed enough fame to intimidate the countless pirates scattered across the sea.
And in that regard, Whitebeard's "son" still fell short.
But in terms of raw strength—
Kong had no doubt he qualified.
"This sea really is growing more chaotic by the day."
Kong sighed again.
There was nothing he could do to stop that kind of large-scale shift in the world.
All he could do was wait and react.
Just then—
Purururu… Purururu…
The Den Den Mushi sitting in the corner of his desk suddenly rang out.
The shrill sound pulled Kong from his thoughts, and his eyes settled on it.
"Who would be calling me at a time like this?"
Frowning, Kong picked up the receiver.
"This is Kong."
"Fleet Admiral, it's me. Zephyr."
The familiar voice from the Den Den Mushi made Kong even more surprised.
Zephyr?
If he remembered correctly, Zephyr had already taken this year's top elite Marine cadets out of Headquarters and was conducting their graduation field exercise in the Grand Line.
So why was he suddenly contacting him now?
Kong couldn't make sense of it.
Then a thought struck him.
"Could something have gone wrong?"
His heart tightened immediately.
That batch of cadets was the best of the best among this generation of Marine talent.
If anything happened to them, Kong would truly feel it.
He would not allow such a thing to happen.
"With Zephyr's strength, how could anything go wrong in the first half of the Grand Line?"
"He's a Marine Admiral."
"Who in those waters is qualified to challenge an Admiral?"
Still, holding onto that unease, Kong took a breath and asked,
"Zephyr. What happened?"
"Fleet Admiral, during this voyage, we ran into an extremely powerful pirate."
Zephyr answered honestly.
"A powerful pirate?"
"There aren't many people in these seas you would bother calling that."
Kong's expression grew serious.
"Who was it? What's your current situation? None of the cadets were hurt, were they? Do you need me to send reinforcements immediately?"
Kong trusted Zephyr's strength.
But the problem was—
Zephyr also had to protect an entire group of students.
And while doing that, his combat ability would be heavily restricted.
Maybe…
something really had happened.
"That batch of cadets must not be lost."
Kong's tone grew solemn.
"Fleet Admiral, you misunderstood."
"We didn't suffer any casualties. No one was harmed."
Zephyr said calmly.
Hearing that, Kong finally relaxed a little.
"That's good."
"Then who exactly was this pirate you encountered?"
"It was Whitebeard's 'son,' Edward Weevil. A very powerful pirate."
"What?!"
"You ran into Whitebeard's 'son'?"
Kong's pupils shrank.
Just a moment ago, he had been wondering how to deal with this very man—
and now Zephyr was telling him they had already encountered him.
"Did you fight him? What was the result?"
"There are rumors everywhere that Whitebeard's 'son' possesses the same power Whitebeard had when he was young."
"Is that true?"
Kong asked rapidly.
"Whitebeard's 'son' is indeed very strong."
"In my opinion, his bounty should be raised to at least 300 million berries."
"He is absolutely not inferior to the great pirates of the sea."
"He's extremely troublesome."
Zephyr answered in a serious tone.
"So the rumors weren't empty after all."
"That man really is dangerous."
Kong drew in a breath.
"So… he escaped, then?"
From Kong's perspective, Zephyr—while burdened with the duty of protecting over seventy cadets—could never have fully pinned down Whitebeard's "son."
Even if Zephyr defeated him—
capturing him alive should have been impossible.
"No."
"Whitebeard's 'son' was captured."
The moment Zephyr said that—
Kong froze.
A pirate as strong as Whitebeard's "son"…
had actually been captured?!
Zephyr really was still in top form.
Then Kong broke into loud laughter.
"Good! Excellent!"
"Zephyr, you've done the Marines a great service."
"I was just wondering how to deal with Whitebeard's 'son'."
"And now you've handed me a huge surprise."
"I'll send people out to meet you and take custody of him."
"He'll be transferred to Impel Down Level 6—Infinite Hell."
To Kong, the idea that Zephyr had captured Weevil was surprising—
but still completely reasonable.
A Marine Admiral personally taking down Whitebeard's "son"?
That made perfect sense.
"Fleet Admiral…"
"I think you may have misunderstood."
"I never said…"
"that I was the one who captured Whitebeard's 'son.'"
The smile on Kong's face froze.
He blinked.
What?
What did that mean?
If Zephyr hadn't captured Whitebeard's "son"—
then who had?
At that moment, Kong's mind fell into complete confusion.
Almost instinctively, he blurted out:
"If it wasn't you, then who else could it possibly have been?"
"I don't recall Garp, Kuzan, Sakazuki, or anyone else leaving Headquarters recently."
"As far as I know, among all the Marines who left Marineford lately, you're the only one with the strength to do something like that."
"And yet you're telling me the man who captured Whitebeard's 'son' wasn't you."
"In that case, I have to ask."
"Who in the world had the ability to do it?"
"Who is this person?!"
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