This was a fact that could no longer be avoided.
Most of the time, Marine officers judged how troublesome a pirate was—and how great a threat they might become in the future—based on experience.
But this time, the target of discussion, Ren, had already gone far beyond the limits of anyone's experience.
He could be called a type never seen before.
Even a monster of talent like Big Mom had only possessed strength worthy of a bounty of a few hundred million at around twenty years old.
Most importantly, however, their situations were completely different.
Big Mom had displayed extraordinary power since childhood, with a bounty of 50 million Beli before she was even ten years old.
Yet according to the records, the standard ten-year-old Ren had merely been a fisherman in a small village.
There had been nothing special about him at all.
The starting points of the two weren't even comparable.
That was exactly why Sengoku was personally presiding over this meeting.
He smelled an enormous crisis approaching.
"One year ago, he was just a general store owner. Eighteen years old, right?"
Kizaru picked up Ren's file, and his eyelid twitched.
"How frightening. He's grown to this level in just that little time?What is he, some protagonist from a story?
Come to think of it, didn't Headquarters have any targeted measures against someone like him before now?"
"When news of the Demon Pirates appeared in Mock Town,
Vice Admiral Onigumo from Headquarters was dispatched. At present, his injuries have recovered, and he's already been sent on another mission.
As for before that…"
Sengoku rubbed his brow in frustration and glanced at Tsuru.
"That was my misjudgment. Back in East Blue, once Red-Haired Shanks made a move, we should have taken action against the Demon Pirates."
Tsuru nodded crisply.
"But to be honest, back during the East Blue phase, his rate of growth wasn't as outrageous as it is now. At most, he was just one of the rising pirate rookies."
"Oh my, are we assigning blame now? But if he could survive after crossing paths with Red-Haired Shanks, then even if we had acted back then, the result probably would've been the same, wouldn't it?"
In his usual lazy tone, Kizaru pointed straight at the heart of the matter.
Sengoku did not answer, because it was true.
At the time, Tsuru had not wanted the Marines to take direct action against Ren because of the attitude he had shown.
As for Sengoku himself, he had been considering the possibility that Ren's "coming back from the dead" or "ultra-long-distance transfer" might happen a second time.
Besides, now was not the time to assign blame. Tsuru had only made a suggestion.
The one who had issued the order, in the end, had still been him.
Thinking of that, Sengoku tapped the table and added in a heavy tone:
"After the Gran Tesoro incident, the Demon Pirates went into hiding again.
No matter how hard we searched, we couldn't find them. After Mock Town, they vanished once more.
The branch bases along the Grand Line searched many times, but there was not the slightest trace.
This shows that the Demon Pirates most likely possess some means of concealing themselves while they rest and regroup, and the crew's conduct is extremely steady.
They don't act like pirates at all. On the contrary, they move with a very strong sense of purpose.
After every period of regrouping, Demon Ren's strength rises visibly.
In Alabasta, he defeated Crocodile. In Mock Town, he defeated Onigumo, yet on the Gran Tesoro he was repelled by Tesoro.
But during the Dressrosa incident, in an extremely short span of time, he successively dealt with both Doflamingo and Tesoro.
It can basically be confirmed that he crushed them in terms of raw strength.
The strength of the members within his crew is also increasing rapidly.
Pirate Hunter Zoro was seen fighting Wildfire King head-on. His strength cannot be underestimated.
During the incident, there also appeared an apparent Zoan user suspected to be a Mythical Zoan, possessing a dragon form similar to Kaido's.
Its combat power was terrifying, wiping out the officers of the Donquixote Family like rotten wood being smashed apart.
There were also large numbers of what appeared to be legion-type winged creatures and high-powered weapons. The duplicates shown in Mock Town also appeared again in Dressrosa.
But this time, there was yet another change: an ability that transformed him into a man of light. Its power was so great that it could suppress King, and it even gained a slight advantage when clashing with Kaido.
In the end, he used another kind of ability to make everyone forget him and withdrew successfully.
Most crucial of all, according to the World Economic Journal's report, Demon Ren's exit was completed by means of a flying warship.
That also explains why our Marine encirclement failed to find the target.
Because the enemy simply was not sailing on the sea at all. They had completely cast off the need for navigation.
You should understand what that means for us Marines…"
"Oh my, there's really no helping it then."
Kizaru expressed his agreement.
Tsuru said, "The only reason we Marines are able to pursue pirates is because we rely on the branch bases spread throughout the Grand Line, along with our patrol warships and certain informants.
It is precisely because of that dense net that we can capture the movements of those pirates.
Even the New World has such arrangements.
But… a ship that can fly is beyond the limits of that surveillance net.
And when you add in that ability that makes people forget him—considering that even Kizaru and Kaido were affected, it's highly likely that others can't resist it either.
To sum it up, there's nothing we can do."
She pointed out the core of the issue, but did not stop there. Instead, she continued:
"By the way, because of Doflamingo's matter, I had an exchange of feedback with Kuzan. As for the details… I won't go into them too carefully."
Tsuru glanced at Sengoku.
He kept a stern face, but his eyes already clearly said, So it was that matter.
Within Marine Headquarters, when it came to affairs involving the World Government, it was simply too difficult to do anything without Sengoku finding out.
So from the start, she had never intended to hide anything.
Using her authority, she had decisively delayed uploading the latest intelligence on the Demon Pirates to the World Government.
That was actually perfectly normal.
There was never any shortage of pirates on the seas, and intelligence was being updated every moment.
The sheer volume was enormous, so delays in reporting were nothing unusual.
As for why it had to be uploaded to the World Government—
No matter what, the Marines were merely an armed institution under the World Government's authority.
In most cases, whatever the matter was, they still had to coordinate with World Government officials.
Tsuru withdrew her gaze and continued.
"Anyway, during our conversation, we mentioned Ren. Kuzan believes that the best way to deal with someone like him is to make him one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
A man who doesn't like harming civilians and enjoys persecuting pirates is exactly the sort of person best suited to become a Warlord.
At the very least, the Marines wouldn't have to face another vile example like Doflamingo or Crocodile."
"Oh my, you mean a disaster for a nation?"
Kizaru thought of the problems he had encountered while handling the aftermath in Dressrosa.
It was hard to imagine that Doflamingo's throne had been seized from King Riku through illegal means.
What happened in Alabasta had merely been a scheme to ruin a country.
Here, Doflamingo had actually succeeded for nearly ten years, and had even done outrageous things like turning rebellious civilians into toys.
Because Ren had actually gained the upper hand in his clash against Kaido, many people in the New World were already investigating the inside story.
And because of the forgetting effect, the Marines and the World Government had reacted a little too slowly.
As a result, the truth behind Dressrosa had spread throughout the entire New World.
It hadn't reached the level of the Four Blues yet, but the New World also had plenty of member nations.
Over at the World Government, the phones were probably about to be blown up by anxious kings calling nonstop.
Who wouldn't be afraid?
Doflamingo was strong, but pirates on his level were everywhere in the New World!
No one wanted to become the next unlucky victim.
Especially since Devil Fruits were not some legend in the New World—they were an undeniable reality.
"…Let the Five Elders decide."
After a moment of silence, Sengoku gave the final order.
At the same time, his gaze rested on Tsuru, while his mind was occupied by Kuzan's side of the matter.
Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, nor what the process had been—
if he calculated carefully, then the frozen zone mentioned in the Mock Town report was probably not a natural disaster at all. Kuzan, who had been nearby at the time, had most likely—ninety-nine percent certainly—come into contact with Demon Ren.
He did not know why Kuzan's attitude toward Demon Ren was like this.
Nor did he know why Kuzan had gone there in the first place, or what exactly he had done.
But Sengoku understood both the stance of an Admiral and Kuzan's personality.
So even under the worst-case scenario, he probably still survived Kuzan's hands?
What a troublesome brat. We've already missed the best period for eliminating him.
In that case, from here on, let the Five Elders decide.
With Sengoku setting the tone, the Marines had, in a sense, already made their decision.
And once the information was transmitted to Mary Geoise, the core of the World Government, it arrived in the hands of the Five Elders.
Inside the magnificent and resplendent great hall sat five men, each with a different appearance.
There was Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro—
dressed in a white robe, bald, wearing glasses, with a beard, and holding a katana in his hand.
His title was the Warrior God of Finance.
Then there was Saint Shepherd Ju Peter—
wearing a dark red suit without a bow tie, blond-haired, his beard likewise blond, with a scar across his chest.
His title was the Warrior God of Agriculture.
Then Saint Topman Warcury—
wearing a dark green suit, bald, with two sweeping moustaches and a birthmark on his forehead.
His title was the Warrior God of Justice.
Then Saint Marcus Mars—
wearing a dark blue suit, with long straight white hair and a long beard.
His title was the Warrior God of Environment.
And finally—
Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, dressed in a black suit, with curly white hair, a thick white beard, a flat cap on his head, and a scar on the left side of his face.
To the outside world, these five men were the highest authority ruling the entire world.
At the same time, they were also Celestial Dragons—among the very highest rank of them.
At this moment,
they were holding a meeting over the Dressrosa incident.
"So, because he cannot become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, he has become a madman who hunts the Seven Warlords instead?"
Saint Nusjuro stared at the photo in the report and frowned slightly.
"The balance of the Three Great Powers is one of the foundations of the grand strategy. No one is permitted to destroy it."
That was the truth.
The existence of the Seven Warlords saved them a great deal of trouble, allowing pirates to keep other pirates in check and reducing the cost burden on the Marines.
At the same time, by taking advantage of their original status as pirates, the World Government could use them as relay points—
extending its reach into places it otherwise could not touch.
Doflamingo was one such example.
A large portion of all Marine weapons and weapon reserves came from Wano in the New World.
That was the military consumption of a force numbering in the millions. An ordinary country simply could not provide that.
And even if one could—
the Five Elders would never be willing to let those member nations grow wealthy.
(End of Chapter)