Chapter 143: Crane's Divide and Conquer!
[Marineford. Fleet Admiral's Office.]
The silence in the room was heavy, smelling of stale tea and mounting anxiety.
"This... 'Hashirama Senju'... where did this monster pop out from?!"
Fleet Admiral Sengoku stared at the glossy photograph spread across his mahogany desk, feeling a wave of vertigo wash over him. His hand, usually steady enough to crush boulders with a shockwave, trembled slightly as it hovered over the image.
The photo, clearly taken by one of Morgans' suicidal field reporters from a dangerously close angle, captured a scene of apocalyptic destruction. A colossal wooden buddha statue—the [Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands]—sat like a deity judging the world. It was so large it dwarfed the surrounding mountains of Whole Cake Island. In its massive wooden palm, the Azure Dragon, Kaido, looked like nothing more than a helpless lizard being swatted by a god.
"Defeated Kaido head-on?" Sengoku muttered, his voice hoarse. He looked up at the woman standing calmly by the window. "And a Kaido who was using his full power? Is Morgans sure he didn't make a mistake?! Is this some kind of trick photography or illusion?"
"The problem isn't the photo, Sengoku. Morgans may be a sensationalist, but he doesn't fake the core events."
Vice Admiral Tsuru finally spoke. She turned away from the view of the training grounds, her face etched with the wisdom of decades spent hunting the world's most dangerous criminals. Her voice was as calm as a stagnant pond, yet it carried an unprecedented solemnity that instantly dropped the room's temperature.
"The issue is," Tsuru continued, walking slowly to the desk, the heels of her shoes clicking rhythmically, "Suzaku Yareon. What kind of person is he exactly?"
She picked up another photo—this one of Suzaku sitting leisurely at the chaotic Tea Party. In the background of the photo, debris was falling, and people were screaming, yet Suzaku was wiping cream from his mouth with a napkin, looking as if he were watching a boring opera.
"Why do monsters who were 'completely unknown' on the seas keep appearing under his command?" Tsuru asked, tapping the photo with a gloved finger. "They possess peak strength the moment they make a move. Usually, pirates grow. They start as rookies, they struggle, they survive the Grand Line, and they become legends. But these people?"
She picked up a stack of dossier files and let them drop onto the desk.
Thud.
They were thin. Painfully empty.
"Uchiha Madara. Hashirama Senju. Albedo. Ulquiorra Cifer. These people seem to have appeared out of thin air. We didn't have any information on guys this powerful beforehand! No birth records. No prior bounties. No affiliation with the Revolutionary Army or Cipher Pol. It's as if they fell from the sky."
Her words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Sengoku and Garp's heads. The realization was chilling: the Marines were fighting ghosts. Ghosts with the power to crush Emperors.
Garp, who had been loudly munching on rice crackers on the sofa, stopped chewing. He rubbed his stubbly chin, his expression turning grim for the first time in hours.
"Indeed... this is highly unusual," Garp grunted, crumbs falling onto his suit. "Just like Roger back in the day, he could always gather a group of monsters around him. Rayleigh, Gabban... they were freaks."
He paused, narrowing his eyes, a sharp glint appearing in them.
"But that kid Suzaku is more sinister than Roger. Roger found diamonds in the rough and polished them over years. But the people Suzaku found? They are already polished gems. They aren't established powerhouses of this world at all! They feel... alien."
"They rejected BIG MOM's marriage alliance!" Tsuru continued her analysis, her eyes razor-sharp. "This is a critical piece of psychological intelligence. It indicates that every single one of them is arrogant. They are proud. They are definitely not the type to serve under others easily."
She leaned forward, placing both hands on the desk, her gaze piercing through Sengoku's round glasses.
"It's fortunate they refused. Otherwise, if the Suzaku Pirates teamed up with BIG MOM, the balance would be shattered instantly. The consequences would be unimaginable! We would be looking at the birth of a super-alliance capable of overthrowing the World Government."
Sengoku took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He massaged his temples, trying to alleviate the headache that had become his constant companion since Suzaku appeared.
"Tsuru," Sengoku asked, his voice weary, "do you have a plan? We can't just let them roam free, but we can't send an Admiral into Wano right now. Akainu and Aokiji are busy in the New World, and Kizaru is..."
A knowing, calculated smile appeared on Tsuru's face. It was the smile of the "Great Staff Officer," the tactician who had outsmarted pirates for forty years.
"Since they are so arrogant," she said softly, "let's add fuel to the fire of their 'pride'!"
She extended her finger and lightly drew a circle over the photos of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju.
"On a pirate ship, strength is paramount, but face is equally important! A Captain's authority is absolute, but it is also fragile. A Captain's bounty often represents the entire ship's reputation. It establishes the hierarchy."
Sengoku and Garp instantly understood her meaning.
"You want to... use a 'scheme of discord'?" A gleam flashed in Sengoku's eyes.
"Exactly." Tsuru nodded, the solution firmly grasped in her hand. "We cannot defeat them physically right now. So we attack their cohesion."
She picked up a red marker and wrote numbers on the draft bounty posters.
"Set the bounties for Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara higher than Suzaku Yareon himself! Significantly higher!"
Tsuru's voice turned cold and ruthless.
"I want the whole world to know that, in the Marine's eyes, these two new executives pose a greater threat than their Captain! I want every newspaper to print that Suzaku is just a figurehead carried by his subordinates. I want his crew to question why they follow a man 'worth less' than them. I want to plant the seed of jealousy and insubordination!"
"Bwahahaha!"
Garp burst into laughter, slapping his thigh so hard the sofa groaned.
"You old hag, you're still full of wicked ideas! You haven't changed a bit!"
Garp grinned, grabbing another handful of crackers.
"Making the executives 'worth more' than the Captain—isn't that publicly slapping that kid Suzaku's face? If he has any pride, he'll be furious. If his crew has any ambition, they'll get ideas. This is a good plan! Interesting! Very interesting!"
Sengoku pondered for a moment. He looked at the map on the wall, visualizing the potential fallout. If the Suzaku Pirates imploded from within due to ego conflicts, the Marines wouldn't have to lift a finger.
He slammed his hand down on the table.
BANG!
"Good! This plan is excellent!"
Regardless of whether this strategy truly causes discord, it will at least create unstable factors within the Suzaku Pirates. Ego is the downfall of many great men. Any small crack created today could become the final straw that breaks them in the future!
"Let's do this!"
Sengoku made up his mind, his eyes becoming sharp and decisive again. The aura of the Fleet Admiral returned.
He looked at the two unfamiliar yet immensely powerful and dangerous figures in the newspaper—the man in the red armor and the man with the wild black hair—and said in a cold voice:
"Pass down my order to the Bounty Department immediately: Redraft the Suzaku Pirates' bounty posters! I want these printed and distributed to every corner of the four seas by tomorrow morning!"
[New World. The Red Force.]
Meanwhile, in the turbulent waters of the New World, the flagship of the Red Hair Pirates cut through the waves.
On the deck, the sounds of a party echoed as usual.
The sun was setting, casting a golden glow over the ship. Large cuts of roasted Sea King meat sizzled over open fires, dripping fat onto the coals with a hiss. Barrels of high-quality rum were roughly cracked open, the rich aroma mingling with the salty sea breeze and the smell of gunpowder.
"Shanks! Let's have another showdown! I can definitely outdrink you today!"
Yasopp, the crew's sniper, shouted. He was holding a massive tankard of wine, his face flushed red with intoxication and joy. He was balancing on a barrel, looking like he might tip over at any moment.
"With you?"
Red Hair Shanks, the youngest of the Four Emperors, sat on the main deck with his back against the mast. He wore his trademark straw hat, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal his scarred chest.
He tilted his head back, took a huge gulp of wine directly from the bottle, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
"Hahahaha! Give it a rest, Yasopp! You passed out after three barrels last time!" Shanks laughed heartily, his voice full of charisma.
The atmosphere was light, but the purpose of their journey was heavy.
They were currently anchored near the borders of Wano Country. The reason they were here was for a serious purpose: to prevent a major war that could shake the foundations of the world.
Shanks had foreseen that the conflict between the rising star, Suzaku Yareon, and the established monster, Beast Kaido, was inevitable. He had rushed here, preparing to act as a 'mediator,' to ask the other party to save him some face and prevent total chaos.
But who could have imagined that plans never keep up with changes?
Flap. Flap. Flap.
A News Coo fluttered its wings and landed on the railing. It squawked, demanding payment.
The First Mate, Benn Beckman, who was leaning silently against the railing smoking a cigar, tossed a coin to the bird. He took the newspaper, his eyes scanning the headlines with practiced efficiency.
With just one glance, his usually calm, stoic expression showed a hint of genuine shock.
The cigar hanging from his mouth nearly dropped onto the deck.
"Shanks..." Beckman's voice was low, but it cut through the noise of the party instantly. "Something big has happened."
The noisy deck instantly fell silent. The music stopped. Yasopp lowered his drink. Lucky Roux stopped chewing. Everyone's gaze focused on the First Mate.
Shanks sensed the shift in his Vice Captain's mood. He set his bottle down, the smile on his face slowly receding.
"What is it, Benn?"
Beckman walked over and handed him the newspaper.
Shanks took it. His eyes fell on the front page photo.
It was the image of the Thousand-Armed Buddha crushing the dragon. The sheer scale of the attack captured in the photo was breathtaking.
"This is..."
Even Shanks's pupils sharply contracted. His Conqueror's Haki flared for a split second, causing the wood of the deck to creak and the waves around the ship to still.
"Kaido... was actually defeated head-on?" Shanks whispered, reading the text. "By someone from the Suzaku Pirates... on BIG MOM's territory?"
"WHAT?!"
Lucky Roux, while gnawing on a giant chicken leg, gasped indistinctly. He choked, forgetting to chew the meat in his mouth. "Are you kidding me! The 'Strongest Creature'? Kaido?!"
"And by a newcomer executive we've never heard of?" Yasopp added, sobering up instantly.
The crew's exclamations rose and fell like waves. This news was more outrageous than hearing that Marine Headquarters had been bombed. Kaido was considered invincible in a 1-on-1 fight. For him to lose, and to lose so badly that he fled... it was unthinkable.
Shanks's gaze, however, moved past the headline. He fell upon the newly updated bounties listed at the bottom of the newspaper.
Those breathtaking strings of numbers made his eyebrows twitch slightly.
He read them aloud, his voice grave.
"[ Captain ] 'Suzaku' Suzaku: 1.8 Billion Berries!"
"[ Executive ] Blue Flame Giant! Uchiha Madara: 2.5 Billion Berries!"
"[ Executive ] Forest Giant! Hashirama Senju: 2.9 Billion Berries!"
Silence descended on the Red Force. Only the sound of the waves slapping against the hull remained.
"The executives' bounties... are so much higher than the Captain's?"
Yasopp leaned over to look, his eyes bulging. "2.9 Billion for a first bounty? That's insane! That's higher than Blackbeard! That's almost at Emperor level!"
"And look at Madara," Lucky Roux pointed out. "2.5 Billion. Even the second strongest is worth more than the Captain."
Benn Beckman exhaled a long puff of gray smoke. His eyes turned sharp, analyzing the Marine's intent.
"It's the Marine's scheme of discord," Beckman stated flatly. "Tsuru's work, most likely. They deliberately inflated the executives' value just to slap the Captain's face. They want to create internal conflict. They want Suzaku to feel insecure and his men to feel superior."
It was a classic divide-and-conquer tactic. Brutal. Effective.
The corner of Shanks's mouth, however, curved into a knowing, slightly amused smile.
"A cheap trick by the Marine..." he said softly, carelessly setting the newspaper aside on a barrel. "They are scared."
He stood up, walking to the bow of the ship. The wind blew through his red hair.
"However, the mere fact that the Marine had to resort to such a tactic proves how terrifying this group is. They can't fight them, so they try to trick them."
Shanks turned back to his crew, his face serious.
"It seems we cannot relax. Kaido will return to Wano. He is wounded, angry, and humiliated. And the Suzaku group... they will definitely come here too! They won't stop with just a skirmish."
He picked up his wine bottle again, but he didn't drink. He looked towards the horizon, in the direction of the turbulent, closed-off nation of Wano Country. His gaze deepened, as if seeing the storm clouds gathering over the island.
"Since Kaido has already been defeated, the balance has been broken. The era is shifting faster than we anticipated."
Shanks gripped the hilt of his sword, Gryphon.
"We must do everything we can to stop the Suzaku Pirates! We will wait right here... To prevent the worst outcome."
"Worst outcome?" Yasopp asked.
"Total chaos," Shanks replied. "We absolutely cannot allow the Suzaku Pirates, who managed to trip up Kaido, to clash with Kaido again while the world is unprepared. If Kaido falls completely... the vacuum will consume the New World."
Calm returned to the deck of the Red Force.
But the festive atmosphere was gone. The air was now laced with solemnity, vigilance, and the heavy scent of a coming war!
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