That was the core warehouse, the place where the World Government's true foundation was stored.
Losing those things would hurt even the World Government badly.
And if the contents inside ended up in the hands of some other force, even the World Government would be thrown into trouble for quite some time.
"According to the report, someone clearly appeared inside the warehouse out of nowhere, froze the Transponder Snails, and then took every item in storage. There are only three Devil Fruits with freezing abilities: the Chilly-Chilly Fruit, the Snow-Snow Fruit, and the Ice-Ice Fruit."
One of the Five Elders, wearing a dark green suit, bald, with two splayed mustache ends and a birthmark on his forehead, spoke in a deep voice.
"The Ice-Ice Fruit was eaten by Kuzan. Although it is unlikely, have Cipher Pol investigate whether Kuzan has made any unusual movements over the past two days, then check what he was doing last night."
The only one of the Five Elders who was not dressed in a suit or sporting a beard—the bald man wearing a white robe and wooden sandals, holding a long sword—pushed up his glasses as he spoke.
"According to the analysis of several strategists within Cipher Pol, the ones who infiltrated the core warehouse were likely three people, all Devil Fruit users. The most likely combination is an awakened Clear-Clear Fruit, used to turn several companions invisible and successfully evade Observation Haki.
"Then a Warp-Warp Fruit user led them into the core warehouse. After that, the Chilly-Chilly Fruit user froze the Transponder Snails, and the group stole everything."
"And they even arranged for one person to set fires on the outskirts of Mary Geoise. On the surface, it looked like he was freeing slaves, but in reality, he was acting as bait to draw away most of the Guard Army and Army's attention, correct?"
The curly-haired Five Elder analyzed the situation.
"Furthermore, according to the information we received, that useless Guard Army was actually pierced straight through by someone. Several of their army commanders were all killed, so they are basically crippled."
"Although the Guard Army is far inferior to the Marines and has almost no real combat experience, their leaders still have genuine strength. Basically, they all possess Vice Admiral-level power. From this, it can be seen that the person on the outskirts of Mary Geoise is absolutely not weak."
"Or rather, everyone in this organization of theirs should be powerful. When did such a force appear on the sea?"
"No matter what, first conceal everything about the core warehouse. Silence everyone who knows about it. Then arrange manpower to pursue the known intruder, the one who set fires on the outskirts of the Holy Land, with full force. After all, the fact that the Holy Land was invaded and slaves were freed cannot be covered up. The media will never let such big news go, so we must devote all our strength to hunting down that intruder. As for the rest, leave it for Imu-sama to decide."
"Seconded."
"Agreed."
"Then that is how it shall be."
Through the Five Elders' back-and-forth, the tone for this incident was set.
Within the World Government, aside from the Five Elders and the Celestial Dragons, the one suffering the most was the current Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies.
Originally, the Army and the Guard Army could still maintain appearances. Now look what had happened.
The Guard Army had been pierced straight through, and the Army had been beaten into pieces. The latter was not like the former, which constantly guarded the Celestial Dragons, so it was still a little better off and could slowly recover. As for the former, it was truly finished.
Where were they supposed to find that many people to refill the Guard Army?
Anyone talented and powerful had either joined the Marines or entered Cipher Pol.
One had to understand that if the Celestial Dragons were attacked, the one dispatched would be a Marine Admiral, not the Guard Army.
If they had not used large numbers of military ranks to attract a wave of people into joining the Guard Army at the beginning, barely propping it up, the Guard Army would have collapsed long ago.
As for now? Fine. Now it had completely collapsed.
The current Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies—no, from now on, he would have to be called the Commander-in-Chief of the Two Armies.
At this moment, he was extraordinarily troubled, both because of the Guard Army and because of the Celestial Dragons.
The Celestial Dragons came running over in wave after wave, arrogantly ordering him to catch that outrageously bold intruder as soon as possible. It gave him a splitting headache.
And so, this Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies vented all his pent-up frustration on the current Marine Fleet Admiral standing before him: Kong, the Steel Bone.
"I do not care what kind of wanted notice you issue or what methods you use. I have only one demand!"
The Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies stared into Kong's eyes and said, word by word:
"Whether you capture him alive or kill him on the spot, I want this incident ended as soon as possible!"
"Yes!"
Sensing that his superior was in an extremely bad mood, Kong immediately accepted the order.
"In addition, Cipher Pol will also cooperate with you at full strength. Remember, if this matter is not ended quickly, you know the temperament of the Celestial Dragons. This is not a threat. It is a fact!"
"I understand!"
"If you understand, then why are you still here?"
"…Yes!"
After that, Kong vented his anger on Zephyr and Sengoku—more precisely, only on Sengoku.
Previously, that knight-like man from the Guard Army had claimed that he had the power to fight Zephyr. In truth, he had merely exchanged a couple of moves with Zephyr while Zephyr had already suffered a heavy blow, lost his spirit, and was nowhere near his peak condition.
On top of that, Garp was not currently at Marine Headquarters, so Sengoku was the only one left to endure it.
After being drenched in a long scolding, Sengoku called Garp with a dark expression.
The latter had already received the information and was on his way back.
Considering that the scale of this attack was unprecedentedly massive and that it had caused enormous losses, it was said that the family wealth of many Celestial Dragons had been completely cleaned out.
The Heavenly Tribute had already been paid once at the beginning of the year, so the Celestial Dragons were clearly going to have a hard time this year.
But even so, the Celestial Dragons still took out a considerable sum to offer as a bounty. This showed just how deep their hatred toward Roy was.
Sengoku looked at Roy's young face in the photo taken by Attach and fell into deep thought.
Attach, nicknamed the Photo Hero, had originally been the head of the Marines' Photography Department. His actual name was Attach. He was also extremely persistent and could infiltrate any location, so many wanted-poster photos—such as those of Big Mom, Kaido, Red-Hair, and others—had been taken by him.
However, he often made the mistake of forgetting to remove the lens cap. The reason Sanji's photo was not captured was because his lens cap had once again not been opened. After making the mistake of forgetting to remove the lens cap fifty-seven times, he was finally fired by the Marines.
(End of Chapter)
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