After ending the call with Sengoku, Magellan stared grimly at the surveillance screen showing Level 6: Eternal Hell.
From everything he had learned so far, ordinary blades were completely incapable of harming the Red Rabbit.
Worse yet, the creature was completely immune to poison.
But the most troublesome point was something else entirely.
When Kizaru had used his Devil Fruit to form a light blade and slice the rabbit in half, the rabbit had simply slapped its own body back together at the very moment it was cut—
and then continued fighting as if nothing had happened.
Combined with the earlier scene of Da Hong snapping apart the Seastone prison bars with his bare hands, Magellan had already reached a conclusion.
The Red Rabbit was definitely not a Devil Fruit user.
Which meant there was no chance of killing it by throwing it into the sea.
"…Forget it."
Magellan rubbed his temples as he watched Da Hong lazily reading his magazine in the monitor.
"Let's just endure it."
Personally, Magellan believed the simplest solution was obvious.
If the rabbit could be kept calm with carrots and magazines—especially magazines about canvas sneakers—then they should simply keep him well fed and entertained and let him remain quietly in Level 6.
But Magellan couldn't just do nothing.
After all, the rabbit had murdered a Celestial Dragon.
If he failed to show any effort to eliminate such a criminal, he would never be able to answer to Holy Land.
So even if the rabbit couldn't be killed, Magellan still had to put on a show.
At the very least, Holy Land needed to believe he had tried.
Marine Headquarters — Meeting Room
Meanwhile, at Marineford, Sengoku was equally troubled after learning about the chaos in Eternal Hell.
At this point, the issue that concerned him most was not whether the Red Rabbit could be executed to satisfy the Celestial Dragons.
The real question was something far more frightening:
If Da Hong were pushed into a true berserk state—
could Impel Down even survive it?
But that wasn't the only problem.
Reports from the East Blue had revealed another terrifying development.
Several mysterious animals had appeared and wiped out the Krieg Pirates, a fleet with over five thousand crew members, leaving no survivors.
And that wasn't even the strangest part.
Those same animals had apparently eaten the entire Arlong Pirates.
It was so absurd it almost sounded like a joke.
Inside the meeting room, all three Marine Admirals were present.
Aokiji rubbed his temples and cast a sympathetic glance toward Kizaru.
For one of the Navy's highest combat powers to admit that he had been blown away by a rabbit was hard to believe.
But Aokiji trusted Kizaru enough to know he would never lie about something so embarrassing.
More importantly—
Kizaru was not the type to joke about such things.
Kizaru himself ignored Aokiji's gaze and sat upright with a calm expression, eyes lowered as if lost in thought.
Akainu, however, was visibly agitated.
In his view, the Red Rabbit was not truly unkillable. He was convinced Kizaru had simply been eager to clock out for the day and had not fought seriously.
The two Admirals had nearly come to blows over the argument earlier.
Fortunately, Sengoku had arrived in time to stop them.
Otherwise, with Akainu's temper, the dispute might have escalated badly.
"Why is everyone sitting here in silence?"
Sengoku walked into the meeting room, knocked lightly on the table, and went straight to the point.
"There are two matters that must be handled immediately."
"The first concerns the Goa Kingdom incident."
"Although the criminal Red Rabbit has already been transferred to Impel Down, intelligence indicates that several animals close to the same individual who controls the Red Rabbit have caused new incidents."
"These animals wiped out the Krieg Pirates, killing over five thousand men."
"And they also devoured the entire Arlong Pirates."
"These kinds of monsters cannot be ignored."
"If we fail to prepare, the next victims might be our Marine soldiers… or even civilians in the East Blue."
He paused before continuing.
"My proposal is this: Vice Admiral Garp will be reassigned to Loguetown as the highest authority in the East Blue."
"Vice Admiral Momousagi, Smoker, and Tina will assist him."
Then Sengoku turned to look at Garp.
"Any objections?"
Garp scratched the back of his head and laughed loudly.
"I'm currently under disciplinary review anyway. What objections could I have?"
"Besides, I'm from the East Blue to begin with."
"Guarding my home sea isn't a bad assignment at all."
Sengoku nodded.
"Then depart immediately."
"Once you arrive in the East Blue, your first task is to investigate those animals and determine exactly what they are."
"And whether they have any connection to the traveler who commands the Red Rabbit."
"Understood."
Garp stood up without hesitation.
"Momousagi, let's move."
Momousagi nodded silently and followed him out of the meeting room.
Sengoku watched them leave before shifting his gaze toward the three Admirals.
"The second issue concerns the New World."
"The situation there has become increasingly unstable."
"The Red-Haired Pirates are rising rapidly and are now charging toward the position of a new Emperor of the Sea."
"You three will ensure that the conflicts caused by the Red-Haired Pirates do not escalate into large-scale wars."
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