"Seriously... so sudden!!!"
Marine Headquarters,
New Marineford.
In the Fleet Admiral's office, after hanging up the transponder snail, Sakazuki crushed his cigar into the ashtray, his face clearly looking rather unpleasant.
At such a turbulent moment, to still send soldiers to help some Shichibukai wipe out pirates—Sakazuki was utterly unwilling.
In his view, whether it was the Shichibukai or the new-era rookie pirates, the best outcome would be for them to beat each other's brains out, preferably perish together.
After all, in his eyes, pirates are pirates—they all ought to die.
In his office, several old-timers were drinking tea and chatting, showing absolutely no respect for him as Fleet Admiral. Garp and Sengoku were still discussing where the best senbei were produced.
Sengoku took out the senbei Corazon had gifted him and repeatedly showed off in front of Garp, making Garp furious.
After all, his son had gone to join the Revolutionary Army, and his grandson had become a pirate—there were simply no juniors around him.
So he immediately snatched Sengoku's senbei and poured them all into his mouth, making Sengoku blow his beard and glare in anger, the two old guys almost coming to blows.
Cross-shaped veins kept popping on Sakazuki's face; finally he couldn't hold back and exploded.
"Hey!!! You few retired geezers..."
"Calm yourself a little, Sakazuki."
Granny Tsuru's steady voice sounded, interrupting the quarrel between Garp and Sengoku at the same time.
Everyone turned together to look at this highly respected Grand Strategist within the Marines.
"And you two—quiet down in front of official business!!!"
With just one look from Tsuru,
Garp and Sengoku, who had been about to scuffle, instantly became obedient.
They feared neither heaven nor earth, but they did fear Tsuru getting angry—because she really would beat them up.
Seeing this scene, Sakazuki didn't want to get further entangled; simply put, he directly told Tsuru the latest order from the World Government.
These old-timers could only be considered half-retired; after all, Marine forces and manpower were currently in severe shortage.
For many matters, Sakazuki would still refer to their opinions—especially Tsuru, this wise veteran marine.
"I see—so the Elder would actually choose to help the Shichibukai?"
"It's just unclear whether it's to maintain stability on the seas and avoid another defeat for the Shichibukai, or because of that man..."
Sengoku folded his arms, the lenses of his frog-like glasses glinting.
"The 'Black Gun'?"
"Yes."
With her ten fingers interlaced, Tsuru's slim, straight figure sat at the desk, pondering and analyzing.
"Although the World Government publicly listed Orin as a hostile individual two years ago, they still have not stripped him of his Celestial Dragon status. So whether this is stability maintenance or borrowing a knife to kill remains to be seen."
Listening to their analysis, Garp crunched senbei, looking completely unconcerned, laughing carefreely.
"Is it really that troublesome? Maybe it's just because that brat Orin thinks it's interesting~"
Crunch crunch...
The others ignored Garp's interjection—clearly already used to his incorrigible attitude.
As the Marine who understood the party involved—namely Donquixote Doflamingo—the best, Tsuru now seemed very interested in the incident about to occur in Dressrosa, because she had been hunting Doflamingo since many years ago and understood this brat's temperament far too well.
"Do you still remember what happened in Alabasta two years ago?"
With a cigar between his lips, Sakazuki thought for a moment and then said in a deep voice,
"You mean Crocodile's incident? A Shichibukai attempted to usurp a kingdom and was defeated by the Straw Hat kid, Luffy."
"Yes," Granny Tsuru nodded, then turned and continued,
"From that incident alone it was clear—after Orin publicly announced more than twenty years ago that he would no longer use the title of 'Black Emperor,' he truly stopped closely managing his subordinates. So when Crocodile was defeated and sent to Impel Down, Orin did not appear to obstruct anything."
Just then, a female marine hurried in, handing over a dossier, which they each read in turn.
"All these years, I've been following news of Donquixote Doflamingo. His underground business expansion has reached an unprecedented level!!!"
"Garp's grandson, the Straw Hat kid Luffy and his crew, Trafalgar Law, the Revolutionary Army—and even traces of Fire Fist Ace have been discovered on the island. With all these forces combined, there is absolutely no way Doflamingo's Donquixote Family can withstand them alone. If Orin doesn't provide support, failure is almost guaranteed."
Looking at the intelligence photos of those familiar young faces, Sengoku frowned slightly.
"All familiar faces from two years ago... But since the World Government intends to intervene, the outcome may still be uncertain."
"No... Doflamingo is almost certain to lose."
After thinking for a moment, Tsuru finally gave her judgment, because the general situation demanded it.
His defeat would not only fulfill the wishes of the Straw Hats and Law, but also align with the interests of the Revolutionary Army and the World Government.
There were countless reasons to lose and almost none to win— especially since Orin was highly unlikely to help him; he basically had no winning hand at all.
"So, this Marine operation..."
Sakazuki nodded, thoughtful light flashing in his eyes.
...
"Acting?"
"Well... something like that. That's the order I received."
New World, Dressrosa, inside an unremarkable restaurant in the city, two seemingly ordinary figures were sitting here, one of them extremely cautious.
Green Bull was actually quite baffled.
He had been dutifully standing guard in the Holy Land when he was directly ordered by Marine Headquarters, then was indirectly hinted by Saint Saturn to 'communicate well' with Orin.
Originally, trusting Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, he had planned to just muddle through the situation, but unexpectedly, he ran into this person as soon as he entered Dressrosa.
He had been somewhat tough at first, but the moment Orin's Conqueror's Haki shook, he knew exactly what to do.
It wasn't that he lacked Admiral bearing—orders from the Elder were more important.
And Orin, being a Celestial Dragon, could be considered half "one of us," so Green Bull felt no psychological burden.
Orin also hadn't expected that the Marines' attitude toward this matter would be passive noninterference.
That kid Doffy really had terrible relationships, huh~
But he didn't particularly care; after all, in recent years, he hadn't taken much money from Doffy, and had even let him use borrowed prestige to expand his business so massively, doing plenty of heartless things like creating many children without a moral bottom line—already more than benevolent enough.
Doffy's failure was completely within Orin's expectations—he attracted too much hatred. In the end, Dressrosa wouldn't be kept; whether Orin sold the land or not made little difference.
It was just a pity that right now Doffy was still full of confidence, believing himself to be one of the masterminds behind the Dressrosa incident, still laughing "fufufu."