Funds, talent, strength... Now, Umbrella Corporation could be said to lack nothing, especially with the addition of a giant who possessed a Mythical Zoan ability.
One could easily imagine it.
Ian, the God of Sun, two logia Devil Fruit users, a mythical Zoan Devil Fruit user, Kuma the Tyrant, the user of the Op-Op Fruit, and Zephyr, the former Chief Instructor, Umbrella Corporation, which had once been considered overall slightly inferior to an Emperor crew, had quietly and unknowingly caught up.
Especially those two logia Devil Fruit users, the talent they had displayed during this period could, to a certain extent, be said to mean that Umbrella Corporation had already surpassed any Emperor crew in terms of top-tier strength.
Add to that Zephyr, the former Chief Instructor of the Marine Headquarters, who could cultivate a steady stream of soldiers for the Umbrella Corporation.
Such a force... to what extent would it expand? Even he did not know.
No wonder, after the West Blue slave-hunting group incident, the Umbrella Corporation was called the king of the West Blue.
After the destruction of the Four Major Families of the West Blue, the Grado Family successfully took control of the West Blue's underworld.
Now, coupled with the strength displayed by Umbrella Corporation, it could be said that both the black and white sides of the West Blue were already under their control.
Even though the Marines' branch bases in the West Blue were still there, and the affiliated nations had not been attacked by the Umbrella Corporation, with such a colossal entity entrenched in the West Blue, how would the Marines' branch bases and affiliated nations dare to provoke the Umbrella Corporation?
King of the West Blue... Truly deserving of the title!
No wonder Umbrella Corporation had the audacity back then to announce to the entire sea that any and all slave-hunting groups were forbidden from entering the West Blue.
One had to know that this was no different from declaring war on all the underworld across the entire sea!
Sengoku's heart was filled with complicated emotions. He slowly shook his head, and his thoughts involuntarily drifted back to that incident from back then…
If, back then, he had discovered such a genius and personally approved this fellow's entry into Marine Headquarters, what would it have been like?
Even after seeing everything that had happened over these many years, he knew clearly that this fellow was not someone who would obediently follow orders, yet his heart was still filled with regret.
Of course, what use was there in saying these things now? Although he did not know whether that fellow would have changed after joining Marine Headquarters, he now clearly understood that what Sakazuki had said back then was correct.
Umbrella Corporation had truly become a huge trouble!
After rubbing the bridge of his nose with a headache, Sengoku lowered his hand, gathered up all the intelligence on Umbrella Corporation from the desk again, and then replaced the originally melancholic expression on his face with a serious one.
He stood up directly and shouted loudly toward the door outside: "Have all officers come to the conference room immediately for a meeting!"
Since Umbrella Corporation had quietly returned to the West Blue, the next plan should... Begin!
...
When leaving the West Blue, they took a giant with them. When returning, they were also bringing a giant.
Since Gerd was already rescued, Hajrudin was also preparing to return to Elbaph.
Previously, because of the slave-hunting group incident, he had chosen to stay behind, allowing Road and the others to immediately return to Elbaph to report Gerd's situation.
Now that the matter had been resolved, he did not know what the situation on Elbaph's side was like.
Had giant warriors been dispatched?
If so, he had to hurry and stop them. Otherwise, once Elbaph's giant warriors ran to the Sabaody Archipelago, things would become troublesome.
There was also the impending chaos. Even though he did not know when the war Ian spoke of would begin, no matter how one looked at it, now was not the time for giant warriors to go out to sea.
Hajrudin himself even decided to honestly stay within Elbaph for this period of time, and only after things were over would he consider whether to continue adventuring.
...
As for Ian's side, when he said he was going back, he really went back, without doing anything else, quietly passing through the Calm Belt and entering the West Blue.
It was just that the voyage was rather slow, leisurely passing through the Calm Belt, and then leisurely heading toward the West Blue.
Since there was nothing to do anyway, he might as well treat the return trip as a relaxed journey.
Of course, after entering the West Blue, Gini took his subordinates and left, returning to Grado's side.
Since they were back, it was now time to go and properly settle accounts with the Hogen Family!
Didn't that fellow have a pretty big mouth before?
Now it was time to see whether that fellow's mouth was still that big.
As for Ian, he had no intention of making a move. Such a small character simply did not require him to act at all.
Even if Grado's side did not take action, that so-called Hogen Family probably would not survive much longer.
Plotting against the Celestial Dragons?!
Not to mention the World Government, even Marine Headquarters would not let them off lightly.
The Celestial Dragons were already a huge headache; any slight accident could bring about an enormous disaster.
If this time they were not properly intimidated, and other forces saw that plotting against the Celestial Dragons resulted in nothing happening, who knew which idiot might run off to plot against the Celestial Dragons next?
At that time, how would the Marines have the energy to maintain order on the seas?
Just maintaining the authority of the Celestial Dragons was already difficult enough!
So there was no need to say more; the Hogen Family was doomed and doomed to die very miserably.
It was even estimated that by the time Gini went over there, the Hogen Family might already be finished. Therefore, Gini was really just going over to see if he could get a share of the spoils or something.
And compared to the Hogen Family, Ian was actually more curious about where the Straw Hat crew had gone.