There was an undeniable, unique thrill in conquering a woman of the enemy's high command. Coupled with Vice Admiral Tsuru's mature, rigorously trained body—which had long been deprived of such indulgence—it truly made York somewhat infatuated with the legendary tactician during their voyage.
However, all intoxicating vacations must eventually come to an end.
The Emporio Ivankov swayed steadily across the turbulent seas of the New World, eventually arriving safely at the rocky shores of Vodka Island, which currently served as the impregnable base of operations for the Crimson Empire.
The moment his boots landed on the solid earth of his island, York couldn't help but let out a long, grounding breath.
These past few days at the Pirate Expo, he had truly been indulging in absolute pleasure and temporarily neglecting his geopolitical duties. Now, it was time to regain his cold, Emperor-level rationality.
Returning to the Royal Palace, York first sat at his desk to methodically deal with the accumulated government affairs. Only after the Empire's logistics were sorted did he begin to seriously ponder how to tactically handle the three high-value Marine captives he had brought back in chains.
Keeping an Admiral and a Vice Admiral locked up indefinitely in his dungeons was a massive drain on resources and invited constant Marine espionage, and simply executing them wasn't the most profitable strategic choice either. They had already been thoroughly captured and defeated; killing them now in cold blood would be somewhat pointless and a waste of excellent leverage.
Among the three captured prisoners, York actually had the least strategic attachment to Tsuru.
Although this unexpected sea romance had been intensely satisfying for him, Tsuru was, after all, an unyielding pillar of the old Marine era. Playing around and breaking her iron resolve was immensely satisfying, but keeping her long-term as one of his official women was out of the question.
Therefore, York quickly formulated his tactical decision on how to handle Tsuru.
—Trade her back to the Marines for a massive ransom!
Keeping her around for long served absolutely no purpose for the Empire. Her Woshu Woshu no Mi (Wash-Wash Fruit) purification ability was entirely ineffective against his dark, unapologetic heart, but it still posed a dangerous psychological threat to the other core members of his Pirate Crew.
For example, Bartholomew Kuma, who was already somewhat of a gentle, bleeding heart by nature. After years of York's harsh, pragmatic guidance, Kuma had finally developed a necessary bit of lethal decisiveness on the battlefield. It would be a disaster if Tsuru somehow managed to use her powers to 'wash' his soul back to its original, overly pacifistic state.
'What kind of high-value resources should I trade her for...?' York thought, his glowing eyes narrowing slightly as he pondered a suitable, extortionate target.
Having made up his mind, he immediately called Kuma over to the throne room.
"Kuma Boy, I have an essential diplomatic mission I need you to carry out personally!" York commanded from his throne.
"Go and directly contact the Marines at one of their forward bases. Tell them I officially intend to exchange prisoners—mainly Vice Admiral Tsuru. You are authorized to negotiate her return to them at an opportune moment, depending entirely on the price they are willing to pay!"
Kuma scratched his head foolishly, his gentle face showing a hint of confusion.
He actually didn't quite logically understand why York would go through the immense effort of capturing a high-ranking officer only to ransom them back immediately. But since it was the Flame Emperor's absolute command, he naturally wouldn't question it.
"No problem, Captain. I'll set off immediately!"
Kuma walked out of the towering doors of the palace. Taking off his glove, he gave himself a light pat with his Paw-Paw Fruit pad. In the blink of an eye, he instantly vanished from the spot, repelled across the sky as if teleporting.
Marine G-5 Branch, The New World.
A massive, transparent paw-shaped bubble streaked violently from the distant sky.
With a deafening BOOM, a massive, cratered paw print appeared directly on the reinforced outer wall of the heavily fortified branch base.
A tall, towering young man with a gentle face and an honest-looking demeanor smoothly pried himself out of the center of the paw print, brushing the dust off his coat.
Sirens wailed. Heavily armed, panicked Marine soldiers rushed out of the base, aiming their rifles and tightly surrounding the intruder.
However, despite entirely surrounding him, absolutely no one dared to pull the trigger or make a sudden move.
"It's a Vanguard of the Crimson Empire!"
"It's 'Tyrant' Bartholomew Kuma! Are the Pirates launching a full-scale attack on G-5?!"
Under the terrified, tense gazes of the Marine soldiers, Kuma simply scratched his head foolishly and spoke first in his calm, polite tone.
"Please lower your weapons. I am only here to deliver a message."
Kuma adjusted his glasses. "Our Captain, Emperor York, formally states that if you wish to rescue Vice Admiral Tsuru alive, you must immediately send a high-ranking envoy to negotiate."
"If the material conditions offered can sufficiently move our Captain, allowing Vice Admiral Tsuru to return to the Marines is not completely impossible."
Hearing this world-shattering demand, all the Marines lowered their rifles, looking at each other in absolute, pale dismay.
The apocalyptic, great battle at Firedrop Island had, of course, been heavily reported in the global newspapers that morning. After all, an Emperor-level clash was no small matter, and the Marines' forced, panicked retreat was a terrifying fact witnessed by countless Underworld brokers.
Although the World Government heavily controlled the world's mainstream media—doing their best to conceal the devastating capture of Admiral Zephyr and the other two—they were entirely unable to spin a crushing defeat into a victory.
However, precisely because of this strict World Government censorship, the rank-and-file Marines of the G-5 Branch actually had no idea about Tsuru's capture until this very moment.
Seeing that the soldiers didn't seem to comprehend the gravity of his words, Kuma patiently repeated his message once more. Afterward, noticing that the Marine base's heavy artillery seemed to be slowly mobilizing, he politely bowed his head and decisively patted himself on the shoulder.
The repulsion power of the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi made him disappear instantly into the sky, leaving the hundreds of Marine soldiers gasping in shock.
Before long, the Marine Vice Admiral directly in charge of commanding the G-5 base arrived at the courtyard. He quickly learned of Kuma's devastating ransom message from the trembling soldiers on-site.
His brow furrowed slightly, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru was actually captured alive? The Flame Emperor York is indeed a terrifyingly dangerous monster!"
This particular Marine Vice Admiral was a relatively calm, rational veteran. He didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately rushed to his office and relayed this highly classified, catastrophic news directly to Marineford via an encrypted Gold Den Den Mushi.
"Trading prisoners?!"
When Fleet Admiral Sengoku heard this specific news over the receiver, he was first bewildered, then deeply, furiously perplexed.
He hadn't expected York to actually, blatantly propose a hostage ransom. Just a moment ago, he had been pacing his office, agonizing over how to impossibly rescue Zephyr, Tsuru, and Sakazuki from an Emperor's impenetrable stronghold.
"Did the pirate emissary mention any specific trade conditions or numbers?!" Sengoku demanded of the G-5 Branch Vice Admiral on the other end of the line.
The Branch Vice Admiral swallowed hard and replied, "No, Fleet Admiral. The messenger only said we must show them our 'sincerity'."
"Sincerity?!"
Sengoku's face darkened, veins popping on his forehead. These two arrogant words covered a truly, terrifyingly vast scope of extortion.
However, refusing to make a trade was politically and tactically impossible.
Not to mention the catastrophic, irreparable loss of global face from a former Admiral and a legendary Vice Admiral being executed or imprisoned by a pirate, the sheer loss in high-end combat power was something the Marines were completely unwilling to bear right now.
Even though Zephyr had semi-retired from active combat to become the Chief Instructor, retaining his Admiral rank in name, as long as he remained at Marineford, the Marines would always have a Admiral-level combat force that could be mobilized to defend the headquarters at any time.
"We absolutely must rescue them!"
Sengoku slammed his fist onto his desk, declaring his unyielding will at an emergency internal Marine high-command meeting later that hour.
"Even if it means paying a heavy, extortionate price in resources, we will not hesitate to bring our comrades home!!"
And so, realizing the gravity of the Flame Emperor's cunning trap, Sengoku decided to take full, personal authority over this negotiation, preparing a massive ledger of World Government resources to offer the devil in exchange for his friends' lives.
Back on Vodka Island.
After officially putting the wheels in motion to trade Tsuru with the Marines, York got up, adjusted his coat, and descended into the cold, Seastone-lined dungeons to visit Zephyr's maximum-security cell.
Zephyr was chained to the wall, still locked in a deep, magically induced sleep.
York approached the thick iron bars and seamlessly activated his Devil Fruit ability, carefully retracting the overwhelming power of slumber he had cast on the Admiral's mind.
"Hmm... ugh..."
Zephyr slowly woke up, groaning and holding his pounding head.
"Where... where am I...?"
"Awake? Welcome to my imperial dungeons, Admiral."
York spoke directly, his cold voice echoing off the stone walls, instantly helping Zephyr's trained mind rapidly recall absolutely everything that had happened before the darkness took him.
Zephyr was completely stunned for a few seconds. He fell silent, observing his bleak, impenetrable surroundings and the heavy Seastone cuffs draining his immense strength.
"Did I... lose the battle?"
The Black Arm didn't seem to have trouble accepting his defeat, nor did he immediately erupt in blind anger like a rookie. Instead, he looked up and asked York directly:
"What exactly are you planning to do with me now, pirate?"
"Nothing malicious. To be precise, I'm going to try and persuade you."
York calmly pulled over a wooden stool and sat down, conversing easily with the legendary Admiral through the thick cell bars.
Right next to Zephyr's cell, in the adjacent darkness, the young prodigy Sakazuki was also heavily imprisoned. Sakazuki remained fiercely taciturn and silent, but at this moment, he also pressed his ear toward the bars, desperately wanting to know how the Flame Emperor planned to deal with them.
"Zephyr," York began, his glowing eyes locking onto the older man. "Don't rot your life away serving the Marines anymore. Come and work for me."
Hearing this impossibly frank and direct invitation, Zephyr immediately scoffed, refusing with absolute, unwavering decisiveness.
"I couldn't possibly lower myself to work for a murdering pirate! Don't even waste your breath thinking about it!"
"Is that so? What if I told you that the 'Absolute Justice' you've always blindly served is a complete, manufactured lie?"
York looked at Zephyr with calm, piercing eyes that seemed to see right through the Admiral's soul.
"Tell me, Zephyr... do you actually know what the Celestial Dragons' so-called 'summer camp activities' at God Valley truly entailed?"
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Give me powerstones.
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