Watching the Little Fish sail away into the distance, unhindered by the massive fleet, Captain Hina took a deep drag from her cigarette, her expression tinged with complex frustration.
"Smoker, we need to report this up the chain immediately," Hina said, exhaling a plume of smoke. "This is no longer a rookie we can handle on our own. His abilities are extremely dangerous."
Although he understood the tactical necessity of letting the pirate go to save his men, Smoker's rage was palpable. The sheer intensity of his scowl made Tashigi, standing beside him with her sword sheathed, tremble slightly in fear.
Naturally, Tashigi watched Darian and his crew depart with a mix of shame and deep indignation. This marked the second time in less than a week that Tashigi had felt utterly powerless against a pirate—the first being her clash with Roronoa Zoro back in Loguetown.
Glancing at his subordinate, Smoker issued a sharp order. "Tashigi. Have the medics tend to the wounded from the flanking ships immediately. Then bring me the secure Den Den Mushi. I need to contact the old geezers at Headquarters personally."
"Yes, Captain Smoker!" Faced with Smoker's barely contained fury, Tashigi saluted and hurriedly went below deck to carry out his orders.
Gazing at the horizon where the pirate sloop had vanished, Smoker crossed his arms, speaking with a sense of genuine bewilderment. "It's strange. I've crossed paths with that bastard, the 'White Emperor', before. He doesn't look or act like a typical pirate at all. In fact, back when he was in the East Blue, he wiped out three vicious pirate crews in two days. So why would he suddenly attack a Marine Branch Captain?"
As a notorious rebel within the Navy, Smoker was a far cry from fanatics like Akainu—men whose heads were filled with nothing but the dogma of "Absolute Justice." Standing apart from the zealots, Smoker had instead become a voice of grim reason within the organization, allowing him to view matters from a more objective perspective.
During the skirmish moments ago, Smoker had clearly sensed that Darian harbored very little actual intent to kill them. Had that not been the case, Darian wouldn't have held back. He surely would have unleashed his massive area-of-effect lightning attacks against the ships, abilities potent enough to inflict fatal injury even upon Smoker himself.
During his close-quarters battle with Hina, Darian could have easily used his vibrating sword of iron sand to inflict severe, permanent injury upon her. Yet, aside from having her clothes torn and her pride wounded in the fray, Hina emerged completely unscathed physically. This lack of bloodlust was precisely the reason Smoker had felt comfortable ordering the ceasefire to allow Darian to leave.
As contemporaries who had joined the Marine Academy at the same time, Hina and Smoker shared a close, unspoken bond. Hearing Smoker speak of the pirate in such a contemplative manner, Hina couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
Taking another drag from her cigarette, Hina smirked. "You seemed pretty furious just a moment ago. Hina never expected you to hold a pirate in such high regard."
"I don't hold him in high regard! I simply don't understand his motive!" Smoker replied defensively, a cigar clenching between his teeth.
Gazing at Smoker, Hina paused to reflect for a moment before answering. "Since that guy—the 'White Emperor'—has such a striking wanted poster, quite a few of the female recruits on my ship have actually pinned it up in their bunks like a model's poster. Because of that annoyance, I took the trouble to look into his background file from the East Blue."
Hina adjusted her sunglasses. "It seems he ended up with his massive initial bounty because he wiped out the Arlong Pirates. However, an act like that usually gets a bounty hunter a reward, not a wanted poster. It put him at odds with the local commander, Captain Nezumi."
Upon hearing this, Smoker's brows furrowed involuntarily.
Although Smoker was stationed as the primary guardian of Loguetown—and thanks to his presence, the town's public order was pristine—he wasn't the type to get bogged down in bureaucratic administrative details across the rest of the East Blue.
As the subordinate crew of the Warlord of the Sea, Jinbe, the Arlong Pirates were a group Smoker was well aware of. Indeed, it was precisely because of Arlong's political connection to a Warlord that Smoker—despite knowing the fish-men had established a brutal, illegal stronghold in the Conomi Islands—had been ordered by Headquarters to refrain from taking action to apprehend them.
Furthermore, Smoker had also heard various dark rumors regarding the corrupt exploits of Captain Nezumi.
Given what Hina was saying now, Smoker could piece together exactly what had happened without even needing to be told. The corruption within the Navy's lower branches was, after all, quite severe.
As the old saying goes: "If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will follow." With the World Government and the Celestial Dragons being as rotten as they were, certain elements of the Navy simply followed suit.
Smoker understood the implications perfectly. This fueled his rage in an entirely different direction, causing him to erupt in a furious tirade. "Damn it! What were those old geezers at Headquarters thinking? Issuing a 66-million bounty on a guy who did our job for us? Is it really worth creating a monster like that, all for the sake of covering up for scum like Nezumi?!"
Responding to Smoker's outburst, Hina slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke. "You must understand this, Smoker. To the higher-ups, the Navy's authority is sacrosanct."
Smoker simply took a deep drag from his cigar and offered no further response, his jaw clenched tight.
Just as Hina had said, in many situations regarding the World Government, the question of objective right versus wrong was irrelevant. One's stance and adherence to the hierarchy was the only thing that truly mattered.
Even if Darian was entirely innocent of piracy initially, and even if Captain Nezumi had committed every atrocity imaginable, the judgment for Nezumi's crimes could only be passed by the Navy itself. Darian, as a civilian vigilante, had no legal right to take lethal action against a Marine officer.
By taking matters into his own hands and allegedly executing Nezumi, Darian had directly challenged the Navy's absolute authority. If they didn't issue a massive wanted poster for *him* to make an example out of him, it would invite further rebellion.
Moments later, Tashigi approached them, holding a golden, highly secure Den Den Mushi.
"Reporting, Captain Smoker!" Tashigi saluted. "The wounded have all received medical attention. Fortunately, thanks to your order to cease fire, there are no critical injuries. And here is the Den Den Mushi you requested."
Having delivered her report, Tashigi held out the snail for Smoker to take. However, Smoker remained silent, staring out at the ocean, his fists clenched. He made no move to accept it, leaving Tashigi standing there with a puzzled expression before glancing over at Hina.
Observing Smoker's sullen silence, Hina realized he was sulking again—furious at the pirate, furious at himself, and furious at the corrupt system he served.
With a helpless sigh, Hina reached out. "Hand the Den Den Mushi over to me, Tashigi."
Tashigi passed the heavy snail to her. Taking the receiver, Hina dialed a specific, classified sequence of numbers.
Buruburu! Buruburu!
The Den Den Mushi emitted the sound of a dial tone. Moments later, someone picked up.
"Moshi moshi? This is Marine Headquarters, Marineford. Please state your clearance code."
Mimicking the stiff, professional voice of the operator, the Den Den Mushi spoke.
"This is Captain Hina. Clearance code Black-Seven-Alpha. Put me through to Fleet Admiral Sengoku immediately."
As one of the rising stars of the Navy, Hina was a highly renowned figure. Hearing her identify herself on a priority line, the communications officer hurriedly replied, "Right away, Captain! Please hold."
A short while later, the snail's face morphed, gaining a braided goatee and a pair of round glasses. A voice—one that exuded sheer, overwhelming authority and exhaustion—rang out from the receiver.
"Hina. What brings you to call the priority line?" Sengoku sighed. "You're currently stationed in the 'Paradise' section of the Grand Line, aren't you? Intelligence reports say that fool Smoker abandoned his post in Loguetown and barged into the Grand Line without authorization. Have you run into him yet?"
His opening words were an immediate, scathing rebuke of Smoker. Hina cast a somewhat helpless glance at her colleague standing nearby. Smoker, of course, had heard the criticism directed at him, yet he showed absolutely no sign of feeling remorseful.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku," Hina said smoothly. "Smoker is actually right here beside me."
Upon hearing this, the figure on the other end—projected through the Den Den Mushi's expressions—roared. "Smoker! What the hell is wrong with you?! You went off into the Grand Line on your own authority without even filing a transfer report to Headquarters!"
Far from backing down in the face of the Fleet Admiral's reprimand, Smoker shot back just as fiercely. "I did file a report! I left it on my desk!"
Hearing this only made Sengoku, sitting in his office halfway across the world, even angrier. He began to bellow into the receiver, his voice so loud the snail practically vibrated out of Hina's hand.
In Sengoku's eyes, Smoker was nothing more than a problem child—much like Vice Admiral Garp. The trouble was, Garp had immense, world-class power and legendary status to back up his insubordination, whereas Smoker was still relatively green and possessed a massive temper.
"You call a sticky note left on a desk a report?!" Sengoku yelled. "Didn't I tell you to wait for your relief personnel?! Instead, you barged into the Grand Line all by yourself just to chase one rookie pirate!"
After letting Sengoku rant for a few moments, Hina finally stepped in. "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, we need to report an incident. We've just encountered a pirate crew with immense, unrecorded potential."
Hearing the serious tone in Hina's voice, Sengoku's temper cooled down slightly. He was a master tactician first and foremost. "What pirate crew? What happened?"
"Darian. The 'White Emperor', the rookie whom Morgans and the *World Economic Journal* have been hyping up these past few weeks," Hina reported. "He has already entered the Grand Line. We just engaged him in a full fleet skirmish. Neither Smoker nor Hina were able to capture him. We were forced to order a ceasefire to prevent massive casualties."
Hearing that two of his most promising Captains, utilizing a five-ship fleet, had been completely unable to handle a rookie from the East Blue, Sengoku couldn't help but frown deeply.
Thanks to Morgans' sensationalist coverage, Sengoku was certainly aware of who the White Emperor was. After all, the newspaper had placed Darian's physical appeal and charisma on equal footing with Boa Hancock, the Pirate Empress and a Warlord of the Sea. Sengoku simply couldn't afford to ignore that level of media attention.
After racking his memory for a moment, Sengoku rummaged through the towering piles of documents on his desk and retrieved Darian's wanted poster, along with the accompanying intelligence files.
Glancing at Darian's masked face on the poster, Sengoku had to admit the individual had a striking presence. However, Sengoku was the Fleet Admiral; if he could remain completely unfazed by Boa Hancock's powers, Darian's charm certainly wasn't going to sway his tactical judgment.
The accompanying files listed Darian's ability as extreme electrical manipulation. The records noted that he had annihilated the Arlong Pirates, that Captain Nezumi was confirmed killed in action by his hand, and mentioned unconfirmed local reports of his ability to conjure tsunamis.
"I'm looking at his file," Sengoku said. "So what happened? The two of you together couldn't handle a lightning user?"
In response, Hina quickly recounted the details of the recent battle, detailing Darian's flight, his vibrating iron sand constructs, and his incredible durability. Smoker chimed in to provide further details regarding the air-shattering punch.
At first, Sengoku had assumed that Smoker and Hina had simply grown lax in their training. However, after listening to their descriptions of the shockwaves, his brows furrowed in deep, alarming thought.
Whitebeard was still alive and well in the New World, so it was physically impossible for this rookie to possess the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Observing the arcs of electricity crackling around Darian on the wanted poster, he ruled out that specific possibility.
Drawing upon his vast experience, Sengoku was able to deduce the general nature of the situation: it could only be an incredibly versatile, previously unrecorded Paramecia-type or Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit ability.
The emergence of a power resembling the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—combined with potent electrical abilities and flight—was something Sengoku took extremely seriously. As Whitebeard's long-time adversary, Sengoku understood all too well just how terrifying vibrational power truly was.
"I understand. I have received your report," Sengoku said, his voice grave. "Do not engage him again without backup. I'll hand the primary pursuit of this matter over to Vice Admiral Momonga; it was his brother who was killed, after all. You two keep a close eye on the White Emperor's trajectory, and continue gathering intelligence on his crew's capabilities."
Having finished giving his instructions, Sengoku—mindful that Smoker and Hina were the Navy's next generation of leaders—couldn't help but offer a harsh admonition.
"You two have lived far too comfortably in the 'Paradise' region these past few years," Sengoku scolded. "Both you and Smoker have grown complacent. Paradise is simply too peaceful compared to the New World. From your report, it sounds like neither of you has even reached the introductory level of using the two forms of Haki yet. Do not rely so heavily on your Devil Fruit abilities! You need to place much greater emphasis on physical combat training and Haki awakening if you want to survive what's coming."
Sengoku himself had developed his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit abilities to the absolute pinnacle, yet his physical combat skills and Haki were equally supreme—making him a truly invincible fighter.
Hina accepted the admonition gracefully, bowing her head. Smoker simply wore a look of distinct displeasure, though he knew the old man was right. He had relied entirely on his smoke to avoid damage, and it had almost gotten him killed by a rookie.
"Send over the detailed after-action reports shortly," Sengoku commanded. "Headquarters will elevate this White Emperor to a Class-A threat."
"Understood, Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"
With that, Hina hung up the Den Den Mushi. The real hunt for the White Emperor had begun.
.....
.....
.....
Support me and read advance chapters on patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter