“Still no news yet?”
Inside G14 Branch, several people paced back and forth anxiously, hoping to receive a reply from Koby, but that was ultimately just wishful thinking. Twelve hours had passed, and the Den Den Mushi remained completely silent.
According to their rules, in such a situation, the member could already be considered dead.
“No… What exactly did Koby encounter? If it was just an infiltration mission, it shouldn’t have been this dangerous.”
Helmeppo and Hibari were visibly agitated. Among the SWORD members, the two of them were closest to Koby—one was a fellow recruit who had trained alongside him, and the other was a junior he had taken great care of.
Compared to the others, they were far more concerned about Koby’s safety.
“You two, quiet down. You’re getting on my nerves. Drake just sent back news, he hasn’t heard anyone talking about Koby.”
Sitting off to the side, Prince Grus, code-named “Prince,” gave them the latest update.
Drake had sent back a lot of information—the bestowment ritual of the Blessed Ones, the specific situation of the Lunarians, as well as Shanks and Katakuri appearing on Onigashima. All of this had already been compiled and sent to Marine Headquarters.
He had also taken the opportunity to ask around about Koby, but Drake, being on Onigashima, had no knowledge of such matters. After all, he was also one of the beneficiaries of the Divine Blessing Ritual, and the people fighting alongside him on the ship had no idea he was an undercover agent.
Right now, they were celebrating for Drake, and that message had only been sent back in his spare time. Under such circumstances, Drake simply didn’t have the time to pay attention to a minor figure like Koby.
“How could this happen?”
“This is actually good news. At the very least, it means Koby wasn’t taken to Wano Country. In the best-case scenario, he’s completely fine and just got delayed by something else.
But that possibility is slim. More likely, he’s been detained by pirates on that island nearby. A Marine Captain might not even count as an important figure in their eyes, so they wouldn’t take him seriously.”
As for the worst-case scenario, of course, it would be that Koby was killed after being exposed. However, they had Koby’s Vivre Card, and it indicated that he was still alive and well, without having lost any limbs.
“In that case, shouldn’t we go rescue Koby? He’s our comrade. He’s helped us a lot before, we can’t just abandon him like this.”
“Yeah, with Koby-senpai’s current location, rescue should be easier, right? G14 Branch has a Seraphim. If we use that, maybe—”
“Have you two lost your minds?! I know Koby is close to you, and he’s my comrade too, but have you forgotten what kind of place that is?!”
Prince Grus cut off Hibari and Helmeppo, then signaled for Kujaku to bring over the map.
“This is where Koby was carrying out his mission. Over here is Amazon Lily, here is the New Fishman Island, and these are some of the current island positions of the Beasts Pirates. Do you understand what that means?”
“Kuja are led by Boa Hancock, and the new Fishman Island likely has Jinbe. They’re both former Shichibukai, and their bounties both exceed one billion Berries.
Even if the rest of the Beasts Pirates don’t get involved, do you think their affiliated forces would just treat us as if we aren’t there?
Even the Seraphim don’t have the ability to instantly defeat a former Shichibukai. Do you really think that, combined, we could take down another one?”
The fact that the Beasts Pirates had moved islands made it clear that the Kuja and Fishman Island were already regarded as their affiliated forces. Kujaku’s analysis helped calm them down somewhat.
Afterward, Kujaku brought out additional intelligence. Within SWORD, she was already responsible for certain intelligence duties. Because she was Tsuru’s granddaughter, people had certain preconceived notions about her.
How could Lu Xun’s grandson not know how to smoke? How could Lu Xun’s grandson not know how to write essays? [TN: Lu Xun was a famous Chinese writer.]
That was exactly the situation Kujaku found herself in. Your grandmother is Tsuru, the great staff officer of Headquarters, so how could you not be skilled in intelligence?
Because of this, Kujaku ended up with this role.
“There’s one more thing. This was an order from Headquarters some time ago. Since it didn’t concern us much, I didn’t notify you. Take a look.”
【The use of Seraphim is prohibited within the territory of the Beasts Pirates】
These striking words appeared before their eyes. A total of seven Seraphim units had been created—S-Hawk and S-Snake were destroyed on Egghead, and S-Bat was heavily damaged on Amazon Lily.
Weapon damage was inevitable, and at first, the World Government and the Marines didn’t pay much attention to it. Only a small number of higher-ups knew about King and Shayna’s race; most people could only rely on speculation.
However, once Shayna and King removed their disguises, all members of the staff department became aware of this information.
Why the Beasts Pirates wanted to kill Vegapunk, and why the Seraphim they encountered had suffered a 75% casualty rate; everything now had a clear answer.
This was revenge, the revenge of that race.
They refused to accept that biological weapons created from their own bloodline would fight for their enemies.
The combat power of the Seraphim could maintain stability across parts of the seas. In the first half of the Grand Line, the Seraphim even possessed overwhelming strength. In order to preserve the remaining four Seraphim units, this order was issued.
“Do you understand now? Although SWORD has a special system that allows us to decide our own missions and even ignore Headquarters’ bans to act on our own, that premise applies only to ourselves. There’s no way we can mobilize a weapon like the Seraphim.”
Looking at Hibari and Helmeppo, Kujaku felt she had already explained things clearly enough. They didn’t want something like this to happen either, but now that it had, there was nothing they could do.
Moreover, joining this unit required a certain level of resolve. SWORD was not an ordinary Marine force.
Just as Kujaku had said before, SWORD could disregard any orders; it was a “guerrilla unit” capable of acting freely.
Even orders prohibiting engagement with an Emperor of the Sea could be ignored. But this privilege came with a cost; neither the Marines nor the World Government would acknowledge the existence of this unit, and its status was even more awkward than that of Cipher Pol.
As a special operations force of the Marines, they didn’t exist within the normal chain of command. Instead, they were a group of Marines who had already submitted their resignations.
Their Marine identification numbers had already been returned to the organization. When the situation called for it, the higher-ups would immediately approve their resignations and remove them from the Marine ranks.
If they crossed certain taboos, they could even be eliminated.
“That place isn’t somewhere we can just enter lightly. I absolutely won’t give that order.”
Prince Grus completely rejected the two of them. As the captain of this squad, he couldn’t lead everyone into a mission that was 100% certain to end in death.
While the SWORD members were holding a private discussion, a new round of meetings was also taking place at Marine Headquarters. The team tasked with disrupting the alliance had already set out, and now they were discussing follow-up issues.
“This is the latest intelligence our people sent a few hours ago. The Beasts Pirates have gathered most of the key figures within their territory, including several kings from non-affiliated nations, as well as many former Shichibukai members.”
Brannew stood in his usual position, holding the latest intelligence in his hands.
“First, regarding the Lunarian race. I’m sure you’re all familiar with them. Like the Buccaneer race, they are a race wanted by the World Government.
Their officers, Flame Blood and King, both come from this race, but according to the latest intelligence, their numbers are greater than previously thought.”
This time, Brannew didn’t bring out any photos. It was already no easy feat for Drake to send out intelligence. There was no way he would dare to take pictures on the spot.
“Secondly, the source of the large number of Devil Fruit users within the Beasts Pirates has also been identified. It is not the Lineage Factor technology we previously speculated about, but rather the power of an important member, Arceus.
The Beasts Pirates call it ‘Divine Blessing,’ and Arceus is revered as a god by the Lunarian race. If this information is accurate, then it is very likely an ancient god.”
“Excuse me, are you serious about this ‘god’ you’re talking about?”
“Vice Admiral, I am only relaying the contents of the intelligence. I’m not clear about the rest.”
Although Brannew could speak in front of many high-ranking officers, his own rank wasn’t particularly high. Faced with questions from these Headquarters’ Vice Admirals, he could only respond respectfully.
“Onigumo, let Brannew finish.”
“Yes, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki.”
With Akainu’s words, no one interrupted Brannew again, allowing him to present all the intelligence in one go.
“Alright, if anyone has any questions now, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer.”
“Are we certain this should be attributed to divine power? If this kind of information spreads, it will be very detrimental to morale. Perhaps this is just some kind of Devil Fruit ability? Like Charlotte Linlin’s Soul-Soul Fruit, which can imbue certain substances with souls.
The seas are too mysterious, who knows how many unknown Devil Fruits exist.
The situation with the Lunarian race might also just be a disguise, meant to undermine our morale.”
“It’s not impossible. However, according to our information, his ability can directly alter the very foundation of other Ability Users, causing a qualitative change in their powers. This already exceeds what Devil Fruit abilities should be capable of.”
Devil Fruit abilities could affect other Ability Users, but throughout history, there had never been a case of one fruit altering the form of another. As Devil Fruits were theoretically on the same level, such a situation shouldn’t occur.
“No matter what, we must consider the worst-case scenario. This is a possibility we cannot ignore.”
“Enough. Don’t waste time on this. Humans call anything they cannot understand ‘god.’ He is only given such a title because of his power. The World Government will make its own arrangements. Our primary task is still the pirates on the seas.
For the sake of Marine justice, eliminating pirates is our responsibility!”
“Yes! For justice!”
“Justice” had always been the best slogan to boost Marine morale. After reorganizing their morale and arranging the follow-up intelligence, most of the officers had already left, leaving only people like Tsuru, Sengoku, and Kizaru behind.
“Sengoku, you fought that Arceus back then, didn’t you?”
“Show some respect when speaking to your senior, Sakazuki. That was a long time ago. Back when I was still an Admiral, something like that did happen.”
Sengoku chewed on rice crackers as he recalled the past. The shattering of his Giant Buddha form had left a deep impression on him.
“Then what do you think, just how strong is he?”
That was one of the very few times Arceus had fought a human. After that, his opponents were no longer humans, but things beyond human capability.
A country, an island, or even weapons like the Mother Flame—each of these unusual “opponents” demonstrated the terrifying extent of his power.
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