A former Fleet Admiral of the Marines and the former-former Fleet Admiral stepping forward to face the enemy at the same time was an exceedingly rare sight even across the seas.
“Jack, these enemies are no pushovers. Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“They won’t take me down that easily, and they certainly won’t get to interfere with Boss Kaido’s fight either.”
Jack answered in his low, muffled voice. He might have liked charging straight in, but once he did, he still retained the ability to judge the difference in combat strength.
“Then there’s no problem. Before Boss Kaido wins, we don’t need to defeat them. We just need to keep these two tied down.
If you can’t handle it, remember to call for backup. Boss Kaido told me to look after you.”
“Boss King, you’re worrying too much. I can handle one of them. Just focus on your own fight.”
At the same time, Sengoku and Kong were doing something similar.
“Sengoku, you’re not looking too good.”
“Boss Kong… that b*stard Kaido has gotten even stronger. Even Newgate back then was never this terrifying.”
“I can feel it. That’s why Saint Nasjuro personally took action this time. With one of the Five Elders making a move, the battle here won’t last much longer.”
In just a few words, Jack and King had already settled their battle assignments and were waiting for Kaido to change the course of the battlefield.
Sengoku and Kong had also readjusted themselves. They might not be able to bring down Kaido, but if they could not even handle Kaido’s officers, then the Marines might as well disband on the spot.
But changes always came faster than plans.
A massive green leaf drifted across the sky with the wind, and a red figure leaped down from atop it.
Boom!
Before Sengoku could make any move, Kong had already stepped forward to meet the newcomer. His fist collided with the tip of the other man’s umbrella, and Kong saw a familiar face he had absolutely no desire to see.
“Redfield?! What are you doing here?!”
Kong had never forgotten this old rival of his. He had even been keeping tabs on Redfield when the latter fought over the Vampire Fruit. After the Dressrosa incident, Redfield had vanished without a trace for a time.
Kong had assumed that, like Rayleigh, he had found some quiet corner of the world to retire in. He never expected him to appear at Marine Headquarters at a time like this.
“Of course I came looking for you. We’re old friends, after all, but you spend every day staying in Mariejois, so there really hasn’t been much opportunity.”
After the Dressrosa incident, Redfield had tried finding a few suitable companions, but he failed. Part of it was because he had grown accustomed to being solitary, and another part was because he had become too used to relying on Observation Haki. Restraining that habit was still extremely difficult for him.
Finding companions was something he could take his time with. Aside from that, Redfield had one other thing he wanted to do—have a chat with his old rivals from back then.
For example, Kong, whom he had fought for several days without a victor, and Garp, who had captured him afterward.
Unfortunately, acting alone meant his intelligence network was somewhat lacking. By the time he saw the news about Garp, he only then learned that something had already happened to him.
Afterward, Redfield began keeping watch for Kong’s movements. Kong worked in Mariejois, which was why Redfield had not acted immediately.
Having once lost his freedom, he now treasured it especially dearly. He had no desire to fight someone again only to conveniently get thrown back into prison afterward.
Besides, he had sensed several dangerous presences within Mariejois, so he chose to wait and observe. Even then, he had already caught a faint scent of war in the air.
With a war on a global scale breaking out, surely Kong, the Commander-in-Chief of all forces, could not keep sitting in his office forever. That was what had led to Redfield appearing here now.
“Come on, let’s have a proper fight. Back then, neither of us could defeat the other. Only now, I have a bit more youthful strength. That seems somewhat unfair to you, doesn’t it? Need me to go easy on you?”
“Redfield, I have no interest in getting tangled up with you right now. You’re a relic of the old era. Can’t you just find some quiet corner and live out the rest of your days peacefully?”
“I came all this way specifically to see you. Saying something like that is enough to hurt a man’s feelings. I haven’t admitted I’m old yet. If an old fossil like you can still operate as Commander-in-Chief, then naturally my voyages haven’t ended either. Today, whether you want to fight or not, you’re fighting me!”
Kong did not want to provoke yet another troublesome opponent at a time like this, but Redfield clearly did not see things the same way. Although he was not allied with the Beasts Pirates, at the very least, both sides were enemies of the World Government and the Marines.
For him, this was a rare opportunity where no one would be able to swoop in afterward and take advantage of the situation.
King and Jack did not know why Redfield had appeared either, but by drawing away Kong, the Commander-in-Chief, he had reduced the pressure on them considerably.
The Marines, however, were having a much less pleasant time. Not long ago, Kashii and Oimo had publicly announced that they were switching sides in the middle of the battle and joined the forces attacking the Marines, because the lie that had lasted for more than fifty years had finally been exposed.
A few minutes earlier, after the opponents were switched, Tiger had intercepted the two Giants. Dealing with the two of them was not difficult for Tiger. The problem was that after he knocked them down with Fish-Man Jujutsu, they started crying and apologizing to their chiefs.
“You two, wait a second…”
After all, Tiger was the first Fish-Man priest.
Although his authority within the Arceus Cult was inferior to Misu’s, it was roughly on par with Lami’s. At the very least, he knew what was happening on the other battlefields, and he knew that over on Red Hair’s side, Dorry and Brogy were currently helping Red Hair fight the World Government.
Tiger spent one minute linking the display to the Gastly that was scouting the situation around Red Hair. The equipment that had previously been used to livestream the Straw Hats had been directly upgraded into military equipment after the Straw Hats were all imprisoned, and was now responsible for monitoring battlefield situations.
When Dorry and Brogy appeared on the screen in Tiger’s hand, Kashii and Oimo froze.
“It’s the chiefs…”
“They’re perfectly fine. They weren’t captured. So that means we were lied to for fifty years?”
“Correction. Fifty-two years.”
There was no such thing as image editing in this world, so once the figures of Dorry and Brogy appeared in the live broadcast, the straightforward minds of the Giants quickly accepted Tiger’s words. The two of them then swung their weapons toward what had originally been their camp.
“What are you two doing?!”
Lonz, already wounded and lying on the ground, did not have the strength to stop them. All he could do was shout his question.
“Kashii was tricked! Kashii is very angry!”
“Oimo trusted you so much, yet you joined these Marines in deceiving us! You’re not worthy of being called a warrior of Elbaf! This is fifty-two years of our anger! Now you can bear the full brunt of it!”
For Tiger, the sudden addition of these two combatants helped alleviate their disadvantage in numbers. With the two Giants acting as breakthrough forces and all the high-end combatants being tied down, the battle situation, which had originally been somewhat unfavorable, was immediately turned around.
While flames of war raged across the battlefield, countless eyes outside were also fixed on this place. The Summit War alone had been enough to alter the balance of the world, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that this great war was reshaping the world itself.
The elite forces of Marine Headquarters had all been deployed, while the Emperors of the Sea were fighting in coordination. Whether pirates or Marines stationed at other bases, everyone was shaken by the spectacle.
“This really is unbelievable. To think things would turn into this.”
On Sphinx Island, Ace and Marco stared at the newly delivered newspaper for a long time, unable to get over what they were seeing. One Summit War had brought the era of the Four Emperors to an end, and the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates had also lost their father.
“What I’m more curious about is… how did Morgans get his hands on firsthand intelligence from this war? He even managed to capture a photo of Kaido appearing at Marine Headquarters. Does that guy have a death wish?”
Marco knew Morgans’s reporters were capable, because even Whitebeard’s bounty poster photo had been bizarrely impressive. The angle from which that photo had been taken was clearly aboard the Moby Dick, right in front of Whitebeard himself.
He had never figured out how Morgans’s reporter had managed to infiltrate one of the Whitebeard Pirates’ banquets. If they could pull something like that off, sneaking onto a battlefield was not all that surprising.
There was also something Marco did not know: some photographs were purchased from other people. Over the years, Morgans had long since built an underground intelligence network. Otherwise, he would never have become the Underworld’s king of news.
Generally speaking, for most incidents, he could receive photographs sent in by his hidden informants. Only in a very small number of cases did those courageous photographers personally take action.
“Forget it. Morgans isn’t important. Kaido’s officers, and even Kaido himself, don’t seem to be in Wano Country right now. Even Red Hair and Big Mom have joined the fighting. If we want to investigate what’s going on in Wano Country, this is probably our only chance.”
Ace and Marco exchanged a glance and silently came to a decision.
Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Army had recently reaped considerable gains. The Marine Admirals were busy taking part in the war, and the Marines could not spare reinforcements. This gave the rapidly expanding Revolutionary Army an even better opportunity to act.
Several nations declared their revolutions successful, achieving results even greater than those of the Eight-Nation Revolution.
“Dragon, are you leaving now?”
“Yeah. There are some things I need to deal with. I have to go there and investigate, see what exactly is going on.
Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon. Continue the fighting in the other regions. An opportunity like this, with the winds finally blowing in our favor, doesn’t come easily…”
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