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"That won't be necessary," Ikki said, shaking his head.
It would have been absurd. Attempting an assassination at Marine Headquarters, of all places, would put him in an impossible position before he even drew a blade. The three Admirals were here. Sengoku was here. Even if the target were only the Blackbeard Pirates, the odds were not in Ikki's favor.
Beyond that, Blackbeard had not yet gathered his forces from Impel Down. He had not yet claimed Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Dealing with him in his current state was no easy task either, and Ikki's one real concern was the Dark-Dark Fruit's peculiar escape capability.
Much like Moria had used the Shadow-Shadow Fruit to slip away in an instant, the Dark-Dark Fruit appeared to carry its own power to melt into darkness and vanish from the scene. If he could not guarantee killing Blackbeard in a single blow, taking action at all was the wrong call.
"Ikki, why don't you just leave?"
Gion raised her head, her expression heavy with worry.
She was a Marine, bound by principle to loyalty toward the World Government. But Ikki had saved her life. He had taught her swordsmanship, and she owed him that debt. On top of everything, she had come to care deeply for him.
Under those circumstances, helping the World Government move against him was something she could not bring herself to do. Their actions had already lit a quiet rage inside her. If not for her unwavering commitment to the Marines' brand of justice, she might have seriously considered turning her back on all of it and following him as a pirate.
If Ikki had ever known that thought had crossed her mind, he would have been touched, and he still would have stopped her. He wanted Gion to become Fleet Admiral one day. In that position, she could do far more for him than she ever could sailing at his side.
"Leave?" Ikki repeated.
"Yes. The war between the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates will happen with or without you. The World Government wants to move against you. There's no reason you have to stay involved in any of this." Gion's fist tightened at her side. She did not want to see him come through the war exhausted, only to be handed over to the people who had just conspired against him.
"Gion, I know you're worried," Ikki said. "But I can't go."
"Why not?" The anxiety bled through her voice. "This is a World Government directive. They can mobilize the Shichibukai. They can order the Marines to move against you."
That was precisely what frightened her most. Blackbeard and Bartholomew Kuma moving against Ikki was one thing. Ikki was strong, Astolfo was extraordinarily powerful, and Hancock's relationship with Ikki gave them another reliable force.
That combination could handle Kuma and Blackbeard on their own. But adding the Marines to that equation was another matter entirely. A vast number of elite forces had converged at Marine Headquarters for this war, and Gion suspected that even after the fighting was done, a substantial amount of combat strength would remain.
If all of that turned on Ikki at once, it would be the most dangerous situation he had ever faced.
She laid out her concerns plainly, watching him with anxious eyes, hoping he would make the sensible choice.
"If the Marines were truly ordered to come after me," Ikki said slowly, "would you try to arrest me?"
"Of course not," Gion said, without hesitation.
"Then I'm not worried." He smiled. "Relax. Now that we know what the World Government is planning, I'll have a contingency ready. When this war ends, I'll walk away without a scratch."
He was genuinely looking forward to it, in truth. Whitebeard's Murakumogiri, Vista's famous sword. The Battle of Marineford was a pivotal moment in the story he had once only read, and he had no intention of missing it.
"I still don't understand why you insist on staying," Gion said, puzzled.
"Think about where things stand right now," Ikki said. "The Marines don't know that the World Government is planning to move against me. If I leave now, it looks like I broke our arrangement. I don't want to be the one who walks away from a deal." He shrugged lightly. "And I only just secured the Shichibukai position. Losing it this quickly would be a waste."
Gion's brow creased. "But if the World Government wants to arrest you, that means they've already written off your role as a Shichibukai. Even if you slip away in the end, you'll almost certainly lose the title regardless."
Astolfo nodded along in agreement.
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Ikki said. "But what if I leave before the World Government and their chosen Shichibukai actually make their move? If I'm already gone before they spring their trap, will they really strip my title in response?"
Gion went quiet, thinking it through.
"If things unfold the way you're describing," she said slowly, "the World Government would want to believe their plans haven't been exposed. Revoking your Shichibukai status at that moment would tip their hand. It would cost them the leverage they're holding onto, and they wouldn't be able to use a Shichibukai summons to draw you somewhere convenient for an arrest later. If I were in their position, I'd leave your title intact and bide my time."
"Exactly. That's what I'm counting on." Ikki's smile widened. "As long as I move at the right moment, I can hold onto the title a while longer. And there's something else. I took Zephyr's weapon. I already have the named blade, but I gave him my word I'd train Ain. If I can't make good on that, it puts me in an awkward position. I can't exactly kidnap her and drag her onto a pirate ship." He laughed. "So I'll train her as things stand. Zephyr is going to hate me for it, hahaha."
Zephyr and Ain would leave the Marines eventually, but not right after Marineford. In the meantime, Ikki could hold his Shichibukai title and train Ain at the same time. Once the two of them parted ways with the Marines, it wouldn't matter whether he was a Shichibukai or not. He could guide Ain regardless.
Still, if he had a choice, he preferred to keep the title as long as he could. It opened doors that being an ordinary pirate simply did not.