"N.E.W Marine, huh?" Garp nodded beside him, flashing a teasing grin at Sengoku. "Since it's no longer the old Marine... why not bring Michael back? After all, it's all about the former Marine's issues now..."
"Stop beating around the bush with me," Sengoku said, lifting his gaze to his old comrade with a resigned expression.
"Michael has his own path. You know that."
"I'm already starting to miss the days of fighting side by side with this guy."
Garp drained his teacup in one gulp.
No sooner had he set it down than a teapot floated over seemingly of its own accord, refilling it to the brim.
Rather than exclaiming "Ghost!", Garp simply chuckled as he looked at the man standing behind Tsuru.
"Tsuru, are you sure about this?"
"The evil in his heart runs too deep. Even after undergoing the 'Wash-Wash Fruit: Blank Slate' cleansing and having Marianne reinforce it with 'Friendship's Yellow-Green', we can't let him return to Dressrosa as its true virtuous king just yet." Tsuru shook her head.
"So for now, he'll stay at Marine Headquarters... By my estimate, after another Blank Slate treatment in two months, he should be thoroughly purified."
"Tsk tsk, what luck. A man who committed every crime imaginable yet survived the Marine..." Garp raised an eyebrow.
"Though the original Doflamingo would probably choose death over this without hesitation."
"That's part of the punishment too." Tsuru took a sip of tea, her tone calm.
Her eyes were wise, kind...
And merciless.
Sengoku observed the now unadorned Doflamingo standing behind Tsuru.
The resemblance... to Rosinante was uncanny.
Truly brothers by blood.
"Repeat, who are you?"
"Reporting, Fleet Admiral! I am the King of Dressrosa and your temporary adjutant, Donquixote Doflamingo." Doflamingo saluted Sengoku with military precision, his expression radiating righteousness, his very features seeming altered.
"Thank you for looking after my brother all these years."
Watching this completely reformed Doflamingo, both Sengoku and Garp Shuddered simultaneously.
"This is the real reason I never dare cross Tsuru..."
"I'd rather not get washed into a damn vegetable." Garp muttered under his breath.
...
"Michael, so this is where you've been hiding!"
Charlotte Linlin reclined on Zeus as she floated up beside Michael.
"Even if Devil Fruit users can't help with underwater matters, you shouldn't be slacking off so blatantly."
"Slacking off? That's downright insulting." Michael handed her the newspaper he'd just finished reading.
"Look, fresh off the press - the latest World Economic Journal."
"A newspaper? Been stuck in Elbaf lately, so I'm out of the loop." Linlin unfolded the paper and brought it close to her face.
"But what big news could possibly break in such short... What? Marine independence? N.E.W Marine? You serious?"
The sudden revelation shocked Linlin into examining the paper front and back multiple times.
After thoroughly verifying it wasn't some fake Michael had concocted, she exhaled deeply.
Her gaze when she looked back at Michael brimmed with curiosity.
"What? You're looking at me funny."
"You saw this coming, didn't you? Or rather... you made this day happen, didn't you?"
"That's correct, but it's happening much earlier than I anticipated or planned... Believe it or not, even though the Marines have now become independent from the World Government, they won't truly confront the World Government head-on for quite some time." Michael shook his head with a smile.
"In fact, both sides might even enter a honeymoon period now that they've become equals after severing their hierarchical relationship..."
Michael wasn't speculating—he was stating this as a certainty.
Having lost a massive amount of human resources, the World Government couldn't afford to go all-in against the Marines at this stage.
Meanwhile, the Marines feared the World Government's "Uranus" and couldn't directly assault Mary Geoise.
With both sides having reservations, this outcome was inevitable.
But privately, what each side truly wanted was to see their greatest political enemy utterly destroyed.
Caught in the middle were the pirates, who would likely suffer the squeeze.
For a long time to come, smaller pirate crews would probably face difficult times.
However...
This situation might force pirate factions to unite, potentially giving rise to massive pirate alliances.
So the specific developments would depend on how Tsuru and others handled things going forward.
At the very least...
Michael didn't need to worry about the Marines' situation anymore.
After all, the Marines gaining independence was good news.
The only downside was that unless something unexpected happened, the World Government would soon issue a bounty for him.
The Five Elders probably hated him to the core.
But as long as the Five Elders were unhappy, Michael was happy.
"Michael... what exactly are you trying to bring to this world?" Charlotte Linlin studied Michael intently.
"I've always been curious about you, but the more I learn, the more enigmatic you seem..."
"What am I bringing? A fundamentally peaceful era for the world, of course." Michael shrugged.
"I'm not arrogant enough to believe I can eliminate all war and crime... As long as humans exist, these are unavoidable original sins. I merely aim to minimize their impact. As for your so-called 'enigma,' that's just a difference in our perspectives."
Standing up, Michael fixed Charlotte Linlin with a piercing gaze.
"When the era I speak of truly arrives, you'll look at me again and realize there's no enigma—just an ordinary man."
Michael's voice brimmed with anticipation for the future.
Even Charlotte Linlin found herself drawn to the vision Michael painted.
She wasn't particularly aggressive by nature—otherwise she wouldn't have stayed content in her little corner of Whole Cake Island.
"Michael! Linlin!"
At that moment, "Blue-Ogre" Dorry came wading through the water.
"We've found the ruins of God Valley!"
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