"Regarding the crusade against Creed, does anyone have any good proposals? The focus of today's operations meeting is how to bring down Creed and win this unprecedentedly arduous war."
Garp and Zephyr both frowned.
The very fact that the words "arduous war" had been spoken was enough to show the Navy and the World Government's resolve—there was no room left for compromise on either side.
But they had long since anticipated such a day, so there was nothing more they could say.
"Supreme Commander, let me handle Creed. This time, I will not lose again!"
Akainu spoke in a low, heavy voice.
Ever since losing to Creed, he had gone to Death Volcano and sealed himself away, training in seclusion until only a few days ago, when he finally broke through and emerged.
This time, he was going to wash away his humiliation and annihilate Creed.
As a man who carried Absolute Justice in his heart, being defeated over and over by a great pirate like Creed had driven him to the brink of hysteria. His rage was almost impossible to suppress. If he couldn't kill Creed, he felt there was no point in him being alive.
However, when Kong saw the bloodshot look in Akainu's eyes, he grew concerned and did not agree immediately.
"Creed will be left to Sengoku. You'll support from the side. If Creed was able to defeat Big Mom, his strength is no longer something one person can handle alone."
"No! Supreme Commander, you must grant my request. Otherwise, the moment this meeting is over, I'll go and find Creed myself!"
Akainu gritted his teeth, yet still refused to back down.
"Supreme Commander, please grant Akainu this request. He has the power to do it."
At that moment, the CP0 member sitting beside Kong finally spoke.
This was one of the two CP0 giants: Aegis.
"Aegis" was a title passed down within CP0, reserved for each new giant. Its meaning was "Shield of the Gods."
He was the highest authority within CP0—and the existence the Celestial Dragons relied on the most.
Although Kong was the one chairing this operations meeting, Aegis had the right to act as a military supervisor. If necessary, he could seize command from the Navy and direct the entire war effort himself.
Since even he had spoken up to support Akainu, Kong could only temporarily agree to Akainu's request.
"Supreme Commander, I think instead of going after Creed, we'd be better off going after Big Mom. She destroyed several of our bases and caused the Fishman Island catastrophe—and she's much easier to deal with than Creed."
Now it was Kizaru's turn to raise his hand and offer his opinion.
Kong and Aegis both glanced at him, and only then did Kong speak, his tone flat:
"I'll add one thing: this operation's primary target has already been decided. What we're doing now is filling in the details of the battle plan. Nothing else will change."
"Ohhh… then pretend I didn't say anything."
Kizaru curled his lips.
Aokiji had wanted to say something as well, but after Kong's statement, he could only keep his mouth shut.
Akainu, however, remained unimpressed and immediately shot back with a jab:
"Borsalino, are you afraid of Creed or what?"
Kizaru shrugged.
"Ehh, you say that like you weren't beaten to a pulp by him yourself. If I remember right, you had it worse than I did."
Seeing them tearing open each other's wounds in front of everyone, Sengoku hurriedly told them both to be quiet.
Kong frowned as well, then continued laying out the battle plan in detail. After seeing that no one raised any further objections, he finally spoke in a deep voice:
"This operation concerns the future of our Navy in the New World. I hope all of you will set everything else aside and carry out the justice of the Navy with your full strength.
"This time… we must annihilate the Creed Pirates!"
"Annihilate Creed!"
Everyone present echoed him once.
And just then—
Creak.
The door was pushed open in a rush, and someone hurried in. Kong and Sengoku both frowned.
This was the Navy's highest-level operations meeting. Who would dare interrupt it?
"What's going on? Do you have no sense of decorum?"
When Sengoku saw that it was his own adjutant, he felt it was strange and quickly questioned him.
"Reporting to the Supreme Commander, reporting to the Marshal, Creed…"
The adjutant was so tense and anxious that he even began to stutter.
"What about Creed? Has he already launched an attack?"
Kong tensed up as well.
With the Navy fully mobilized, if Creed sensed danger, it wasn't impossible that he'd choose to strike first.
"Ahem… no. The Creed Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Flying Pirates… have formed an alliance!"
The adjutant coughed lightly, took a deep breath, and then blurted out all the intelligence he'd just received.
"What?!"
"Hiss…"
"That's impossible! Is that intel confirmed?!"
The news made more than a few people in the chamber suck in cold breaths, and some even directly questioned whether the information was fake.
But when the adjutant laid several freshly printed issues of the World Economic News on the table for everyone to examine, those doubts were instantly put to rest.
Silence.
A dead, suffocating silence.
After a long moment, Kong finally broke the heavy atmosphere.
"This just made things difficult."
Sengoku's tone was bitter.
"It looks like the battle plan needs to be revised. No… we need the Gorosei to make a new decision."
If Creed had only allied with Big Mom, they might still have carried on without changing much. But with Shiki—another emperor-level powerhouse—added into the mix, the combined strength of that side had become truly monstrous.
In other words, it was roughly equivalent to two and a half emperors joining forces.
Shiki, in particular, with his Float-Float Fruit and his control over floating islands, was incredibly troublesome. Even if he did nothing else, if he simply hurled those floating islands down at the start of the battle, it would be enough to wipe out all of Marine Headquarters.
That "falling meteor" tactic was far too terrifying.
"…The battle plan will be put on hold for now. Wait for my notice. But in the meantime, your preparations must continue. We cannot afford to be careless."
After a short while, Kong dissolved the meeting.
"Meeting's over, Garp-senpai, Zephyr-sensei."
Aokiji nudged awake the two-man duo who had started dozing off, making Kong and the others' faces turn dark.
Once Garp and the rest had left, only the two CP0 giants and Kong remained in the chamber. Aegis shook his head slightly.
"I'll talk to the Gorosei. Creed is far too dangerous. In just a few short years, he's grown to this level… he absolutely cannot be allowed to live."
Kong nodded. He did not object.
In the guest-hotel lobby of the new Marine Headquarters, Hancock, Mihawk, and Jinbe were quietly reading the World Economic News.
"Creed is incredible…"
Hancock stared at the picture of Creed on the front page, her eyes shining.
Today, she wore a sleeveless purple qipao that showed off her flawless figure to the fullest. Her overwhelming charm was such that even the waiters in the distance could barely drag their eyes away from her. Some of them were so distracted that their work became clumsy and careless.
"In that case, the target of this Marine operation probably won't be Creed anymore," Jinbe said, letting out a breath of relief.
With three emperor-level powers forming an alliance, it was enough to make the Navy hesitate and rethink their approach.
Most likely, the muzzles of Marine guns would now swing toward the other three Yonko. Those emperors were the ones who would be in trouble.
"That's good! If they were going after Creed, this empress would be the first to refuse!"
Hancock puffed out her cheeks slightly, still a bit indignant. When she had first heard that the Marines were preparing to move against Creed, she had been worried sick.
Mihawk, however, did not share their optimism.
"No matter what happens," he said calmly, "the Marines' objective will not change."
(End of Chapter)
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