"Cain, why did you stop running? That guy's about to catch up!"
Cain, who had been sprinting with Ace, suddenly stopped once they reached an empty street.
He gently set Ace down, then withdrew from his human-beast form.
Sengoku's figure appeared at the far end of the street. The golden light around him faded, and he had already returned to his human form.
He looked at Cain and calmly spoke, "Looks like you've figured it out."
"Yeah."
Cain turned around.
"The moment you abandoned the battlefield over there and chased after me directly, I understood. Fleet Admiral Sengoku, let's talk."
Ace, standing to the side, was so anxious he kept whipping his head around, clearly wanting to drag Cain away and escape.
Cain noticed his agitation and spoke to reassure him.
"Don't worry, Ace. The old man should've told you before. I used to be a Marine. Back then, Fleet Admiral Sengoku was even the one who taught me about Conqueror's Haki. In a way, he's one of my teachers."
Ace froze on the spot, his face full of disbelief.
'Your relationship is that good?'
Sengoku raised a hand and rubbed his forehead, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness.
"Ugh, yes. I was your Conqueror's Haki teacher. And look at you now—you used that very Conqueror's Haki to scam me."
"You turned this entire war into a mess."
Cain smiled and said,
"After all, everything I did was for Ace. Even you probably can't execute him under the title of Roger's son anymore, can you, Fleet Admiral?"
Sengoku nodded, his tone grave.
"That much is true… But speaking of which, did you know Ace's identity from the beginning? And did you and Garp hide it from the entire world together?"
"Yeah. I knew when I was little."
Cain's voice softened slightly.
"It's true that bad people don't deserve sympathy. But family is different…! Ace isn't the kind of person who burns, kills, and robs his way across the sea. At most, he goes out to eat and always forgets to bring money."
"The worst of him is just small-time trouble. He's nowhere near that bastard Doflamingo."
"If Lieutenant Commander Rosinante's brother had been the same kind of person as Ace, I doubt he would've gone through with that mission either."
"You…"
Sengoku was stunned, and even his gaze changed.
Very few people knew about Rosinante.
If information like that had somehow reached Cain's ears, anyone with half a brain could figure out who leaked it.
'Garp.'
'You bastard. Again.'
The vein at Sengoku's temple throbbed so many times he almost lost count.
He forcefully suppressed his anger and calmed down, then let out a heavy sigh.
"Now that things have reached this point, the Marines are going to lose a great deal of dignity."
"Even so, this war won't end so easily."
"Just as you said earlier, the Marines can no longer execute Ace under the title of Roger's son. But one side has to remain here."
The meaning behind those words was clear.
Either the execution continued, with Ace staying here not as Roger's son, but as the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates…
Or the Whitebeard Pirates would be wiped out here.
Naturally, the one who could not accept that outcome the most was Ace.
How could he possibly be willing to trade the entire Whitebeard Pirates for his own life?
But how could Ace understand?
The war had already begun. Ending it would not be that simple.
Even if he had already been rescued, getting the entire pirate crew to withdraw was still a problem.
Besides, Whitebeard had come to this war with no intention of leaving alive.
Ace, however, did not know that.
Cain had no intention of telling him either. After all, that was Whitebeard's decision.
Just as Ace was about to shout in protest, a sudden sound entered their ears.
Crack. Snap.
"Mmph… mmph…"
"There's someone else here!"
Sengoku's expression instantly turned grave.
He immediately spread his Observation Haki while estimating the distance and volume of the sound in his mind.
As the man known as the Resourceful General, he could swear with absolute certainty that the words he had just exchanged with Cain had not been overheard.
But at a time like this, who would still be hiding here instead of leaving?
Thinking this, he immediately grew alert and rushed toward the source of the sound.
Seeing this, Cain also grabbed Ace and followed close behind.
As Sengoku charged forward, the threads set up around the buildings snapped apart one after another.
Inside a nearby room, Uta, who had just finished whipping Lilith, instantly sensed it.
In the blink of an eye, she transformed into Doflamingo's appearance.
Then, with a forceful wave of her hand, threads yanked the entire room sideways, dragging it in one direction while using collapsed debris to bury Ain and Binz in another room.
When Sengoku saw Kuma standing there with Doflamingo, along with Lilith hanging up in the room, he roared furiously.
"IT'S YOU, DOFLAMINGO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
Although Sengoku did not know this Vegapunk Satellite, the Marine uniform she was wearing made him assume she was one of their own Marines.
His anger rose even further as he shouted.
"YOU BASTARD! INSTEAD OF FIGHTING THE WHITEBEARD PIRATES ON THE BATTLEFIELD LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO, YOU RAN HERE TO HARASS ONE OF OUR FEMALE MARINES? WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU PLOTTING?!"
But Doflamingo ignored him completely and left right in front of Sengoku.
Sengoku looked around again.
The broadcast Den Den Mushi were here.
Bartholomew Kuma was here.
Then he turned and stared at Cain, who had caught up.
Cain was confused.
Very confused.
What the hell happened to Lilith? Why was she hanging there in such a humiliating way?
But he had no time to think too deeply about it.
More importantly, Uta's involvement absolutely could not be exposed.
So Cain quickly shook his head at Sengoku, indicating that he had only asked Doflamingo to use the Den Den Mushi for a little broadcast.
As for why Bartholomew Kuma was here, and why Doflamingo was here harassing a female Marine, Cain had no idea.
In short, just dump everything on Doflamingo.
Sengoku stared hard at Cain's face, suspicion written all over his own.
But at that moment, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a massive shadow rising from the distant sea.
Immediately afterward, several black objects were violently thrown through the air, hurtling straight toward the battlefield at Marine Headquarters.
Cain looked into the distance and instinctively murmured,
"The Colossal Battleship… Sanjuan Wolf."
…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield—
To support Luffy as quickly as possible, Ivankov had directly used Face Growth Hormones, enlarging his head to a ridiculous size.
Then, like a giant rubber ball, he rolled straight toward Luffy.
The people forming the human ladder kept pulling at one another, and none of them were willing to let go.
Amid the chaos, they still ended up colliding with Ivankov and were instantly knocked apart in every direction.
The reason, absurdly enough, was that Golden Lion had only managed to grab a sword sheath.
The actual sword was still hanging properly at Tashigi's waist, and the formerly neat chain of people instantly fell apart.
Seeing that Luffy had already come up to him, Sabo flipped his wrist, and rolling thunder gathered in his palm, ready to strike.
Smoker instinctively let go and flashed in front of Tashigi to protect her.
But Sabo did not attack. Instead, he quickly took Luffy and left.
Golden Lion, who had fallen down as well, clearly froze for a moment.
Then, when he unintentionally lowered his head and saw that the person under his backside was Garp, he froze again.
'Well now.'
'This old bastard Garp had actually been knocked unconscious because i sat on him?'
"Bwahahahaha!"
Although he had failed to get the sword, sitting Garp unconscious could still be considered revenge, couldn't it?
Golden Lion felt unbelievably pleased.
He was just about to activate his ability and fly away when he belatedly realized that Garp was still gripping one of his severed legs tightly.
That would not do.
He hurriedly reached down and tried to pry Garp's hand open, but even after pulling for a long while, it did not budge at all.
'Wait.'
'Why was this old bastard still releasing Haki?'
"YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE NOT UNCONSCIOUS AT ALL, ARE YOU?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PRETENDING FOR?!"
Wasn't that obvious?
Ace had already been rescued.
This old man no longer had any reason to keep fighting!
'Farewell!'
Thinking this, Garp put on an exaggerated act and shouted.
"AHHH—THIS OLD MAN HAS FAINTED!"
Even Hancock, standing nearby, could not help freezing for a moment.
Just then, an outrageously arrogant laugh suddenly rang out, instantly drawing Golden Lion's attention.
"Zehahahaha!"
Blackbeard and his crew suddenly emerged from a corner of Marine Headquarters, all of them covered in dust and looking rather disheveled.
Because the war had begun earlier than expected, he had no choice but to rush here as quickly as possible.
He had even made Sanjuan Wolf throw them over directly.
The method was practically identical to Luffy's group.
Shiki stared at the newcomer with a grave expression, muttering inwardly.
'That guy… why does he look kind of familiar?'
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator