Marine Headquarters' temporary office.
"Damn it! Blackbeard got away just like that? Does he really have that kind of speed and strength? Kizaru! What exactly happened? Were you slacking off again?"
Sengoku slammed his fist onto the desk in front of him, splitting it clean in two as he questioned the Den Den Mushi on the other side.
"You can't blame me for this, Fleet Admiral Sengoku," Kizaru's voice came lazily through the Den Den Mushi.
"Although we failed to catch the main culprit, we did capture a large number of escaped prisoners, and that delayed us quite a bit."
"I didn't expect them to be so well prepared either. They had hidden bubble coating from the Yarukiman Mangroves in the nearby waters beforehand. That guy never set foot on the island. He stayed on the ship the entire time."
"He didn't fight me head-on at all. The moment he saw me coming, he sent those prisoners out in a human-wave tactic, while he slipped into the bubble coating and sank straight into the deep sea."
"Fine. Stay where you are for now. Once reinforcements from the other branches arrive, follow orders from there."
After Sengoku finished speaking, he directly hung up the Den Den Mushi.
"As expected of Rocks' descendant. Someone who could lie low on Whitebeard's ship for so many years was never going to be easy to deal with," Vice Admiral Tsuru said.
Hearing this, Sengoku nodded.
He glanced toward the figure standing by the door, then looked back at Tsuru.
"Tsuru, how are things on your end? Did you find anything on Doflamingo?"
Tsuru shook her head.
"No clues at all. That man can communicate directly with the World Government. If we want to truly deal with him, it will be extremely troublesome."
"As expected. For now, we can only let him go, but the investigation absolutely will not stop here… Trafalgar Law, we need your help."
Sengoku looked toward Law, who was standing by the doorway.
Law raised his eyes and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but Doflamingo is someone I intend to take revenge on with my own hands. I won't cooperate with the Marines on that matter. Besides, Fleet Admiral, haven't you already discovered that spy?"
Previously, he and Sengoku had entered Uta World together and encountered the scene from years ago on Minion Island, where Rosinante stole the Op-Op Fruit.
They had gone through a reunion filled with both sorrow and joy.
Through Rosinante, Sengoku had also come to understand this captain of the Heart Pirates, Trafalgar Law, all over again.
Likewise, through that reunion, Sengoku had naturally learned that the spy Doflamingo had planted in the Marines was Vergo.
Clearly, Vergo still did not know that he had already been exposed.
He was the key to the Marines finding leverage over Doflamingo.
Since Law was unwilling to say more, they could only start with Vergo.
"The child Rosinante saved back then, is he? His character seems good. Unfortunately… don't let hatred cloud your head," Tsuru said.
Looking at Law's calm appearance now, she could not help remembering when she had first met Sengoku.
He had seemed like the same kind of polite, serious person back then, only to run into that idiot Garp.
After spending enough time together, even Sengoku had been gradually infected.
This child had heavy thoughts and a lonely personality.
Surely he would not get tangled up with Garp's family too, right?
Just as she thought of Garp, Garp spoke.
"I say, Torao, did you really come all this way just to switch me and Sengoku back? If that's all, then given that you still haven't officially become a Warlord, we have every reason to arrest you right here for eavesdropping on classified information."
That made Sengoku panic.
He had promised Rosinante that he would guide this child onto the right path.
Although they had not spoken much, Sengoku knew Law was not a bad person.
He was just a little rebellious.
"Hey, Garp, don't say that. This child isn't—"
Before Sengoku could finish, Garp cut him off.
"Isn't what? He's still a pirate right now, isn't he? What, should I hold a grand public execution at Marineford too and let you properly experience how this old man felt back then?"
"You…"
Sengoku paused, then gave up.
"Fine, fine. I lose! You bastard, you're just deliberately taking revenge because I ate your doughnuts, aren't you? But none of what you said stands. Even as a candidate, he is still the next Warlord and can be considered someone cooperating with the Marines. In the future, he'll be working with Tsuru on matters concerning Doflamingo, so it doesn't matter if he hears these things. Your calculations failed, Garp."
After saying that, Sengoku quickly asked Law why he had come here.
Law said, "It's about Fire Fist Ace. The previous report was only text written in the newspaper. Ace hopes the Marines can take a picture of him and publish it."
That sentence filled everyone's heads with question marks.
Ace had become a Warlord and then left the Whitebeard Pirates.
Even though everyone knew it was for the sake of protecting Whitebeard's territory, there were still many people who believed he was being ungrateful.
Even if Ace could bear those insults, actively requesting a photo to be spread in the newspapers and boost the Marines' morale—
How could Ace possibly suggest something like that himself?
Would he really be that kind?
…
"Nonsense. Do I look that kind? I'm doing this for you, my foolish little brother!"
At that moment, Ace and Luffy were both blindfolded, undergoing Haki special training and dodging Rayleigh's attacks from every direction.
Ace wanted to become stronger, so he was starting by polishing his foundations.
As for Luffy, it was because he still could not fully apply Haki in battle.
His Armament Haki was too crude and consumed energy too quickly, while his Observation Haki could not yet play an important role in his normal state.
That was why he was undergoing this special training.
Bang, bang!
Luffy took two hits to the head and instinctively asked,
"For me? Why?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to find a way to contact your scattered crew? If we do this, that photo will appear in the newspaper, and you'll be able to send a message to the outside world."
"Ace, thank you so much! Ah, I sensed it. The attack is coming from over there."
Luffy swung a punch outward.
"Idiot, that's my dinner for tonight!"
Boom!
Rayleigh swung a wooden stick coated in Armament Haki and struck Luffy hard on the head.
"Aaaah! That hurts!"
Looking at his dinner, which had been knocked to the ground, Rayleigh gathered it up with visible heartache and said,
"All right. Let's stop training here for today."
The moment Luffy heard that, he immediately tore off the cloth covering his eyes. He glanced at Cain's side, then leaned closer to Ace and whispered,
"Hey, Ace. Is Haki training really supposed to be like this? I keep feeling like something isn't right."
"What's not right? How is this any different from the training we did before?"
"Look over there."
Cain was stretching out both palms, smiling as he lightly dodged while calling to Uta,
"Uta, focus. Hit over here. Yes, right hand, now switch to your left!"
Uta was blindfolded, her fists wrapped in Armament Haki as she steadily struck his palms again and again.
There was a hint of complaint in her voice as she shouted,
"CAIN, DON'T BACK AWAY. I CAN FEEL IT. THIS TIME, I'M HITTING HERE!"
The two of them were laughing and playing cheerfully, a faint pink atmosphere floating around them, the scene so warm it almost seemed unreal.
Then there were Luffy and Ace.
Both of them had lumps all over their faces and heads, looking utterly battered from training.
Ace and Luffy stared at the scene in front of them, their faces falling at the same time.
Only one thought remained in their minds.
This difference was way too huge!
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