From the moment he sensed Maud's presence, Aokiji decisively abandoned the clear advantage he had gained after launching a swift assault on Shakky.
This move gave Shakky room to catch her breath.
"Troublesome as always."
The surprise in Aokiji's eyes was hard to conceal as he turned his head to look at Maud, who was wantonly revealing his aura and slowly approaching.
The man, who was no longer what he used to be, had appeared at this critical moment. For their operation, things could hardly have turned out worse.
In itself,
the Navy had suffered tremendous losses during the Summit War. Now was a crucial period for postwar recovery and suppressing unrest across the various regions, so they naturally should not have taken the initiative to provoke these great pirates.
But Vegapunk's request was more important.
Thus, after obtaining information on the target, the Navy immediately took action, dispatching a force led by Aokiji to Sabaody Archipelago to capture the Heart Pirates' crew and Maud's subordinates alive.
By using such a roundabout method, they could obtain the living hearts Vegapunk required at the smallest possible cost.
At least in Aokiji's view, using his ability to remove living hearts was a trivial matter that Trafalgar Luo could accomplish with a mere lift of his hand.
Presumably, in exchange for his companions, Maud and Trafalgar Luo would not refuse such a small favor.
That was the Navy's plan.
They had not expected Maud to appear at this crucial juncture.
One had to know that the sea within a three-day voyage of Sabaody Archipelago was all under the Navy's surveillance.
Yet over the past three days, they had not only failed to find any trace of Maud's movements in the surrounding waters, but not even an ordinary civilian vessel had passed through them.