The successive tremors had already put all of Marineford on high alert, making everyone jump at shadows.
Especially after some marine shouted, "The Whitebeard Pirates are attacking!"
The disturbance became even more chaotic.
From ordinary marines to naval officers, and finally even the captains of these warships—the colonels, rear admirals, and vice admirals—all believed it and entered combat readiness.
It was not until Aokiji appeared and personally calmed them down that they learned it had only been a misunderstanding.
Well, a string of misunderstandings...
If it had not been Admiral Aokiji who stepped forward, these naval officers probably would not have believed it.
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office.
Sengoku slammed his hand on the desk and sprang to his feet. He quickly pulled out a Den Den Mushi and made several calls in succession.
"Sakazuki, forget whatever you're doing over there! Whitebeard is attacking! Get back here right now—immediately!"
"Borsalino, have Sentomaru bring the Pacifistas over himself. You return to Marine Headquarters at top speed! Whitebeard is attacking!!!"
"Garp, you damned bastard, get back here already..."
Once the calls connected, he did not wait for anyone on the other end to speak. After shouting his piece into every one of them, he hung up.
Then, without even having time to put on his cape, he smashed through the door and rushed out.
He too had believed that the repeated tremors had been caused by Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
His expression was extremely grave, and his heart had sunk to the depths.
Because Marine Headquarters was incredibly undermanned right now!
Although nearly one hundred thousand elite marines conscripted from around the world had mostly assembled, and all ordinary civilians permanently residing in Marineford had been evacuated.
In terms of top-tier combat power, however, more than half were missing.
Of the Navy's greatest pillars, the three Admirals, only Aokiji remained in Marineford.
Yesterday, while Akainu had been preparing for war, he said he had discovered something interesting. After filing a report, he left Marineford, saying only that he would handle it as quickly as possible and return.
Kizaru, meanwhile, had gone to Egghead. For this war against the Whitebeard Pirates, the World Government had acquired a number of Pacifistas from Egghead's scientific research forces and assigned them to the Navy under Sentomaru's command.
Kizaru had gone to receive that batch of Pacifistas.
News had arrived only at noon today. They had just passed the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, and were estimated to arrive tomorrow morning.
Of course, with the situation now so urgent, since he had called Kizaru, Kizaru could use the power of his Glint-Glint Fruit to return as quickly as possible.
As for Garp, because Portgas D. Ace, who was about to be executed, was his adopted grandson, he had directly abandoned matters at Marine Headquarters and gone to the great undersea prison, Impel Down, to see his grandson one last time. At the same time, he would personally escort him to Marineford.
As Garp's old friend, Sengoku could understand Garp's complicated state of mind fairly well.
He had originally only hoped that Garp would not do anything foolish.
But now, he only wanted Garp to come back quickly.
The Navy desperately needed Garp's strength right now!
As for the vice admirals, aside from those who had to remain stationed around the world, dozens had already gathered in Marineford.
Although the ordinary vice admirals were only comparable to the lower-ranked division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates and the captains of their affiliated pirate crews.
That meant there was actually little to worry about when it came to mid- and upper-level combat power.
As for that old bastard Whitebeard...
Sengoku's gaze turned cold.
Although he had had far fewer opportunities to fight after becoming Fleet Admiral, as another monster of the old era, he was confident he was not much weaker than Whitebeard!
Besides, he and Whitebeard had always been old rivals.
When they were young, just as Garp was always chasing Roger, Sengoku had always been chasing down Whitebeard!
"Let me weigh you up and see how much strength you have left compared to your younger days—and what gives you the right to be called the 'strongest in the world' by the younger generation among us old monsters of the old era!"
Sengoku tore apart his suit, revealing muscles that, though aged, remained sturdy and powerful. His body bent slightly, Buddhist light burst forth from him, and he prepared to shoot into the sky and reach the coastline at top speed to organize the defenses.
However, at that moment.
"Hey, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, even if you wanted to welcome me, there's no need to rip your clothes off, right? I'm not very interested in old men—ptui, I'm not interested in men at all."
An unfamiliar voice reached Sengoku's ears.
Sengoku's movements abruptly froze.
He turned his head. Upon seeing the two people standing before him, his entire body stiffened into complete immobility.
Vice Admiral Tsuru covered her eyes with one hand, looking as though she could not bear to watch.
"Ah, Little Tsuru? And this young man is...?"
Seeing Vice Admiral Tsuru standing there calmly with a young man beside her, Sengoku recalled how he had recently asked Little Tsuru to take Aokiji to the harbor to welcome the Shichibukai and give them a warning.
The clever Sengoku had already realized that the truth was likely somewhat different from what he had imagined.
Otherwise, Tsuru would not have appeared here.
"Enough. Go put on some clothes already. You're making me lose face in front of a young man, Sengoku oni," Vice Admiral Tsuru said, waving her hand.
Sengoku could not keep a straight face. He fled in embarrassment.
After a while, Sengoku reappeared before the two of them, fully dressed once more.
This legendary marine born in the South Blue had not yet stepped down from his position as Fleet Admiral, and before others, he still maintained considerable dignity most of the time.
He wore a pair of frog-shaped glasses, with a long braided beard on his chin. Above the military cap on his head perched a seagull symbolizing the Navy, while beneath the cap was a head of thick, jet-black curly hair.
Once inside the Fleet Admiral's office, one could see a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall.
Justice Reigning Over the World!
This was a Navy tradition.
The Fleet Admiral and the three Admirals all had such a piece of calligraphy, representing their respective stances.
From this point alone, Sengoku actually leaned more toward the hawkish faction, much like Akainu.
It was simply that he had largely retreated behind the scenes, so the original story had not devoted much plot to showing this side of him.
Furthermore, his "Justice Reigning Over the World" was more about eradicating all pirates so that "justice" could reign over the world.
Akainu's "Absolute Justice," on the other hand, was even more extreme.
But in any case, to the Five Elders above, this sort of hawkish justice was the best kind.
Because what the World Government needed was "a dog that bites," not "a dog that wags its tail at people."
Thus, it was not difficult to understand why Sengoku had stood out among the older generation of Admirals and become Fleet Admiral in the original story.
Nor was it difficult to understand why, after the Summit War ended and Sengoku stepped down, Akainu became his successor.
Do not say that Aokiji lost his duel against Akainu.
Could the highest commander of one of the World Government's three great institutions really be decided through a private duel?
Anyone who believed that was far too naive.
Perhaps it was precisely because Aokiji realized this that he left the Navy afterward and instead joined the Blackbeard Pirates.