The Red Line, the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
In the spacious, brightly lit rooms of Pangaea Castle, the center of the World Government's power, the Five Elders took their seats.
Saint Nusjuro, the Finance Warrior God, sat on the sofa and slammed the newspaper onto the table. A cold glint flashed in his sharp eyes.
"CP9 are a bunch of useless fools. They couldn't even catch one escaped Devil Fruit user."
The theft of a prisoner was certainly infuriating.
What truly angered the Five Elders was that the World Government had learned what happened only through the newspaper.
It was simply unforgivable.
Though they were loath to admit it, everything pointed to the World Government's control over the seas weakening.
Saint Saturn narrowed his eyes.
"Given that they were up against a member of the Roger Pirates who had awakened Conqueror's Haki and eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, we can't blame them entirely."
"The Op-Op Fruit user is still in Beelzebul's hands. Inform the Marines and send Borsalino. He must capture Beelzebul and the escaped prisoner alive."
"That should also help muddy the waters."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
By rights, for a strategic weapon as important as the Op-Op Fruit, they should have deployed the Divine Knights.
That would have ensured the mission's success.
But both the Op-Op Fruit and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit allowed their users to move at lightning speed. On the World Government and Marine side, only Borsalino could counter such abilities.
When it came to speed alone, no one on the seas dared claim to be faster than the Glint-Glint Fruit—not even the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Considering all the factors, Borsalino was the best choice.
"As for the other members of the Roger Pirates..."
Saint Saturn paused. "Send CP1 to warn Rayleigh. If anything like this happens again, the agreement between the Marines and Roger will be void."
"Agreed!"
"Agreed!"
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku, then a Marine Admiral, ended his Den Den Mushi call and looked toward the slacker who was filing his nails.
"Borsalino."
"Head to Paradise at once. The World Government wants you to capture Barzeb Seven and the escaped prisoner alive."
Kizaru put away his nail clippers, his lecherous face drooping. "Sengoku-san, what about my vacation?"
As the laziest man around, Kizaru had eaten the most labor-intensive Devil Fruit. He couldn't help feeling helpless: whenever an emergency came up, he was the one who had to handle it personally.
Sengoku gritted his teeth. "Finish this mission, and I'll promote you to Admiral."
Kizaru's eyes lit up at that.
Everything else was secondary. The important thing was that after his promotion, his salary would rise to 10.8 million Berries a year.
The prospect of all that money filled Kizaru with energy.
"I'm leaving now."
Watching Kizaru turn into a beam of light and disappear, Sengoku wearily rubbed his brow. He'd thought that publicly executing the King of the Pirates, Roger, would at least keep the pirates on the seas quiet for a while.
[Being a pirate has no future. Just look—the King of the Pirates himself was captured and publicly executed by the Marines.]
Who could have imagined that Roger's final words about the One Piece would set the entire sea ablaze?
Not only were more and more people taking to the sea to become pirates, but nobles from certain countries were doing the same. As the balance shifted, the Marines were becoming increasingly short-handed.
"Roger, you really did a number on us."
A week before Roger's execution, Golden Lion had stormed Marine Headquarters and destroyed half of Marineford. Countless Marines had died or been injured before they finally managed to lock Golden Lion away in Impel Down.
After Roger's death, the other members of the Roger Pirates had behaved fairly well.
Only Bullet, the Devil's Descendant, and Beelzebul, who had recently snatched a World Government prisoner, had stirred up trouble on the seas.
Fleet Admiral Kong was about to leave for the Holy Land of Mary Geoise to take up the post of Commander-in-Chief of the entire military. The burden of the Marines would fall on Sengoku from then on.
Remembering that Garp was still enjoying himself in East Blue, Sengoku hurriedly called him and bellowed,
"You good-for-nothing, Garp!"
"Get back here right now!"
Sengoku's position was clear: why should he be stuck working overtime while that good-for-nothing Garp got to enjoy his vacation? They were brothers, after all—they had to share the hard times.
The Den Den Mushi imitated Garp's expression.
"What?"
"We agreed on three months' vacation. I've only used half of it. If there's nothing important, I'm going back to sleep."
Staring at the disconnected Den Den Mushi, Sengoku took off his seagull hat and gripped his wild hair, trying to talk himself into feeling better.
"Forget it. Garp's spent all these years trying to capture Roger. He may not have earned any merit, but he's certainly worked hard."
Paradise, waters near Jaya Island.
"Captain."
The Doctor bowed slightly. "After all the cleaning and night shifts I've done these past few days, could you please help me unlock these Seastone Handcuffs?"
At the bow, Seven deactivated his Plasma Sword, his mood less than pleasant. "You're asking the wrong person. I'm a Devil Fruit user. I can't unlock Seastone Handcuffs."
He was just a hair's breadth away from mastering the Flying Slash, but no matter what, he couldn't break through that final barrier.
The Doctor ventured, "Then could you ask Mr. Mihawk?"
If he couldn't get the Seastone Handcuffs off, how could he find a way to escape? It wasn't that he disliked being with Seven. The problem was that after the World Government's failure, it would surely send even stronger lackeys after them.
The Doctor didn't want to die, or be captured again.
When he'd first eaten the Op-Op Fruit, he'd been wholeheartedly devoted to treating people and saving lives in his hometown.
But...
Because the World Government wanted the Devil Fruit, his hometown had been destroyed, and he'd been captured alive. He'd finally escaped amid the chaos and made it to Lodestar Island, only to fall into CP's hands.
He'd thought Seven would be his savior, but instead he'd ended up a prisoner again.
What worried him most was that after the ship reached the waters near Jaya Island, Seven had stopped moving forward and was instead circling around the area.
"Captain, are you looking for something?"
Seven pulled out a telescope. "Yeah. Get back to mopping, and don't block my view."
To reach Skypiea, they had to ride an Upward Sea Current. Leaving aside how dangerous it was, even coming across one was incredibly rare.
In other words, it was entirely a matter of luck.
Seven planned to wait a little longer. If he still couldn't find an Upward Sea Current, he'd head up on his own and use the Golden Pillar to buy Dream One Heart.
The main reason he wanted to travel by ship was to grow closer to Mihawk.
Some Pirate Crews relied entirely on their captain's strength to keep their crew in line. Others were held together by affection, while still others were bound by mutual interests.
Captain Seven wanted... all of it.
Since he wasn't yet strong enough to keep his crew in line, building bonds and aligning their interests were crucial.
With the Rocks Pirates as a cautionary example, he had to learn from their mistakes.
In just half a day, the surrounding waters had gone through one bout of foul weather after another: clear skies, torrential rain, and thunder and lightning.
Night fell, and Seven still hadn't found an Upward Sea Current. "Mihawk, wait here with the others. I'll go up ahead and check the route."
Lightning tore through the darkness. Seven transformed into a streak of azure lightning and shot straight into the sky.
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