Gion gazed intently at the distant, dawn-lit Eternal Night Island, his expression a stark contrast to his usual amiable yet somewhat mercenary demeanor.
Gion is younger than Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru, but his face is much more mature, making him look like an old farmer from the marketplace.
Like other Vice Admiral with the same codename, Gion did not wear the standard naval uniform or a white suit. Instead, he wore a tan round cap and an old-fashioned tan... or rather, tan shirt that looked loose and baggy, with a warm belly band wrapped around his waist.
With his exceptionally long torso and relatively short, thin limbs, coupled with his honest, approachable appearance... if it weren't for the "Justice Coat," you really wouldn't guess he's Vice Admiral in the navy.
Beep beep beep--beep beep beep--
Gion's Den Den Mushi rang, and Gion picked up the receiver. Instantly, the Den Den Mushi in front of him transformed into a pale, oval-faced creature with long, white, center-parted hair...
"Vice Admiral Gion, why did you come here without informing me beforehand? Are you here for an assessment?" A somewhat sinister male voice rang out.
"Hahaha, Rafid, what am I cut out for? I'll just be chasing after some troublemakers. It's just fine here, so let's stop by for a bit... I've heard the mushroom soup on Eternal Night Island is quite good?"
Sig could sense that Gion's emotions were completely mismatched with his tone.
"Heh, I can have a bowl of water to warm you up... Should I go to the port to meet you?" the male voice on the other end asked in return.
"No, we're practically family," Gion said familiarly, but his expression had already turned cold.
Bilu--
The Den Den Mushi was disconnected and returned to normal.
After putting the megaphone back, Gion's adjutant—a very robust, even somewhat obese, colonel—cautiously asked, "Vice Admiral Kaki, should we issue a warning to the entire army?"
Kaki is Gion's name. People in the Navy usually don't use code names. The person on the other end of the Den Den Mushi just now was being sarcastic.
"Contact all ships. If any pirates try to escape after entering port, drive them away." Kaki took a rather unassuming look and lit a rather cheap-looking cigarette.
"Vice Admiral Kaki..." the fat adjutant seemed to want to say something more.
"Don't worry, I can smell if any Zoan users leave!" Gion, puffing smoke from his nostrils as he looked at the approaching harbor.
The port was already in disarray as the naval fleet approached...
Even if a naval branch is stationed there, it's not easy to completely prohibit pirates from entering. As long as they nominally drop their pirate flag and hide, and aren't discovered to be major wanted criminals, that's fine. After all, the navy no longer has the strength to subdue the entire sea.
However, upon seeing the Marine Headquarters fleet, the pirates in Twilight Town panicked and hurriedly gathered their companions to leave.
"No! Lieutenant Vice Admiral Kaki, what I mean is... shouldn't we notify the others about the target this time?" The fat adjutant was clearly worried about Kaki.
"It's alright. If that guy really is the murderer, leave him to me... I can handle him alone!" Kaki, stubbing out his cigarette on the side of the boat, his perpetually squinting eyes opening slightly.
Sig stood ramrod straight on the deck—after all, the deck guards were the face of the navy.
Kaki walked away, Sig went over, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the soot he had ground onto the side of the boat clean. No one found it strange at all...
Through his observations and almost blatant eavesdropping, Sig has pieced together the reason why Gion appeared here.
Three months ago, a young man from Eternal Night Island hid on a pirate ship and infiltrated the next island. He then reported to the local navy that Captain Rafid of the Eternal Night Island naval branch was a bloodthirsty maniac.
In general, the response to such accusations is to severely beat the whistleblower.
After all, if the navy truly had accessible reporting channels, the current widespread corruption among its lower-level naval personnel wouldn't exist.
Fortunately for the young man, a local naval captain, though not wanting to cause trouble, had recently transferred a hot-headed sergeant in his early twenties to the area.
Smoker couldn't stand by and watch, so he took it upon himself to escalate the situation and report it to headquarters. His superiors were forced to report it, which resulted in Smoker receiving a lot of cold shoulders and the foreseeable future ostracization...
Normally, if such a matter were brought to headquarters, the most that would be done is to investigate and make an example of others. However, because Redfield made a big fuss at the time, insisting that the World Government had deceived him, Sengoku Admiral was also having a headache over this matter.
Moreover, the accused Rafid was no nobody; he was a member of the same naval unit as Gion, a talent trained by headquarters, and someone who could address Zephyr as "teacher"...
Zephyr happened to see the report as well, and upon hearing that Rafid had actually done such a thing, he became agitated. Sengoku then paid closer attention to the report, and in doing so, he discovered some "coincidences"!
According to the report, people have been frequently disappearing in Twilight Town on Eternal Night Island for the past three years, and the pattern is quite regular – each time it happens after dawn, at night when there are no Accumulating Emperor Cloud.
Not only residents, but also people often hear news of pirates going missing at this time.
The navy investigated the matter, but ultimately found nothing. Besides... in this era, the death of a few people isn't a big deal.
Gradually, various bizarre legends began to circulate on the island, and "Evernight" became a taboo. On these days, the townspeople would generally stay at home and not go out.
Six months ago, the young man's the Lovers broke a taboo by going out at night for some reason and never returned. He investigated alone and even risked his life. Three months ago, when Accumulating Emperor Cloud was away again, he found the missing person's mummified body, which had been drained of blood. The clues pointed to the local naval officer!
Because Redfield had previously caused trouble and there were cases of victims being sucked of blood, Sengoku easily made the connection to the "Vampire Fruit".
While verifying the information about the fruit he had obtained a few years ago, Sengoku discovered that it was also near Jaya Island. Moreover, the timing matched the appointment of Rafid and the series of murders on Eternal Night Island, which gave Sengoku some bad suspicions.
If it only caused harm to one side, although the Sengoku wouldn't stand idly by if they found out,... the Sengoku had to admit that this kind of thing wasn't a low-probability event.
However... if someone obtains Mythical Zoan Fruit but hides away to cultivate quietly for three or four years without revealing their true intentions, then they undoubtedly have even greater ambitions!
Sig and Yasopp both guessed wrong about one thing: Gion's preparation to "reclaim the fruit" wasn't because of the Celestial Dragons. In reality, the Vampire Fruit only allows one to achieve "immortality" through blood-drinking, not "eternal life."
The Celestial Dragons have never been interested in eating Devil Fruit, especially not the blood of lowly beasts, which is something they find unacceptable.
The reason for this elaborate display is because it involves a naval scandal...
The best person to send here was Kizaru, since according to legend, Mythical Zoan Vampire should be completely countered by "Light". However, Kaki, who is more familiar with Rafid, unusually took the initiative to take on this task.