The waves rolled restlessly.
On the warship's deck, Sengoku paced back and forth, his expression grave and his hands clasped behind his back.
Snowflakes drifting down from the sky clung to his hair and uniform, but he paid them no mind.
Splash, splash...
With the constant rush of the waves, heads began surfacing one after another. They belonged to the diving squad.
"Reporting, Admiral Sengoku. The government ship was completely destroyed. Most of the wreckage was scattered by the currents, and we couldn't find anything of significance."
"But we can confirm that the ship was destroyed in an extremely short time. The shells and gunpowder in its hold ignited, triggering a fire and explosions."
A member of the diving squad hauled his soaked body aboard the warship and quickly saluted as he reported to Sengoku.
So it really was as he suspected?
Sengoku's heart sank.
Judging by the traces left on the water, he had already guessed that this would likely be the result, but a person couldn't help hoping for the best.
Sengoku frowned and looked at the silent Cipher Pol 0 agent beside him.
"What about the surveillance Den Den Mushi aboard the government ship?"
"If I remember correctly, government ships are normally equipped with surveillance Den Den Mushi to ensure the Celestial Dragons' safety."
The CP0 agent paused for a moment without answering. He simply turned and headed toward the cabin.
Sengoku was taken aback, then immediately understood. He hurried after him.
Once they entered the cabin, shut the door, and confirmed that no one else was nearby, the CP0 agent slowly took a Visual Den Den Mushi from his coat and set it on the table.
"The government ship was indeed equipped with surveillance Den Den Mushi."
"Normally, anyone who boarded the ship would be captured by the Den Den Mushi's recordings immediately."
The CP0 agent spoke in a low voice. The empty eyeholes of his strangely patterned mask stared at Sengoku, making him feel inexplicably uneasy.
"This is the footage from that time."
Sengoku instinctively reached out to activate the Visual Den Den Mushi and play the recording.
But the CP0 agent suddenly stepped forward and pressed down on his hand. He said coldly:
"This footage concerns the privacy of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. Whatever you see, you must not disclose it."
Sengoku glanced at him.
"Of course I understand."
Only then did the CP0 agent withdraw his white-gloved hand.
As the Visual Den Den Mushi's projection flickered to life, a hazy white light soon filled the dim cabin.
Several surveillance feeds from different angles appeared before Sengoku.
The first thing he saw
was a harbor shaped like a white crescent moon. With the area cleared, the usually bustling port looked deserted.
The sky in the background was gray, and snow fell heavily, lending the scene a desolate air.
In one of the feeds, Sengoku saw several CP1 agents in black suits carrying heavy crates into the main cabin.
Next, Saint Childers, a Celestial Dragon wearing a glass bubble, swaggered aboard the government ship, escorted by several CP1 agents.
The ship's sails billowed on its masts, flapping in the wind as it sailed out of the harbor.
In the surveillance feeds from different angles,
Sengoku saw a little girl with red, tear-swollen eyes, her hands and feet shackled as CP agents roughly dragged her into a separate cabin. She curled up helplessly in a dark corner, overcome with despair.
He saw CP1 agents relaxing on deck, smoking and joking with one another.
He saw mountains of gold and silver treasures piled in the main cabin.
He saw a Celestial Dragon tormenting a woman with a whip to the sound of saxophone music, then dancing in a frenzy.
In just a few short clips,
he saw heaven and hell on earth...
Extravagance and cruelty,
glamour and despair,
separated by only a wall.
The starkly contrasting images played out before Sengoku.
He didn't notice that his fists had clenched tight.
Suddenly, the surveillance footage froze, then turned to static.
Sengoku stared in surprise.
"What about the rest of the footage?"
At last, he came back to himself. He took a deep breath, suppressing his discomfort, then asked in a stiff voice.
A hoarse, chilling voice emerged from beneath the CP0 agent's mask:
"That is all the footage."
"The surveillance Den Den Mushi aboard the government ship stopped transmitting in an instant. The signal cut off, and the footage disappeared completely."
Sengoku's heart lurched. The words escaped him:
"You mean the entire government ship was sunk in less than a second, and everyone aboard was killed?"
Even he found it hard to believe as soon as he said it.
The surveillance Den Den Mushi aboard World Government ships were distributed so widely that it was virtually impossible for anyone to sneak aboard undetected.
And even if someone really dared to attack a Celestial Dragon, they would still have to contend with the CP agents aboard the ship.
Although CP1 mainly handled intelligence gathering and analysis within Cipher Pol, its members were still elite agents trained by the government. At the very least, every one of them possessed combat strength on par with a Marine Headquarters officer.
No matter what, with them putting up a fight, the surveillance Den Den Mushi should have captured the attacker's face or figure.
Yet the footage before him had cut off in an instant.
Given his experience, Sengoku could think of only one explanation for this result.
—Before anyone could react, the attacker had destroyed the entire government ship in an instant, from so far away that it was beyond the surveillance Den Den Mushi's recording range...
CP0 said nothing.
But silence was the best answer.
Sengoku's expression turned dark and grim.
"Someone with that kind of strength..."
He folded his arms, furrowed his brows, and fell into thought.
Destroying an entire ship in an instant... from a distance...
There weren't many people on these seas capable of that, but there weren't many.
By the Marines' standards, even a Headquarters Vice Admiral couldn't do it easily.
One by one, names that rang like thunder and faces renowned for their terrifying Haki flashed through Sengoku's mind.
"Based on our Cipher Pol department's analysis of the few wreckage fragments left from the government ship... the attacker's ability wasn't swordsmanship."
So a great swordsman probably hadn't done it?
Sengoku paused, then shook his head.
"That doesn't prove anything. A long-range slash could certainly do this, but powerful fighters of that caliber usually have all kinds of different attacks."
"Whitebeard and Golden Lion are the best examples."
As if he had just remembered something, he took out a Military Den Den Mushi and called Marine Headquarters.
The call connected in less than three seconds.
Sengoku spoke into the Den Den Mushi with a stern expression:
"Hello, Tsuru. It's Sengoku."
"Yes... I'm investigating the attack on the Celestial Dragons. Help me check where Whitebeard, Roger, and Golden Lion have been over the past three days."
"What? You're saying none of them have been in the North Blue during the past three days?"
Sengoku fell silent for a moment.
"All right, I understand. Sorry for the trouble, Tsuru."
He put away the Den Den Mushi and paced around the dim cabin, muttering to himself:
"So it wasn't one of those guys?"
"Then... judging by the scene, the likelihood of an attack on the Celestial Dragons, and everything else... the most likely attacker should be..."
Sengoku's stern expression suddenly turned strange.
"Byrnndi World?"
A long-range attack that destroyed a large government ship in an instant;
A brutal, ruthless man who dared to strike at the World Government and the Celestial Dragons;
And his location was just right—the North Blue...
If the incident hadn't happened during the operation to capture Byrnndi World, Sengoku would have been ready to conclude that the "World Destroyer," Byrnndi World, was the attacker.
Was he at another dead end?
Sengoku rubbed his temples.
Just then,
Knock, knock, knock...
A sudden knock sounded at the door.
Sengoku was startled. Using Observation Haki, he sensed that the person knocking was Borsalino.
He hesitated, then turned off the Visual Den Den Mushi and called out:
"Come in."
Borsalino opened the door and entered.
"Admiral Sengoku, I think I might have figured out who attacked the Celestial Dragons' ship..."
He strolled into the cabin at an unhurried pace.
CP0 raised an eyebrow.
Sengoku's eyes lit up at his words.
"What do you think?"
Borsalino smiled broadly, puffed out his chest, and said with complete seriousness:
"Sea Kings."
He held his head high, looking utterly self-satisfied.
Sengoku: ...
CP0: ...
The next second, Sengoku's furious roar rang through the cabin, making the entire warship shake.
"You bastard, get out of here!!"
Before you continue