Hide-and-Seek

It took only a week for Gion to cross the Calm Belt after receiving orders from Sengoku.

Ever since Vegapunk invented the technology to embed Seastone into the hulls of ships, it had become standard for Vice Admiral-class warships, allowing the Navy to reach the Four Blues with much greater speed.

"Long time no see, Sister Tsuru!" Gion, whose legs seemed to make up her entire body from the waist down, let her long black hair fall loose. She met up with Tsuru, her beloved blade Konpira at her waist.

"Long time no see."

"With you here, I feel much more at ease!"

"Don't worry, Sister Tsuru. Just let me handle this. You can hold the line and watch—let me see what kind of power these little pirates have that allowed them to escape your grasp!"

"Do not underestimate them. If you were alone, you would certainly suffer a great loss."

"Hahaha! Isn't that why I have you here, Sister Tsuru?"

Tsuru shook her head helplessly. She could not demand too much of this younger sister she had taken under her wing; she could only look after her as much as possible while she was still around.

It was precisely because she had protected her so well that Gion, who had grown up entirely within the Navy, had never truly seen the darkness of the organization.

"Doffy, this is bad!" Trebol dragged his large cloak, snot streaming from his nose as he charged into their temporary base while clutching a Den Den Mushi.

"Calm down! What happened?" Doflamingo, his chest wrapped in bandages, asked.

"Sniff!"

As the snot was sucked back in, veins began to bulge on Doflamingo's forehead as he watched. "You're too close, Trebol!"

"Doffy, the family members on the outer islands sent word—the Navy is chasing us again!"

"###" Doflamingo stood up and threw on his feather coat. "Next time, just get to the point."

"Set sail! Proceed as planned!" Less than two weeks had passed; given Doflamingo's constitution, his injuries had not fully healed, reaching only about eighty percent recovery.

If they were to clash with the Navy led by Tsuru now, they would face nothing but defeat and death.

"Raise the sails!" Everyone quickly boarded the ship, and they set off to the rhythm of the sailors' chants.

After their last escape, Doflamingo knew that Tsuru would not give up on hunting them down anytime soon.

Once the family's influence shifted deeper into the underworld, Doflamingo had the idle family members act as their eyes across various islands.

As long as they spotted Tsuru's warship, they had the possibility of maneuvering around her within the vast expanse of the North Blue.

And so—Tsuru's latest pursuit, fully prepared as it was, had been spotted by family members on the previous island before she even arrived, allowing Gray and the others, who were still three or five days away, to retreat with ease.

The Navy's intelligence was indeed capable; whenever Doflamingo and his crew landed on an inhabited island, Tsuru would arrive within two days. But the Donquixote Family, having cultivated the North Blue for years, was no pushover.

The two sides played a game of cat-and-mouse in the North Blue for nearly three months, yet Tsuru hadn't even caught a glimpse of the family's executives.

Even with Corazon as a mole, Tsuru couldn't catch up, because the family's intelligence system was held exclusively by Doflamingo and Trebol.

Corazon had no idea of the specifics; the only thing he could report was the two-day window when they landed to resupply.

Once they were out at sea, the ship was filled with family executives, leaving Corazon no opportunity to contact the Navy.

Gray had been keeping his Observation Haki active at all times, especially after learning that Corazon was a double agent; Gray kept a particularly close watch on him.

Gray did not want to clash with Tsuru and her forces just yet, especially knowing that Tsuru might have received reinforcements; he had no desire to be buried at sea.

He was still too green and needed the protection and resources of the Donquixote Family to grow.

Neither he nor the Donquixote Family could afford to fall here in the North Blue.

"Sister Tsuru, what should we do now?" Standing on the deck, Gion asked Tsuru for her assessment. "We can't just be kept here forever, playing this game of cat-and-mouse with them!"

Hearing this, Tsuru felt helpless.

Over these three months, she had come to understand why the Donquixote Family had been able to evade them for so long.

It wasn't just the family's outer scouts providing information; some nobles and island gangs had been bought off as well.

The moment they approached an island, Doflamingo already had the report.

To put it bluntly, even the food they ate on their ship might have been laid out as intelligence before Doflamingo.

There was no helping it; to counter Tsuru's pursuit, Doflamingo had started a strategy of throwing money around, using it to buy intelligence on Tsuru's movements in the North Blue.

Everything—including when and where they landed, where they bought supplies on the islands, and what those supplies contained—was purchased by Doflamingo at a high price.

Although the Navy's intelligence system was not weak, it simply couldn't compare to the underground network the Donquixote Family had cultivated in the North Blue for years.

More importantly, intelligence was a commodity in the underworld, and some information could be sold multiple times over.

Gangs sold to the Navy, and the Navy could sell to gangs. With Doflamingo's massive spending, few could resist the temptation.

After all, such an opportunity wouldn't come twice!

Everyone knew the Donquixote Family was being hunted by Tsuru; if they threw money at them just to survive, selling a bit of information to subsidize their own living expenses was no big deal.

If the Donquixote Family was caught, there would just be another group. If they weren't caught, they had still made money—nobody lost!

So, who was the loser?

Tsuru was well aware of these twists and turns, but precisely because she understood them, there was little she could do.

The intelligence is transparent, yet you can't catch anyone~ isn't that just your Navy being incompetent?

What does that have to do with us?

Besides~ if I were selling intelligence, would I let you know?

"I can't afford to waste any more time here. There's been some trouble in the New World; that guy Kaido is looking for a place to commit suicide at a Navy base!"

"Sakazuki is no match for Kaido yet, and Aokiji has been forced to go provide support, leaving the headquarters even more vulnerable. I need to head back as soon as possible."

"Pull one hair and the whole body moves. With Aokiji gone, I'm worried the Beasts Pirates will follow suit."

"If that happens~ a real war will be upon us!"

"Moreover~ with Sengoku's current state of mind, he gets a headache just looking at paperwork, and he's been urging me to return." Faced with Gion's inquiry, Tsuru had no choice but to announce that the mission was suspended.

"Then~ why not let me deal with them!" Seeing that Tsuru intended to leave, Gion offered to stay behind.

Tsuru shook her head, rejecting the proposal: "With your strength, you cannot be tied down in this place. If a war with the Beasts Pirates truly breaks out, we will need both you and Tokikake to join the fray."

"After all~ this is the New World. If a war really begins, Charlotte Linlin won't just sit by and watch Kaido be defeated by the Navy."

"The current Navy does not have the capacity to deal with two Emperor-level pirate crews at the same time."

At a time when Shanks had yet to reach the summit, the Emperors of the Sea were still in the era of the Three Emperors.

Whitebeard, Edward Newgate.

BIG MOM, Charlotte Linlin.

Beasts, Kaido.