Drum Kingdom

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

A powerfully built, burly man with a towering hairstyle and beard shaped like the character for "mountain," his whole body bulging with muscle, was currently roaring furiously at a Transponder Snail.

"What did you say? It's already been seven days, so how have you still not found any trace of the Sky Pirates?"

The person on the other end of the Transponder Snail was clearly a rather inexperienced marine, and under the roar of Headquarters Fleet Admiral Kong, he sounded extremely nervous.

"S-Sorry, Fleet Admiral Kong, but our intelligence personnel on the various islands along the Grand Line haven't found any signs of them landing, and the marines patrolling the surrounding waters haven't found them either."

"Bastard, keep looking! Send more men! You have to find their trail!"

As Kong spoke, he angrily hung up the Transponder Snail, his expression ugly.

Roger's public execution this time had not achieved its intended purpose of suppressing pirate momentum and raising the prestige of the World Government and the navy. Instead, because of Roger's final declaration and the questioning of the World Government and the navy by that pirate named Ye Mu, the entire world had been completely stirred into unrest.

Along with that, even the matter of the Celestial Dragons' deaths was becoming somewhat impossible to suppress, and the prestige of the World Government and the navy had fallen to its lowest point at this moment.

Just then, a rapid knocking sounded from outside.

"Come in..."

The one who walked in was a man with a mohawk hairstyle, a sword hanging at his waist, and a stack of documents in his hand.

"Is something the matter, Rear Admiral Momonga?"

From Momonga's somewhat grim expression, Kong could guess that it was definitely nothing good.

"Yes."

Momonga nodded and placed the documents in his hand on Kong's desk.

"These are the reports sent over these past few days from the major marine branches in the four seas and the Grand Line. In just seven days, the number of pirates appearing in the four seas and on the Grand Line has increased by dozens of times compared to usual. They're completely unable to cope anymore. The situation in the New World is even more serious. The pirates there seem to have reached some kind of agreement, and every marine branch has been attacked. Teacher Zephyr and Vice Admiral Akainu are about to be overwhelmed, and they're also requesting reinforcements from Headquarters."

Bang...

Kong slammed his fist furiously into the desk in front of him, shattering it into pieces.

"Those bastards... Are Sengoku and Garp almost back?"

"If all goes smoothly, they'll reach Headquarters in another week."

"That slow? Damn it. Rear Admiral Momonga, are the warships developed by the Science Department ready?"

Momonga froze, but then nodded and said, "Yes, but the tests in the Calm Belt haven't been completed yet..."

"No need to test them. Take the warships through the Calm Belt and go pick them up. Hand four of them over to Sengoku and Garp, and have them take part of the navy to the New World to support Zephyr and Akainu and suppress the pirates there. Then give Kuzan and Kizaru one each, and have them rush to wherever the four seas need support. Finally, have Headquarters vice admirals take the remaining four over to Tsuru, and have them hold the Grand Line for me. We absolutely cannot let these pirates turn the world upside down."

"Understood. I'll go notify them at once."

"Mm. Right, have someone bring me a new desk..."

After Momonga left, Kong sat down in his chair, somewhat exhausted. Before long, marines carried a desk inside. Once everything had been dealt with, Kong's mood calmed somewhat, and he took out the Transponder Snail in his arms.

"Kong... Is there something you need from us?"

"The situation is worsening very quickly. I need the World Government's support."

"Kong, are you saying that after only seven days, the navy is already powerless against the pirates? Has the navy truly become this incompetent?"

"You can think whatever you want. But if you truly still hope to salvage everything, then you must support me."

"...Speak. What do you need the World Government to provide for you?"

"I need the assistance of the entire CP system. When necessary, I'll also need members of CP0."

"That is impossible. The mission of CP0's people is to protect the Celestial Dragons."

"Then the personnel of CP1 through 9 must cooperate with the navy."

"That won't be a problem. I'll have Spandine contact you."

"And the army must also cooperate with us. In fact, if possible, I hope to convene the World Conference ahead of schedule..."

"Don't go too far, Kong. Do you know what convening the World Conference means?"

"Of course I understand. But if we don't do it now, I'm afraid it'll be too late later. You should have received the intelligence too, haven't you?"

"...I'll order the army to cooperate with you. As for the World Conference, we'll consider it as well... What is the situation now with those two villains of the Sky Pirates, who dared to challenge the authority of the World Government and kill Celestial Dragons...?"

"We can't find any trace of them..."

"...Kong, if your navy continues to be this incompetent, perhaps we'll have to consider replacing the fleet admiral..."

"That is your business. For now, either cooperate with me... or wait for everything to be destroyed..."

"Glu... glu..."

The Transponder Snail was hung up, and the entire room instantly fell silent, aside from a sigh.

"Just where will this world go...?"

At this moment, the sun was shining brightly over the sea...

On the deck of the Twin Goddesses, under Ye Mu's guidance, Freya and Baby-5 were undergoing arduous training.

After observing them over these seven days, Ye Mu was pleasantly surprised to discover that although Freya and Baby-5 were still very far from becoming actual combat strength in terms of fighting ability, their foundations were unexpectedly quite good.

Perhaps because her father was a chef, Freya had eaten well since she was young, so her physical condition was quite good. And in a sense, training in cooking also placed certain demands on the body—arm strength, wrist strength, knife skills, and so on.

On top of that, Freya's Devil Fruit, the Cooking-Cooking Fruit, also had tremendous potential.

Through his observations over the past few days, Ye Mu had come to understand the Cooking-Cooking Fruit Freya possessed. Overall, it was a little like a lower-tier version of baby-5's Weapon Fruit, allowing her to turn both hands into any cooking tool.

Over the past few days, Ye Mu had seen Freya transform parts of her body into knives, hammers, pots, spatulas, ladles, and more.

But they were all cold weapons. She could not turn into firearms like baby-5 could, and the only parts she could transform were her hands.

However, what was wondrous was that perhaps due to the nature of the Cooking-Cooking Fruit, Freya actually had a certain degree of resistance to flames.

After learning the details, Ye Mu decided to guide Freya onto a path based on her Devil Fruit ability, then integrate techniques from the Six Powers, swordsmanship, and Fish-Man Karate to develop a unique culinary martial art.

As for baby-5, her body was relatively weak, perhaps because she had been malnourished since childhood. Fortunately, she was still young; if she ate properly now, she could still recover. And perhaps because of her past experiences, baby-5 was much more sensible. She never complained about being tired during training, and she could persist in completing every bit of cultivation Ye Mu assigned her with meticulous care.

In this respect, baby-5 was far more outstanding than Freya.

And based on the Weapon Fruit baby-5 possessed, Ye Mu also prepared to guide her path toward becoming the ship's sniper, so her training had always focused on that aspect.

Of course, aside from Freya and baby-5, Ye Mu, Enel, and Tiger did not neglect their own cultivation either.

While Ye Mu and Enel continued their previous training, they also obtained the training method for Fish-Man Karate from Tiger.

It could only be said that it truly deserved to be the unique technique of the fish-man race. Compared to the Six Powers, it was not inferior in the slightest.

Many of its techniques benefited the two of them greatly, and their strength saw a clear improvement as well.

On Tiger's side, he also began focusing on Haki training. His physical fitness had already been excellent, and his strength was not weak either. In just seven days, he had already briefly touched the threshold of Armament Haki. Presumably, it would not be long before he mastered it. As for Observation Haki, that should be soon as well.

And so, with everyone training in unity, two weeks slowly passed. At last, they arrived at the destination of their first stop: Drum Kingdom...