Marine Headquarters! The Seven Warlords Plan

The great battle continued.

Lin Ye's two types of Haki surpassed Kaido's, but with Kaido's physique, combat experience, and Mythical Zoan ability, their fight clearly would not end anytime soon.

Everyone in Wano Country felt the ground trembling repeatedly. They had no idea what was happening, and fear gripped them.

The people of the Flower Capital had already been terrified by the battle in the square. Now, the distant explosions in the air and the violent shaking of the ground plunged them into terror once more.

Outside the Flower Capital, before a small mound, a burly pink-haired man drew his sword, glanced toward Ringo, and plunged the blade into his own stomach.

By the shore, Thriller Bark was sturdy enough that the aftershocks from Lin Ye and Kaido's battle had not destroyed it.

Shadows clung to the ship's hull. With his entire face twisted in terror, Moria looked back once, then directly used his shadows to control the entire ship, turning it around and fleeing.

Monsters. Those were the true monsters of the New World.

Though he had clashed with Kaido for a while before, Moria now understood completely.

Kaido had not been serious at all back then. Or rather, Kaido had never regarded him as a genuine opponent.

And there was that little monster, Lin Ye.

Moria turned to look back. He could still see the thunderclouds above Ringo, as well as the dark purple lightning flashing beneath them alongside deafening booms.

Terrifying Conqueror's Haki erupted without pause.

Leave this place. Leave this place.

Fear flashed in Moria's eyes. He turned away, not daring to look again.

Marine Headquarters, Marineford, which had only recently finished being repaired.

A year ago, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger had been captured. Golden Lion had attacked Marine Headquarters alone, destroying half of it before Sengoku and Garp joined forces to capture him.

Golden Lion's ability had caused enormous destruction to Marine Headquarters.

During that battle, Golden Lion's powers had inflicted heavy casualties upon the Marines.

However, Golden Lion's ability was far too dangerous. Rather than execute him and allow his Devil Fruit to reincarnate somewhere else, it was better to throw him into Impel Down.

The World Government and the Marines handled dangerous Devil Fruit users this way.

That was also why Impel Down held so many powerful pirates.

The former Fleet Admiral Kong had stepped down after capturing Roger and taken a post with the World Government. Sengoku, meanwhile, had been promoted to Fleet Admiral after capturing both Golden Lion and Roger.

However, this was hardly a good time to become Fleet Admiral.

In the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku looked at the towering stack of reports before him, exhaustion flashing across his face. Then he heard crunching from beside him, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

"You bastard, can't you eat in your own office?"

Sengoku glared furiously at Garp.

"I ran out, so I came here!"

Garp stuffed a handful of rice crackers into his mouth and chuckled.

Sengoku was even more speechless.

"If you have nothing better to do, go patrol more. There are too many pirates now."

Sengoku looked utterly helpless.

Both the Marines and the World Government had underestimated the impact of Roger's final shout.

Over the past year, the number of pirates setting sail had increased by dozens of times compared to the previous year, and that was only counting the pirates they had discovered.

The sea was so vast; there were surely plenty who had slipped through the net.

Thinking about it that way, the actual number of people who had gone to sea might be a hundred times greater than the year before.

The entire Four Blues and the Grand Line were nearly in complete chaos.

The situation, which had once been barely manageable, was now on the verge of collapse. Even emergency recruitment had little effect; the Marines could not possibly recruit a hundred times as many soldiers.

The World Government would never allow it.

"What's the point? Catching a few small fry won't make much difference."

Garp spread his hands, looking somewhat pleased by Sengoku's misfortune.

"You bastard, how about getting promoted to admiral?"

Sengoku's eyes shifted as he finally revealed his true intention.

Though Garp had repeatedly refused promotion to admiral, the prestige he had gained from capturing Roger and Golden Lion, combined with Marine propaganda, meant his reputation was no weaker than an admiral's. It even faintly rivaled that of the Fleet Admiral.

"The Celestial Dragons won't agree, and neither will I."

Garp shook his head at those words.

"You can't just collect a salary without doing any work, can you?"

Sengoku looked at Garp.

"Fine, fine. I'll go take a look around."

"Wait!"

Seeing Garp rise to leave, Sengoku immediately called out to him.

"What do you think of the Seven Warlords plan?"

With the growing number of pirates, relying on the Marines alone was unrealistic. The number of Marines could not increase drastically, and the World Government would not bear the expense.

The Seven Warlords plan had been proposed by the World Government to deal with the growing number of pirates.

They would select suitable major pirates and recruit them as Seven Warlords, using pirates to restrain pirates.

"Since when do the Marines need to cooperate with pirates?"

Garp halted and turned, fixing Sengoku with a hard stare.

Sengoku's expression stiffened. Then he watched Garp leave.

How could he be willing either? But this method could indeed solve some problems.

Still, legalized plunder would damage the Marines' reputation.

That was why he could not make up his mind.

"Burururu!"

Sengoku's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a Den Den Mushi. He picked it up.

"This is Sengoku!"

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"

The Den Den Mushi's face changed into that of a square-faced man, who looked extremely serious.

"Moonlight Moria, who has become highly renowned in the New World over the past year, has entered Wano Country with his ship."

"Hm? Isn't Kaido in Wano Country now?"

Sengoku froze, then asked in surprise.

"Yes, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Our warships are monitoring the outskirts of Wano Country. A major battle is currently breaking out there."

Sengoku's expression immediately turned extremely grave.

Wano Country was not affiliated with the World Government and was exceptionally isolated, with little contact with the outside world. However, it produced Seastone, so Sengoku knew a fair amount about it.

Kaido had occupied Wano Country for several years already.

Now Moonlight Moria had actually gone to Wano Country and started a war with Kaido?

"Can you investigate the details?"

Sengoku's heart stirred.

Moonlight Moria was also one of the candidates for the Seven Warlords plan.

Mainly because over the past year, Moonlight Moria's pirate crew had become extremely famous. They had clashed with pirate crews large and small dozens of times, slaughtering their opponents to the last man each time.

Such ruthless methods would be enough to intimidate some pirates if he became one of the Seven Warlords.

Moreover, Akainu seemed to greatly admire Moria's conduct and had said that if he encountered Moria, he would give him a quick death.

"Uh, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, we have no base in Wano Country. And our previous orders were to avoid conflict with Kaido, so we never stationed anyone there."

Sengoku nodded lightly at that.

Still, he felt that the World Government should have agents infiltrated within Wano Country.

After all, this was where Seastone was produced.

There was no way the World Government would not have people watching it.

But could that fellow Moria really pose a threat to Kaido?