The Great Battle Approaches, Storm Clouds Gather

At the World Government's Marine Headquarters, Marines hurried about one after another. A weary Sengoku anxiously arranged various tasks in the Fleet Admiral's office, while Admirals Akainu and Aokiji stood nearby, reporting on their work!

The door was pushed open, and an intelligence officer rushed into the Fleet Admiral's office, panting heavily!

"Report... report... Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"

"What is it?! As a Marine, you should carry yourself like one!" Sengoku had been on edge these past few days and rebuked his subordinate.

At such a crucial time, he did not want to hear about any unexpected complications!

The intelligence officer took a deep breath and saluted Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Admiral Aokiji.

"Reporting to Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Admiral Aokiji! Ye Yu, captain of the Whitebeard Pirates' Zero Division, has beheaded Jack the Drought!"

"Oh?" The weariness on Sengoku's face eased.

"That is good news. Let those pirates tear each other apart like dogs!"

Aokiji, standing nearby, looked astonished. He truly had not expected that Ye Yu had just wiped out the Blackbeard Pirates, only to go and behead Jack the Drought!

He must be another vicious and notorious pirate!

Aokiji looked forward to it. If the Whitebeard Pirates truly dared to come, he hoped he could have a proper fight with this fellow named Ye Yu!

Arresting the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates' Zero Division would count as a great achievement as well!

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku... do you think we should send a vice admiral to investigate?" Seeing that Sengoku had given no orders, the intelligence officer cautiously asked.

A white glint flashed in Sengoku's eyes. After pondering for a moment, he finally waved his hand. "Leave for now. I doubt Kaido will let this go. The Marines should not interfere!"

"Yes!" After receiving his orders, the intelligence officer gave Fleet Admiral Sengoku a military salute and marched out of the office.

Aokiji looked puzzled. Jack the Drought was no minor pirate, yet Sengoku was not sending anyone to investigate after his beheading?

"That doesn't sound like your style, Fleet Admiral Sengoku." A lazy voice drifted over.

Sengoku's gaze turned stern, and one eyebrow rose slightly.

"Kizaru has yet to return. At such a critical time, Marine Headquarters needs every bit of fighting strength it has, so there is no need to dispatch anyone!"

"More importantly..."

Pururururururu...

A Transponder Snail rang. It was a call from a rear admiral at the Navy Editorial Department.

A trace of anticipation flashed through Sengoku's eyes.

"Reporting to Fleet Admiral Sengoku, the 'Decision to Publicly Execute Portgas D. Ace, Outstanding Subordinate of Whitebeard' has been distributed across the world!"

"Understood!" Sengoku narrowed his eyes slightly and hung up the call!

"More importantly, we must now focus all our attention on facing the coming war!" Sengoku said solemnly.

Akainu and Aokiji also looked grim. Fleet Admiral Sengoku was right. Even Jack the Drought's death was no major matter now, because what the Marines would face next was a war against the strongest pirate crew in the world!

It was war!

Sengoku had his own reasons for doing this.

First, it was to intimidate the entire world! He wanted those pirates to know the consequences of becoming pirates!

The other purpose was to lure out the Whitebeard Pirates and wipe out the strongest pirate crew in the world!

If he handled this matter well, he could retire with honor!

After hanging up, Sengoku continued discussing the deployment for the coming war with Akainu and Aokiji in the office. Their tense work continued for several hours without reaching a conclusion.

Until the ringing of the phone interrupted them.

Purururu... Purururu...

Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, everyone turned their eyes toward the Transponder Snail.

Sengoku frowned. At such a critical time, aside from reports from the editorial department regarding Ace's public execution, no one should have been calling him. A bad feeling immediately rose in him, and after answering the call, Sengoku flew into a rage!

"Someone actually assaulted a Celestial Dragon?!" Sengoku looked utterly incredulous.

"At such a crucial moment, this absurd incident had to happen! Damn it! We have to send an admiral to the Sabaody Archipelago!" Sengoku angrily slammed his fist against his desk, spittle flying from his mouth.

Sengoku did not particularly care that a Celestial Dragon had been beaten. But the World Government had a stupid rule: if a Celestial Dragon was assaulted, an admiral had to be dispatched to suppress the incident!

This gave Sengoku a terrible headache!

Because of the Blackbeard incident, Kizaru, the fastest of them all, had already been sent to Robina Island to assist in the investigation and was still on his way back.

Only two admirals remained on his side now!

He had only just announced Ace's execution. These were the most sensitive days, when Marine Headquarters needed fighting strength the most, yet this mess had suddenly appeared!

But he could not simply ignore that damned rule.

Extremely unwilling, he asked Aokiji and Akainu, "Which of you will handle the Celestial Dragon incident? Remember, return to headquarters immediately once it is dealt with!"

Aokiji looked lazy as he rubbed his forehead.

"I finally pushed the Robina Island matter onto Kizaru, and now there's the Celestial Dragon incident at the Sabaody Archipelago. What a headache."

Akainu, however, wore a vicious expression, as if flames might burst from his eyes at any moment.

"If you don't want to go, leave it to me!"

"Someone actually dared to strike a Celestial Dragon? Those pirate scum have become utterly lawless! Send me there, and I'll wipe them all out!" As one of the Marine hardliners, Akainu immediately developed murderous intent toward those Supernovas.

Before Sengoku could even give the order, Akainu had already put on his admiral's coat and strode out of the Fleet Admiral's office.

Meanwhile, the still-unaware Ye Yu continued sailing across the sea.

Spotting a news-delivering seagull in the sky, Ye Yu slightly closed his eyes. A trace of Conqueror's Haki appeared around the bird, and the force generated by its flapping wings strangely vanished completely.

This was another level Ye Yu had reached after constantly improving his Conqueror's Haki over the past few days. He could now control it with precision, even attaching Conqueror's Haki to living cells!

The seagull slowly fell into Ye Yu's hand, and he directly opened the newspaper.

A striking headline was printed prominently across the paper: Decision to Publicly Execute Portgas D. Ace, Outstanding Subordinate of Whitebeard!

Ye Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and fell into thought.

So this day had finally come! Ace would be executed at Marineford three days from now!

And it was time to put my plan into motion!

No longer wearing his usual carefree expression, Ye Yu began taking things slightly more seriously when facing the immense force that was the Marines.

After so many days of upgrading his Conqueror's Haki, he had become strong enough to unlock Seastone handcuffs. It was then that a grand plan began taking shape in Ye Yu's mind.

Wait for me, Marine Headquarters. Wait for me, Fire Fist Ace. Wait for the arrival of Ye Yu!

Where this pirate world goes from here will be decided by me, Ye Yu!

He closed his eyes slightly and opened his system panel.

Host: Ye Yu

Conqueror's Haki Attribute Points: 5804

Devil Fruit Abilities: Tremor Ability (Intermediate), Magma Ability (Advanced), Search Ability (Intermediate)

Devil Fruits: Tanuki-Tanuki Fruit, three Artificial Devil Fruits, African Hyena-Hyena Fruit

Skills: Flash (100 meters), Conqueror's Haki Passive Defense Shield, Almighty Push (Self-Created)

Items: Healing medicine, weapons, ham, hamburgers, cola, red wine, turkey, salad...

He now had 5,804 Conqueror's Haki points, along with all kinds of absurd Devil Fruit abilities such as the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and Magma Fruit. In just these few short days, he had become far stronger than when he had first emerged from seclusion!

Barring any surprises, his trip to Sabaody would push his Conqueror's Haki beyond 6,000.

Ye Yu was already looking forward to seeing what reward the system would give him once his Conqueror's Haki surpassed 6,000.