Buru Buru Buru.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"
Hearing the voice from the Den Den Mushi, the soldier who had picked it up snapped into a panicked salute, as though he were afraid of something. His reaction made Sengoku frown back at Marine Headquarters. Something wasn't right.
Suddenly, it hit him. "Where's that bastard Loa?! Put him on the line!"
"This wasn't my fault either!" Sengoku's roar made the soldier's knees buckle. He nearly collapsed as he said miserably, "Vice Admiral Loa left over half an hour ago! We couldn't stop him!"
Of course. It was the same old story.
Sengoku tightened his grip and crushed a corner of his desk.
"That bastard!"
The soldier's use of "either" was telling. He was the same fool Loa had left in Nanohana to answer the call—the one who had made Vivi faint earlier.
Loa had suddenly realized that waiting for Sengoku's orders would be unwise. Marine Headquarters had several rare communications Den Den Mushi. Their reception radius was no different from an ordinary model's, but their transmission range was enormous. With a Shichibukai and the Nefertari Family caught up in the Alabasta affair, Sengoku would never let him act as he pleased.
Loa didn't know what bargains or exchanges of money and power might be involved, and he didn't want to know. He only knew that if he waited for Sengoku's call, he would never be allowed to leave.
So half an hour earlier, he had set out for Alubarna. In an emergency like this, acting without authorization and openly defying an order were two very different things.
I never received an order, so it's not my problem.
That was more or less his thinking.
If Crocodile knew that a Poneglyph revealing the whereabouts of the Ancient Weapon Pluton was hidden in Alabasta, how