At Red Port, the sun shone brightly.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku rode the bubble lift with several senior Marines.
The Marines were both participants in and conveners of this Reverie. As Fleet Admiral, Sengoku had to attend the banquet marking its conclusion. It was a matter of courtesy and of showing where the Marines stood.
Ordinarily, the more senior officers the Marines sent to such a banquet, the better. This time, however, Sengoku had brought only Tsuru, Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan.
Garp was out of the question. He made no secret of his hatred for the Celestial Dragons and would never come to Mary Geoise.
As for Zephyr...
Though they were on their way to a banquet, Sengoku looked grim aboard the bubble lift. The others were little better.
The World Government's utter disregard for the Marines had driven a deep wedge through their ranks.
Nearly everyone in the Marines knew how fiercely Admiral Zephyr hated pirates.
Twelve years had passed, but the murder of his family by pirates remained a wound he could never heal.
In those twelve years, after stepping back from the front lines, Zephyr had trained countless Marines. His students now occupied most of the senior positions.
And so, after yesterday's argument, signs of a rift had begun to appear within the Marines—something rarely seen.
Sengoku could have kept the matter from his old friend. But he knew the World Government had made up its mind. The Marines could no longer stop the Seven Warlords Plan.
He had questioned the Five Elders, only to receive a blunt rebuke.
"The Seven Warlords Plan is an order from the World Government. Your job as Marines is to carry it out. You have no right to bargain."
Now Sengoku fully understood the helplessness and relief Kong had felt when he