Drum Kingdom

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

A powerfully built, muscular man with a towering hairstyle and beard shaped like the Chinese character for "mountain" roared furiously into a Den Den Mushi.

"What did you say? It's been seven days already, and you still haven't found any trace of the Sky Pirate Crew?!"

The Marine on the other end of the Den Den Mushi was clearly rather young, and Marshal Kong's roar left him extremely nervous.

"S-sorry, Marshal Kong, but our intelligence personnel on the islands throughout the Grand Line haven't found any signs of them landing, and the Marines patrolling the surrounding waters haven't found them either."

"Damn it! Keep looking! Send more men! You must find their trail!"

Kong angrily slammed down the Den Den Mushi, his expression grim.

Roger's public execution had not only failed to suppress the pirates' momentum or raise the prestige of the World Government and the Marines, but Roger's final declaration, along with the pirate Ye Mu's questioning of the World Government and Marines, had instead thrown the entire world into complete turmoil.

Even the matter of the Celestial Dragon's death was becoming impossible to suppress, and the prestige of the World Government and Marines had fallen to its lowest point.

Just then, hurried knocking sounded outside.

"Come in..."

A man with a mohawk walked in, a sword at his waist and a stack of documents in his hand.

"What is it, Rear Admiral Mole?"

From Mole's unpleasant expression, Kong could tell it was definitely not good news.

"Yes."

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

"These are reports sent over the past few days from major Marine branches in the Four Blues and the Grand Line. In just seven days, the number of pirates appearing in the Four Blues and the Grand Line has grown dozens of times compared to usual. They're completely overwhelmed. The situation in the New World is even worse. The pirates there seem to have reached some kind of agreement, and every Marine branch has come under attack. Instructor Zephyr and Vice Admiral Akainu are nearly unable to hold out, and they've requested reinforcements from Headquarters as well."

Bang...

Kong furiously drove his fist into the desk before him, smashing it into pieces.

"Those bastards... Have Sengoku and Garp returned yet?"

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

"So slow. Damn it! Rear Admiral Mole, are those warships the science division developed ready?"

Mole froze for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes, but the testing in the Calm Belt hasn't concluded yet..."

"Forget the testing. Take the warships through the Calm Belt and pick them up. Give four of them to Sengoku and Garp, have them lead part of the Marines to the New World to support Zephyr and Akainu, and suppress the pirates there. Then give one each to Kuzan and Kizaru, and have them quickly head to the places in the Four Blues that need support. Finally, have the remaining four delivered by Headquarters' vice admirals to Tsuru. Have them remain in the Grand Line. We absolutely cannot let these pirates run wild."

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

"Mm. Oh, and have someone bring me a new desk..."

After Mole left, Kong sat wearily in his chair. Before long, Marines carried in a new desk. Once everything had been dealt with, Kong's mood calmed somewhat, and he took out the Den Den Mushi from his coat.

"Kong... What do you need us for?"

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

"Kong, are you saying that after only seven days, the Marines are already helpless against the pirates? Have the Marines become this incompetent?"

"You can think whatever you want, but if you truly hope to salvage this situation, then you must support me."

"...Go on. What do you need the World Government to provide?"

"I need the help of the entire CP System. If necessary, I'll need members of CP0 as well."

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

"Then CP1 through CP9 must cooperate with the Marines."

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

"The Army also needs to cooperate with us. And if possible, I hope we can convene the Reverie ahead of schedule..."

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

"Of course I do. But if we don't do it now, it may be too late later. You should have received the intelligence reports too."

"...I'll order the Army to cooperate with you. As for the Reverie, we'll consider it as well. What about those two villains from the Sky Pirate Crew who dared to challenge the World Government's authority and kill a Celestial Dragon?"

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

"...Kong, if your Marines remain this incompetent, perhaps we should consider replacing the Fleet Admiral..."

"That's your business. Right now, either cooperate with me... or wait for everything to be destroyed..."

"Gururu... Gururu..."

The Den Den Mushi hung up, and the entire room instantly fell silent, save for a sigh.

"Just where is this world headed..."

At this moment, the sun shone brightly over the sea...

On the deck of the Twin Goddess, Freya and baby-5 were undergoing grueling training under Ye Mu's guidance.

After observing them for seven days, Ye Mu was delighted to discover that although Freya and baby-5 were still far from being combat-capable, their foundations were unexpectedly solid.

Perhaps because her father had been a chef, Freya had eaten well since childhood, giving her excellent physical conditioning. Culinary training also placed certain demands on the body in some respects, such as arm strength, wrist strength, knife skills, and so on.

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

After observing her these past few days, Ye Mu came to understand Freya's Cooking Fruit. Overall, it was somewhat like a lesser version of baby-5's Arms-Arms Fruit, allowing her to transform her hands into any kind of cooking tool.

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

However, they were all cold weapons. She could not transform into firearms like baby-5, and only her hands could transform.

But remarkably, perhaps due to the Cooking Fruit's nature, Freya actually possessed a certain degree of resistance to flames.

After understanding the details, Ye Mu decided to guide Freya toward developing a unique culinary martial art based on her Devil Fruit abilities, combined with the Six Powers, swordsmanship, and certain Fish-Man Karate techniques.

As for baby-5, her body was relatively weak, perhaps due to childhood malnutrition. Fortunately, she was still young, so with proper meals now, she could make up for it. Moreover, perhaps because of her past experiences, baby-5 was more sensible. She never complained of being tired during training, and she carried out every exercise Ye Mu assigned with meticulous persistence.

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

Based on baby-5's Arms-Arms Fruit, Ye Mu was also preparing to guide her toward becoming the ship's sniper, and her training had always focused on that area.

Of course, aside from Freya and baby-5, Ye Mu, Enel, and Tiger had not neglected their own training either.

While Ye Mu and Enel continued their previous training, they also learned Fish-Man Karate training methods from Tiger.

It could only be said that it truly lived up to its reputation as a unique technique of the Fish-Man race. It was no less impressive than the Six Powers.

Many of its techniques benefited both of them greatly, and their strength improved noticeably.

Tiger also began focusing on Haki training. His physical condition had always been excellent, and he was not weak to begin with. In only seven days, he had already touched upon the threshold of Armament Haki. He would likely master it before long. As for Observation Haki, he should be close to that as well.

And so, amid everyone's united training, two weeks slowly passed. At last, they arrived at the destination of their first stop: Drum Kingdom...