-Marine Headquarters · Fleet Admiral's Office
The clock in the office chimed, sending faint ripples across Vice Admiral Tsuru's tea.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku's goat was tearing apart a document marked for disposal, the ripping of paper mingling with the light clink of a teaspoon against porcelain.
Since the matter had arisen so suddenly, the other senior Marines could not assemble right away. Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru were merely comparing notes on this troublesome development beforehand.
"The Great Angel appeared in Wano Country and held peace talks with Kaido."
Tsuru gazed at the miniature Visual Den Den Mushi on the desk. Moments earlier, she and Fleet Admiral Sengoku had finished watching footage of Sephiroth's fight with Kaido.
"We still don't know the details of the negotiations, but..."
"...we can't deal with this directly."
Sengoku rapped his knuckles hard against the desk. The vibration disturbed the goat slightly, making its coat tremble, but it continued eating the document as though nothing unusual had happened.
That was because of the nature of Babylon as a nation.
It was not an affiliated nation, its geographical position made it difficult to attack, and it possessed both an admiral- or emperor-level combatant and powerful military forces.
This simply was not something the Marines could handle directly. It was not that they could not deal with it at all, but that doing so simply was not worth the cost.
Initially, the Marines had considered Babylon a threat comparable to nations like Amazon Lily or Fish-Man Island.
But now, it seemed to carry the same weight as Elbaf, the nation of giants.
"Whenever the Five Elders see intelligence on the 'Great Angel' now, they act as though something has set them off and urge the Marines to hurry the investigation..."
Although the Great Angel seemed