Well done! That's the way!
Seeing Xie Wen provoke the other Shichibukai just as he had anticipated, Fleet Admiral Sengoku silently cheered.
In fact, Sengoku had been watching this suddenly rising bounty hunter ever since Xie Wen defeated Cracker, and from what he knew, many Marines in the Four Seas had nothing but praise for Xie Wen and the cats at his side.
So before the World Government thought of recruiting him into the Shichibukai, Sengoku had already been considering whether to bring Xie Wen into the Marines' SWORD unit.
But before he could act, Xie Wen took down Crocodile first, inadvertently creating a major headache for the Marines.
Even so, Sengoku did not take his anger out on Xie Wen. On the contrary, he became even more pleased with him.
Then...
The World Government poached this promising young man right out from under him!
If that had been all, it would have been fine. Given the behavior and attitude Xie Wen had consistently displayed, his becoming a Shichibukai was a good thing, and even after he became one, nothing prevented Sengoku from secretly recruiting him into the Marines.
But what was this nonsense about the World Government losing out in negotiations and then making the Marines teach Xie Wen a lesson?!
Sengoku had been utterly frustrated when he received the orders from above, but soon, he realized this might not necessarily be a bad thing!
Based on the intelligence the Marines had gathered about Xie Wen, Sengoku discovered that he had some history with Jinbe, the Pirate Empress, and Heavenly Yaksha. Inspiration immediately struck...
As a bounty hunter, Xie Wen was already cut from a different cloth than those pirate-born Shichibukai. If Sengoku used the World Government's "signing bonus" to stir up their resentment toward Xie Wen and deepen