He didn't know which sea they were in. Hawk Eyes, having just taken a short nap, didn't quite know what to say.
He usually gave some respect to summons from the World Government. Whether he responded depended on the strength of the opponent. If they could pique his interest, then a bored man like him wouldn't mind stretching his limbs.
The World Government was well aware of World's capabilities. They gave him the title of "World Destroyer" because of his indiscriminate acts of destruction thirty years ago.
Marines, Pirates, the World Government - anyone who stood in his way would be attacked by him.
Precisely because of this, the World Government didn't want World to get too close to Mariejois.
The orders given to the Shichibukai were to intercept World nearby, preventing him from threatening Mariejois' safety and damaging the World Government's reputation.
The task of guarding Mariejois didn't require the Shichibukai. The Admirals stationed there weren't incompetent, and there were also some strange forces within Mariejois itself.
The mysterious God's Knights, and the Five Elders who could be stalled by the aged Cobra, made the current security at Mariejois strong enough to make Queen laugh uncontrollably.
In short, Hawk Eyes had no intention of going directly to Mariejois; he only planned to move about in the surrounding area. That's why he brought Zoro, who had been slapped to Kuraigana Island by Kuma.
According to the original timeline, he should have brought Perona with him. But Perona was currently enjoying a leisurely afternoon nap in the basement. Aside from Zoro, there were only baboons on Kuraigana Island.
However, right now, Hawk Eyes felt he might as well have brought a few baboons.
While one reason was to broaden Zoro's horizons, Hawk Eyes also needed a power source to propel his small boat, and Zoro ended up serving as the human rowing machine.
During the long voyage, Hawk Eyes had just taken a short nap.
He knew Zoro had a poor sense of direction; he often got lost even inside the castle, but this was different. His only task was to row the boat in a straight line, following the direction of the Log Pose. But Hawk Eyes never imagined Zoro would still veer off course.
Shing!
A flash of a blade, and a Sea King was sliced in two by Hawk Eyes in one swing. At this point, the sail on the small boat had stopped fluttering entirely, indicating they had entered the Calm Belt.
"Roronoa, you're the first person to ever accomplish something like this."
"Damn it, what does this have to do with me?! The boat ended up here on its own, I was just rowing!"
"Hmph, whatever. Just as well, let me see the results of your training over the past year. Roronoa, your next task is to get this boat out of this Sea King nest. You'll row off course! A little more to the left!"
Hawk Eyes was about to say he wouldn't help, but reality told him that if he didn't assist with navigation, they could forget about ever reaching their destination in this lifetime.
Marineford was still under reconstruction. Buildings were reappearing amid the war-torn wasteland, but restoring the pre-Summit War prosperity would not be easy.
"Borsalino, why are you here? Wasn't your order to guard Mariejois?"
"That's true, but a Celestial Dragon said the sight of me made him upset and wanted to sentence me to death. That's just too scary, so I came back first. Anyway, Mariejois isn't far from here, I can get there in time if needed."
Kizaru sat cross-legged on the office couch, complaining about the vile behavior of the Celestial Dragons.
Judging by his expression, he clearly didn't take the matter to heart at all. Marine Admirals had their own tolerance for this kind of thing. If they couldn't endure it, they'd have died of anger long ago.
"Besides, shouldn't you be at G1 right now? Sakazuki, wasn't that the new headquarters you decided on?"
"Many departments haven't been transferred yet. It still needs time."
In the Fleet Admiral's office, the figure of Sengoku had already disappeared, replaced by Sakazuki. But he wasn't in a good mood at the moment.
"Speaking of which, World really is a mad dog. He attacks anyone he sees."
"He's just someone who had been frozen in Impel Down all this time. But what's surprising is that the World Government actually bypassed us and directly issued the summons."
Strictly speaking, both the Shichibukai and the Marines were organizations under the World Government. But in most cases, the World Government would first inform the Marines, who would then summon the Shichibukai. Direct orders like this were quite rare.
"There's nothing strange about that, is there?"
"Ms. Tsuru? What brings you here?"
Seeing Tsuru walk into the office, Kizaru put down the newspaper in his hand, and Akainu also turned his attention to her.
"Just some new intel. Although the official reason for summoning the Shichibukai is to guard against World, in reality, the World Government is also worried that someone among the Shichibukai might take the opportunity to ally with World.
Up until thirty years ago, he was known as the World Destroyer. The World Government is still wary of his powers.
The More More Fruit's hundredfold increase in speed and size has too much impact when applied to weapons.
But their summoning hasn't gone smoothly."
The Marines had their own intelligence channels, and they could learn about information that the World Government hadn't shared with them.
"Is there anything in particular?"
"The World Government's summon was issued about three days ago. After a Celestial Dragon was attacked, they immediately called on the Shichibukai.
But so far, the only one who has clearly responded to the call and reached the designated location is Buggy the Clown.
Doflamingo and Jinbe both claimed they needed to protect their own territories, so they're only moving around the outskirts of the New World. Meanwhile, the Pirate Empress hasn't responded at all.
Trafalgar Law seems to have some new agreement with the World Government. As for Hawk Eyes, he said he is coming, but the latest report says he got lost, so he might miss this gathering."
Doflamingo and Jinbe's reasons could still be considered somewhat valid, but Hawk Eyes' excuse was a different story.
Its credibility was extremely low, and the World Government didn't believe it at all, treating it as a perfunctory excuse.
"They're all a bunch of lawless thugs. Ready the warships! The Marines aren't dead yet. We can handle this ourselves. There's no need to rely on that group of pirates."
Hearing Tsuru's intel, Akainu didn't continue to wait. He chose to take the initiative and strike first.
As the Marines began to act, World's massive ship also arrived in the waters near Amazon Lily.
However, within World's crew, there were differing opinions about his actions.
"Captain World, let's choose another target. This isn't a wise decision."
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