Dressrosa, Flower Field.
"Training here is truly a blessing."
After finishing her Haki training, Hancock wiped her beautiful face with stream water. Although she was still in her early stages when she first met Alucard a year ago, she was already becoming more refined and beautiful. She would soon grow into the world-renowned beauty of her future self.
She stood up and looked back at her two sisters, who had taken on their "snake-human" forms. Hancock knew it was their Devil Fruit abilities. Sandersonia and Marigold could now use their Devil Fruit powers with relative skill.
However, Hancock still hadn't figured out the abilities of her own Devil Fruit. Judging by the lack of any obvious physical changes, it shouldn't be a Logia type, so she had no choice but to start training her Haki first.
Even so, Hancock was terrifyingly strong.
After being transformed into a Draculina by Alucard, she had a physique extremely similar to his.
Her speed and strength were growing exponentially, and this was only the improvement she gained before drinking blood. After drinking blood and becoming a full vampire, her pupils would turn blood-red and she would gain some abilities similar to Alucard's, and her physical attributes like strength and speed would increase exponentially once more.
She didn't know how much stronger she could become in the future.
"Um... are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"
Scarlett walked over from the side of the flower field, holding a basket, and offered it to Hancock as a gesture of goodwill.
"..."
The young Hancock looked at the woman who was a few years older than her and had a shapely figure. She was full of suspicion. Suddenly, she said, "Are you crazy?"
Scarlett's smile froze. She heard Hancock continue, "Poisoning the food won't work anyway. Master doesn't eat."
The current Hancock had not yet developed her future habit of being verbally venomous, but she also disdained hiding her true feelings, especially from someone weaker than her.
Given the current relationship between the two sides, Scarlett should hate them and Alucard to death. How could she possibly bring them food? It was more likely she was trying to poison them.
Scarlett coughed twice. She dropped her princess act for a moment, looking left and right for the person she wanted to see. Pretending not to have heard Hancock, she asked, "Where... where did he go?"
Hancock gave Scarlett a guarded glance, didn't answer, and walked away.
In the end, it was Sandersonia and Marigold who, under Scarlett's persistent offering of food and mental attacks, explained, "Alucard-sama doesn't like bright places. He's probably staying in some dark place."
"What a weird habit…" Scarlett mumbled.
....
Marine Headquarters, in the Fleet Admiral's office.
Sengoku stood with his arms crossed, his face stern. Next to him, Kuzan was swaying his head idly.
"Be serious, Kuzan!"
Kong, sitting behind the central desk, slammed his hand down, causing Kuzan to straighten up slightly. But in less than half a minute, he reverted to his slouching self.
"Did you both understand what I just said?" Kong didn't bother with Kuzan and returned to the main topic.
"Ah... I understand," Sengoku said with a serious nod. "The Revolutionary Army burning down Mariejois hasn't been fully resolved, and now Alucard has caused this mess."
"He is gathering the three strongest pirates in the New World in Dressrosa. Something that will shake the world is definitely about to happen."
Kong said solemnly, "As for the reason, I will discuss it with Tsuru in a meeting later. I've already notified Zephyr and Garp by Den Den Mushi to lay in wait near Dressrosa. But even with the two of them, I'm not entirely at ease. Both of you are going as well."
"Arara, aren't you afraid something like what happened at Mariejois will happen again?" Kuzan muttered. Everyone could tell he was referring to the time when the Revolutionary Army's Dragon lured them to Secon Island and then took advantage of their absence to burn Mariejois.
If Kuzan and Sengoku hadn't taken most of the Marine forces away at that time, something like that would have been impossible.
"Alucard has always been a lone wolf. He's not like Dragon; he won't send people to do things. He's forcing the Riku family of Dressrosa to send the messages this time. There's no need to worry about that problem," Kong said with confidence.
"The primary goal of this mission is to infiltrate Dressrosa and find out what that kid Alucard wants to say to those three monsters."
Kong stated the mission's main objective and added, "I'm sending you two Admirals mainly to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control."
"Yeah, yeah... but I'm not an Admiral yet..." Kuzan mumbled lazily.
Sengoku thought for a moment before saying, "Kong-san, I don't think Whitebeard will go."
Kong's eyes narrowed. "Why do you say that?"
"In recent years, we Marines have rarely clashed with the Whitebeard Pirates. The clashes are more with Kaido, Charlotte, and even the Supernovas. Whitebeard doesn't cause trouble often. I haven't run into him for years."
They say an enemy knows you best. As Whitebeard's number one rival, Sengoku undoubtedly knew him well. "I know Whitebeard too well. Ever since Roger died, as he's gotten older, he's basically lost his fighting spirit. He just wants to wander the seas with his crew. He won't get involved in the storm Alucard is brewing."
Indeed, before the Great Pirate Era, it was common for Sengoku and Whitebeard to clash as old rivals.
But since the Great Pirate Era began, they hadn't fought once.
This wasn't just because there were more pirates and Sengoku couldn't focus on Whitebeard alone. More importantly, Whitebeard had started causing trouble less often. Therefore, the Marines also stopped actively seeking him out.
"If Whitebeard doesn't go, that would be a good thing."
Kong tapped the desk rhythmically with his fingers, making a "thump-thump" sound. He asked, "Are you... so sure?"
Sengoku grinned. "One hundred percent. Whitebeard will not get involved."
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