Following Borsalino, Diarmuid walked into the command room of the Marine ship. As he entered, he saw Sengoku frowning and thinking while staring at a map on the table. The only person sitting in the room was Sakazuki.
However, the Den Den Mushi was on, and on the command room's screen, there were images of Vice Admiral Garp and Chief of Staff Tsuru.
Behind the two of them sat Kuzan and Gion.
Not to mention Kuzan, Gion was also just a Captain at Marine Headquarters at this time. Her being there was probably also due to backdoor connections, just like Diarmuid.
When Sengoku heard the movement, he looked up at the door. When he saw Diarmuid, he smiled slightly, showing no surprise or any intention of being discreet around him.
Diarmuid also quickly nodded at Sengoku but didn't say anything.
Sakazuki glanced over and also noticed the strange guy, Diarmuid, but he wasn't a person who liked to meddle in such matters, so he didn't show any displeasure. However, it was obvious that he didn't care much about the young man.
Borsalino didn't say anything either. He walked to the table and sat down.
As for Diarmuid, there were no extra seats, and he didn't feel comfortable looking for a place to sit, so he just stood quietly in front of the table.
Speaking of which, both Borsalino and Sakazuki had their own Marine ships and crews.
As Vice Admirals of Marine Headquarters, they could each lead their own force.
But this time, both of them had boarded the ship with Admiral Sengoku.
Also, for this mission into the New World, the Marines didn't send many ships, only three. Two were in the front, and one, led by Saul, was about half a day's journey behind as a backup.
The two ships in the front were, of course, Admiral Sengoku's and Vice Admiral Tsuru's.
Diarmuid had been a bit confused before. For such an important event, why didn't the Marines send out a large fleet?
Even if it wasn't a Buster Call with ten ships, shouldn't there be at least seven or eight ships?
He even thought that ten ships might not be enough, since Shiki was known as the Great Pirate Fleet Fleet Admiral, and he had dozens of warships under his command.
But after chatting with Borsalino, he understood what was going on.
First, pirate forces were thriving in the New World, so it wasn't safe for the Marines to sail in large numbers here.
Also, too many ships would affect their speed. This mission was urgent, so it wasn't a good idea to have too many ships.
Finally, at this level of fighting, the number of Marine ships and pirate ships was no longer the decisive factor. The top-tier combatants were what they needed to consider.
Therefore, even though the Marines had sent very few ships this time, in terms of fighting power, they could stand up to any pirate crew in a head-on battle.
"Everyone's here. Let's talk about the bad news we just received," Sengoku said to everyone, sitting at the table.
Garp was the first to speak. "What bad news? Don't tell me they decided not to fight after all?"
Sengoku shook his head. "No, but all the surveillance ships we had following Shiki and Roger have been hit."
A slight silence fell over the room. Everyone seemed to understand the meaning behind this.
"So you mean…" Tsuru said softly.
Sengoku nodded with a grim face. "It's exactly what you're thinking. We have lost all intelligence on the whereabouts of the Roger Pirates and that guy Shiki."
Diarmuid was completely bewildered. Although he had experience leading his own ship to chase pirates, that was in the North Blue, small-time stuff.
Now he understood how lacking the Marine forces were in the New World.
Seriously? It wasn't that the Marines didn't make it in time because the battle ended too quickly as he had thought.
The war hadn't even started, and the Marines had already lost track of the targets?
Was this a joke?
What were they doing here, then? Were they on a trip to the New World?
"We need to push the Science Unit to move faster. Their submarine project… I think we should support it. If they can really develop this new type of ship, it would be a huge help, at least as a surveillance ship," Borsalino said out of nowhere.
Sengoku and the others agreed with a nod, but they also knew that Borsalino's words had a bit of a selfish motive behind them.
After all, Fleet Admiral Kong had already expressed his intention to appoint Borsalino as the commander of the Marine Science Unit.
By saying this, he was trying to secure some benefits for himself. With this kind of action, he would be able to establish himself there once he took office.
Of course, this was within the normal bounds of "using power for personal gain." It was completely within the "rules" and was perfectly reasonable, so no one would say anything bad about Borsalino.
"Let's not talk about that for now. I've been studying the map. We've lost track of Roger and Shiki, but we've already mobilized nearby surveillance ships to search for them. We don't know if they'll succeed, and we have no other choice right now. So, we have to make an educated guess to determine our next course," Sengoku said in a deep voice.
After that, he pushed the map toward the table, picked up a thin stick from the table, and pointed at the map. "I've circled a few areas where the battle might take place. Take a look. What do you think? Which way should we go?"
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Tsuru and the others were all looking at the map seriously.
Borsalino and Sakazuki also looked down. Diarmuid, who was standing in front of the table, also leaned in.
Sengoku had circled three areas: the Wisewell Sea, the Chalana Sea, and the Edd War Sea.
Diarmuid secretly nodded to himself. The Strategist Sengoku is still on top of his game. He managed to narrow down the vast New World to three areas and even got the right answer in there.
Don't think this is easy. To narrow down such a huge area of the New World to three zones in such a short amount of time was already an incredible feat.
I wonder how lucky the Marines will be. Did they guess the right answer? Did they miss the battle because of the storm… or did they go the wrong way? Diarmuid wondered in his mind.
After waiting for everyone to think for a while, Sengoku asked, "Well? Which one do you think is the most likely?"
Tsuru was also very smart. She asked directly, "Have we contacted Headquarters to get the recent climate intelligence for these three areas? We should first rule out the areas with bad weather. That guy, Shiki, has a group of brilliant climate scientists under him. He knows his weakness and would never start a war with Roger in an area with bad weather."
Sengoku nodded. "I've already sent someone to check…"
As soon as he said that, a report came from outside the door. A Marine Lieutenant Commander walked in and quickly handed a piece of intelligence to Sengoku.
After a few glances, Sengoku frowned. "What a shame. The intelligence shows that all three areas have been clear and sunny for the past few days."
Although the weather in the New World changed constantly, there were still some patterns that could be observed.
Of course, if you took these observations seriously… you would be in for a world of trouble.
For example, at the Edd War Sea, both Shiki and the Marines had determined that it would be clear and sunny there.
But… Shiki was completely defeated.
But again, any observation was better than none, and if you were unlucky, you just had to accept it.
So this kind of intelligence was still useful.
"Which sea was Roger closest to before?" Garp suddenly asked.
Sengoku pointed to the Chalana Sea. "Here."
"Is that so? Based on what I know about Roger, he has two different attitudes towards the Marines and other pirates. When we're chasing him, he doesn't care about his pride and just runs, but when he faces other pirates, he's usually reckless… If he was closest to that area, he would probably head there," Garp said after some thought.
If you wanted him to punch someone, there weren't many people in the world who could beat him. But if you wanted him, Garp, to strategize, forget it…
So he could only offer this kind of useless suggestion based on Roger's personal habits.
But Garp was a man who had been chasing Roger for so many years. He did understand Roger very well, so his suggestion wasn't completely useless.
Sengoku and Tsuru both frowned in thought, considering the possibilities.
To be honest, this operation was a bit rushed, and they hadn't figured out a lot of the intelligence. But they had no choice. Time was not on their side. The Marines had to act fast, or they would never be able to catch up.
This led to their current predicament. Due to the lack of intelligence, they couldn't make an accurate prediction.
Sakazuki and Borsalino were clearly thinking hard, but they couldn't come up with any effective suggestions.
Just then, Sengoku noticed Diarmuid, who seemed to want to say something but was hesitant because of the current situation.
Even though he didn't have any high expectations for the kid, Sengoku still asked, "Lieutenant Commander Diarmuid, do you have a suggestion?"
Diarmuid was stunned for a moment. He quickly composed himself and nodded openly. "If I may, I do have a thought."
"Speak your mind," Sengoku waved his hand.
The situation was what it was, and no one had a good idea. "Just say what you're thinking. What if it's a good one?"
"Yes, Admiral!" Diarmuid replied quickly. He then looked at the map and said in a calm, strong voice, "Although we don't know the specific situation between Shiki and Roger right now, I heard that this is supposed to be an ambush, right? It's very possible that the Roger Pirates still haven't realized that Shiki is waiting to ambush them."
Sengoku nodded. He didn't hide anything. "That's right. The intelligence we received came from Shiki, who said he was planning an ambush against the Roger Pirates. As for the Roger Pirates, because of their unique nature, we don't have much information, so we can't be sure if they are aware of Shiki's actions."
Diarmuid thought for a moment and then continued, "As a pirate leader, Shiki always plans his moves carefully before acting. The New World is his home turf. At the same time, while the independence and uniqueness of the Roger Pirates make it difficult for us to get information on them, it also means that they also lack the means to get information on the outside world. Based on all of this, I have reason to believe that the Roger Pirates… haven't discovered Shiki's plot."
Sengoku touched his braided beard, thought for a moment, and then looked at Tsuru. "Tsuru, what do you think?"
Tsuru smiled and nodded. "I think the Lieutenant Commander is right."
"I also think there's some sense to it," Sengoku said in agreement. He then looked at Diarmuid. "So, how does this assumption help our current situation?"
"It does!" Diarmuid replied. He then quickly explained, "In this way, we can try to guess the Roger Pirates' actions from this perspective!"
"What do you mean?" Sengoku asked.
"Let's assume that the Roger Pirates are completely unaware of this situation. Then what would be their original planned route and destination? I think that place is where Shiki wants to ambush the Roger Pirates!" Diarmuid said softly.
Sengoku was stunned for a moment. He then quickly picked up the Den Den Mushi. "Send me all the intelligence we have on the Roger Pirates from this time period. Make it fast and accurate!"
"Yes, Admiral Sengoku!" the Den Den Mushi on the other end responded quickly.
In Sengoku's eyes, even if he wasn't sure if Diarmuid's suggestion and assumption were correct, at least Diarmuid had given them a feasible idea, hadn't he?
That was more than enough! It was enough to make him take this seriously!