Shortly after, a large amount of intelligence regarding the Roger Pirates was sent over. Sengoku immediately distributed the reports, and Diarmuid also received a copy.
At the same time, Vice Admiral Garp and Chief of Staff Tsuru also received the intelligence.
Soon, everyone began to read it.
Since the intelligence was recent, it didn't take long for the big shots to go through it and find some clues.
"It seems like the Roger Pirates are looking for something around the world?" Borsalino asked, frowning slightly.
Sakazuki nodded. "It does seem that way. It appears they came into the New World this time with a specific purpose."
Diarmuid really wanted to tell them that the Roger Pirates were looking for the Poneglyphs.
But he couldn't say it out loud. He couldn't explain how he knew about it. If Sengoku asked him how he knew, what would he say?
There was no way to explain it.
But just as Diarmuid was thinking about how to subtly reveal this information, Vice Admiral Garp suddenly spoke.
"Poneglyphs!" Garp said in a deep voice.
Everyone else looked at Garp with surprise, their eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.
"Poneglyphs??? What are those guys looking for those for?" Sengoku asked, a bit puzzled.
Although the World Government had explicitly forbidden the study and reading of Poneglyphs, for now, neither the Marines nor the World Government had paid much attention to them.
For over 800 years, even though the Poneglyphs were scattered all over the world, no one had been able to read and understand the information on them.
Therefore, even if someone got their hands on one, it was useless.
Sengoku was confused about this point. Why would the Roger Pirates, with nothing better to do than plunder, go looking for Poneglyphs?
Did they get tired of being pirates and decide to moonlight as scholars?
Were they crazy?
"I don't know why they are looking for Poneglyphs, but it's true. I've noticed this a few times while chasing them. Maybe there's some kind of treasure or secret hidden on the Poneglyphs?" Garp said after some thought.
He hadn't taken this matter very seriously before, so he never reported it.
After all, he hadn't found the Roger Pirates doing anything terrible because of it.
Garp just thought it was a coincidence.
But now, combined with Diarmuid's previous assumption and all the intelligence, Garp felt that the Roger Pirates might have really found something in the Poneglyphs.
Their return to the New World this time might also be for the Poneglyphs!
Sengoku rubbed the braided beard on his chin again. Finally, he said, "We don't have time to figure out why they're looking for Poneglyphs now. As for our current deductions, we haven't found any other clues, so let's follow this one. For now, we will assume they came to the New World to find Poneglyphs…"
He picked up the Den Den Mushi on the table and said, "Check if there is any intelligence on Poneglyphs in the Edd War Sea, the Chalana Sea, or the Wisewell Sea."
"Yes, Admiral Sengoku!" the Marine on the other end of the Den Den Mushi responded quickly.
A silence fell over the room. Sengoku placed the Den Den Mushi down and looked at the intelligence and the map on the table, his eyebrows occasionally furrowing as he thought about new clues.
Just then, Tsuru seemed to have thought of something and said, "If I remember correctly, the Poneglyphs… also have information about the Ancient Weapons, don't they?"
Ancient Weapons?
Everyone was stunned at first, and then Sengoku seemed to remember something. His expression darkened. "I think I remember something about that, too."
Right now, not many people paid attention to the Poneglyphs.
After all, the scholars of Ohara hadn't caused any trouble yet.
It had been a long time since anyone had any ideas about them, so Sengoku and the others really didn't pay attention to this area.
But as high-ranking Marines, they still knew some things. They just hadn't been able to recall it right away.
Now that Tsuru had brought it up, Sengoku seemed to have realized something.
"What are the Ancient Weapons?" Gion asked in a low voice, leaning close to Tsuru.
But it was obvious that everyone heard her. Sengoku took a deep breath and explained, "The legend says that in a long-gone era, there were three weapons that could destroy the world: Pluton, Poseidon, and Uranus. But these powerful Ancient Weapons have vanished into history and haven't appeared for hundreds of years. To be honest, I'm not even sure if these Ancient Weapons are real or just a legend. I'll go and investigate once we get back to Headquarters.
"However, the World Government has intelligence that the Ancient Weapons are recorded on the Poneglyphs, which is why the Poneglyphs have been a taboo subject and are forbidden to be studied or read… Of course, with the passage of time, there are no longer people who can read the ancient script, so the ban is a thing of the past."
Listening to Sengoku's explanation, Kuzan, Borsalino, Sakazuki, Gion, and the others heard this story for the first time.
After a moment of thought, Sakazuki frowned. "So you're saying we have reason to suspect that the Roger Pirates have deciphered the ancient script and are trying to find the location of the Ancient Weapons in the Poneglyphs to destroy the world?"
As soon as he said this, Vice Admiral Garp said in a deep voice, "Impossible. Roger may be a bastard, but he's not crazy enough to do something like that!"
"But he's a pirate after all. His evil cannot be underestimated. We can't ignore this!" Sakazuki said without being polite.
Sakazuki's character was very fiery and courageous, but he couldn't stand even a speck of dust in his eyes. Unlike Borsalino, who hadn't figured out his position, and the lazy Kuzan, Sakazuki was a firm believer in "Absolute Justice."
When Garp heard Sakazuki's response, his expression soured, but he didn't argue with the Marines for the sake of a pirate like Roger.
Although he didn't think Roger would want to destroy the world, he was on the right side. He was still in the Marine faction, and that had never wavered.
"No matter what Roger thinks or what he will do, for something like this, it's always better to kill the innocent than to let the guilty go free. It looks like we'll have to raise the threat level of the Roger Pirates. I hope we can capture them all this time," Sengoku said in a deep voice.
This was his final say on the matter.
And from this conversation, Diarmuid also understood the attitude and position of the Marines regarding the Ancient Weapons.
Sengoku… saying the ruthless phrase, "better to kill the innocent than to let the guilty go free," already proved a lot.
But Diarmuid wasn't surprised. Even though Sengoku seemed kind on the surface, he was only like that with his own people. When he was truly ruthless, he was very scary.
If he remembered correctly… the Buster Call on Ohara was ordered by this very Admiral!
While everyone was discussing these matters, the Den Den Mushi on Sengoku's table rang.
Sengoku didn't waste any time. He quickly picked up the Den Den Mushi. "Report!"
"Yes, Admiral. According to our investigation, there is intelligence that a Poneglyph exists on Tirascal Island, not far from the Edd War Sea," the Den Den Mushi responded quickly.
A glint of anger flashed in Sengoku's eyes. He really wanted to ask why he hadn't known about such an important thing before and why the Poneglyph hadn't been retrieved.
But he quickly suppressed his anger because he knew it wasn't his subordinates' fault. If Diarmuid hadn't been there, they wouldn't have thought of this and wouldn't have noticed the Poneglyphs, which had been silent for so long.
In fact, after the Ohara incident, the World Government did start to pay more attention to the Poneglyphs again and slowly began to recover them.
But now, because of Diarmuid, the Marines had taken notice of the long-dormant "dangerous items." Who knew if this would have any deeper effects?
However, Diarmuid felt that it probably wouldn't. After all, Roger wasn't really trying to destroy the world, and once he died in a few years, this matter would come to an end. The Marines were meant to maintain stability on the sea and wouldn't have the energy to fight a losing battle with the Poneglyphs forever. So, in time, they would probably stop caring about them.
"I understand." Sengoku hung up the Den Den Mushi and looked at everyone. "It looks like the Edd War Sea is where we need to go."
"Although these assumptions are all based on a 'guess,' it is indeed the only viable possibility we have right now. It's better to bet on the Edd War than on the blank slate of the other two seas!" Tsuru said with great resolve.
She was absolutely right. All these assumptions were "made up." No one knew what was really happening.
But this was better than before. At least, it was a direction.
In this situation, it was definitely better to choose the more likely Edd War Sea. There was no reason to go to the other two seas to try their luck.
Everyone else agreed. The high-ranking Marine officers quickly came to a consensus. Soon, Sengoku ordered the ships to head toward the Edd War Sea at full speed.
At this point, the brief pre-war meeting ended, and Diarmuid had officially made his debut on the big stage of the Marine high command.
So far, he felt pretty good about it.
After ending the video call, Sengoku smiled and patted Diarmuid on the shoulder. "Good job, Diarmuid. We have you to thank for this. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a clue. If it really is in the Edd War Sea… you will get all the credit!"
Diarmuid didn't feel conceited. He smiled and said, "With your wisdom, Admiral Sengoku and Chief Tsuru, I believe you would have reached the same conclusion without me."
He wasn't just being polite. He truly believed that. After all, he still couldn't rule out that the reason the Marines didn't make it was because the storm ended the battle too quickly.
"There's no need to be overly modest with us. The Marines need people with real skills. I hope you will have even better performances in the future…" Sengoku encouraged Diarmuid before walking out of the command room.