Today at Marine Headquarters, Marineford, the sky was perfectly clear and the sun burned bright, putting everyone in an unusually pleasant mood.
Admiral Sengoku stood by the window of his office, holding a freshly brewed cup of hot tea. As he looked out at the seamless horizon where sea and sky met, he felt completely at ease, relaxed and unburdened.
Taking a sip, Sengoku smiled and murmured to himself, "What a wonderfully peaceful day. Finishing all that work ahead of schedule really was the right call..."
But the moment the words left his mouth, a rapid, urgent knocking tore him out of his tranquility.
Sengoku frowned, irritation pricking at him. Even so, he kept his temper in check and said steadily, "Come in."
A Lieutenant Commander from the Intelligence Division burst through the door, drenched in sweat, voice tight with panic.
"Admiral! Bad news! We just received an alert from Impel Down! Something's happened!!!"
"What!?" Sengoku's eyes flew wide, disbelief flooding his face.
Marine Headquarters was directly linked to Impel Down's emergency alarm system. Any incident there instantly triggered an alert here. Normally, Impel Down would give advance notice before running a drill or test. But today, there had been no warning at all. Which meant something had genuinely gone wrong.
In the original timeline, Impel Down had descended into chaos without receiving any backup only because Marine Headquarters had been locked in a life-or-death battle with the Whitebeard Pirates during the Summit War. With the Fortress of Justice nearly torn apart by a single punch from Whitebeard and alarms blaring continuously, no one had the luxury of paying attention to Impel Down.
But now was different. Headquarters was calm. And that meant Sengoku was instantly on edge.
He ordered sharply, "Aokiji and that old man Garp are both here at Headquarters, right? Quickly—prepare ships for them, open the Gates of Justice, and send them to support Impel Down immediately!"
A chain of rapid-fire orders followed. Marine Headquarters entered full combat readiness at once. Squads of marines boarded warships with impressive speed. Even Garp didn't dawdle, linking up with Aokiji to set out for Impel Down without delay.
Only after finishing these commands did Sengoku finally manage to connect with Magellan through the Den Den Mushi.
Meanwhile, Magellan was staring at the last image on the surveillance screens—Rayleigh and the fishman carrying Shiki out into the open sea.
"At last... the covert operation is complete without a single slip." Magellan finally let out a relieved breath.
Putting a top-tier pirate like Rayleigh into Impel Down with zero restraints? Even Magellan had felt enormous pressure over it.
When the Den Den Mushi on his desk rang, the expression on its face made it clear it was Sengoku calling. Magellan straightened himself, steadied his breathing, and answered:
"Admiral!"
Back at Marine Headquarters, Sengoku hadn't even spoken yet when he heard Magellan's vigorous, composed response. It threw him off. Why did he sound so calm in a situation like this?
"Magellan, something happened at Impel Down!?" Sengoku demanded, pushing aside his confusion.
Magellan, inwardly impressed by Sengoku's flawless performance, thought, The Admiral's acting is impeccable. That tone, that urgency—anyone would believe he truly knew nothing.
But since the act had gone this far, he had to cooperate.
So Magellan adopted a deep, heavy tone and said, "Yes. Something did happen. Shiki has escaped from our custody."
Perhaps Magellan's acting wasn't quite up to Sengoku's level. His voice sounded stiff, flat, completely devoid of emotional nuance. Like reading off a report.
Sengoku, listening on the other side, was left even more bewildered. Such a massive incident—why was Magellan reporting it in such a wooden tone? Was he not concerned?
But after a moment's thought, Sengoku reconsidered. Impel Down was practically impregnable, and Magellan's abilities were perfectly suited to its environment. If he sounded calm... perhaps the situation was already resolved? Maybe Sengoku had overreacted, behaving less like a composed Admiral and more like a panicked officer.
So he swallowed the questions he'd been about to ask and steadied his own tone, adopting the air of someone who had expected competence all along.
"So, it seems you've handled it," he said confidently. "Has Shiki been restrained again? Or did you eliminate him?"
He even paused to take another sip of his tea while considering whether to call back Garp and Aokiji.
Then Magellan's crisp response came through the Den Den Mushi:
"No. Shiki has completely escaped. He has fled Impel Down. Rest assured, Admiral!"
The moment Sengoku heard that, he sprayed hot tea everywhere.
Rest assured?
Rest assured about WHAT!?
"Shiki has escaped and you're telling me to relax!? Magellan, do you even hear yourself!?" Sengoku roared.
The moment those words left his mouth, Magellan realized he'd slipped up. How could he tell the Admiral to relax? Didn't that make it sound like the Admiral wanted Shiki to escape? That was practically tying Sengoku to the stake and lighting the fire himself.
Sure enough, Sengoku's furious bellow hit him the next second. The sheer emotional weight in that roar filled Magellan with genuine respect. Amazing. He was still far behind—just that level of acting alone was worthy of an Admiral.
"My apologies, Admiral! I misspoke! This Shiki escape… I take full responsibility! This is entirely my failure!!" Magellan responded loudly through the Den Den Mushi.
Sengoku paused for a second. Now wasn't the time to keep yelling, so he pressed on. "What stage are you at now?"
Had they at least dispatched surveillance ships to track Shiki? Even if Sengoku doubted they'd catch up, protocol was protocol. They should at least try, right?
"We…"
Magellan blinked. What stage? What more was there to do?
Shiki had already escaped. His part of the plan was done. What else was he supposed to be doing? He was literally ready to clock out.
Hearing Magellan hesitate on the other end, Sengoku's suppressed rage flared right back up. How had he not noticed this level of incompetence when he promoted the man? Impossible.
Remembering he'd personally vouched for Magellan only made him angrier. He slammed his voice into the Den Den Mushi.
"Speak! What stage are you at!?"
"Progress… preparing to clock out?"
Intimidated by the sheer pressure blasting out of the Den Den Mushi, Magellan instinctively blurted the truth.
Sengoku froze.
…Huh?
Preparing to… clock out?
How dare he say that? Did he have a death wish!?
"What the hell are you doing, Magellan!? Are you out of your mind!? What kind of crap are you spouting!? Clock out!? Do you even want to keep your job!?" Sengoku exploded. In that moment, the dignity of a Fleet Admiral was irrelevant. If he didn't vent, he was going to hemorrhage on the spot.
That one line—Do you even want to keep your job—hit Magellan like a revelation.
All at once, he understood what Sengoku meant. Right. After such a major incident, he should be shouldering responsibility, not talking about going home. And when everything settled, he'd be Sengoku's trusted subordinate. Would Sengoku ever treat him poorly then?
But honestly… the Admiral's acting was outstanding. Magellan seriously thought he'd truly been furious.
"I'm sorry, Admiral. This incident is entirely my fault. I'll write my resignation immediately and step down!" Magellan declared.
Sengoku went completely numb.
He genuinely suspected Magellan had been possessed.
No normal man could sound this detached from reality. This was beyond foolish.
And to think he'd praised Magellan to Ortoren before—calling him smart. Now, looking back, he'd been blind. Utterly blind—
Wait.
Ortoren!?
Thinking of Magellan's sudden descent into idiocy, and recalling how Ortoren had visited him not long ago for no clear reason… Sengoku instantly sensed something wrong.
His suspicion spiked.
Don't tell me… that bastard Ortoren is stirring up trouble behind my back!?
He'd told him over and over to keep a low profile, not to cause a scene—and what happened? He went to Impel Down, and right after that, Shiki escaped. How was that even remotely reasonable!?
Ignoring Magellan, who was clearly not in a normal state, Sengoku immediately slammed the Den Den Mushi down and prepared to call that bastard Ortoren.
He needed answers.
If this had anything to do with Ortoren—
What the hell was he planning!?
Did he release Shiki because life had gotten too peaceful and he was bored!?
...
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