-Broadcast-
Through Ms. Tsuru's intelligence briefing, Gin learned that Doflamingo maintained secret business relationships with all three remaining Yonko. Arms deals with Kaido. Information exchanges with Big Mom. Likely contacts with Blackbeard's rapidly-expanding forces. The Heavenly Yaksha had woven himself into the New World's power structure so thoroughly that attacking him risked provoking intervention from multiple emperor-level threats simultaneously.
This mission to Dressrosa carried significant danger.
The decision to assign this particularly difficult task to Admiral Gin hadn't been made lightly. Marine high command had deliberated through several closed-door strategy sessions before reaching consensus.
On one hand, using Gin provided political insulation against Celestial Dragon backlash. If criticism arose about killing a former World Noble, the Marines could point out that a former pirate had executed the sentence—hardly the organization's official policy.
On the other hand, letting an ex-pirate eliminate another pirate removed certain psychological barriers. Gin wouldn't hesitate the way lifelong Marines might when facing someone with Doflamingo's aristocratic background. He understood the underworld's ruthless logic instinctively.
Admiral Gin was the optimal candidate for neutralizing the Heavenly Yaksha.
After reviewing the proposal, Acting Fleet Admiral Artoria Pendragon had approved the operation with her characteristic efficiency. As one of her personally-appointed Admirals, Gin harbored no complaints about the assignment. Quite the opposite—he viewed it as an opportunity to prove his worth, to earn genuine respect within the organization rather than merely being tolerated as a political appointee.
He wanted to establish his reputation properly. Secure his position through demonstrated competence rather than continued patronage.
"The Logia ability in your body may become Blackbeard's target," Ms. Tsuru said, her voice carrying maternal concern despite her typically-tactical demeanor. "If you cannot defeat him—if the situation turns against you—retreat immediately. Don't let the Ame Ame no Mi (Rain-Rain Fruit) fall into Marshall D. Teach's hands under any circumstances."
The warning wasn't paranoia. If Gin's Devil Fruit power was stolen and added to Blackbeard's arsenal, it would become another weapon aimed at the New Marines' heart. Another ability turned against its former wielders.
Marshall D. Teach was a pirate whose appearance belied his danger—slovenly, gap-toothed, seemingly buffoonish. But the Marines had learned to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: only Blackbeard truly embodied what piracy should be at its most ambitious and terrifying.
Compared to him, other pirates were playing children's games on the ocean.
Whitebeard had underestimated Blackbeard's ambition. Sengoku had underestimated his cunning. Two legends from the previous era had suffered catastrophic defeats at Teach's hands because they'd failed to take him seriously enough.
The lesson was clear: never underestimate anyone on these seas. A single moment of carelessness could destroy everything.
Looking back over the past five years, Blackbeard stood as the Battle of Marineford's sole true victor. He'd seized Whitebeard's territories, absorbed his subordinate crews, and established himself as a Yonko almost overnight. Since then, he'd engaged in territorial conflicts with both Kaido and Charlotte Linlin—and consistently gained the upper hand despite facing emperors with decades more experience.
His existence gave the Marines headaches. But it made the other Yonko even more uncomfortable, watching this upstart disrupt the delicate balance they'd maintained for years.
Before departing for Dressrosa, Admiral Gin had made a special trip to Marine Headquarters' Intelligence Division. Through the careful compilation work of analysts and field agents, he'd gained insight into Blackbeard's current location and recent activities.
What he'd learned was... disturbing.
The Blackbeard Pirates had expanded far beyond anyone's initial projections. They were actively hunting Devil Fruit users across all four seas and both halves of the Grand Line. Teach had personally organized what intelligence officers were calling the "Devil Fruit Legion"—an entire division of ability users whose powers had been stolen and redistributed to his crew.
Pirate Supernovas. Veterans from all four seas. Even officers from other Yonko crews. All of them victims whose Devil Fruits had been ripped away by Blackbeard's Yami Yami no Mi (Dark-Dark Fruit). All of them reduced to corpses or powerless survivors.
This was also a death list—a preview of futures that hadn't arrived yet but seemed increasingly inevitable.
Ms. Tsuru had resigned from all official Marine positions, which meant certain classified intelligence no longer reached her through normal channels. But hearing Gin's recitation now, her weathered face showed genuine alarm.
"Supernovas and established pirates from every sea," she murmured, processing the implications. "Marshall D. Teach's ambition clearly extends far beyond simply being one of the Yonko. He's building something unprecedented."
The Marines had reached consensus on this point internally. Compared to the other emperors—Kaido with his immortal army aspirations, Big Mom with her All-Nations utopia—Blackbeard demonstrated fundamentally different motivations.
He'd declared publicly that he intended to become Pirate King. But many analysts suspected his true goals extended further. Some theorized he wanted to control the entire world through that title, to enslave all living beings under a regime of absolute power.
His inflated ambition was no longer secret. Everyone who paid attention knew the threat Marshall D. Teach represented.
"There's another development you should know about," Gin said, his perpetually-tired eyes showing slight hesitation. "Regarding the Red-Haired Pirates..."
Ms. Tsuru's expression sharpened. "What about Shanks?"
"The Marine took initiative and eliminated his crew," Gin stated flatly. "The Red-Haired Pirates as an organization no longer exist. Only Shanks himself escaped—and his current whereabouts remain unknown."
"The operation was kept completely classified—no newspaper reports, no public announcements, nothing that would spread the information beyond Marine intelligence circles." Gin's voice carried grudging admiration for the operational security. "Acting Fleet Admiral Artoria believes reputation is meaningless without corresponding hard power to back it up. She prioritizes strengthening the Marines' actual capabilities over public perception."
The implications were staggering.
The Red-Haired Pirates had been missing from the seas for months now. Their previously-protected territories had fallen into chaos as smaller pirate crews tested boundaries, burned their flags, committed acts that normally would have triggered immediate retaliation.
But no retaliation had come.
Gradually, the New World's major players had begun reaching the same conclusion: the Red-Haired Pirates were never coming back. Some force had destroyed them in secret with such thoroughness that not even rumors escaped containment.
Only the Marines possessed that kind of operational capability. But the New Marines refused to confirm or deny anything, which caused widespread panic among other pirate organizations.
If they could eliminate Shanks's crew without anyone knowing... who else might they target?
The Four Emperors system had been designed by the Five Elders specifically to maintain balance on the seas. Four equal powers checking each other's expansion, preventing any single faction from becoming overwhelmingly dominant. It ensured the Celestial Dragons could continue collecting Heavenly Tribute as "protection fees" while maintaining the illusion that their World Government actually governed the chaotic oceans.
But the New Marines under Acting Fleet Admiral Artoria Pendragon had no use for false peace.
Destroying the weakest Yonko crew had plunged the New World into immediate chaos. And chaos, from Artoria's strategic perspective, created opportunities for ambitious reformers.
Just as she'd calculated, the three remaining Yonko had reacted predictably after Red-Haired Shanks vanished. Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, and Blackbeard had all moved to claim the suddenly-available territories. Friction escalated into open conflict as their forces clashed over valuable islands and strategic positions.
The New World—already dangerous—had become a meat grinder.
Countless people died in the second half of the Grand Line daily now. Which served Artoria's ultimate strategy perfectly: weakening all three remaining emperor organizations simultaneously through forced attrition warfare.
Her plan's second phase involved blocking the entrance to the New World completely. If no fresh pirates could reach the second half of the Grand Line to replenish depleted forces, the large pirate organizations would inevitably decline. Simple mathematics—casualties without recruitment led to organizational collapse.
It was brilliant. Ruthless. Mathematically sound.
And it had been completely undermined by a single man.
"Doflamingo," Gin said, the name tasting like poison. "That bastard developed ships capable of crossing the Calm Belt, making the Grand Line's natural barriers irrelevant."
Ms. Tsuru's expression hardened. "Of course he did."
Doflamingo—the most pragmatic businessman in the underworld—sold these Calm Belt-crossing vessels at exorbitant prices to anyone with sufficient capital. The primary buyers? The three Yonko organizations desperate to maintain their recruitment pipelines and supply chains.
The Marine strategy of "closing the door to beat the dog" had been completely bankrupted.
The technical innovation wasn't even particularly sophisticated. The ships simply incorporated seastone components into their hull plating, which prevented Sea Kings from sensing their presence when crossing the windless zones. Elegant simplicity.
And the world's largest seastone supplier was none other than Yonko Kaido himself, whose Wano Country controlled the substance's primary deposits.
Doflamingo would conduct business with anyone—pirates, revolutionaries, governments, criminals—as long as payment cleared. It formed a perfect economic loop: Kaido provided seastone, Doflamingo manufactured ships, pirates purchased passage, everyone profited except the Marines trying to contain them.
"This is why we need to eliminate him urgently," Gin concluded, understanding crystallizing into certainty. "We cannot allow this former Celestial Dragon to continue serving as a blood transfusion for the Yonko. Otherwise, the Marines will eventually lose the capability to suppress these large pirate organizations."
The stakes extended beyond mere military considerations. If the Yonko grew too powerful, if their forces became genuinely unstoppable, the entire world order would collapse. Civilized nations would fall to piracy. The Celestial Dragons' authority would evaporate.
It would be a disaster for the world. A nightmare for all World Nobles who'd grown comfortable in their protected sanctuaries.
Ms. Tsuru nodded slowly, her tactical mind reaching the same conclusion from different reasoning. "Doflamingo has made himself indispensable to too many dangerous people. His death will disrupt supply chains, eliminate critical infrastructure, and force the Yonko to scramble for alternatives." She paused. "It will also send a message that the New Marines won't tolerate anyone—regardless of birth status—who actively undermines our strategic objectives."
"Exactly," Gin agreed. "Which is why this mission cannot fail."
The mathematics were simple. The logic was irrefutable.
Donquixote Doflamingo had to die.