"Retreat!"
Onigumo shouted frantically to his men, even as he lay crushed against the deck, completely unable to move.
Suzumebachi descended.
Soifon hadn't even bothered to activate Shikai. She simply condensed her spiritual pressure into a blade of energy and swung.
Boom!
The enormous warship groaned in agony before splitting apart down the middle.
In a single strike, Soifon cleaved the Navy's largest battleship clean in half.
Hundreds of marines plunged into the sea below.
By some miracle, Onigumo survived.
The only reason he was still alive was because people in this world seemed to have the endurance of monsters.
Even so, the blast of her compressed spiritual pressure had left him utterly broken—almost every bone in his body shattered, and his skin was covered in gashes that bled without end.
If not for his adjutant risking his life to drag him onto a piece of floating debris, he would've already sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
Watching the warship slowly sink, Soifon calmly sheathed Suzumebachi, then disappeared in a flash step.
The moment she vanished, the surviving marines finally exhaled in relief.
That was pure terror.
A Vice Admiral—flattened without even being able to fight back.
It was total, one-sided annihilation.
Could that woman really be someone on the same level as an Admiral?
The thought alone sent shivers down their spines.
The seas were crawling with increasingly terrifying monsters. Serving in the Navy was getting harder by the day.
The survivors, relying on their well-trained bodies and fragments of the broken deck, began slowly swimming toward the nearest shore.
When Vivi and the others at the harbor saw the Navy crushed—and their warship destroyed—they were stunned for several long seconds.
When they finally snapped out of it, they immediately ordered people to rescue the survivors.
After all, on paper, Alabasta was still officially in cooperation with the World Government and the Navy.
They couldn't just stand there and watch the marines drown at their doorstep.
Once the Navy had been pulled ashore, the wounded—including Onigumo—were rushed to be treated.
Cobra handed the captured members of Baroque Works, including Mr. 2, over to the adjutant.
The adjutant tried to extract some information from Mr. 2.
To his surprise, he actually managed to get something useful: that it was Oguro and Cobra who had worked together to capture him.
So the adjutant immediately went to Cobra, demanding information in the name of justice.
"Those people are vicious pirates! For the peace and justice of the seas, Your Majesty, I must ask that you provide us with every detail you know about them!"
Cobra rolled his eyes, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Sorry. I have no ties with that group. They're the ones accused of trying to overthrow the nation. If the king himself was involved with them, wouldn't that make me part of the rebellion? Should I stage a coup against myself?"
"So no, I've got nothing to offer."
What a joke.
He'd just managed to secure a powerful ally—there was no way he'd sell them out to the Navy.
The Navy couldn't even keep the Seven Warlords under control, and the World Government still hadn't acknowledged Crocodile's attempt to seize the country.
Such an organization was hardly reliable.
The adjutant caught the mockery in Cobra's words, his face turning bright red with frustration.
But what could he say?
Oguro's supposed "attempted coup" was already officially confirmed by the World Government.
If he argued back now, it'd be like slapping the Government in the face.
While Onigumo recovered from his injuries, the adjutant tried every possible method to gather information on Oguro and his crew.
He got absolutely nothing.
In fact, most civilians avoided him the moment they learned he was with the Navy. Whenever he asked about Oguro, the answer was the same: they knew nothing.
Of course they'd react that way.
Oguro had just saved Alabasta from destruction, and the Navy had immediately shown up to arrest him.
The only reason the people hadn't attacked outright was because the Navy's centuries of reputation still carried some weight.
Eventually, reinforcements arrived to pick up what remained of Onigumo's unit, and the battered soldiers withdrew from Alabasta.
News of Onigumo's defeat and near-death quickly reached Marine Headquarters.
Marineford.
Sengoku sat at his desk, a report in hand, his temples throbbing with pain.
Two fighters as strong as Vice Admirals or even standard-level Rear Admirals were one thing—those existed all over the New World.
But Onigumo was a seasoned, elite Vice Admiral, a man capable of brushing against the edge of second-tier power in the New World.
He'd faced full-fledged Warlords of the Sea and division commanders of the Yonko head-on.
And yet he'd been instantly defeated.
That was terrifying.
Within the Navy, no one but the three Admirals could have done that.
"At least Admiral level... maybe a candidate-level monster," Sengoku muttered, frowning deeply. "This is trouble."
The first thought in his mind was simple—gather the full force of the Navy and crush this threat in one decisive strike.
"...Sengoku."
The doors opened. An elderly woman with silver hair walked in.
Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Navy's Chief Strategist and user of the Wash-Wash Fruit.
"Oh, Tsuru. What brings you here?" Sengoku asked, puzzled.
Tsuru glanced at the report in his hand, then sat down across from him. Her voice was calm but deliberate.
"About Sith Oguro... you're planning to send people to hunt him down, aren't you?"
Sengoku nodded without hesitation.
"Of course. He defeated Onigumo—a direct provocation to the Navy's authority. We must respond."
Tsuru sighed softly. "Sengoku, I think... we might want to handle this one differently."
He knew that tone well. Whenever Tsuru said that, it meant she had a plan.
"What are you suggesting?"
Tsuru explained patiently, "I had someone investigate Oguro. He's from the East Blue. Aside from that fight with Smoker, he hasn't actually committed any real crimes."
"Captain Nezumi's death is most likely his doing, but without evidence, we can't convict him."
"In fact, he's even wiped out several pirate crews along the way. And just now, he stopped Crocodile's plot to overthrow Alabasta."
"From that perspective, calling him a 'pirate' might be something we forced onto him."
"As far as I know, his ship doesn't even fly a pirate flag."
Sengoku frowned. "Tsuru... don't tell me you want me to revoke his bounty? That would destroy the Navy's credibility."
Tsuru waved a hand. "Of course not. We're not going that far. The Navy doesn't clean up its own image like that."
"What I'm saying is—Oguro never intended to be a pirate. Circumstances pushed him into that label. And considering his strength, there's no reason for us to treat him like an ordinary criminal."
Sengoku's sharp mind quickly caught on. "You mean... make him one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea?"
"Exactly."
Tsuru nodded firmly.
"He defeated Crocodile, and one of his subordinates appears to be Admiral-class. His power more than qualifies."
"And if he accepts, we'll no longer have to pursue him. I suspect he'd gladly agree."
She paused, a glint of calculation in her eyes.
"More importantly, someone with a conscience like him... if he becomes a Warlord, he'll actually help when called upon. Not like the others who just play along for show."
"That would be... highly beneficial to the Navy."
***
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