Sengoku gritted his teeth and forced the red eyed Garp to calm down. Right now, they had one job, organize the retreat, keep the coalition from being swallowed whole, and do not let the Hell Pirates turn this rout into a massacre.
Along the way, they kept running into scattered navy units. They met hawkish vice admirals who had just rescued staff officers, and they finally learned what happened at headquarters.
The conclusion was brutal.
Vice Admiral Tsuru had most likely been captured by the Hell Pirates.
Garp nearly exploded. He cursed the staff lieutenant generals and the hawkish lieutenants alike, spitting fury that they could not even protect one woman.
And with the Five Hell Kings of the Hell Pirates arriving on the battlefield, the defeated coalition fled even faster.
…
Brook returned to the main battlefield through the Door Door Fruit once again. Watching the Hell Kings chase down the navy's backbone, he allowed himself a brief smile.
He could already guess what happened.
Either Imu was dead, or Imu had been torn open by that blow from the Gate of Hell.
Otherwise, the fight on Nansha Island would not have ended so quickly.
It meant the World Government's side had lost its core, and this war between the World Government and the Universal Government was tilting hard toward one outcome.
Brook had not expected it to play out like this.
A single gamble, a single door into the Underworld, and even the immortal Imu had been caught off guard.
His sixth son, Nika, carried Poseidon's bloodline, as did his adopted daughter Otohime. His adopted disciple Dragon was the father of the future protagonist, Straw Hat Luffy. Between them, Brook had gathered an outrageous share of the world's luck.
And on top of that, he held the Dark Dark Fruit, the most vicious villain's power of all.
Maybe his fortune had already started to outshine Imu's.
A flash of lightning formed beside him.
"Brother Brook," Redfield said, voice sharp with killing intent. "Imu isn't dead. But he's probably badly injured. Should we strike Mary Geoise right now?"
A chance like this did not come twice. If Imu recovered, the next world war would be even uglier.
Brook's gaze burned.
"Yohoho!! Fine. I'll harvest a little more soul power, then we go straight to Mary Geoise and confirm Imu's condition."
If they could kill Imu now, the rest of the World Government's forces stopped mattering. A clean decapitation would end everything.
Redfield's grin turned feral.
"Good. I'll call Shiki and Kaido immediately."
He turned into lightning and vanished, racing to inform the other Hell Kings, and even Roger's side.
If Brook had known Kong, Garp, Sengoku, and the others had already split from Imu and the Five Elders, he would not have bothered gathering ghosts at all. He would have gone straight for the Holy Land.
But he did not know the full picture yet. An injured immortal was still an immortal, and still the most dangerous thing on the sea.
Brook continued absorbing spirits, rebuilding his strength, when a fight nearby caught his eye.
Doflamingo was getting pressed hard by a knife wielding female marine. She looked furious, tense, and absolutely unwilling to back down.
Brook blinked.
"Yohoho… that face looks familiar. Momousagi Gion?"
So Tsuru's capture had lit a fuse.
Gion had snapped, charging toward the flying fleet to rescue her senior, and Doflamingo had run straight into the sharp end of the navy's real talent.
Brook did not interfere. He needed to recover his peak power, fast.
…
After Redfield's message, Shiki arrived in a rush, steering the last Pluton imitation ship with excitement written all over his face. He loaded up the fastest squad he could assemble, the Kirin Lion with the Wind Control Fruit, Satan with the Weather Fruit, and Marco with the Cloud Cloud Fruit.
Speed mattered now.
Linlin, Newgate, Kaido, and Oden returned to the Pluton battleship one after another. Roger and Rayleigh were dragged aboard as well. Even the second generation of Hell clamored to witness the final strike.
Brook rejected them without hesitation.
He did not know Imu's exact state. If the old monster still had strength left, bringing too many people was just sending bodies into a grinder.
Instead, Brook chose the pieces he needed.
Ben Beckman with the Slow Fruit.
Fujitora with the Gravity Fruit.
Two Seraphim carrying those same abilities.
And Wolrd, whose More Fruit could still become a key.
Amid furious protests from the second generation of Hell, the Pluton battleship peeled away from the battlefield and surged toward Mary Geoise.
Borsalino was left as the battlefield's manager, whether he liked it or not. The second generation of Hell could only lead a few Seraphim and press the final assault to shatter the coalition's retreat completely.
…
"Gion, we're leaving too!!"
A mature looking male rear admiral shouted urgently at the sword wielding Gion. He had already seen the second generation of Hell sweeping in.
Even Sakazuki, the monster among rear admirals, had been captured by them. How could he and Gion possibly stand against those pirates?
If Gion had not refused to leave, Kake would have retreated with Stolobery, Dalmatian, and the others already.
"No," Gion snapped, slicing through Doflamingo's whip with one clean stroke. "I'm rescuing Tsuru san!"
She kicked Doflamingo away, stepped into the air with Geppo, and shot toward the flying fleet.
Borsalino turned his head, expression lazy but eyes alert.
"Yo… another female marine. So scary."
He raised a finger. A dazzling ray flashed out.
"Brother Borsalino, leave her to me!"
A blue phoenix surged upward and dissolved the golden light in midair.
Borsalino sighed in relief.
"Hel is so kind. She even knows how to share my workload."
He did not dare provoke the second princess Hel. Everyone knew she was irritable, violent, and eager for battle.
Doflamingo spat blood and watched Gion fly with murderous focus. If he were just a few years older, he was sure he could crush her.
But reality was reality, and it had already slapped him twice.
Since Hel took over Gion, Doflamingo turned his rage toward the rear admiral who had shouted earlier.
He lunged at Tokikake without hesitation.
He refused to believe every rear admiral was a monster.
The next moment, he was kicked away again.
Cleanly.
Like a bad habit being corrected.
Tokikake's Observation Haki had read him before he even moved.
Doflamingo's eyes widened with disbelief.
That annoying, almost wretched looking rear admiral had predicted everything.
Was this guy's Observation Haki so sharp because he spent his whole life training it for peeping?
Doflamingo roared and charged again, refusing to accept that his first real battle kept ending in humiliation.
Tsuru. Gion. Now Tokikake too.
Were they all stronger than him?
What Doflamingo did not know was simple.
Gion and Kake were both future admiral candidates. Among this generation of rear admirals, they were the strongest, with the highest ceiling.
"Hmph. Pathetic."
Douglas Bullet stepped in without warning, forcing himself between Doflamingo and Tokikake. He had already judged Tokikake strength.
Slightly above the average headquarters vice admiral.
Perfect.
A worthy opponent for him to crush.
--------------
Fleet Admiral Kong, Sengoku, and Zephyr continued gathering what was left of the World Government's routed forces. They could no longer stop the member state fleets that were determined to return home and preserve their strength. In the end, the navy could only watch them leave.
"Fleet Admiral Kong… are we really not going back for Tsuru and the others?"
Garp asked through clenched teeth. Abandoning comrades felt worse than piracy. Even most pirates had lines they would not cross. On a crew, leaving a companion behind to die was a taboo.
"We have to complete the Five Elders' mission and ensure the navy survives," Kong said, voice heavy. "And even if we go back to headquarters, can we really beat Brook and the Five Hell Kings?"
Kong did not want to give up Tsuru's elite force. But without Imu and the Five Elders on the front line, the truth was simple.
They could not win against the Hell Pirates.
If they turned back, they might not only fail to rescue Tsuru, they might lose themselves. Admirals. Legends. The backbone of the navy.
He could only hope Imu had seriously wounded Brook.
Otherwise, with Imu injured, who was supposed to deal with Brook, that abnormal dual fruit monster?
Brook was already several times more threatening than Rocks ever was. Kong felt it in his bones. He was not Brook's match.
If even the Five Elders could not suppress Brook, what were they supposed to do, pray for a miracle from the Navy Hero?
Could Garp, the vice admiral of the D clan, really explode into some mythic awakening and kill Brook?
Kong shook his head. That was fantasy, not strategy.
But one thing was becoming clear. The Universal Government was about to rise into the world's second great power, and Kong did not know if the World Government would still be able to suppress them in the future.
"Damn it!" Garp roared, fists trembling. "So we just pretend Tsuru and the others don't matter?"
Sengoku immediately pressed him down, palm hard on his shoulder. They were soldiers. Orders came first.
And Garp questioning his superior like this was insubordination. If Kong did not already know Garp's nature, any other commander would have punished him long ago, demotion, suspension, and exile to some forgotten outpost.
A hawkish vice admiral spoke coldly from the side.
"I doubt Vice Admiral Tsuru will die," he said. "In fact, she may become our enemy. I heard it with my own ears. Borsalino was recruiting her to join the new navy under the Universal Government."
Garp's head snapped around.
"Vice Admiral MacArthur… what are you saying?" Garp's voice turned dangerous. "Tsuru would never betray the navy."
The man, Douglas MacArthur, stood up with a blank expression, pipe between his teeth, military cap low.
"Maybe in Vice Admiral Tsuru's eyes, the Universal Government's new navy is still the navy," MacArthur said flatly. "Just under a different flag."
To him, rank mattered too. They were both headquarters Vice admiral. There was no reason he should bow his head to Garp just because Garp hit harder.
And there was another knife in MacArthur's chest.
He had heard the soldier who killed his brother, Douglas Gray, the one who shattered Bullet's forces, had joined the Hell Pirates under the name Douglas Bullet, and now served as a officer in the Universal Government's new navy.
That alone made MacArthur's blood run cold.
If he ever got the chance, he would personally kill that sinner.
Garp grabbed him by the collar.
"You're asking to die."
"Enough!"
Kong's roar shook the room. "What are you doing, fighting each other now? Are the hawks and doves really this broken?"
They were still retreating. Still bleeding. And now the navy's leaders were throwing punches at each other.
Garp tore MacArthur's pipe away, crushed it into powder in front of everyone, then stormed out without another word.
MacArthur's face darkened.
"Fleet Admiral Kong," he said, voice like iron. "Monkey D. Garp is a D. A natural enemy of the gods. His son, Monkey D. Dragon, rebelled and formed a revolutionary army to overthrow the allied powers. His crimes are obvious. And now Garp is lawless, threatening an officer like me in public. If you do not punish him, how do you expect discipline to hold?"
Kong cut him off immediately.
"That's enough. The navy needs every ounce of strength it has. Do you want to force Garp out? Do you want the navy to collapse again?"
If Garp was pushed into the Universal Government's new navy, then what?
Who was going to stop him?
MacArthur?
Sengoku and Zephyr could barely keep Garp in line on a normal day. Even Kong himself was not confident he could suppress Garp alone if it turned into a real fight.
Sengoku stepped in, voice controlled, smoothing the edge before it cut deeper.
"Vice Admiral MacArthur, I apologize on Garp's behalf," he said. "He lost his head over Tsuru. I'll compensate you with a new pipe."
"Hmph."
MacArthur sat back down, expression stiff. He knew Kong and Sengoku favored Garp, he just did not expect them to make it this obvious. Strength really did buy immunity in the navy.
But he swallowed it.
For now.
The door slammed open.
A CP intelligence officer rushed into the temporary meeting room, face drained of color.
"Fleet Admiral Kong! Disaster! Brook and the Hell Kings are accelerating a Pluton warship straight toward the Holy Land, Mary Geoise!"
The room froze.
Kong's eyes widened.
"What?! All forces, return to Mary Geoise immediately!"
He barked orders at once, instructing Vice Admiral like MacArthur to gather the defeated troops and pull back to the Grand Line. Then Kong moved with Sengoku and Zephyr, taking elite officers with them, racing back to the Holy Land.
When Garp heard, conflict twisted across his face.
Go to Mary Geoise and defend Imu and the Five Elders?
Or take advantage of the Hell Pirates' main force leaving and rescue Tsuru?
For a heartbeat, he hesitated.
And that heartbeat cost him everything.
Sengoku grabbed him and dragged him toward Mary Geoise, forcing the decision for him.
Garp missed his chance.
Vice Admiral Tsuru was left behind in enemy hands.
.....
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