At Naval Headquarters in Marineford, Marshal Fleet-Admiral listened intently to Garp's report. "A great swordsman who rivals Hawkeye? Wait, you think she won?" Sengoku's eyes widened in disbelief.
"The Marines in Loguetown were saying it, I don't know for sure," Garp's voice boomed over the phone snail. "I fought her too, and her strength is no joke! Hahaha, a great female swordsman! That brat Hawkeye must be embarrassed."
Sengoku's face grew serious. "Two women and one man? What's the deal with the man?"
"I didn't get much contact with him," Garp replied. "But he has Conqueror's Haki. His strength doesn't seem to match it, but what's really strange is that both women seem to obey him."
"He commands their obedience?" Sengoku pondered. "A man with Conqueror's Haki and the potential of a king can't be weak. He must be hiding his true strength."
"Hahahaha, who knows?" Garp laughed. "Maybe he's hiding something."
"Garp, even you couldn't catch them," Sengoku said grimly. "This situation needs to be taken seriously. Stay in the East Blue and keep an eye on things."
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Garp replied, hanging up before Sengoku could.
Sengoku shook his head, a sense of unease settling over him. "I'll have to contact the newspaper later. We can't let this get out until we have a plan," he said to Vice Admiral Tsuru, who sat across from him. "A swordsman on par with Hawkeye is a huge threat. We need to decide whether to arrest her or try to recruit her."
"We need to act quickly. News like this spreads like wildfire," Tsuru said. "We also need to contact Crocodile. This situation might have something to do with him."
In Alabasta, a phone snail interrupted the tranquility of the Rainbase casino. Crocodile, lounging in his chair, answered the call.
"Hey, Crocodile, do you have a sister?" the voice from Marineford asked.
Crocodile nearly choked on his cigar. "What?!" he yelled, but after confirming it was Naval Headquarters on the line, he composed himself. "What are you talking about?"
"A woman is reported having the same Devil Fruit ability and clothing as you... we think it's important."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Crocodile said, his eye twitching. "This is ridiculous." He had a secret he never wanted to reveal—his past as a woman. The last call from Hawkeye suddenly made sense. He hung up and turned to Robin. "Robin, if this group of people comes to the Grand Line, issue a mission to investigate."
He wanted to see this imposter for himself. Fear? Not a chance. The desert was his domain, and he had absolute confidence in his power.
"Understood, Boss," Robin smiled, her eyes glinting.
In the New World, Morgans, the head of the World Economic News Agency, was in a frenzy. "The front page! It has to be on the front page!" he squawked. "A female Hawkeye from the East Blue? And she won? And a woman who's a dead ringer for Crocodile? This new crew is a goldmine!"
He couldn't believe such a big story had come from the quiet East Blue. "And that man! The one who stood behind them and didn't move! The more silent he is, the more terrifying he must be!" Morgans paced back and forth, urging his staff to work faster.
Just as he was imagining the massive profits, a staff member interrupted him. "President, the Marines just called. They said to be careful. We can report on the female Hawkeye, but not the others. They don't want us to announce their true identities before they've decided on a bounty."
"And the Shichibukai from Alabasta also called," the staffer added. Crocodile had seen the images of the gender-bent version of himself and, mortified, had called to stop the press from publishing them.
"I'm Morgans!" the albatross yelled. "As the king of news, no one tells me what to do!" He paused. "But how much is the Marine willing to pay this time?"
The next day, newspapers were delivered to every corner of the world. The headlines were a sensation. The front page featured a striking image: a man and a woman, both clad in similar jazz wine-red coats, accompanied by an explosive headline. The interior pages showed ghostly outlines of a woman in a trench coat and another in a fur coat, standing beside a mysterious man with a question mark over his head.
The world reacted with a mix of disbelief and fascination.
"Hawkeye lost to a sister version of himself?"
"The number one swordsman's throne is now held by a woman? This has to be a lie!"
Many dismissed the news as another sensationalist stunt by Morgans, the notorious head of the World Economic News Agency. They found the idea of a female swordsman, especially one from the supposedly weakest sea in the world, defeating the legendary Mihawk to be completely absurd.
However, a detail in the report gave them pause: a picture of Hawkeye with a fresh wound on his chest. Even the most hardened pirates and world leaders, including the Shichibukai and the Four Emperors, were stunned. Could it be true that a woman in the East Blue had defeated Mihawk?
The news sparked a furious debate, especially among swordsmen who felt the integrity of their craft had been mocked. The swordsmen were especially angry about the implication that such a powerful woman would submit to a mysterious man.
On a forested island in the New World, the Red Hair Pirates were in the middle of a lively banquet.
"Captain, you have to read this! Something wild happened in the East Blue!" shouted Howling Gab, a crew member with dark red hair.
The crew quickly grabbed the newspapers and read with stunned expressions. They all turned their eyes to their captain, Shanks.
"What? Why's it so quiet?" Shanks asked, just as he was about to take a sip of beer.
Ben Beckman, his first mate, handed him a newspaper. "Don't drink yet."
Shanks took the paper, took a swig of his beer, and read the headline. A long silence followed. Then, the sound of his glass shattering echoed through the air. Everyone went quiet, unable to see the expression on their captain's face.
"I think the captain's angry because Mihawk is his friend," someone whispered. "He's always been serious about his rivalry with him."
Suddenly, a roar of laughter erupted from Shanks. "Pfft...hahahahaha! Mihawk? A Hawkeye sister? This is priceless! I knew this was his true face all along!" Shanks laughed so hard he slapped his legs. "He always acted like such a serious, handsome guy, and now the newspaper shows him as a glamorous girl in the same clothes? He must be so embarrassed!"
The crew joined in the laughter, relieved that their captain hadn't changed.
"The captain doesn't care that Hawkeye lost?" a new member asked.
"You're new here," another replied. "No one would believe this, right?"
In the distant seas, on Whitebeard's pirate ship, Vista, the top swordsman of the crew, was smoothing his mustache. "I never got the chance to fight him. How did he lose?" he said, his hands shaking in disbelief.
"Hahaha, Vista! Your new goal is to challenge a female Hawkeye!" Marco, the first division commander, joked.
"You bastard, what are you talking about, Marco?" Vista snapped. "I'm a gentleman. I would never fight a lady!"
Like most others, he couldn't bring himself to believe the news. It wasn't until the Marines' bounties were released days later that they realized just how wrong they had been. Women, they discovered, were not to be underestimated.