The salt air of Marineford usually brought a sense of order, but today, the atmosphere in the Fleet Admiral's office was thick with tension. Sengoku sat at his desk, his eyes narrowed as he combed through a stack of intelligence reports. The weight of the documents seemed to press down on him.
"If these reports hadn't come directly from the World Government, I would hardly believe a word of them," Sengoku muttered, his brow deeply furrowed.
Spread across the mahogany surface was a comprehensive breakdown of the Beasts Pirates. The data was disturbingly precise, detailing everything from Governor-General Kaido to his top-ranking cadres. It mapped out the current scale of their forces and provided a play-by-play of the crew's expedition over the past several months. One particular entry stood out: a skirmish between Kaido and his own daughter, Yamato. In just a few minutes of "sparring," a massive section of an island's coastline had been completely pulverized.
Vice Admiral Garp, sitting across from him, tossed aside the pages he had finished reading. His usual boisterous grin was replaced by a look of genuine astonishment. "That brat Kaido actually raised a daughter that formidable? She's going to be a real headache, Sengoku."
The reports confirmed that beyond the three All-Stars, the Beasts Pirates had bolstered their ranks with three more Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit users. However, the most alarming revelation was the existence of Yamato. According to the Cipher Pol agents, she was a woman capable of trading blows with Kaido himself.
"The intel says she's still incredibly young—only eighteen years old," Sengoku said, his finger tapping rhythmically on Yamato's photograph. "To hold your own against Kaido, you need Admiral-level combat power. I can't even imagine an eighteen-year-old Admiral in our Marine ranks."
Garp nodded slowly, leaning back in his chair. "You're right about that. She's a total monster. She reminds me of Linlin back in the day."
"No," Sengoku corrected him sharply. "At the same age, she has already surpassed Big Mom. Even Charlotte Linlin wasn't this terrifying at eighteen. Neither was Kaido, for that matter. Even Whitebeard hadn't reached this level of strength at that stage of his life."
Garp let out a short, dry chuckle. "It really gives me a migraine just thinking about it. But look here—the intelligence suggests this kid doesn't exactly get along with her old man. She doesn't seem to be a vicious person, either. Apparently, she only fought Kaido to stop him from doing something reckless. During this entire expedition, she hasn't harmed a single civilian, and she won't let her subordinates touch them. She's a person of principle."
Sengoku sighed, his tension easing only slightly. "That is a small mercy, I suppose. It's rare enough to find a sane person among pirates, let alone within Kaido's immediate family. It's a miracle she wasn't led astray by his influence."
In the eyes of the Marines, children were usually a reflection of their parents. For a scoundrel like Kaido to produce a daughter like Yamato felt less like biology and more like a freak genetic mutation.
"Even so, Sengoku, she's still Kaido's daughter," Garp's tone shifted, becoming uncharacteristically serious. "Regardless of her moral compass, her strength makes her a massive threat to the Navy. As long as she stands with the Beasts Pirates, she is just as dangerous as her father."
Sengoku fell silent, staring out the window at the bustling fortress of Marineford.
Garp continued, "So, Kaido and his crew must be wrapping up this expedition by now, right?"
"Yes," Sengoku replied, nodding toward a map. "They've occupied nearly every island in the waters surrounding Wano Country. Any pirate crews they encountered were either annihilated or absorbed into their ranks. The Beasts Pirates have grown exponentially in a very short time."
The implications were clear. Within a few years, the Beasts Pirates would likely become one of the most dominant forces in the New World.
"Whitebeard, Big Mom, and now Kaido," Garp mused, taking a slow sip of his tea. "The old legends of the sea are finally gathering their strength. The New World is about to get very lively. Tell me, Sengoku, is the Navy going to move against them?"
Sengoku shook his head firmly. "This was Kaido's first major expedition, and he led it personally. He won't allow it to fail. If we clash with them now, we'll enrage him, and that madman is capable of anything when he's provoked. Besides, even if we decided to strike, sending a single Admiral wouldn't be enough. We'd need at least two to guarantee a victory without catastrophic losses."
The logistical nightmare was clear. Between Kaido, his monstrous daughter, and a growing army of resilient Ancient Zoan users, any conflict would escalate into a full-scale war.
"That's a fair point," Garp agreed. "The Beasts Pirates are a tough nut to crack. Even if you ignore the father-daughter duo, those Ancient Zoan types are incredibly difficult to take down in a fight. Their durability alone is a nightmare for our foot soldiers."
Sengoku pulled one specific file to the top of the pile. "There's one more thing that bothers me. The reports mention that Yamato's fighting style is nearly identical to Kaido's. It makes me wonder if she also possesses a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit."
That was the question Sengoku wanted answered more than any other. It stood to reason that if Kaido was providing fruits for his officers, his own daughter would receive the rarest of the rare. While the intelligence hadn't confirmed her fruit's name, the speculation among the agents was high.
"If that's true, it's terrifying," Garp said, pausing with his teacup halfway to his lips. "A single crew with three Mythical Zoan users? Even the Whitebeard Pirates only have one. Those fruits are supposed to be rarer than Logias."
Sengoku pointed to a different page. "According to our sources, the other confirmed Mythical Zoan is a woman named Maria. She's nineteen and possesses an ability involving freezing gas—strikingly similar to Aokiji's powers."
"Freezing gas, huh? Mythical Zoans always come with those pesky extra abilities," Garp remarked.
"We need to step up our surveillance," Sengoku murmured. "We can't afford to be blind to their growth."
As the months turned into a year, the tides of the New World continued to shift. Eight months passed in the blink of an eye. The Beasts Pirates' first expedition finally drew to a close, and by all accounts, it was a resounding success. The black flag of the Beasts Pirates now fluttered over every major island in the vicinity of Wano, signaling the rise of a new era of terror on the high seas.
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