The World Government moved quickly because it had to.
Once an official account existed, every hour the truth remained hidden gave that version more time to take root.
Government communications offices across the Grand Line received the same classified directive, which Cipher Pol stations repeated and affiliated kingdoms received as formal notices.
Newspaper offices were supplied with the Government's account before independent reporters could verify what had happened outside Mary Geoise.
The wording was consistent everywhere: War Demon Zaraki had rebelled and murdered a World Noble. Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro had pursued and executed him.
Whether the world believed it was another matter.
...
A dozen nautical miles from Marineford, wind whipped white foam from the sea around more than a dozen enormous Marine warships.
They held a tight battle formation with their cannons pointed outward and Justice flags snapping overhead, enough military power to erase an ordinary kingdom from the map.
Yet the fleet had stopped.
A heavily armored World Government vessel blocked its route, with Saint Shepherd Ju Peter standing on the bow, his blond hair stirring in the wind and several CP0 agents stationed behind him.
"MOVE!" Garp stood at the Marine flagship's bow, his coat snapping behind him and every muscle in his arms rigid.
Beside him, Sengoku looked no calmer.
"Saint Ju Peter." He pushed his glasses higher, visibly struggling to keep his voice under control.
"You personally ordered this fleet halted. Marine Headquarters has received reports of open combat inside Mary Geoise involving one of our officers. We are going to confirm his status."
"No," Ju Peter said, his expression unchanged.
Sengoku's eyes hardened.
"You are blocking the Fleet Admiral and the Hero of the Marines from responding to a crisis involving one of our own men." His tone grew colder. "Do you understand exactly what kind of damage you are doing to what remains of the Marines' trust in the Government?"
"Trust?" Ju Peter looked across the fleet. "You mobilized this force because you intended to interfere with the punishment of a traitor. He murdered a Celestial Dragon in the Holy Land, and you still sailed."
Garp's fist cracked as he clenched it. "That piece of shit tried to enslave a member-state princess right in front of everyone!"
"Garp," Sengoku warned, but he was already too late.
The old Marine seized one of the massive cannonballs beside the deck gun and drew his arm back.
"You think I'm going to sit at Headquarters while those bastards carve up one of my own?! Fist Bone: Meteor!"
The cannonball left his hand with an explosive boom, traveling faster than artillery fire.
Ju Peter's eyes narrowed as his mouth and upper torso grotesquely expanded into the enormous jaws of his Sandworm form.
He inhaled, creating a violent vacuum that made the air between the ships scream.
The tremendous suction dragged the cannonball off course and into his jaws without warping space or opening any dimensional portal.
Several Marines stared as the Elder turned toward the empty sea and spat it back out.
The cannonball blasted away from the Government vessel and struck the ocean several hundred meters to the side, throwing up a wall of water that rocked the Marine formation.
"So that's how you want to do this?" Garp asked, his face darkening.
Ju Peter returned to human form. "I would prefer that you obey."
"Then you picked the wrong Marine." Garp reached for another cannonball, but Sengoku put an arm in front of him.
"Enough."
Garp turned. Sengoku was looking past him toward Tsuru, who stood near the rear of the deck with a Den Den Mushi receiver pressed to her ear.
Her face had gone completely white.
"Sengoku..." Her voice was so quiet that it sounded wrong, and the Fleet Admiral's stomach dropped.
"What happened?"
"I just received an emergency Government bulletin." Tsuru swallowed, looking between them as Garp went still.
"Zaraki fought Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro after leaving Mary Geoise." She hesitated, tightening her fingers around the receiver.
"The official report says... Zaraki was killed."
The wind continued blowing while Garp stood motionless.
For a moment, he seemed unable to react.
"No," he said, so quietly it was almost inaudible.
Tsuru said nothing.
His eyes reddened, and when he spoke again, his voice was louder.
"No. That's bullshit." He strode toward her and took the receiver. "Who confirmed it?"
The only answer was the Government bulletin repeating its sterile account: Zaraki had been executed, his body destroyed, and Nusjuro had returned victorious.
Garp's hand began trembling.
"That brat..." He clenched his teeth. "He can't be dead."
Sengoku stared toward Ju Peter, whose expression remained unreadable.
For one terrible moment, even he felt doubt.
He and Garp had both warned Zaraki, knowing exactly how dangerous Mary Geoise would be.
Had they sent him to his grave anyway?
Then he noticed that Ju Peter, who had received the same transmission, looked watchful rather than satisfied.
Sengoku's strategist instincts stirred. 'Something's wrong.'
Before he could consider it further, Garp stepped toward the edge of the deck.
"Move." Ju Peter looked at him, and Garp repeated the command in a terrifyingly calm voice. "I said move."
The pressure pouring from him seemed to tighten the sea around the fleet.
"If that report is true, I'm going to Mary Geoise." His fist clenched, and his eyes hardened. "And if it's a lie, then I'm going there for an entirely different reason."
...
The announcement soon spread beyond the Marine fleet.
The World Government wanted the story everywhere before Zaraki could contradict it, and News Coos carried newspapers repeating the official statement while reporters scrambled to verify the details independently.
The headline reached kingdoms, pirate ports, and Marine bases across the Grand Line before eventually making its way to the New World.
The Moby Dick sailed beneath a clear sky.
Whitebeard sat under the mainmast with his massive bisento beside him, while Marco, Jozu, Vista, and the other commanders gathered on deck.
The mood had been tense since Thatch's murder, his place at the table conspicuously empty.
Ace was absent too, having already left in pursuit of Teach.
A News Coo descended, and one of the crew caught the newspaper.
Conversation gradually stopped as the front page was unfolded.
Marco saw the headline first, and Whitebeard immediately noticed the change in his expression.
"What is it?"
Marco did not answer at first.
Jozu leaned closer, his face hardening as he read, before Marco finally crossed the deck and held out the paper.
"Pops."
Whitebeard took it.
The enormous headline read: WAR DEMON ZARAKI EXECUTED AFTER REBELLION.
Beneath it was the World Government's account: Zaraki had killed Saint Charlos and been branded a traitor, then pursued by Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro and executed in an isolated battle.
His body had been destroyed.
Whitebeard read it twice, then a third time, while everyone remained silent.
Finally, a low, humorless laugh came from his chest. "Gurarara... Bullshit."
Marco blinked as Whitebeard crumpled one edge of the newspaper.
"That brat warned us about Teach before anyone else did." His eyes darkened. "Then the Government announces his death immediately after dragging every Warlord toward Mary Geoise?"
His grip tightened on the paper. "I'll believe it when I see the corpse."
"There isn't one," Jozu pointed out.
"Exactly."
...
Far from the Moby Dick, a much smaller craft cut through the New World with Ace sitting near its bow.
Teach's trail had grown colder over the past several days, but he had no intention of turning back after Thatch's murder and everything else that had happened.
A News Coo circled overhead, and Ace looked up to catch the newspaper it dropped.
He froze at the sight of the headline, which filled almost half the front page.
For several seconds, he could not make sense of the words and had to read them again: WAR DEMON ZARAKI EXECUTED AFTER REBELLION.
"No." His fingers tightened, making the paper tremble, and he forced out a terrible laugh. "What kind of bullshit is this?"
He read the article about Mary Geoise, the Celestial Dragon, and the Elder who had supposedly executed Zaraki and destroyed his body. With each detail, his chest tightened further.
Zaraki was the bastard who had warned him about Teach, the man who had looked him straight in the eye and told him not to let loyalty blind him.
Ace had carried that warning back to Pops, only for Thatch to die and Teach to run, proving Zaraki right.
"You don't get to die now," Ace said quietly, staring at the article. "I still have things to ask you, bastard."
The amplified voice of a Government Den Den Mushi reached him across the sea.
Several hundred meters away, a World Government communications vessel was following the shipping route, broadcasting its official bulletin to passing ships.
"...the traitor known as War Demon Zaraki was eliminated by the supreme authority of the World Government. Let his fate serve as a warning to all who would challenge lawful order—"
Ace slowly turned his head, flames appearing around his shoulders as the announcement continued.
"—no individual, regardless of strength or reputation, stands above the authority of—"
"Shut up." Orange fire erupted around Ace, finally drawing the Government crew's attention.
"Pirate!" someone shouted, followed by another alarmed voice. "It's Fire Fist Ace!"
"Turn—!" The warning came too late. Ace had already drawn back his arm, the flames swelling around his fist until they brightened the night.
"You bastards don't get to decide his story." He punched forward. "FIRE FIST!!"
A colossal fist of flame crossed the water and struck the sea directly ahead of the Government ship with a deafening explosion.
Water shot skyward, and a towering wall of steam engulfed the shipping route, forcing the vessel to turn sharply away from Ace's course.
He watched it disappear into the mist, his fist still clenched.
Neither his rage nor his doubt had faded; he knew Zaraki might truly be dead, but after Teach, he could no longer accept the World Government's word as proof.
Ace folded the newspaper and shoved it into his bag. He would deal with Teach first, then find out the truth.
If Zaraki was alive, he would discover it eventually.
And if Zaraki really was dead, someone was going to tell him exactly how it had happened. Ace's eyes burned beneath the brim of his hat.