"Boss, you nailed it!" The Den Den Mushi nodded rapidly, voice bright with sudden cheer. "That's exactly what happened!"
"Focus. Who else did Marine HQ send?"
"Boss Kuzan and Boss Garp. The other Admiral I didn't recognize, but he looked like a Devil Fruit user, handles magma, kind of like Ace just hotter."
The moment Mock finished, Dante paused. He pieced it together instantly. Glancing at the receiver in his hand, he said, "So let me guess. Kuzan went after you, Garp went after Ace..."
And Sakazuki went after Teach? Figures.
"Yup!" The Den Den Mushi bobbed its head again. "Scared me half to death. When we decided to split up and run, Boss Kuzan came after me."
Mohji and Cabaji got knocked out cold almost immediately. Kuzan looked at Mock with a flat expression and said, "What are you waiting for, get the hell running." So Mock gunned the engine and fled for his life.
No wonder Teach didn't make it out, but Mock did. That was the clear perk of having someone on the inside. Teach, though, took the absolute worst of it.
Dante lapsed into thought, his brow furrowing. "Even if it was Sakazuki, if Teach really wanted to run, he shouldn't have been that easy to catch."
"Beats me!" The Den Den Mushi appeared to scratch its head. "All I heard later was Teach got caught. Oh, right."
As if recalling something, it added, "Boss Kuzan seemed pretty troubled. Said something about someone being on the way, told me to run fast. Said if I waited any longer and that man showed up, I'd never get away."
Dante stared blankly.
Wait, did Borsalino showed up too?!
Before Dante could speak, Mock interrupted.
"Hey, Boss." A beat of hesitation. "Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates are all talking about going in to rescue Black Sole. What should I do? Should I head back to the East Blue and lay low for a while?"
"About that..." Dante hesitated as well. "You might not be able to get back to the East Blue."
As he spoke, he caught Mock's stunned expression. Mock looked like he wanted to argue, but before he could open his mouth, Dante pressed on.
"You know Enel, right?"
"Who?"
"The lightning user!"
"Oh, him! What about him?"
"He's already been released. After hearing about your bounty, he's training under Zephyr-sensei and planning to get stronger to come settle the score with you! His strength..." Dante paused, then added with a sigh of genuine admiration, "is improving daily!"
Mock's eyes bulged. Cold sweat practically beaded on the snail's forehead. "Boss, save me!"
"Can't save you! That punk is furious about that slap you gave him. He's just waiting for you to come back." Dante spread his hands. He paused to consider, then added, "Of course, you can come back if you want. Why not train under Zephyr-sensei with him? Maybe the two of you could push each other, have a real competition. It's just that Enel's training... is a little heavier than what you went through last time!"
"...No need! Boss, I actually think it's pretty good out here. Not really feeling homesick right now! Better not go back and drag everyone down!"
Go back to training?
Like hell he would! That year-end training session... he never wanted to go through that again, let alone something heavier. So he wasn't going back! Go back and he would just get beaten up anyway.
Absolutely no going back.
But the Den Den Mushi scratched its head. "So what do I do now? Find somewhere to hide?"
"Hide from what? That's your nakama!" Dante exclaimed.
If he wouldn't even save his own comrade, every pirate in the New World would look down on him. Especially as the Son of the Pirate King. Even though that identity was just an accident, it was undeniably useful.
"You know your status. If you go into hiding now, how are you supposed to keep running in the New World?"
"Good point!" The snail nodded with sudden understanding. "So what should I do?"
"Announce to the whole sea that you'll save your nakama, that you'll never abandon a single one of your crew!"
"Got it! So I make the announcement, then find somewhere to hide?"
"...That works too."
"Then I won't keep you, Boss. Gotta find a good spot!"
"Go on."
*Click-click-click~*
The Den Den Mushi cut off.
Dante looked at the receiver, shook his head, and sighed heavily.
So who got the worse end of this, Teach, or Marine HQ? Three Marine Admirals deployed, plus a Marine Hero, and in the end... they missed the most important targets and caught Teach instead?
At the same time.
Marine HQ, Fleet Admiral's Office.
Just as Dante had imagined, the moment Sengoku saw the mission reports submitted by the three Admirals and Garp, his teeth started aching from how hard he gritted it.
He slammed the desk. "What were you doing? Three Admirals deployed together and you still couldn't catch him? Has that man's strength really reached such heights? Has he already claimed an emperor's throne on these seas? Take a good look at who you actually caught!"
Marshall Teach? Some absolute nobody? Just an unlucky fellow who got a bounty because of that broadcast?
What a perfect opportunity this was!
Mock, entirely alone, running straight into all three Marine Admirals. Even setting aside that old slacker Garp, three Admirals moving together to capture one pirate, that should have been a guaranteed success.
And now, the result...
Sengoku stomped over to his chair and dropped into it, rubbing his pounding forehead. "What the hell did you even catch?!"
He shot a vicious glare at Garp, who was still cheerfully munching on rice crackers. "You've got nerve sitting there stuffing your face! Stuff it till you choke, you old fool! When the Gorosei chew me out, I'm coming straight for you!"
Three Admirals plus Garp, and this was all they brought back. The World Government would mock the Marines as useless all over again.
But then, Borsalino spoke up.
"Now, now, that fellow's more than he lets on." He lounged back, leisurely picking at his nails as if Sengoku's outburst had nothing to do with him. He looked up at the Fleet Admiral. "If I hadn't happened to be in that patch of sea, catching him would've been quite the headache."
Truth was, he hadn't even been part of this operation from the start. He had just been passing through.
Lately, with everything going on, Marine HQ had been spread thin. The mission to locate Vegapunk had to be put on hold, but that was only what they told the rank and file. As the commander of the Marine Science Unit, he couldn't let it slide.
For him, this was an ongoing assignment. The World Government had never given up on recovering the scientist. Whenever he had a free moment, he was expected to be out searching. A few days ago, he just happened to be passing through those waters. Lending a hand had been purely incidental.
"Is that man really an unknown?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Sakazuki stepped forward.
"Marshall Teach. Age 37. Second Division member of the Whitebeard Pirates. Rumored to have fought with Pirate King Roger's crew since childhood. Our investigation places his combat strength as unranked within the crew. Honest, unambitious, he's known on the ship as Mr. Nice Guy." Sakazuki stood with his arms crossed, brow furrowed, voice cold. "That said, Borsalino is right. His strength is dangerous. The Whitebeard Pirates are formidable, but a man with his ability shouldn't go unranked, shouldn't fail to even make division commander. Is he deliberately hiding his strength? And if he is... what's his scheme?!"
Sengoku rubbed his chin in thought.
If only Borsalino had said this, he would have wondered whether the man was just making excuses to slack off. After all, every time Borsalino went out to catch pirates, his response was always the same lazy drawl. But Sakazuki... if he said it, then Teach's strength was genuinely immense.
Still, Sengoku fell silent. Then he went back to rubbing his aching forehead and sighed. "Whatever that man's strength is, he's not our target right now. Marine HQ has one target and one target only, Hargon D. Mock."
This should have been a flawless opportunity.
The Whitebeard Pirates were nowhere nearby. Three Admirals had converged by chance. By his calculations, against a lineup like that, Mock should have had no options left.
After all, whatever strength he once possessed, right now his ship carried only two crew members. And those two were familiar to the Marines. Buggy spent enough time with the Marines for that to be obvious. A bit of ability, but not much. If not for being on Mock's ship, Marine HQ wouldn't have even bothered keeping tabs on either of them.
Strictly speaking, the Mock Pirates overall strength wasn't great. Even though many in New World and Paradise now called them the Fifth Emperor Pirates, their true scale didn't measure up to the rank.
So how could a force like that possibly win against three Admirals? These were the highest combat assets in Marine HQ. Adding two Whitebeard crew members wouldn't change a thing.
The only one worth paying attention to was last year's supernova, Portgas D. Ace. But no matter how talented that brat was, he was still just a rookie.
And he was up against absolute monsters.
So how could they lose? All those forces, and they only caught one man?! Marshall Teach. That name alone made him go silent in confusion for couple minutes as he tried to figure out who Teach is. Not a shred of global presence. No wonder the Gorosei called Marine HQ useless.
What could he do now? Just hope some other stroke of luck came their way next time.
===============
Dear Readers and Fans,
For those eager to dive into next chapters earlier before others, I invite you to join us on Patreon. By becoming our Patron, you not only gain access to exclusive advanced chapters but also help us continue this endeavour and expand it further.
pat reo n.co m /8Ashes8
(no space)
You can read upto 30 Chapters in advance.