After assigning tasks to Borsalino and Aramaki, Sakazuki hung up the phone.
Just like Karol, he then went on to handle the reviewing and decision-making of various documents, which, of course, would ultimately be filtered by Karol before being released.
Down below, Karol let out a soft sigh and pressed his temples.
"They've all been dispatched. There shouldn't be any problems for now..."
The Seraphim version of Sakazuki might look exactly the same, but everything else was far too different.
His presence might be subtle and hard to read, but any officer of Captain rank or higher would be able to immediately sense something was off upon meeting him.
It wasn't that they wanted to keep it from their own people in Marine Headquarters—but at a time like this, Sakazuki couldn't just disappear. The New World was like a barrel of gunpowder.
Both sides' top brass were holding themselves back. If the Fleet Admiral suddenly vanished now…
The pirates wouldn't assume he was dead. They'd think he was plotting something—an ambush, a trap, a scheme against someone.
Once those kinds of thoughts spread, people's hearts would waver. A full-scale war would erupt early. That wasn't something Sakazuki wanted to see.
Karol stretched lazily and exhaled softly.
"Haa—"
"Mapping the magma veins of the New World..."
"This really is a massive project..."
Beneath all the islands in the New World lay interconnected magma veins, evenly distributed. It could be thought of as a network of gas pipelines.
But the three End Point islands were different. The openings beneath them were much larger and connected in a chain. Over countless years, they had formed massive magma reservoirs, functioning as three giant valves.
If there was no eruption, there wouldn't be any chain reaction. No big deal.
If the first valve blew, the second valve would suppress it.
If the second valve blew, the third valve would suppress it.
But if the third valve—the last End Point island—exploded, it would be like a gas pipeline leaking after losing all its valves to a blaze...
All the islands in the New World would be triggered. The entire magma vein network (pipeline) would erupt and collapse completely...
Karol shook his head, not wanting to dwell on how far Sakazuki had gotten with the mapping.
He pressed a button on the desk, and the soundproof light barrier—similar to Rosinante's ability—faded away.
Then he began working on the paperwork.
After following Sakazuki for many years, Karol could perfectly mimic Sakazuki's mindset, tone, and way of thinking, so there was barely any difference.
...
New World. One of the End Point islands — Secon Island.
It had been many days since Red-Hair last came to investigate. The number of people on the island had gradually increased.
But these weren't residents.
They were groups of researchers stationed around the volcano crater, conducting analysis and calculations...
The New World had plenty of islands and people. There were also many scientists, though their wild, independent research was far less advanced.
At this moment.
Knock and Red-Hair Shanks had both gathered here.
The research had been going on for many days, but these scientists—whether bounty targets or captured ones—were completely stumped when faced with Vegapunk's technology, which was centuries ahead of the world.
Some, upon hearing that what lay below might have been created by Vegapunk, directly gave up on researching...
There were also many who wanted to challenge Vegapunk's genius, but after days without any progress, their frustration boiled over and they fainted from the strain.
At the center of the island, inside a temporary great hall.
Knock tossed a stack of reports at Shanks.
"Still no solution. Useless trash."
"Not a single one can crack the bomb down there."
Shanks had expected this. He flipped through the reports, his head spinning at all the technical jargon.
"This is normal."
"If the Four Emperors represent the pinnacle of piracy,"
"Then the name Vegapunk represents the pinnacle of science."
"If technology won't work, then we can only rely on abilities."
"We can't let these two damned things become something stuck in our throats."
"If we can't defuse it, Sakazuki will swallow us whole."
Even if Sakazuki lost, he could still remotely trigger an explosion here, flip the table, and destroy the New World.
Right now, only Sakazuki held the power to flip the table.
The pirates didn't have that power because Sakazuki was choking them by the throat. If they didn't want mutual destruction, they could only choose a war of attrition—a slow death.
The pirates in the New World had accumulated strength over years, but the Marines had the entire world backing them. In a drawn-out war, the pirate forces would collapse in just a few years.
By then, the Marines would inherit a relatively intact New World.
But if they managed to defuse the bomb buried here, then once the war of attrition dragged on, the initiative would fall into the pirates' hands. And if they lost anyway, they could just blow everything up... and there would be no victor.
Knock frowned slightly.
"As for ability users... there aren't any suitable ones."
"Devil Fruits with transfer abilities are extremely rare."
"There hasn't been any sign of one like that in the New World."
Knock himself was the head of the largest underworld force in the New World. If such a person appeared, he would've recruited them immediately.
If he said there wasn't one, then there really wasn't...
Shanks nodded slightly.
"It doesn't have to be transfer-type."
"Space-related abilities would also work. I happen to know Charlotte Linlin has a daughter with something like that."
Knock thought for a moment.
"You mean the Mirror-Mirror Fruit?"
"That won't work."
"The thing below is several hundred meters wide. She doesn't have the power to handle it."
That super bomb was made up of countless precise modules. Even a touch would trigger an alarm...
The Marines had set ten warning triggers. Just touching it with two fingers had already used up two of them...
The scientists were using powerful instruments to scan and analyze from the outside.
They'd already opened the magma tunnel several times.
Seven warnings had already been used. No one dared touch it anymore. Who would bet their lives on it not exploding?
Shanks stood up.
"We won't know until we try. This is the fastest option."
"Think of other methods. I'll contact Charlotte Linlin."
...
South Blue, late at night.
The Bonney Pirates were sailing across the sea like a farce.
Although they had recruited a few crew members, all of them had been secretly arranged by Dragon and Sabo.
Their purpose was simple — to let Bonney, who didn't know the first thing about navigation, drift around aimlessly.
Bonney didn't understand anything, but they certainly did. Becoming a pirate now only led to one thing—death.
That gunpowder barrel that was the New World... they didn't even dare to touch it, let alone challenge Sakazuki, who was manipulating this entire war.
They were all deeply saddened by Kuma's death, but it was already a fact they couldn't change...
When it came to Bonney's state of mind, they had chosen to ease the pressure rather than try to stop her completely.
Blocking her recklessly would only drive her insane. Instead, they had arranged for their own people to accompany her as she wandered, hoping it might at least ease her mood.
In the far distance, a faint outline of a harbor could be seen on the mountain peaks.
Sabo sat on the edge of a cliff, holding a Den Den Mushi in his hand.
"This is basically the situation..."
The Den Den Mushi's face shifted into a serious expression as Dragon's voice came through from the other side:
"Keep following her."
"It's not time to declare war on the World Government yet."
"Protect Bonney for now."
"When she starts suspecting something, head to the Grand Line."
"Our people will guide her to Alabasta. Once you're there, meet up with Nico Robin."
"Depending on how the world changes by then, we'll make our move."
Sabo chuckled softly into the Den Den Mushi.
"I got it."
"I really can't wait for that day to come..."
...
South Blue, Sorbet Kingdom, Royal Palace.
Dragon looked at the Den Den Mushi in his hand and smiled faintly.
"It won't be too long..."
In the Revolutionary Army's territories across the Four Blues, industrial development was accelerating.
Technological innovation was speeding up their armament process. At this point, they could take the entire Four Blues and bring them fully under Revolutionary Army control in a short period of time.
But the time wasn't right yet...
...
Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Inside the vast, empty audience chamber, the Elders wore grim expressions.
The blond Elder put down the intelligence report.
"Another CP stronghold in the New World has been wiped out."
"Is this really just a coincidence...?"
The sword-wielding Elder frowned.
"Whether it's a coincidence doesn't matter anymore."
"In the current situation, the Government can't control anything. Both sides have gone mad."
"When this drags on to the end, even the Holy Land won't be able to escape the fallout..."
To be honest, they were already starting to regret it...
The reason they had supported Sakazuki in the beginning was because nothing unusual had happened for decades.
They had even held secret discussions, and only after Sakazuki had carefully explained his plan to eradicate piracy had they agreed to the global military draft, the creation of more Admiral positions, and other related measures.
But the plan had never been this extreme.
It was supposed to be a steady and methodical elimination of pirates over a ten-year period.
According to their plan, the prophesied appearance of Joy Boy was expected within the next three to five years.
They had more than enough time to deal with Joy Boy first, and then use the following five to seven years as a buffer to cleanse the world.
Those five to seven years were also meant to be the Navy's steady advance to wipe out the remaining pirates.
But with Sakazuki's constant troop movements, the gathering of Admirals, and the completion of his strategic deployments...
The intensity of the New World conflict had exploded by several levels.
At this rate, the New World would collapse even before Joy Boy appeared...
No matter whether pirates or the Navy won, it would be a miserable victory.
And if the New World's chain reaction triggered a full-scale detonation, the commoners' fate was irrelevant to them.
But such a massive geologic backlash would inevitably affect even the towering Red Line.
That was something they absolutely did not want to see... The Holy Land was filled with secrets.
The curly-haired Elder gripped his cane.
"Sakazuki's ambition is probably far from small... But right now, he's tied down by the pirates. Before the final battle breaks out, he can't move freely."
"We must crush the Revolutionary Army before the New World's decisive battle explodes, or we won't be able to handle the aftermath."
Whether the Navy or the pirates won, they all had to die in the end.
The tall, thin Elder nodded.
"Exactly."
"The Revolutionary Army's suspected headquarters have already been narrowed down to twenty locations..."
"The most likely ones are the Kosoro Kingdom in East Blue, Sorbet Kingdom in South Blue, the Forgotten Lands of North Blue, and Alabasta."
The range of suspected headquarters hadn't shrunk over time... In fact, it had grown even larger, because the Revolutionary Army's operations had expanded several times over.
The curly-haired Elder frowned.
"Alabasta?"
"That traitorous bloodline again..."
The tall, thin Elder nodded.
"CP had previously detected Revolutionary Army activity in Alabasta, but all traces were suddenly wiped clean..."
"We can't afford to ignore it..."
The sword-wielding Elder spoke:
"Exactly."
"But the range still needs to be narrowed down further..."
"Twenty is still too many. In a short time, Imu-sama probably won't..."
The curly-haired Elder nodded.
"Increase the search efforts. Once we've narrowed it down to the final ten..."
"Strike immediately!"
They were already aware of the Revolutionary Army's rapid industrialization, but they didn't care too much.
It could even help them clear out some useless affiliated nations.
As for how to crush the Revolutionary Army... as long as their headquarters was destroyed, the organization would crumble from within.
Without leaders, those militias trained for only two years wouldn't be able to control kingdoms.
Their greed would devour them from the inside first.
...
A few days later, at the edge of the Red Line.
A new Marine Admiral with a head of green hair and a spinning flower blooming atop his head hovered in the air.
Aramaki stared at the massive Den Den Mushi fleet with a tone that was light but edged with fanaticism.
"Saa~"
"Become my nourishment~"
"Trash who dare to betray God!!!"
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The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg. 414 chapters in total