Kizaru was currently sitting lazily inside his office. His body was half-slumped over the chair while his legs rested comfortably on the table in front of him. His eyes were half-closed, and he looked as if he was moments away from falling asleep completely.
The entire room carried a quiet and relaxed atmosphere.
Then suddenly—
Purupurupurupurupuru...
The ringing of a Den Den Mushi echoed throughout the office.
Out of pure habit, Kizaru first picked up the black Den Den Mushi on his left wrist. Without even properly opening his eyes, he casually answered in his lazy tone, "Hello... who is there?"
But the Den Den Mushi continued ringing.
Kizaru blinked slowly.
A moment later, realization appeared on his face.
"Oh... this was not the one."
Still maintaining his relaxed posture, he turned his head slightly and picked up another Den Den Mushi lying on the side of the table. The ringing immediately stopped the moment he answered it.
As soon as Kizaru picked it up, Sentomaru's urgent voice came from the other side.
"Where were you, Uncle?! I've been calling for so long! This is urgent!"
Hearing the seriousness in Sentomaru's tone, Kizaru's expression became slightly more attentive, though his voice still carried its usual lazy drawl.
"What is such an urgent matter~? I was about to fall asleep, you know."
The moment Sentomaru heard this, he immediately spoke in a heavy voice filled with tension.
"This is no time to rest, Uncle. A Celestial Dragon is dead. Saint Jalmack has been killed by Gojo Satoru."
The moment those words entered Kizaru's ears, all traces of laziness and sleepiness instantly disappeared from his face.
His eyes opened completely.
The relaxed posture he had maintained until now vanished as he immediately sat upright in his chair and tightly held the Den Den Mushi in his hand. The atmosphere around him changed drastically in an instant.
"What?"
For the first time, genuine seriousness appeared in Kizaru's voice.
"How is that possible? Didn't the guards and Marines do anything?"
His brows furrowed slightly as he continued questioning rapidly.
"And what were you doing there? Who exactly has the guts to kill a Celestial Dragon?"
The pressure in his tone became far heavier than before.
On the other side, Sentomaru quickly answered after hearing Kizaru's barrage of questions.
"The Celestial Dragon was traveling like he usually does. Saint Jalmack was moving with his guards and the whole entourage."
Sentomaru paused briefly before continuing in a grim tone.
"But Gojo Satoru was far too powerful for them to handle. He killed the guards within minutes."
Even now, Sentomaru still found the entire scene unbelievable.
"And not only that," he continued, "even after I received the news that Gojo Satoru was attacking Saint Jalmack and rushed toward the location as quickly as possible... he still killed Saint Jalmack directly in front of me."
Sentomaru clenched his teeth slightly while recalling the scene.
"I tried to stop him, but I failed. Even the Pacifista attacked him, but his Devil Fruit powers—the ability that creates some kind of invisible barrier around him according to our information—worked perfectly there."
A faint sound of destruction echoed from Sentomaru's side of the call as the battle continued in the background.
"The Pacifista's laser attacks were completely useless against Gojo."
Sentomaru's voice became heavier toward the end.
"And Saint Jalmack was decapitated."
As soon as Kizaru heard this, he let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead lightly.
"Sigh... my workload is going to increase again."
Even though his tone still sounded lazy on the surface, the seriousness hidden beneath it was obvious now.
Then Kizaru immediately spoke in a much more focused voice,
"Do your best to stop the movements of Gojo Satoru. Do not let him escape from the Sabaody. Keep him trapped there in Sabaody no matter what."
On the other side of the Den Den Mushi, Sentomaru answered without hesitation.
"Don't worry about it. I'm going to use every Pacifista under my control and stop him at any cost."
The call ended shortly afterward.
The moment Kizaru placed down the Den Den Mushi, he immediately stood up from his chair. The laziness he usually carried around had almost completely vanished now. His expression became much more serious as he quickly left his office.
The Marines Headquarters remained busy as usual, but Kizaru ignored everyone around him and headed straight toward Sengoku's office at an unusually fast pace.
Bang!
Without even bothering to knock, Kizaru directly pushed open the door and entered.
Inside the office, Sengoku was sitting behind his desk while casually eating chips from a packet. On the side couch, Garp was doing exactly the same thing, loudly chewing chips without a care in the world.
The atmosphere inside the office had been completely relaxed just moments ago.
As soon as Sengoku saw Kizaru barging in, he frowned slightly and said,
"Borsalino, what are you doing? Since when did you start entering without even knocking, just like Garp?"
Garp casually glanced toward Kizaru while still eating chips noisily, not caring at all about Sengoku's complaint.
However, Kizaru completely ignored the remark and immediately said in a serious tone,
"There is major trouble."
The room instantly became quieter.
"A Celestial Dragon has been killed through decapitation."
The moment those words were spoken, the chip packet slipped directly from Sengoku's hand and fell onto the floor.
For a brief moment, Sengoku completely froze. His eyes widened heavily while his mouth remained half-open, and the half-chewed chips inside could still be seen.
Even the atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavy.
Then, as if finally snapping back to reality—
BANG!
Sengoku slammed both hands onto the table and abruptly stood up from his chair. The force behind it caused the papers on the desk to shake violently.
"What?!"
His voice thundered through the office.
"Are you serious?!"
Even Garp, who was usually completely nonchalant about almost everything, stopped chewing for a moment. Normally, if he heard that someone had beaten up a Celestial Dragon, he might have even laughed at the situation.
But killing a Celestial Dragon was entirely different.
This was not some ordinary incident anymore.
This was a completely different level of escalation.
Even Garp's expression became more serious now as he slowly lowered the chips in his hand.
Kizaru nodded lightly and said,
"Yes, I am certain."
His voice remained calm, but the gravity behind his words was unmistakable.
"Gojo Satoru—the one who has recently become quite famous. The same person who almost destroyed Enies Lobby and fought against five Vice Admirals."
Kizaru paused briefly before continuing.
"He is the one who did it."
The room fell silent again for a second.
"He killed Saint Jalmack."
After hearing Kizaru's words, Sengoku violently slammed his fist onto the table once again.
BANG!
Small cracks immediately spread across the surface of the desk from the sheer force behind the impact. The chip packets scattered slightly while several papers fluttered into the air.
"Damn it!" Sengoku roared angrily.
Veins bulged faintly on his forehead as frustration filled his face.
"Why the hell is something like this happening at a time like this?!"
The atmosphere inside the office became extremely heavy. Even the Marines standing outside the office could faintly hear Sengoku's furious voice.
Then Sengoku narrowed his eyes and immediately asked,
"Why did he target Saint Jalmack specifically? Is there any information on that?"
Kizaru adjusted his glasses lightly before replying in a calm voice,
"Not exactly. But from the way Gojo hunted Saint Jalmack down..."
Kizaru paused briefly.
"It seems he must have had some kind of personal vendetta against him."
The moment Sengoku heard this, his headache became even worse. He pressed a hand against his forehead for a second while taking a deep breath.
A personal vendetta.
That made the situation even more troublesome because it meant this was not some accidental conflict or impulsive attack. Gojo had deliberately targeted a Celestial Dragon with full intent to kill him.
This was essentially a direct challenge to the authority of the World Government itself.
Even Garp, who had remained silent until now, had a much more serious expression than before. The office no longer carried even a trace of its earlier relaxed mood.
Sengoku quickly understood that there was no more time to waste. Immediate action had to be taken before the situation spiraled even further out of control.
He straightened his posture and turned toward Kizaru with an extremely serious expression. After swallowing the remaining chips in his mouth, Sengoku directly issued the order.
"Admiral Kizaru."
His voice was heavy and firm.
"I immediately order you to head to Sabaody and bring Gojo Satoru back here."
Sengoku's eyes became colder as he continued,
"Alive or dead."
"He must not escape."
After hearing the order, Kizaru made an expression as if everything had gone exactly as he expected. It was obvious from his face alone that he already knew his workload was about to increase tremendously.
Still, unlike his usual self, he did not complain this time.
Even he clearly understood how serious the matter had become.
A Celestial Dragon had been killed.
That alone was enough to shake the entire world.
So Kizaru simply nodded lightly and turned around without saying anything unnecessary. He immediately walked out of Sengoku's office while maintaining an unusually serious demeanor.
Soon afterward, preparations throughout Marineford began moving rapidly.
Kizaru boarded a Marine battleship, and not long later, the massive ship departed from Marineford at high speed toward the Sabaody Archipelago. The sea behind the battleship churned violently as it cut through the waters.
And meanwhile, back at Marineford itself, the atmosphere had already entered a state of emergency.
Orders were being shouted everywhere. Marines rushed across the headquarters while communication Den Den Mushis rang nonstop.
The fleet was quickly being assembled.
Vice Admirals were already taking their positions.
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