It seemed like just another ordinary day.
Marine Headquarters, Marine Main Base.
Fleet Admiral's office.
Sengoku opened the office window and gazed at the rising sun on the sea, unable to resist stretching.
This Marine Fleet Admiral, known for his seriousness, could only find a brief moment of relaxation at this time.
On the desk beside him were piles of documents and files.
"Huff..."
Sengoku couldn't help but take a deep breath.
He still had a lot of work to do and couldn't rest yet.
But before dealing with that work...
Sengoku went to the cabinet nearby, skillfully made himself a cup of black tea, and took some rice crackers as a snack.
He sat on the sofa, drinking tea and eating rice crackers, feeling quite content.
He wondered how that kid Baro was doing in the Four Seas Alliance. Zephyr had so much faith in him!
Well, there were still ten minutes of rest time.
Sengoku habitually picked up the newspaper beside him, sighing that it was another peaceful and beautiful day.
He looked down at the headline:
Amber lead Disease Cases Found in Alabasta, Four Seas Alliance Decides to Send Medical Aid to the North Sea.
Sengoku: "..."
"Ptoo!"
He spat out a mouthful of hot tea.
What the heck?!
Sengoku put down his cup, his eyes fixed on the report in the newspaper.
...
Black words on white paper—
Yesterday, a patient suffering from Amber lead Disease appeared at Alabasta port, discovered by patrolling soldiers.
Because the World Government claims that Amber lead Disease is a highly contagious disease, Alabasta immediately sealed off the surrounding area for the safety of its citizens and took in the Amber lead patient.
Due to the swift action of Alabasta officials, no other cases of Amber lead Disease have been reported so far.
According to the Amber lead patient, his hometown is being plagued by the spread of Amber lead Disease.
The appearance of Amber lead Disease is not only a problem for Alabasta but is also closely related to every country on the sea!
Therefore, under the leadership of Alabasta, after internal research and decision by the Four Seas Alliance, a large number of medical support teams will be sent to the North Sea to provide free medical assistance.
The Four Seas Alliance will do everything possible to help the countries plagued by Amber lead Disease!
...
This was the gist of it.
Sengoku gripped the newspaper tightly, his expression uncertain.
Amber lead Disease...
What is Amber lead Disease?
Ordinary people didn't know, but Sengoku, as the Marine Fleet Admiral, knew it all too well.
The so-called Amber lead Disease is not actually a disease but a different kind of "poisoning"!
Amber lead is a type of lead ore that can be used to produce tableware, coatings, sweeteners, cosmetics, and even military weapons!
The place of origin for this special mineral is Flevance, a dreamlike city once known as the "White Town."
High-quality platinum lead products have many buyers worldwide, so, with the encouragement of the World Government, the platinum lead industry quickly became the mainstay of Flevance.
For a time, platinum lead brought a lot of money to Flevance, and countless people became rich overnight!
But it didn't last long, and the terrible "Amber lead Disease" appeared.
The patient's hair and skin would gradually turn white, eventually dying in extreme pain.
The essence of Amber lead Disease is actually the symptoms of poisoning caused by the human body absorbing platinum lead ore particles.
In other words, Amber lead Disease is not a "disease" at all!
The World Government knew the properties of platinum lead decades ago, but to encourage the residents of Flevance to mine large quantities of platinum lead, they did not publicize this information.
The people of Flevance who mined platinum lead ore had no protective measures, so they were widely poisoned.
To cover up this scandal, the World Government, while assisting the Flevance royal family to escape, widely claimed that Amber lead Disease was a highly contagious disease.
Flevance was therefore isolated from the world and eventually turned into a massacre against Amber lead patients!
Countless Amber lead patients died under the swords of the World Government, and only Trafalgar Law, who was beside Rosinante, escaped, and from then on, he began to hate this world.
...
However, Sengoku did not know that any Amber lead patients had survived.
When Rosinante reported the mission to Sengoku, he deliberately concealed the existence of "Law" and used the excuse of "private matters" to temporarily interrupt his mission as an undercover agent in the Donquixote Family.
So, the current Sengoku did not connect this news to Rosinante but frowned and thought about something else:
Why did the Four Seas Alliance suddenly get involved with "Amber lead Disease"?
Although he didn't want to admit it, as one of the "dark sides" of the World Government, things about Flevance and Amber lead Disease were cleaned up.
In addition, given the serious lethality of Amber lead Disease itself, in theory, no one should be able to cross the Red Line and go to Alabasta again.
Even if a Amber lead patient happened to reach Alabasta, Alabasta had just connected to the Drum Kingdom.
As a "medical country," there must be doctors who understand the pathology of Amber lead Disease.
Based on the performance of that Ryan Rowan, he couldn't be the kind of person who unconditionally believed the World Government. The false news that the World Government used to scare ordinary people could not fool him.
So... why was Alabasta acting so exaggerated?
Not only quickly isolating the incident site but also sending medical support teams across the Red Line to the North Sea...
Wait!
Cross the Red Line? Go to the North Sea?
Sengoku's pupils suddenly shrank, and he suddenly thought of something, murmuring:
"He is..."
"He is playing dumb."
A familiar voice came from the door. Sengoku looked up and saw Tsuru, also holding today's newspaper in his hand.
"Although it's not a world-shaking event, the outside world is discussing today's news."
Tsuru walked in, sat on the sofa opposite Sengoku, and sighed.
"Goodness, this old lady hasn't had breakfast yet."
Sengoku handed the rice crackers to Tsuru, his brow furrowed, "What do you mean by what you just said?"
"This old lady hasn't had breakfast."
"Not that sentence, the one before it."
Sengoku rubbed his forehead helplessly, "Don't joke around, Tsuru-chan, that joke is like something Garp would say..."
Even so, Sengoku's expression relaxed slightly.
Years of friendship over time had allowed the older generation of Marines to know each other's thoughts.
Tsuru was probably trying to tell Sengoku not to worry and to calm down first by making a small joke.
There were two possibilities for doing this:
Either the matter itself was not worth worrying about;
Or it was useless to worry about the matter even if he did.
——Obviously, this incident was the latter.
"It's already too late."
Tsuru slowly ate the rice crackers, slowly saying, "Now the whole world probably knows about this, and the newspapers everywhere are selling like crazy."
Sengoku touched his chin, "Why?"
"What?"
"Why did he do this?" Sengoku asked.
He—naturally meant Ryan Rowan.
Sengoku had a rough guess in his mind, but he still wanted to hear Tsuru's opinion first.
"I said, he is playing dumb."
Tsuru went to make herself a cup of tea, "That Emperor is an expert at playing dumb."
Then, Tsuru brought a world map, spread it out, and pointed to Alabasta, saying:
"Alabasta is a country located in the first half of the Grand Line. To go to the North Sea, you either have to cross the Calm Belt or cross the Red Line."
"The technology to cross the Calm Belt has just had a breakthrough in the Research Institute recently. Alabasta cannot have mastered it."
"Even if that Emperor can forcefully break through the Calm Belt with his personal strength, he can't do it every time, and it's too risky that way."
"So, they only have one choice: to cross the Red Line."
"The Red Line—is the territory of the Celestial Dragons."
Tsuru's expression was calm, analyzing little by little.
"The Celestial Dragons have a feud with Ryan Rowan. If the Four Seas Alliance wants to cross the Red Line, they will inevitably face harassment from the Celestial Dragons."
"That's too troublesome and not the best solution."
"So, that Emperor chose to use Amber lead Disease as a lead, planning to take advantage of the righteous cause of treating Amber lead Disease to go to the North Sea with great fanfare."
Tsuru slowly said:
"Amber lead Disease is a tricky thing—that's what countries all over the world think. Now that someone is willing to solve it, countries will naturally welcome it."
"As a result, to stabilize public opinion, the World Government must at least outwardly support the actions of the Four Seas Alliance. A single Celestial Dragon cannot influence the overall decision-making of the World Government."
"This is an 'obvious move.' Although we can see his actions clearly, we have to follow his lead."
Tsuru touched her chin, "It's just that there's one thing this old lady can't figure out."
"Logically speaking, the East Sea, which is the weakest of the four seas, should be the easiest to establish trade routes with the Four Seas Alliance, right?"
"Why did that Emperor choose the North Sea?"
Tsuru leaned back on the sofa, turned her gaze to Sengoku, and chuckled, "The World Government must have some things that it doesn't want insignificant Vice Admirals like us to know, right, Sengoku?"
This was a rhetorical question because Tsuru was only responsible for analyzing; she would leave the rest for Sengoku to judge himself.
Hearing this, Sengoku was stunned.
He had indeed thought of it.
The World Government's deal with a pirate for a whopping 5 billion Berry—
The Op Op Fruit, Minion Island!
Purple Pen Literature
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