Zaraki turned with an amused look and gave Ace's orange hat a firm smack.
"Thanks for the concern."
"That didn't sound sincere." Ace rubbed the top of his head, and Zaraki cheerfully confirmed that it wasn't before leaning against the railing.
His gaze shifted to Issho as he returned to the subject of Ace's offer.
"I let you make your pitch for a reason. So he could decide." Zaraki shrugged. "Dragging somebody aboard when they'd rather be somewhere else is asking for trouble. If Issho heard what Whitebeard offered and still chose this miserable boat, I don't have to wonder whether he'll change his mind the first time things go badly."
Issho smiled faintly.
Ace regarded Zaraki for a moment before admitting, "You actually thought that through."
"Try not to sound so surprised."
"I'm extremely surprised."
Before the exchange could go any further, a Den Den Mushi began ringing inside the little cabin. Zaraki frowned at the familiar pururururu.
He still had a personal snail from his Marine days, largely because nobody had remembered to confiscate it amid the chaos of his departure.
Apparently, someone still knew its number.
He fetched the Den Den Mushi and returned to the deck, lifting the receiver.
Round glasses and a familiar braided goatee appeared on its face, and he grinned at the sight of Sengoku.
"Miss me already?"
"You have been gone less than two days." Sengoku sounded exhausted.
"That was fast."
"Do not make me regret calling." Issho chuckled quietly, and the snail's expression changed.
Sengoku fell silent before asking, "Who's that? Don't tell me?"
Zaraki glanced toward the blind swordsman.
Ace cover his mouth to hide a laugh, and Zaraki finally relented.
"Yeah. Found him on Hannabal."
The silence stretched until Sengoku answered in a voice that sounded almost physically pained.
"Of course you did." When Zaraki asked what that meant, he sighed. "Marine intelligence has kept Issho on a confidential list of exceptional unaffiliated fighters for years."
"With the Warlord system destabilizing, the Government has been reviewing every major fighter who might be approached if Headquarters needs outside reinforcement."
Bitterness entered his voice.
"Issho was one of the strongest names on that list."
Zaraki looked toward Issho, who merely smiled. "So I stole your recruit."
"You cannot steal someone who was never ours." Sengoku paused before adding, "Unfortunately."
Zaraki laughed. "But you didn't call just to complain."
"No. This call is unofficial, and if anyone asks, it never happened."
The abrupt seriousness in Sengoku's voice made Ace straighten and Issho grow still.
Zaraki's eyes sharpened.
"Teach?" Heat shimmered around Ace at the name.
Sengoku was silent for a moment before confirming that Teach had made another move, and Ace stepped closer to the snail.
"What happened?"
"After you and Nusjuro left Mary Geoise, the situation there fell apart," Sengoku told Zaraki. "CP0 was occupied with the Warlords, the royal delegations, and containing the political damage. Teach slipped away."
The snail's mouth tightened.
"His provisional Warlord appointment hadn't been formally revoked before he left. That mistake cost us."
Ace clenched his fist, while Zaraki understood where the explanation was leading.
"Impel Down."
"Yes." Sengoku's voice grew grim. "Teach used his Government credentials and Warlord status to get close enough to the prison that the outer defenses didn't immediately treat him as an enemy."
"And he betrayed them as soon as he got inside?" Ace asked, his face darkening.
"Essentially." Sengoku drew a slow breath. "Magellan confronted his crew personally. Teach badly underestimated him."
Ace blinked, and Zaraki's mouth twitched. "That sounds more like it."
"Magellan poisoned most of the Blackbeard Pirates and nearly wiped them out. They survived because Shiryu betrayed Impel Down."
At Ace's questioning repetition of the name, Sengoku explained with open disgust,
"The former Head Jailer. He was imprisoned for slaughtering inmates without authorization. Teach released him, and Shiryu supplied his group with an antidote before joining them."
Zaraki narrowed his eyes.
That alone made Teach more dangerous than he had been at Mary Geoise, but Sengoku wasn't finished.
"Afterward, they descended to Level 6: Eternal Hell."
Ace went quiet. Even he knew what that meant: the prison held criminals so dangerous that the World Government wanted their names erased from history.
"They opened the cells?"
"Worse. Teach forced several prisoners to fight, then took the survivors he considered useful." Sengoku's grim explanation made Ace's knuckles whiten.
"Who?"
"We don't have a complete confirmed list yet," Sengoku admitted after a pause. "But several of Level 6's most dangerous inmates are missing. We've already identified Catarina Devon, Avalo Pizarro, Vasco Shot, and Sanjuan Wolf."
Ace's face hardened with every name.
When he asked where Teach was now, Sengoku's eyes narrowed behind the snail's glasses.
"Gone. Blackbeard, his original crew, Shiryu, and the Level 6 prisoners disappeared after escaping Impel Down. We have no confirmed route or reliable sightings. Nothing."
Zaraki leaned against the railing. "So somebody picked them up."
"That's one possibility," Sengoku replied wearily. "Another is that Teach arranged transportation before entering." Either way, the result was the same. The man Ace had set out to hunt had grown beyond a dangerous former Whitebeard pirate with an unusual Devil Fruit and a few followers. He was assembling something much larger, and doing it quickly.
Ace stared at the deck. "I'm still going after him."
"I assumed you would."
Ace looked toward the receiver. "You're not going to tell me to leave it alone?"
"I would be wasting my breath." Sengoku sounded much as he usually did when discussing Zaraki. Returning his attention to the former Marine, he continued, "There's another reason I called. The Five Elders know Issho has left Hannabal with you."
Zaraki raised an eyebrow. "That was quick."
"You dropped a meteor on the island."
"That was him." Issho politely raised a hand to acknowledge his part, but Sengoku ignored the distinction.
"After Mary Geoise, the Government is treating every powerful person who associates with you as a potential threat. Dorry and Brogy rejected their Warlord charter. Jinbe rejected his. Hancock and Mihawk refused orders." His voice grew heavier. "Now one of the most dangerous unaffiliated swordsmen we were monitoring has joined you."
"You make me sound popular." Zaraki's faint smile disappeared at Sengoku's blunt response.
"I'm trying to keep you alive." Sengoku exhaled. "The Five Elders aren't going to sit still while you gather strength. Kaido and Linlin have already announced their alliance."
"I know," Zaraki said. When Sengoku reminded him that the banquet was in four days, he added, "I know that too."
"Then act like it."
The sharpness in Sengoku's voice sent Ace's gaze from the snail to Zaraki.
Onigashima was only four days away, and now Teach had broken open Level 6 and vanished with some of the world's worst criminals.
Zaraki's schedule was becoming increasingly ridiculous.
After several seconds, Sengoku spoke again, more quietly.
"If you were still in the Marines..." The words sounded reluctant. "I wouldn't have to worry this much about what Teach is building."
Something briefly changed in Zaraki's expression before he concealed it.
Sengoku recovered first, telling him to watch himself before the line clicked dead.
The snail's face returned to normal, looking pleased to be out of the conversation.
Nobody spoke for several moments.
Ace looked grim, Issho thoughtful, while Zaraki stared across the water
Teach had escaped Mary Geoise, used a Government title he had barely held long enough to reach Impel Down, recruited Shiryu and survivors from Level 6, and disappeared again.
Sengoku's warning had come from real concern, but there had been another purpose beneath it.
Zaraki slowly smiled as he recognized what the old man had done.
'That old bastard.'
Without issuing an order or asking a wanted former Marine for help, Sengoku had handed him every important piece of information about Marshall D. Teach.
Nothing in that unofficial conversation could become a recorded request, yet it had given Zaraki a trail to follow and a threat Sengoku knew he would not ignore forever.
The sea wind pushed against the little sailboat as Zaraki looked toward the horizon.
Four days remained until Onigashima, and somewhere beyond his sight, Blackbeard was gathering monsters of his own.
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