Akainu frowned deeply as he stared at the Birdcage before him and Doflamingo standing on the other side.
In the intelligence provided by Sean, there had been specific details regarding this move of Doflamingo's. It explicitly noted that the hardness of the Birdcage could even exceed that of Seastone. Even for an Admiral like Akainu, breaking through the Birdcage would be no easy feat.
However, it wasn't impossible.
It was precisely because of the possibility of facing the Birdcage that Sean had instructed Akainu to bring Ace and Sophia along. Originally, Sean had wanted him to take Gion and Ace, but Gion was occupied with another critical mission, so Sophia had been sent as her substitute.
If both Ace and Sophia failed, Sean had another plan: send Blueno to bring Gion to Dressrosa immediately. Or, more simply, have Blueno open a door directly inside the Birdcage for Akainu.
Of course, that was the final resort. Sean primarily wanted to see if the opposing attributes of heat and cold could break the Birdcage—a barrier that, in the original timeline, even Fujitora could not shatter.
Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit represented heat, while Sophia's Snow-Snow Fruit represented cold.
Based on the original events, there were only two ways to destroy the Birdcage: kill Doflamingo or break it by force. Clearly, none of the protagonists in the original story possessed the absolute strength to break it through brute force, and as previously mentioned, even Fujitora was unable to do so.
Essentially, relying solely on raw power was unrealistic unless Sean himself stepped in.
Therefore, they had to be clever.
Everything has a melting point and a freezing point, doesn't it?
Looking at it that way, the solution became simple. Akainu could try first, but if his temperature of over 1,200 degrees couldn't reach the melting point of the Birdcage, Ace would take over. The current Ace was capable of reaching temperatures exceeding 6,000 degrees.
And if, in the worst-case scenario, even 6,000 degrees weren't enough to melt the Birdcage, they would change tactics. If heat didn't work, they would try cold.
Although Sophia's Snow-Snow Fruit was far less powerful in terms of extreme low temperatures than the Sode no Shirayuki held by Gion—since Sode no Shirayuki could create absolute zero—it didn't stop Sophia from trying. The plan was to freeze the Birdcage to dozens of degrees below zero and then use kinetic force to shatter it.
If both of them failed, Sean still had a backup: Blueno would immediately bring Gion to the scene. He refused to believe the Birdcage could withstand absolute zero.
If it were truly that invincible, Doflamingo would have gone to Mary Geoise and deployed a Birdcage long ago... Wouldn't wiping out the entire Celestial Dragon lineage and the World Government be far more appealing? Or he could have just dropped one over the Marine Headquarters...
The truth was that the Birdcage wasn't invincible; Fujitora's abilities simply weren't suited for breaking it. Even if Gion failed and the Birdcage truly was indestructible, it wouldn't matter. Blueno would simply open a door into the interior of the cage, and Akainu would step inside and kill Doflamingo.
'''
Akainu stepped forward and reached out, grasping one of the thin strings of the Birdcage. Then, he activated his Devil Fruit ability, and his entire right arm instantaneously transformed into molten lava.
The thin white string held in his grip began to glow red as the temperature spiked.
A minute later, Akainu frowned again and released his grip. He had pushed his ability to the limit, reaching over 1,200 degrees, but while the string had turned red, it had not melted.
Clearly, the heat he generated was far from enough to melt the Birdcage.
"Fuffuffuffu! Don't waste your breath. A mere thousand degrees or so can't do a thing to this Birdcage!" Doflamingo laughed triumphantly. "I'll leave Trebol and Caesar in the temporary care of the Marines. I'll come back for them later!"
"Oh, and Sugar too!"
Doflamingo was smug. As long as he could escape this time, he could continue to use the "thing" in his possession and the secrets of the Celestial Dragons as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Five Elders.
Although the Five Elders had been rigid before, it was simply because his leverage wasn't high enough. Negotiation was all about asking for the moon and settling for the earth. Since those secrets were far too important, as long as he made some compromises and brought his demands within an acceptable range for those five old men, they would eventually agree.
But just as Doflamingo turned to leave, a Marine ran up to Akainu.
"Admiral! The female pirate has been executed!"
"Hmph. Well done," Akainu nodded.
On the other side of the Birdcage, Doflamingo froze.
Female pirate? Execution complete?
Wait... they couldn't be talking about Sugar, could they?
The thought hit him, and he immediately looked toward Sophia. In his last memory, the unconscious Sugar had been captured by that female Marine. Now, Sophia's hands were empty, and there was no sign of Sugar on the harbor ground.
"Akainu! You killed Sugar?!"
"Hmph. She was just a pirate. Don't worry; once I catch you, I'll give you the same treatment!"
"You dare... I will remember this!!"
Doflamingo was nearly driven mad with rage. Sugar had actually been killed! If he could, he truly wanted to charge forward and kill Akainu, but he was powerless against the Admiral and could only shout threats.
At that moment, Akainu's Den Den Mushi rang.
'Purupurupuru...'
"This is Sakazuki!"
"Sakazuki, this is the Five Elders. Are you currently in Dressrosa?"
"Yes. Vergo returned to Dressrosa with Doflamingo, so I pursued them."
"That is unimportant. Did you just deal with someone? Specifically, a certain ability user with a special power?"
"Indeed. Doflamingo dispatched a young girl with the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, who pretended to be pursued by human traffickers to get close to me. However, when she attempted to attack, she was stopped by a Captain under my command."
"So it really was the Hobby-Hobby Fruit... You've done well, Akainu. Immediately send this Hobby-Hobby Fruit user to Impel Down. Have Magellan lock her in the Infinite Hell for life imprisonment!"
The Five Elders breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming that the Hobby-Hobby Fruit user had been suppressed. The blond Elder hurried to give the order.
However, Akainu's response left them stunned.
"That... might be somewhat difficult."
Difficult? Had she escaped after being captured?
"What happened?"
"The Hobby-Hobby Fruit user is dead. Therefore, the request to imprison her in Impel Down is, indeed, somewhat difficult."
"Dead?!"
"Yes. If you have a need for it, I can arrange for her corpse to be delivered to you!"
"You bastard! An ability user who's dead is nothing more than a regular corpse. What the hell would we want with that?"
The blonde member of the Five Elders roared in fury before abruptly slamming the Den Den Mushi shut.
A faint smirk played on Akainu's lips. Sean had been right; once Sugar was captured, the Five Elders would undoubtedly come demanding her return. Therefore, killing her immediately and leaving them no room to negotiate was the best possible choice.
It was worth noting that the battleship Akainu was currently aboard was the very same one Sean had used during his trip to Impel Down. It was equipped with five internal Seastone execution chambers—an incredibly convenient feature.
The ability to eliminate pirates while simultaneously stripping them of their Devil Fruits made the ship Akainu's favorite asset.
Slipping the Den Den Mushi back into the folds of his Marine coat, Akainu glanced at Ace.
"Ace!"
"Leave it to me!"
Hearing Akainu call his name, Ace immediately snapped into action, his spirit surging.
'Tsk tsk,' Ace thought. 'Even the Admiral couldn't do it; in the end, it really does come down to me!'
Just as Akainu had done, Ace grabbed one of the thin threads of the Birdcage and ignited his Flame-Flame Fruit.
The flames in his hand surged, their color shifting rapidly. They transitioned from dark red to orange-red, then to a blinding yellow-white.
Finally... sky-blue flames erupted!
Reaching a staggering 6,000 degrees, the heat instantly turned the Birdcage thread glowing red, and the wire began to show signs of melting.
Witnessing this, Doflamingo's eyes widened in sheer shock. Without wasting another second, he spun around and bolted.
"Damn it! Isn't that guy using the Flame-Flame Fruit, which should be a lower tier than the Magma Fruit?" Doflamingo cursed. "How can he produce temperatures far higher than Akainu's?"
"The Birdcage won't hold them for long. I have to get out of here now!"
'''
At the same time, in the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Inside the Room of Authority.
"Damn it! Akainu already killed the Hobby-Hobby Fruit user!"
"Exactly. We finally tracked down the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, and now that she's dead, it's impossible to say who will acquire the fruit next."
"That's the problem! If Big Mom or Kaido gets their hands on it, we'll be in serious trouble!"
"This is unacceptable. Akainu must be severely punished! How dare he kill the Hobby-Hobby Fruit user without our explicit orders?"
Four of the Five Elders were absolutely livid. However, the curly-haired Elder held a different perspective.
"Calm yourselves. A pirate attacked Akainu and was killed in the counterattack; we cannot place the blame on him."
"After all, we never publicly announced the existence of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, nor did we instruct the Marine that the user must be captured alive."
"Furthermore, using such a reason to purge the First Admiral under Sean's command... that would be..."
"Looking at it from another angle, the Hobby-Hobby Fruit was secretly held by Doflamingo. Now, there's at least a fifty-percent chance it returns to our hands, is there not?"
"Therefore, the priority right now is to immediately deploy CP agents to search the entire world for this fruit."
The others listened and began to nod; his logic was sound. If Akainu hadn't raided Dressrosa, they wouldn't have even known the Hobby-Hobby Fruit user was serving under Doflamingo. That situation would have been far worse.
While they hadn't achieved the ideal outcome, it wasn't the worst-case scenario either. At the very least, they still had a chance to reclaim the fruit.
Deploying CP agents for a global search was the only logical next step.
Soon, an official order from the Five Elders was delivered to every CP department. In addition to the command, the document included a detailed illustration of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit's swirls.
Of course, neither the name of the fruit nor its abilities were disclosed. But that didn't matter; the patterns on a Devil Fruit are as unique as a human fingerprint. The illustration alone was sufficient.
The same document was dispatched to the two Fleet Admirals overseeing the Marine in the Grand Line and the New World.
However...
'''
New World.
Bernard Island.
New World Marine Headquarters, Fleet Admiral's Office.
Sean glanced at the contents of the document and grinned.
'Search for it. Go on, search with all your might. It would be a damn miracle if you actually found it!'
Thinking they could scavenge the leftovers from his hand... they were dreaming.
Not just Sugar—any ability user slaughtered by his hand would have their Devil Fruit remain exclusively within the 16th Branch.
No one else would lay a finger on them.
With a casual motion, Sean crumpled the document into a ball and tossed it straight into the trash can.