Chapter 10

Red Line, Shengdimaliqiaoya 。

In the spacious, well-lit room of Pangu City, the center of power for the World Government, the Five Elders arranged themselves in order.

Nasu Shourou, the Financial Divine God, sat on the sofa and slammed the newspaper onto the table, a flash of cold light darting through his sharp eyes.

“CP9 is a bunch of useless trash; they can’t even catch a fugitive with abilities.”

The prisoner’s escape is indeed despicable.

But what truly enraged the Five Elders was that the World Government only learned of the entire incident through the newspaper.

Unforgivable.

Though unwilling to admit it, everything clearly showed the World Government’s control over the seas was weakening.

Satan Sheng squinted his eyes.

“It’s not entirely their fault if they encountered a member of Roger’s crew who awakened Conqueror’s Haki and ate the Gura Gura no Mi.”

“The Surgical Fruit user is still in Barzab Seven’s hands. Notify the Marines—send Borsalino to capture Barzab Seven and the fugitive alive.”

“This arrangement will also confuse their perceptions.”

“I concur.”

“I concur.”

Logically, for a strategic weapon as vital as the Surgical Fruit, the Divine Knights should be deployed.

Only then could the operation be guaranteed to succeed without fail.

But both the Surgical Fruit and the Gura Gura no Mi possess extreme speed and instantaneous movement; among the World Government and the Marines, only Borsalino can counter such abilities.

Purely in terms of speed, the Pika Pika no Mi is second to none on this sea—even the Gura Gura no Mi cannot claim first place.

Considering all factors, Borsalino is the most suitable choice.

“Regarding the other members of Roger’s crew...”

Satan Sheng paused: “Send CP1 to warn Rayleigh—if anything like this happens again, the agreement between the Marines and Roger is null and void.”

“I concur!”

“I concur!”

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

In the Admiral’s office, Admiral Sengoku ended his Den Den Mushi call and looked at the slacker repairing his nails.

“Borsalino.”

“Go to Leyuan immediately. The World Government demands you capture Barzab Seven and the fugitive alive.”

Borsalino put away his nail clipper, his face slack and sly: “Admiral Sengoku, my vacation...”

The man who loved slacking off the most had eaten the most exhausting Devil Fruit. Borsalino found it truly frustrating—whenever an emergency arose, he was always the one forced to act.

Sengoku gritted his teeth: “After this mission, I’ll promote you to Admiral.”

Hearing this, Borsalino’s eyes lit up.

Everything else was secondary; the real draw was that after promotion, his salary would rise to 10.8 million Berries per year.

The money gave Borsalino motivation.

“I’m leaving now.”

Watching Borsalino vanish as a streak of light, Sengoku rubbed his temples wearily. He had thought that after Roger’s public execution, the pirates on the seas would at least quiet down for a while.

【Being a pirate is hopeless—just look, we Marines captured and publicly executed the Pirate King himself.】

He never imagined Roger’s final words about the Great Treasure would plunge the entire sea into chaos.

Not only were more people taking to the seas as pirates, but even nobles from some nations were doing the same; as a result, Marine manpower grew increasingly stretched thin.

“Roger, you’ve tricked us all.”

A week before Roger’s execution, the Golden Lion stormed Marine Headquarters, destroying half of Marineford and causing countless Marine casualties before being imprisoned in Impel Down.

Since Roger’s death, the other members of his crew had behaved relatively quietly.

Only the devil’s descendant Barrett, and recently, Barzab Seven—who had Jiezou the World Government’s prisoner—had stirred up storms on the seas.

Fleet Admiral Kong is about to depart for Shengdimaliqiaoya to assume the role of Supreme Commander; from now on, the burden of the Marines will fall on Sengoku’s shoulders.

Thinking of Garp still enjoying himself in the East Blue, Sengoku immediately dialed the Den Den Mushi and roared.

“You bastard Garp!”

“Come back right now!”

Sengoku reasoned: Why should he be stuck working overtime while that bastard Garp got to enjoy his vacation? Brothers must share hardship.

The Den Den Mushi mimicked Garp’s expression.

“Nani?”

“We agreed on a three-month vacation—only half has passed. If there’s nothing urgent, I’m going back to sleep.”

Watching the disconnected Den Den Mushi, Sengoku removed his seagull hat and grabbed his spiky hair, beginning to psychologically pressure himself.

“Forget it—over the years, Garp has put in effort trying to capture Roger; even if he didn’t earn credit, he earned sweat.”

…

Leyuan , near Jiayadao.

“Captain.”

The doctor bowed slightly: “Considering all the cleaning and night shifts I’ve done these past days, please, have mercy—unlock my Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs.”

At the bow, Seven deactivated his plasma sword, his mood far from pleasant: “You’re wasting your time asking me—I’m a Devil Fruit user; I can’t open Sea-Prism Stone cuffs.”

He was just one thin layer away from unleashing his Flying Slash—but that layer refused to break.

The doctor ventured cautiously.

“Then could you ask Mihawk?”

If he couldn’t unlock the Sea-Prism Stone cuffs, how could he plan an escape? It wasn’t that following Seven was bad—but after the World Government’s failure, they’d surely send stronger enforcers.

The doctor didn’t want to die, nor did he want to be captured.

When he first ate the Surgical Fruit, he had been full of noble intentions, healing and helping in his hometown.

But then...

Because the World Government wanted the Devil Fruit, his hometown was destroyed, and he was captured. He barely escaped to Shengtingdao, only to fall into CP’s hands again.

He had thought Seven would be his savior—only to become a prisoner once more.

Most unsettling of all: after the ship reached the waters near Jiayadao, Seven stopped advancing and began lingering in the surrounding seas.

“Captain, are you looking for something?”

Seven pulled out his telescope: “Yes. Keep mopping. Don’t block my view.”

To reach the Sky Island, one must ride the Upward Current. Not only is it dangerous, but simply encountering an Upward Current is extremely rare.

It’s purely a matter of luck.

Seven decided to wait a little longer. If he still couldn’t find the Upward Current, he’d go up alone and use that golden pillar to buy Dream One.

His reason for wanting to travel by ship was mainly to cultivate feelings with Misan.

Some pirate crews rely solely on the captain’s strength to intimidate crew members; others maintain bonds through emotion; still others bind themselves through mutual interest.

Captain Seven? He wanted all three.

With his current strength insufficient to intimidate, cultivating emotion and securing mutual interest were crucial.

With the Rocks Pirates as a cautionary example, he must learn from their mistakes.

In just half a day, the surrounding seas experienced sunshine, violent storms, thunder and lightning—all in succession.

Night fell, and Seven still hadn’t found the Upward Current. “Misan, wait on the ship. I’ll go ahead and scout the way.”

Lightning split the darkness as Seven transformed into a brilliant blue bolt of lightning and shot straight upward.