Big Mom was waiting for Kaido and Whitebeard's reactions to decide her next move. In reality, she was mostly waiting for Whitebeard.
After all, Kaido might just go and rampage at Marine Headquarters on his own. Even if he failed, he wouldn't die. Therefore, the key was Whitebeard.
The Marine knew this as well. Sengoku was even considering sending someone to contact Whitebeard. But that seemed inappropriate; after all, Whitebeard was a pirate, and they were the Marine.
Well, in the current situation, these concerns could be temporarily set aside. So, who should he send?
Sengoku had a headache; he couldn't think of a suitable candidate. After a long while, Sengoku sighed.
What a mess!
On the vast ocean, under the azure sky, a gigantic ship was slowly sailing. It was a whale-shaped vessel, a terrifying monster on the sea, possessing an unstoppable momentum that seemed to crush everything in its path.
And the owner of this magnificent ship was a man who was absolutely worthy of it. Or rather, the ship was worthy of the man; his aura was far more terrifying than the ship itself.
Because the man's name was Edward Newgate. People on the sea called him: Whitebeard!
At this moment, the world's strongest man was sitting casually. He was a towering figure, radiating an oppressive presence. Right now, Whitebeard was looking at the person before him, someone he hadn't expected.
To be precise, there were two people, two people he knew very well. A man and a woman. The man was tall, broad-chested, with well-defined muscles. He had a scar over his left eye, and his eyes were blue. The woman was intelligent and calm.
These two were Monkey D. Garp and Tsuru, both current Vice-Admirals of the Marine!
"Garp, I never thought I'd see the day when the Hero of the Marines would sneak onto my ship," Whitebeard said.
"You think I wanted to come? If it weren't for Tsuru, I wouldn't set foot on this mess of a ship," Garp replied. Perhaps only he would call the renowned Moby Dick a mess.
"Gurararara, so, what brings the two Vice-Admirals here?" Whitebeard asked, looking at Tsuru.
This seemingly delicate beauty was not to be underestimated. After all, she was known as the Great Staff, the woman who saved Marine Headquarters during the previous attack.
"Whitebeard, we're here to talk about the Romilava incident," Tsuru said, looking at Whitebeard. As her words fell, a terrifying aura erupted from Whitebeard.
"Bastards, you dare!" A furious roar echoed, and another terrifying aura emerged.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The two powerful auras collided, causing cracks to appear in the ship's cabin. This terrifying clash shocked the members of the Whitebeard Pirates on the other side of the ship.
"Pops wouldn't be fighting with Garp, would he?!" someone asked nervously, looking worriedly towards the source of the auras.
Although they were members of the Whitebeard Pirates, with the world's strongest man as their father, they were usually fearless.
But that was Garp! The legendary Marine Hero, the powerful figure who had chased Roger all over the world.
If there was anyone in the world who could match Whitebeard, Garp was definitely one of them.
"Probably not. If they were really fighting, it wouldn't be just like this," Marco said, also looking towards the other side of the ship, though he couldn't see anything.
However, Marco knew that if Whitebeard and Garp were truly fighting, the commotion would be earth-shattering.
As expected, the clash of auras disappeared after a moment, and everything returned to calm.
"Gurararara, Garp, you're still as tough as ever!" Whitebeard laughed, his aura withdrawn, seeming to be in a good mood.
"So, about Vista, what do you want to say?" After laughing, Whitebeard turned serious, looking at Tsuru. He knew that Tsuru was the one he should be talking to. That reckless Garp was just acting as a bodyguard.
"We regret Vista's death as well..." Tsuru began slowly, but was interrupted by Whitebeard.
"Hah! A great pirate dies, and the Marine regrets it?" Whitebeard scoffed, anger rising in his heart.
Tsuru looked at Whitebeard, seemingly not minding the interruption. She continued after Whitebeard paused, "Don't get ahead of yourself. This time, Jack the Drought, Charlotte Perospero, and... Akainu also died."
"So, what's your point?!"
"What I want to say is, don't you think this is suspicious? Everyone in the capital died, there's no living thing left on the entire island, and their bodies can't be found."
Whitebeard fell silent. He wasn't stupid; after careful consideration, he naturally found this incident filled with inconsistencies.
"There's a key person involved, someone even more crucial than Akainu, yet rarely mentioned in the narrative."
"Who?"
"Hozuki Ranzuki!"
This name immediately reminded Whitebeard of that handsome young man.
"That guy who claimed to have killed a Celestial Dragon, the strongest of the new generation?" he said slowly.
"Yes, that mysterious yet extraordinarily powerful young man," Tsuru said in a deep voice, all the information about Ranzuki flashing through her mind.
"Don't forget why they gathered on that island in the first place.
"The mystical tree, the fruit that can remove the Devil Fruit curse!
"And where did this news come from? The Ninja Pirate Crew founded by Hozuki Ranzuki!
"Don't you think all of this is very strange?"
After finishing, Tsuru looked up at Whitebeard.
After several seconds, Whitebeard finally spoke: "The Ninja Pirate Crew... Your purpose isn't just this, is it?"
He naturally wouldn't believe that this was the sole reason for Tsuru and Garp's arrival. If it were just this, there would be no need for these two pillars of the Marine to risk their lives coming here.
Hearing this, Tsuru sighed inwardly. Some things couldn't be avoided after all.
"Naturally, it's not just about this. We have another purpose for coming here: To prevent a war."
"Prevent... a war." Whitebeard looked at Tsuru, thinking, As expected.
Their purpose was indeed the potential war.
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