Chat Group Escanor 26 (Patreon)

Marineford, Fleet Admiral's room.

The doors were tightly shut, blocking out the footsteps of the messengers scurrying back and forth in the corridor.

Sengoku's fists pressed against the table, his knuckles white, as he stared at the sprawling sea chart, veins faintly throbbing on his forehead.

Akainu stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

The latest intelligence had been confirmed.

The main fleet of the Whitebeard Pirates has crossed the Calm Belt and is expected to enter the visual range of Marineford's bay tomorrow.

The Beasts Pirates, with Kaido confirmed to be on the flagship, maintain an unchanged heading and are expected to arrive at the same time.

The Big Mom Pirates, led by Charlotte Linlin and accompanied by their subsidiary fleets, are on a completely identical course.

Kaido and Big Mom seem to have joined forces.

Three factions, three pirate flags, coming from three different directions, with the same target. This is no coincidence.

Sengoku slammed his fist onto the table. "What is their motive?! It's understandable that Whitebeard wants to save Ace! But what do Kaido and Linlin want?! To take advantage of the chaos? To join forces with Whitebeard? Since when did they have that kind of relationship!"

Akainu spoke, "The motive is not important right now. What's important is that they have already arrived. Tomorrow, the naval battle begins."

Sengoku took a deep breath, suppressing his churning emotions.

"The battle plan remains as scheduled. One hundred thousand Marineford elites, the Three Admirals, the Seven Warlords of the Sea... I will recall as much of our external forces back to headquarters as possible."

"Akainu."

"Yes." Akainu responded.

Sengoku seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he just waved his hand. "To your stations."

The crowd dispersed.

Before stepping out, Akainu paused slightly, his consciousness sinking into the interface only he could see.

Pride: "I'm ready on my end. When do we start on yours?"

Absolute Justice: "Tomorrow."

He closed the interface and strode out of the conference room.

At the same time, in the Multiverse Chat Group.

[Ding!]

[Group Member 'Absolute Justice' has posted a large-scale cross-world mission!]

[Mission Name: Suppress the Growing Arrogance of Pirates]

[Mission Type: Large-scale War/Order Maintenance]

[Mission World: One Piece World]

[Mission Description: Pirate forces are becoming increasingly arrogant, openly challenging the authority of the World Government. Regardless of whether Ace, the son of the sinner, survives this incident, the massive military force assembled by the pirate side and the coordination they display will greatly fuel the ferocity of pirates across all seas. To maintain order and deter lawbreakers, it is necessary to thoroughly crush the invading enemy and strike down the pirates' arrogance at its peak.]

[Mission Objective: Ensure victory in the Marineford Battle, strike down the pirates' arrogance.]

[Participation Restrictions: None]

Strike down the growing arrogance of the pirates.

Not "Executing Ace", not "Defeating Whitebeard", not even simply "Holding Marineford".

The mission is to "Strike down their arrogance".

The objectives are to "Maintain order", "Deter lawbreakers", and "Crush their edge at its peak".

Escanor narrowed his eyes.

He recalled the Marineford War in his knowledge. That was a direct decisive battle between the Whitebeard Pirates and Marineford centered around "Executing Fire Fist Ace".

Whitebeard was the attacking side, and the Marines were the defending side.

Yet the mission issued by Akainu described a war.

Not "Marines defend, pirates attack". Instead, it was "Pirates assemble unprecedented military forces to attack in coordination, and the Marines must crush them head-on to make an example of them".

This was not the Marineford War he knew.

Escanor closed the Chat Group interface and confirmed that the mission had been accepted.

...

At night.

With a thought in Escanor's mind.

[Confirm Teleportation! Mission: Strike Down the Growing Arrogance of the Pirates!]

[Target Anchoring: Current Location of Group Member 'Absolute Justice']

[Cross-world Channel Establishing...]

Marineford, Conference Room.

Around the rectangular conference table, the highest combat powers of Marineford gathered.

Sengoku sat solemnly at the head of the table with a grave expression. Tsuru sat beside him, eyes closed in deep thought.

The three Admirals each occupied a side, while several Warlords had not yet arrived.

Garp was also in attendance. He stood by the window, his back to everyone, gazing at the bay outside.

Sengoku was making the final pre-war deployment, confirming item by item the fortress defense, troop deployment, and the positions of the Pacifista array.

"...The execution platform will be finally reinforced at four in the morning. Ace will soon arrive under escort from Impel Down, and will be publicly executed at that time. If the intelligence is true, the Four Emperors' fleets are expected to enter the visible range of the bay at dawn. Our combat objective—"

Right in the center of the conference table, the space suddenly exhibited extremely subtle distortions like summer heatwaves.

The next instant, a ball of white-golden light burst right in the center of the conference room. Amidst the light, the outline of a figure quickly condensed and became clear.

As the light receded, Escanor could be seen.

"Who goes there!" Sengoku stood up.

Garp by the window turned around, fists clenched tightly.

Aokiji's right arm had elementalized, and a bone-chilling ice spear shot out from his fingertips, its tip pointing directly three-tenths of an inch in front of Escanor's throat.

At that very same moment, a flash of golden light flickered at Kizaru's fingertips, and a light sword crossed the side of Escanor's neck from another direction, less than an inch away from his skin.

Escanor tilted his head slightly and glanced at the ice spear and light sword resting beside his neck.

The corners of his lips curved into an arc. "Everyone, don't be nervous."

The atmosphere in the room was stretched taut to the point of almost breaking.

Until—

"This is my friend." Akainu said.

A brief silence descended upon the conference room.

The expression on Sengoku's face had changed from high alertness to extreme confusion.

Aokiji was stunned, his half-closed sleepy eyes wide open at this moment.

Kizaru stared at Akainu, then at Escanor, his lips parting slightly as if wanting to say "How terrifying" but getting stuck in his throat.

Akainu's friend?

That Akainu?

He actually... had friends?

And he introduced him to everyone in such a matter-of-fact tone?

Just as everyone was digesting this shocking information and the tense atmosphere slightly relaxed, Escanor spoke, "Close friend. We are close friends."

Akainu's lips twitched noticeably.

Garp and Sengoku's jaws parted slightly.

Sengoku's Adam's apple rolled once. As Fleet Admiral, he had to be the first to regain his composure from this bizarre situation.

He took a deep breath, trying to steady his voice. "This mister, whoever you are, this is currently the Marine Supreme Operations Conference, and unauthorized personnel—"

Escanor met his gaze and spoke, "Let's not execute Ace tomorrow after all. Tomorrow, do not execute Ace."

Everyone's eyes turned cold. Even the very Akainu who had calmly said "This is my friend" just moments ago, was no exception.

There was only one exception.

Garp turned his head, casting a sidelong glance at Escanor out of the corner of his eye.