Midway through the Grand Line
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Bad news! An urgent report just came in!"
The doors to Sengoku's office were abruptly thrown open as a frantic marine barged in,
delivering an emergency report from the Grand Line.
Originally, this report should have been received by Kong,
but due to the urgency of the situation, he had already departed to assume his new role as Supreme Commander of the World Government.
Sengoku, the next Marine Fleet Admiral, was set to be officially appointed soon.
Even though he wasn't yet Fleet Admiral in title, he had already begun handling its responsibilities.
With his promotion, Sengoku found himself overwhelmed with an increasing workload.
Within the Marines, aside from himself, Garp, and Vice Admiral Tsuru, there were only a handful of truly reliable officers.
He had been considering whether to organize a large-scale recruitment drive after taking office.
"What happened this time?"
Setting down the recruitment draft he was working on, Sengoku instinctively reached for the report.
"What… Kaido got into a fight?!"
Reading the brief message, Sengoku abruptly stood up.
He suddenly recalled that his subordinates had recently spotted Kaido in the first half of the Grand Line.
And now, this report…
Could it be… that guy went to the first half of the Grand Line just to fight someone?
But… who could possibly be worth that kind of effort from Kaido?!
Puru puru puru puru....
Just then, the Den Den Mushi on his desk rang.
"Hmm?"
Frowning at the call, Sengoku hesitated for a moment before picking up the receiver.
"Say what you need to say, and make it quick! I don't have time for nonsense!"
"Uh…"
The person on the other end seemed momentarily stunned by Sengoku's bluntness then after a brief pause, they burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Sengoku, guess where I am right now?"
"Damn it, Garp! Do you know how busy I am?!"
"If you're heading back to the East Blue, just go! Don't waste my time with useless crap. If you don't have anything important to say, I'm hanging up!"
With a mountain of responsibilities piling up due to his promotion, Sengoku was already irritated.
The last thing he needed was Garp calling to mess around instead of helping.
"Alright, alright. In that case, forget it. I was going to tell you about Kaido getting his ass kicked, but…"
"WHAT?!!"
Sengoku's eyes widened in shock, and he immediately yelled into the receiver,
"Garp! Don't hang up!"
"Huh? But aren't you super busy? I wouldn't want to disturb you…"
"No! Not busy! I'm totally free right now!" Sengoku growled through gritted teeth.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Well then… I'm feeling sleepy."
"You—!!"
Sengoku's face darkened instantly.
If Garp were standing in his office right now, he would have already beaten him senseless.
"Tell me and I'll give you a whole bag of senbei (rice crackers)!"
"Nope. Two bags!"
"One bag!"
"Two bags and a cup of tea!"
"You bastard, two bags of senbei, that's it!"
"Alright then!"
"You piece of—!"
Sengoku instantly regretted bringing this up. Hearing Garp agree so easily, veins bulged on his forehead.
He glanced at the communications officer standing in front of his desk.
The marine immediately understood, turned around, and quickly left the office.
"Where… are you right now?"
"The Calm Belt!"
"What the hell are you doing there?"
"Didn't you give me time off? I missed my grandson!"
"When did I ever say you had time off?"
"Just now!"
"I—"
Sengoku felt a headache coming on. He decided not to argue further and got straight to the point.
"What's going on with Kaido?"
"Dunno!"
"Damn it! Can you take this seriously?!"
Sengoku's furious roar echoed out of the office window, reaching all the way to Marineford's central plaza.
"Yelling won't help…"
"All I know is that when I got here, someone was already beating up Kaido."
"I'm trying to figure out what's happening too!"
"Are you sure you're not seeing things?" Sengoku found it hard to believe.
"Hahaha… Well, I might be exaggerating a little, but that's basically what's happening."
"You wouldn't believe it if you weren't here yourself. It's hilarious…"
"Kaido looks like a damn turtle stuck in water—he's trapped in midair!"
"Stop talking nonsense! You have a surveillance Den Den Mushi on your ship, right? Turn it on for me!"
Sengoku wasn't in the mood to decipher Garp's nonsense. Seeing was better than trying to interpret whatever nonsense Garp was spewing.
After hanging up, he used another Den Den Mushi to summon all Vice Admirals and higher-ranked officers at Marineford to his office.
Within two minutes, nearly every high-ranking officer present at headquarters had gathered, with the exception of those currently on missions.
As they entered, they all turned toward the projection screen inside the office.
The moment they saw what was displayed—
"Admiral Sengoku, did Kaido fall into the water or something?"
"Wait… Even if he did, what's the big deal?"
Two Vice Admirals stared at the image in confusion.
"This…!"
At that moment, a still-Vice Admiral Aokiji stepped into the office. His eyes fell on the projection and after studying it carefully, he couldn't help but inhale sharply.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, this…"
"This is a live feed. Garp is broadcasting it via his surveillance Den Den Mushi."
"As you can all see, Kaido is indeed in the water… but this water isn't in the ocean—it's floating in the sky."
"Garp, adjust the angle lower."
Since the surveillance Den Den Mushi could only transmit visuals and not sound,
Sengoku had to yell into the nearly asleep Den Den Mushi on his desk.
Fortunately, the assembled officers were already used to the antics of these two Marine legends,
so no one found it particularly strange.
As Garp adjusted the angle, the entire room collectively sucked in a breath.
They couldn't determine the exact size of the deserted island below,
but the massive sphere of water floating above it,
with Kaido—transformed into his colossal Azure Dragon form—trapped inside, served as a clear reference point.
From their perspective, Kaido's enormous body didn't even take up a tenth of the water sphere.
Which meant… The sheer scale of that water sphere was unimaginable.
"W-Who is that?"
"Someone actually managed to trap Kaido?"
"And judging by the situation, Kaido doesn't seem able to fight back at all…"
In an instant, the office erupted into exclamations and discussions, turning into a chaotic mess.
"Ahem… ahem…"
At that moment, a middle-aged woman who had been seated in the back coughed twice before standing up and speaking slowly.
"To be honest, this is only possible because it's Kaido."
"In this world, aside from Kaido, no one else could possibly withstand that water sphere."
"Especially Devil Fruit users—if they were inside, their situation would be far worse than Kaido's."
"And as for someone who isn't a Devil Fruit user… well, I think we all know what the outcome would be."
Hiss!!
Hearing Tsuru's analysis, a chorus of sharp intakes of breath filled the office.
She was right. How long could a normal person survive trapped underwater?
Even for them—Vice Admirals known for their physical prowess—at best, they'd last twenty minutes.
Wait… no, even if it were just ten minutes, they could swim to the edge and escape, right?
With that thought, someone immediately objected.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru, you're exaggerating a bit. Even if I fell in, I could swim to the edge and get out."
"Yeah, there's no way a living person would be trapped to death by a water sphere."
"Kuwawawa, If this old man fell in, I doubt I'd last even a minute!"
"Hah… do you really think you can swim faster than Kaido in his Azure Dragon form?"
Admiral Kizaru, who had instantly recognized the terrifying nature of the water sphere, pursed his lips and spoke lazily.
Hearing his words, some people wanted to argue, but at that moment, someone finally noticed a crucial detail.
"Wait, something's off… You actually can't survive in that water sphere, and escaping is impossible."
"Look at it carefully—the sphere is moving along with that white figure inside."
"Unless you deal with that person inside, you'll never get out."
"And to defeat someone in the water… unless you're a Fishman…"
A Fishman?
Upon hearing that term, for some reason, an image of a towering, muscle-bound figure carrying a strange weapon suddenly flashed through Kizaru's mind.
As if realizing something, he quickly moved closer to the projection.
However… after staring for a long time, the figure inside was too small to identify.
Frustrated, he had no choice but to turn toward the Den Den Mushi on Sengoku's desk and say—
"Vice Admiral Garp, could you move in a little closer?"
"I want to get a better look at that white figure."
"Huh?"
Kizaru's request instantly surprised everyone in the office.
Did this guy just… show genuine interest in something?!
Since when did Kizaru actually care about anything?
What they didn't know, however, was that Kizaru's concern wasn't about the situation itself
—It was about money.
(End of Chapter)