"You must be kidding! Why the hell would I take orders from a Marine?!"
"While the Shichibukai are directly under the World Government, you still need to coordinate with the Marines. Could you cooperate a little, Sir Buggy?"
"Well, since you put it that way, I guess I'll cooperate with you… but first, how about you remove this gravity!"
Fujitora spoke to Buggy calmly. If one ignored the steadily increasing gravity, he really did seem like a kind and gentle old man.
Under the influence of Fujitora's gravity, Buggy, who had just regained freedom, was once again pinned to the ground. It wasn't until he agreed to Fujitora's request that the Admiral finally lifted the gravity.
"Apologies, but I'm just a new recruit. And you Shichibukai are all lawless scoundrels, so if I want your cooperation, this is the only way."
"Please refrain from any tricks, otherwise I will personally pay you a visit at an appropriate time, Sir Buggy."
That's just the kind of person Buggy was. The only way to get him to act properly was to apply enough pressure and intimidation. After Fujitora's "gentle and friendly" conversation, Buggy obediently picked up the Den Den Mushi to relay the message to Marines.
As for faking orders?
He didn't have the guts.
As someone who had seen plenty of big events, Buggy was quite certain that Fujitora might lose, but it wouldn't be easy to completely stop someone like him from leaving.
Unless someone held him back, Fujitora would return to Marine Headquarters sooner or later.
And as soon as he asks, he'll find out exactly what Buggy had done.
So being honest and relaying the message was clearly his best option.
"Be sure to inform them of the specific situation in Dressrosa."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. You Marines sure have a lot of demands."
Saying the toughest-sounding words while acting completely obedient. At this moment, Buggy felt like slapping himself. What the hell had he been thinking earlier, actually daring to talk back to Fujitora? It completely went against his life principles.
Soon, Buggy arrived at an area with a stable enough signal for communication. He pressed the button on Fujitora's Den Den Mushi. Admirals had direct communication lines with Marine Headquarters, so there was no need to dial a number.
"Hello, hello? Marine Headquarters? This is Lord Buggy. I'm here to relay a message on behalf of your Admiral Fujitora."
He couldn't distort the facts, but he could exaggerate and hype them up. For example, he could make a point of emphasizing how he took down Shiryu, the escaped prisoner from Impel Down, how he uncovered the conspiracy in Dressrosa, and how he saved the officials and Marines who had been turned into toys.
Sure, he didn't really have much to do with any of that, but saying it like this wouldn't be a big problem. Even eyewitnesses at the scene wouldn't find too much fault with it.
He didn't need much in return, but getting a few hundred million Berries as a reward would be just fine.
"Admiral Fujitora? But—"
"Give it to me."
A burst of static came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, and then its appearance changed into one with a bearded face. The biggest downside of Den Den Mushi was that it couldn't hide who was calling, making it a rather peculiar form of real-name system.
"Buggy? Why do you have Fujitora's Den Den Mushi? Where is he?"
"He's trapped by Doflamingo."
"Thanks to my special ability, I was able to escape. There's no signal inside, so he specifically asked me to remind you all to initiate some 'Plan B.'"
"Trapped by Doflamingo? What the hell is Fujitora up to now?! What's the situation in Dressrosa?!"
"Oh, that..Doflamingo turned a lot of people into toys, including your Marine soldiers and people from the World Government. But thanks to my brilliance—"
"Get to the point, don't waste my time with useless chatter!"
"Who the hell are you? Just a lowly messenger dares to talk to me like that? Show some respect!"
That a mere grunt answering the phone would speak to him like that left Buggy deeply dissatisfied, but in the very next moment, the voice on the other end transformed his dissatisfaction into cold sweat.
"Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, calm down! The logistics department is out of new desks!"
"A-Akainu?!"
Buggy hadn't expected that the person who took over the call wasn't just some random messenger, but Akainu. He wasn't familiar with Akainu to begin with, and in the middle of scheming his own plans, he hadn't even noticed the change in Den Den Mushi's face.
And right now, Akainu was absolutely fuming over the Shichibukai situation.
He had just returned from Mariejois not long ago.
[Your reputation is worthless, Sakazuki.]
That was the Five Elders' reply when he questioned them about what would happen to the reputation of the Marines and his own, and then they made him return.
Then he heard Fujitora has been trapped inside the Birdcage and has to rely on someone else just to make a phone call.
The fact that Fujitora and Ryokugyu were directly promoted to Admiral through the World Military Draft certainly speaks to their strength. Sending them to deal with an Emperor of the Sea might be a bit of a stretch, but if a mere Shichibukai could easily trap an Admiral, then the Marine organization might as well be disbanded.
What's more, Fujitora's way of doing things had always clashed with Akainu's, and this half-assed performance only deepened his displeasure.
Akainu could tolerate the existence of the Shichibukai, only because it was a command from the World Government.
That didn't mean he didn't despise pirates like the Shichibukai. Listening to Buggy ramble on, he had absolutely no patience left.
Even through the Den Den Mushi, Buggy could feel a pressure even more deadly than before. His previous plans were thrown into chaos once again. After quickly and concisely reporting what he knew, he immediately hung up.
Then he returned to the edge of the Birdcage.
"I've reported everything, but your Fleet Admiral seems pretty pissed."
"Is that so? Not really surprising."
Looking at Fujitora in front of him, Buggy once again changed his plans. He decided to abandon the idea of escaping alone and instead chose to stay close to Fujitora with his underlings.
It was perfectly reasonable for a Shichibukai to operate alongside the Marines. Buggy decided to take advantage of Fujitora's strength to ensure his own safety, which clearly seems to be better than fleeing alone.
Meanwhile, his actions naturally attracted the attention of his underlings, who once began spinning theories in their heads, convinced their boss had struck some secret deal with the Marine Admiral.
"By the way… I've got a question. What exactly is this Plan B? I mean, come on, we're allies now, right? Why not let me in on it?"
"Oh, nothing much, just that some old guys are coming to take a look around. After all, this place has gathered far too many dangerous people."
Fujitora didn't respond to Buggy, but over at the new Marine Headquarters, Tsuru and Sengoku, who had already stepped down from the position of Fleet Admiral, were sailing toward Dressrosa aboard several warships.
Now that Buggy had begun traveling alongside Fujitora, the rest of his underlings continued fighting the other pirates. However, the temporary alliance between God Buggy and God Usopp had completely collapsed.
Fujitora, still adhering to certain rules, had set his sights on capturing the troublemakers Law and the Straw Hat crew, which naturally made Usopp, a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, one of his targets.
The dwarves tried their best to help Usopp escape, but the result wasn't great. It didn't take long before the Marines led by Fujitora caught up to them.
"Flame Fence!"
A wall of fire erupted from the ground, separating the Marines from the dwarves who were carrying Usopp.
"Take him somewhere safe. Leave the Marines to me."
After leaving the Corrida Colosseum, the Whitebeard Pirates had also begun splitting up to act. Marco and Jozu headed toward the harbor. After the Birdcage was deployed, they'd lost contact with the Decalvan Brothers and others waiting on the outskirts.
Marco went to check on the current state of the pirates, while Ace had gone to look after his little brother's crew, and was just in time to run into Usopp and the dwarves.
True to their nature, the dwarves didn't doubt Ace at all. They left a few words of thanks and continued running toward a safer place with Usopp in tow.
"Marines, this path is closed."
"Admiral Issho, it's Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates."
Being unable to see naturally had its drawbacks, so the soldiers beside him were responsible for promptly reporting the situation in front of them.
"A remnant of Whitebeard Pirates? Why are you blocking me? Showing yourself in front of the Marines won't end well for you."
Ace didn't have the protection of a Shichibukai title, and due to the previous Summit War, he was also one of the Marines' key targets for capture.
However, due to the chaos in the New World, combined with the losses the Marines had suffered and the increasingly dangerous Beasts Pirates with unclear motives, they hadn't launched any large-scale operation into the heart of the New World in the past two years.
"Well, what can I say? That is my idiot little brother's comrade. And having an idiot little brother is a real pain. As the older brother, I always have to clean up after him."
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