Sakazuki casually tossed the skull head with the weird afro with one hand, as if weighing the skull head's weight.
He allowed Gion to bring the receiver to his mouth, answering Sengoku's question: "Admiral, the gains from this trip are beyond imagination!"
"Please don't break off my hair! It won't grow back!!!" The skull head, deeply trapped in the fear of baldness, wailed incessantly.
"Noisy! Try making noise again? Believe it or not, I'll burn off your entire afro!" Sakazuki, with a "gentle" expression all over his face, offered Brook this suggestion.
The skeleton, having received a fatal threat, its wailing stopped abruptly.
But on the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Sengoku's expression twisted slightly as he took off his naval cap, carefully feeling his own Buddha-like hairstyle.
Theoretically speaking, his hairstyle did indeed fall into the afro category.
"Hmm... that young brat isn't threatening me, is he?" The Wise General narrowed his eyes, asking the few people in the room also listening to the phone.
Vice-Warden Shiliew looked as if it had nothing to do with him, continuing to smoke his cigar.
Kong shrugged, indicating he didn't even know what had happened, suggesting he better ask Tsuru.
And Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had partnered with Sengoku the longest, glanced exasperatedly at the Fleet Admiral who had passed the buck to her, then pointedly pierced through Sengoku's doubt: "Who else in the room has an afro?"
"Sakazuki!" Sengoku's roaring voice suddenly exploded beside the Navy Headquarters Vice Admiral's ear, leaving the Magma-Magma Fruit user, who had no idea what happened, completely bewildered.
Sakazuki exchanged a glance with Gion; both saw the confusion in each other's eyes: "What's wrong? Admiral?"
"Whose hair are you going to burn! Explain clearly! Otherwise, I'll tell Tsuru what I heard that day!" Sengoku sternly threatened someone whose leverage he held.
Sakazuki finally realized why the Great Buddha had blown his top. His direct superior's bizarre hairstyle seemed to have inadvertently caught a stray shot.
"Do you know about the Yomi Yomi Fruit?" Sakazuki didn't explain directly but posed a question to Sengoku.
"Nonsense! Has Charlotte Linlin sunk only a few warships? The Soru Soru Fruit is already driving me crazy, how could I not know about its subordinate fruit!" Sengoku scolded irritably.
Sakazuki glanced at the skull head lying in his palm like an inanimate object and reported to Sengoku: "We encountered an afro-headed skeleton man who ate the Yomi Yomi Fruit in the Florian Triangle. We are currently confirming his identity."
"Musician! I'm a musician! Mr. Marine, you've got the wrong person!" The skull head, which had finally quieted down for a moment, started yelling again.
He had always been proud of his identity as a pirate because it belonged to the glory of the Rumbar Pirates.
But he would never be stupid enough to reveal his pirate identity in front of the Navy! He still wanted to go back and see Laboon! If he were captured by the Navy, wouldn't all hope be lost?
"How could a musician be on a pirate ship?" Gion sneered dismissively from the side. She had dealt with pirates for quite some time. She was sure that the dilapidated ship she had just boarded was definitely a pirate ship!
The speaker was careless, but the listener paid attention. Vice Admiral Tsuru recognized her younger sister's voice: "Gion, describe the pattern on the pirate flag for us."
"Hmm? Sister Tsuru is here too?" The Big Rabbit had thought only Mr. Sengoku was listening, but suddenly heard her older sister's voice.
Gion tried hard to identify the tattered pirate flag: "The figurehead is a cow skull ram. Although the flag is severely damaged, I can vaguely see a cow horn on the skull symbol on one side."
"Cow horn? Cow skull ram?" Sengoku and Tsuru mulled over the information just gathered, rapidly comparing it in their minds with the pirate files they were familiar with.
Sengoku pondered for a long while, looked at Great Staff Officer Tsuru who was still racking her brains, and shook his head: "No, I have no impression of this pirate crew."
"Me neither." The Navy Headquarters Great Staff Officer had already compared major pirate crews that had gained some fame in the last decade with the current information, but found nothing.
"Hmm... cow horn?... " Only Kong, who was a generation older than them, frowned. "I seem to have some impression, but it was too long ago, I can't remember the specific details. Have Sakazuki bring him back first."
The two-hour sea journey wasn't too long, but for a skeleton whose head was detached, it was spent in agony amidst conflict and joy.
After decades of long waiting, he finally saw the long-lost sunlight again, but his former companions would never appear by his side again.
Even his own life was now in the hands of the Navy.
"Laboon..." The skull head sighed softly. This was his and his companions' last wish, and also their final hope.
But this trip was likely perilous; he didn't know what he would face.
Click!
Sakazuki gently reset the head onto the body. Since they had reached the destination, he couldn't be bothered to walk around carrying a skull head anymore.
"Eh! I can move!" Brook hopped up joyfully, but the location he saw poured cold water over his head.
He had thought the worst outcome would be being taken into Navy Headquarters for interrogation, but never expected they would directly send him to the place pirates feared most, the hell of life and death—the Great Deep Sea Prison!
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, Admiral Sengoku and his group have been waiting for you for a long time. Hopefully, their wait was worthwhile." The Vice-Warden had already lit his second cigar. He looked somewhat impatiently at Sakazuki and suggested this.
But Sakazuki walked directly up beside him and took a deep breath. "Shiliew, trying to cover up such a strong smell of blood with cigar smoke, isn't that burying your head in the sand?"
"Oh?" This killing demon of Impel Down tilted his head slightly, chuckling darkly: "It seems you're an expert, huh? Your Excellency Legion Commander."
"Killed prisoners again?" Sakazuki glanced sideways at this future second-in-command of Blackbeard's ship.
"Just some small fry from levels one and two, not worth mentioning." The Vice-Warden, who had just been reminded by Tsuru not to kill indiscriminately, hadn't taken the previous words to heart at all. Taking advantage of the brief moment he came out to greet them, he had once again swung his butcher's knife at the prisoners.
The Lord of the Legion waved his hand back, signaling Gion and the two pirates to come over. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Shiliew, evaluating expressionlessly: "You're addicted to killing!"
Shiliew's lips curled upwards as he retorted sarcastically: "Didn't the Burning Legion wipe out quite a few pirate crews on the way from Headquarters to the North Blue?"
"Clearly the sharpest blade, yet used for guard duty," Sakazuki looked at this prison ace who was painstakingly suppressing his rampant killing intent. "This isn't imprisoning pirates and prisoners; it's imprisoning you."
Shiliew of the Rain was undoubtedly the sharpest blade pointed at pirates, yet he was confined within the sheath named "Vice-Warden."
And his final betrayal was actually the result of multiple factors.
Shiliew, sentenced to suspended death by Magellan for indiscriminately killing prisoners, had asked before facing the Blackbeard Pirates' attack: What about my sentence?
Magellan's impartial reply disappointed him: "After dealing with them, you still have to obediently accept the fate of suspended death, waiting in the prison of Level 6."
Thus, Shiliew rescued Blackbeard with the antidote, also grasping his last lifeline.
"Hahaha, does the Legion Commander have a place to take me in?" Shiliew made no secret of his intention to jump ship. He craved a hearty feast of slaughter, not killing a few prisoners in prison as a poor substitute.
Sakazuki pointed a finger at Moria standing behind: "As long as his Kage Kage Fruit's unique effect can be proven, you can be liberated, Shiliew."
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, the moment we meet, we see you trying to undermine the Great Prison. This is probably inappropriate, right?" Magellan, who had rushed over upon receiving the news, looked displeased. Although Shiliew was bloodthirsty, his strength was equally formidable. Impel Down earned its reputation as an impenetrable fortress precisely because of the joint guard of him and Shiliew.
It should be known that besides Magellan's short four working hours, most of the tasks of guarding pirates and managing the prison were under Shiliew's overall control.
Sakazuki seemed not to notice the displeasure in the other's tone: "I haven't congratulated you yet, Magellan, Your Excellency Warden."
"If it's congratulating me on my promotion to Warden, then please spare me, Vice Admiral Sakazuki," Magellan said, looking at the three high-ranking Navy Headquarters officers walking towards them.
Sakazuki slowly stepped aside, allowing Moria to walk forward.
He looked directly at everyone, his voice clear and resonant: "No, Warden Magellan, I want to congratulate you. Impel Down will never again experience a prisoner escape! No prisoner will be able to walk out of this hell of shadows."