When Garp, Luffy's grandfather, learned from the Mayor of Foosha Village, Woop Slap, that Alucard had come to capture his grandson, he immediately rushed out of Marine Headquarters and headed for the East Blue without a second thought, even though he didn't understand why his grandson was Alucard's target.
After Garp's departure, Marine higher-ups, including Kong, also learned of the situation.
Then, two days after Garp left, intelligence from the CP Agency monitoring the Beasts Pirates arrived: one of the Yonko, the Beasts Pirates, had successfully recaptured the island previously taken by the Red Hair Pirates. However, their Captain, Kaido of the Beasts, was now sailing toward Arderay, Alucard's territory.
Further investigation revealed that the Beasts Pirates recaptured the island so easily because all the Red Hair Pirates who should have been stationed there had completely vanished.
After more investigation, they learned that the Red Hair Pirates had gone to attack Arderay, Alucard's main base. Because of this, Kaido was also rushing there, almost certainly to take revenge on Shanks for the tremendous humiliation he suffered previously.
At the Marine meeting, Kuzan, who rarely stayed awake, raised his hand and interrupted after hearing the entire chain of events. "Wait, wait, wait. Can someone please clarify the sequence of events? My head is already spinning; a huge mess of information has been thrown together, and I haven't grasped the situation yet."
Kuzan's words spoke for the majority present. With so much information dumped on them at once, everyone was struggling to process it.
"Specifically, we have to start two weeks ago," Tsuru began to explain methodically. "Two weeks ago, Alucard led a thousand pirates, including his subordinates Wolf and Matthew, from their main base, Arderay, to the East Blue. Verification from Garp confirmed this was to capture one of his grandsons."
"Garp-san has grandsons? That's the first I've heard of it."
"Idiot! Since the incident involving Zephyr-sensei, the relatives of high-ranking Marines have all been classified as top secret! Is it strange that you don't know?"
Ever since Zephyr's wife and son were murdered, their family members were kept under the highest level of secrecy to prevent Marine higher-ups' relatives from being targeted by evil forces again. Garp cleverly exploited this very policy, which, in a way, he owed to Zephyr, to keep the matters concerning his son and grandsons under wraps.
"We will address his grandson's issue later. Let's return to the main point," Tsuru continued. "We initially suspected he went to the East Blue to deal with the Celestial Dragons' inspection, but it seems our guess was wrong.
"We still don't know if Alucard has captured Garp's grandson... We hope he hasn't. Next, after the Red Hair Pirates captured one of the Beasts Pirates' territories, they launched an attack on Arderay three days ago, right when Alucard arrived in the East Blue."
"This is also a point of doubt. Red-Hair is not a reckless man. It's incredibly strange that he chose this time to attack the Immortal Pirates."
"Perhaps he discovered Alucard was away and, still harboring resentment from the past, seized the opportunity to attack? I heard Alucard wiped out a quarter of the Red Hair Pirates before," Kuzan offered his opinion, raising his hand.
"As I said, Red-Hair is not a reckless man. There must be a deeper reason behind this," Tsuru stated.
"On the second day of the battle between the Immortal Pirates and the Red Hair Pirates, the Beasts Pirates recaptured the territory that had been taken. Furthermore, Kaido headed for Arderay, presumably to take revenge on Shanks for the great embarrassment he caused him previously."
Tsuru finished recounting all the intelligence the Marines currently possessed, looking around with narrowed eyes. "Is everyone clear now?"
"What a chaotic situation."
Issho, wearing a pale yellow robe and a Marine greatcoat, spoke up. "Given this, what course of action should we, the Marines, take now?"
Kong spoke, "The three-way conflict between the Immortal Pirates, the Red Hair Pirates, and the Beasts Pirates is underway in the New World. The Red Hair Pirates are clearly facing pressure from two pirate crews. We should dispatch a small force to see if we can use this chance to eliminate the most prominent young pirate besides the Yonko."
"I second that."
"I second that."
"I second that."
As soon as Kong finished speaking, he received the agreement of the vast majority present. They understood the trouble Shanks represented and agreed that getting rid of him sooner rather than later was the best option. As for the Immortal Pirates and the Beasts Pirates... Ha, since they couldn't pull those two poisonous teeth out yet, they would worry about them later.
"So, who should lead this light cavalry unit?" Kuzan inquired.
"That would be you, Kuzan," Kong glared at Kuzan, then looked at Issho in the pale yellow robe. "And you, Issho. You will go along with Momonga and Dalmatian. The few of you will ambush them in the latter half of the New World, waiting for the three-way battle to conclude. You are to snipe the Red Hair Pirates and bring Red-Haired Shanks to Impel Down!"
"Arara, what terrible pressure. Couldn't you give me a little less stress?" Kuzan asked lackadaisically, scratching his head.
"In that case, what about the matter of Garp-san's grandson?"
Issho spoke up. "I, too, do not wish for Zephyr-san's experience to be repeated on another Marine Hero."
"Alucard is highly unlikely to kill Garp's grandson. As far as we know, he doesn't have major grievances with Garp. Even if he did, he would only capture the boy for leverage, not to kill him," Sengoku analyzed. "This matter must be left entirely to Garp to handle. Of course, I have also instructed several Marine units in the Grand Line to offer support."
Kong stood up. "A bottomless darkness is hidden within this situation. It must be eliminated by us, the Marines. All personnel, prepare to deploy!"
Everyone immediately stood to attention and replied with a resounding, "Yes, sir!"