The Buster Call on Ohara ultimately went off without a hitch. Ohara was, after all, no match for the Marines' Buster Call.
This time, the only real wrinkle was the appearance of Dragon, who wanted to save some people and preserve the legacy, but was ultimately put down by the combined efforts of Sakazuki and Diarmuid.
Seeing that his efforts were futile, Dragon quickly fled.
Because of the prior agreement with Diarmuid, Sakazuki didn't stubbornly fire on the Ohara refugee ship. With Saul and Olvia gone, Nico Robin's identity as a scholar was also kept secret.
After the fire reduced all of Ohara to a scorched earth, the Marine's Buster Call fleet finally returned to Marineford.
As it happened, the World Government had intended to use Ohara, a holy land of archaeology, to make an example of their power. However, the Buster Call was a bloody and brutal affair. Using it on a place like Ohara was truly excessive. There was nothing more to be said about it once it was done, so they had to use the excuse that Ohara intended to revive the Ancient Weapons and endanger the world to justify the correctness of the Buster Call.
However, Dragon, the head of the revolutionaries, just happened to show up on Ohara. Even though he didn't actually do anything, to the World Government, he was the perfect scapegoat. By the time the Buster Call fleet arrived at Marineford, the newspapers had already definitively framed the entire incident.
Diarmuid sat in Admiral Sengoku's office, holding a newspaper with a smile on his face. "What about Vice Admiral Garp? Did he have any reaction?"
"He's on his way back from the South Blue, but that's because his mission is over. As for having a reaction, what good would that do him?" Sengoku said, taking a sip of tea.
"How tragic. The son of the Marine hero became the world's most heinous criminal and tried to coerce Ohara's scholars into reviving the Ancient Weapons..." Diarmuid remarked.
That's right, the final verdict of this incident, at least in the court of public opinion, was that Dragon was the one to blame. The World Government claimed to have discovered his conspiracy, and for the sake of world peace, they were forced to enact the Buster Call on Ohara to completely destroy the possibility of this threat.
Dragon, who was originally supposed to earn the title of "World's Most Heinous Criminal" a few years later, now had a bounty of 2.3 billion Berries, becoming one of the few "mosts" in the world, second only to the likes of Whitebeard and other top-tier men.
Who knows if this was a good thing or a bad thing for his Revolutionary Army? In any case, for now, it had nothing to do with Diarmuid.
Sengoku hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Do you really think Dragon wasn't looking for the Ancient Weapons?"
"At least that's what he said himself. You know him, Admiral. He's a proud man. He wouldn't stoop to lying to Sakazuki and me," Diarmuid said with a smile.
"Perhaps," Sengoku nodded, somewhat agreeing with him. But as a Marine Admiral, how could he simply let go of his worries based on a feeling?
However, he quickly let out a sigh of relief. "The matter with Dragon and the Revolutionary Army has been handed over to Cipher Pol. For now, the Marines don't need to get involved."
"Good. Let's not talk about such unpleasant things. By the way, I heard that Vice Admiral Garp is involved in a scandal?" Diarmuid asked, his eyes lighting up with curiosity.
He hadn't seen Garp in over two years, though they occasionally contacted each other by Den Den Mushi. The last time they saw each other was on Baterilla Island in the South Blue. He had recently heard that Garp's mission was over and he was preparing to return. It seemed everything had finally settled down over there.
"It's more than a scandal... it's a disaster!" Sengoku said, slamming his hand on the table. He looked very displeased.
"What exactly happened?" Diarmuid asked, very interested.
"They're saying he can't control himself!" Sengoku grumbled, then continued, "There are rumors that on Baterilla Island, he took a liking to a young woman, and for the past two years, he's practically been living at her house every day..."
"And then?" Diarmuid asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"And then about a year ago, that woman got pregnant!" Sengoku said, sounding irritated.
Garp had lived in her house for two years, and then a year ago, the woman got pregnant... How could Garp not be related to this? However, Sengoku didn't think about Roger, after all, Roger's ashes had been scattered a year ago. There was no way he could be resurrected to have a child.
"I could even accept that. After all, Garp is a single man now, and Dragon is long gone. If he could find a new family, that would be fine. But then, the woman died during childbirth, and somehow, a rumor started that Garp secretly killed her to protect his reputation, and that the baby, who should have been his own son, was adopted by him as his grandson..." Sengoku was furious at this point. His mood was clearly very bad.
Diarmuid was truly surprised. There were so many twists and turns to this story?
Looking at Sengoku's angry expression, Diarmuid couldn't help but ask, "I can understand why other people would, but you don't believe this, do you, Admiral?"
Sengoku glared at Diarmuid. "Do you think I'd believe that? If you told me Garp couldn't control himself and something happened between him and that woman, I'd say it's possible. But to say that Garp would harm that woman for his own reputation and call his own son his grandson? I'd sooner die than believe that.
"That bastard is unreliable in many ways, but he's not that vile. Since he said he had nothing to do with that woman and that the child is an orphan, I believe him. There's no other reason, it's because Garp himself said so. The reason I'm so angry is that this rumor is an insult to him and to us Marines!"
"You're right. Vice Admiral Garp is a scoundrel, but he's a scoundrel with principles. He would never be that despicable. I don't believe it either," Diarmuid said, nodding seriously. After all, he knew exactly what had happened. He just felt bad for Garp, who was being so horribly screwed over by Roger. His reputation was almost ruined by this one incident. And he couldn't even explain it.
"Forget it. It's just a rumor. It'll die down eventually," Sengoku said, waving his hand to calm himself down.
Diarmuid didn't bring up the matter again. After taking a few sips of tea, he looked at Sengoku. "Admiral, what do you think of my performance at G-7? Was it good enough?"
Sengoku nodded. "Of course, it was." But after he said it, he looked a bit awkward, as if he didn't want to explain anything. He mumbled, "It's not the right time, Diarmuid. Not yet. Just give me a little more time..."
Diarmuid smiled and nodded. "I won't make things difficult for you, Admiral."
He knew that Sengoku couldn't openly go against the World Government with him right now; the timing wasn't right.
The truth was, both Fleet Admiral Kong and Admiral Sengoku were angry, but they weren't angry enough to fight the World Government yet. That moment would come after the Warlord of the Sea system was implemented. That's when those two top brass would be truly infuriated with the World Government. That would be the right time!
For now, Diarmuid was just trying to do "a favor" for Sengoku. The more he gave in now, the more Sengoku would feel indebted to him later.
Seeing that Diarmuid wasn't pushing him, Sengoku felt a sense of relief and a little bit of guilt. He had promised something to the man and couldn't deliver. Sengoku had his own pride, after all.
"The Ohara refugee ship and that scholar... I'm entrusting them to you," Sengoku said, as if suddenly remembering something.
"Don't worry, Admiral. I was originally planning on keeping that Olvia woman at G-7, but now that I have her daughter, she's another bargaining chip. As for the regular citizens on the refugee ship... I'm going to send them to the Calm Belt. It's a kind of covert custody," Diarmuid said with a smile.
Sengoku had no objection to this and simply nodded. "I hope we never have to use that Olvia."
The two then talked about other miscellaneous things, laughing and getting to know each other better. After that, Diarmuid prepared to return to G-7.
There was no rush this time, so he took a few days to make his way back. When he arrived at G-7, he only allowed Robin to see Olvia once. He waited two days, giving them time to rekindle their mother-daughter bond.
Then, with a heavy heart, Diarmuid took Olvia onto his warship and headed for Impel Down, ignoring Robin's cries.
At the port near Impel Down, Diarmuid stood on the deck, looking at the Great Prison getting closer and closer. He waved his hand and said, "Bring that woman up."
Soon, two Marine Captains escorted Olvia, who was bound in shackles.
"You'll spend the next few years wearing out your spirit in Impel Down. Don't worry, I have friends there. I won't let you die inside," Diarmuid said without turning his head.
"You butcher, do you think I'll bow down to you just because of this?" Olvia asked, glaring at Diarmuid's back.
"A butcher? You brought this on yourselves. I also had them show you the news. Maybe you don't believe it, but I can tell you for a fact that Dragon did show up on Ohara, and he also tried to seize the scholars. You should know why he did that. If the Marines hadn't been there at the time, the whole world might be in chaos right now," Diarmuid said softly.
Olvia listened to Diarmuid's words and, for once, didn't argue back. Her eyes were filled with complex emotions. Although she wouldn't admit it, she was already wavering inside. She couldn't refute anything Diarmuid had said. But the hatred for what happened to Ohara was still there. Even if Diarmuid was right, what did it matter?
"I'm done talking to you. Your daughter will be protected by the Marines, so if you don't want anything bad to happen to her, you'd better behave. When we need you, you'll be there," Diarmuid said softly. But he quickly smiled and added, "But maybe we won't even need you at all."
Just then, the warship slowly docked at the port of Impel Down, and Diarmuid saw the warden of the Great Prison, Maxcas. The two were old acquaintances and both had smiles on their faces.
"Let's go, let's get off the ship!" Diarmuid called out.
Meanwhile, in the little-known Level 6 of Impel Down, Shiki the Golden Lion was looking down at the shackles on his feet, lost in thought...
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