To be honest, Diarmuid was a little surprised that Fish-Man Island had only just been taken over by Whitebeard. He remembered that in the main timeline, Whitebeard went to help his friend Neptune on Fish-Man Island shortly after the Great Pirate Era began. It seemed things had changed a bit.
As for Whitebeard taking over Fish-Man Island, you could say there were both pros and cons. It was a lot better for Fish-Man Island to be under the Whitebeard Pirates' protection than the Big Mom Pirates or the Beasts Pirates.
Given Whitebeard's personality, the Whitebeard Pirates would certainly be able to recruit many new members there. After all, it was a necessary route for rookie pirates entering the New World. Whitebeard's charisma would probably win over a lot of them.
But on the other hand, Whitebeard wasn't someone who liked to use force. If a proud and capable rookie chose not to join him, as long as they didn't cause trouble on Fish-Man Island, Newgate probably wouldn't bother them.
Conversely, if the Big Mom Pirates or the Beasts Pirates had occupied the island, given their tendency to forcibly recruit people, they would have likely amassed a large group of scoundrels as their subordinates very quickly. That would have been a real headache.
At Marineford's Marine Club bar, the owner, Boss Cripple, was wiping a glass and looking at his dismal business.
The recent Marine defeat led to many casualties, which affected the atmosphere at Marineford. Business had been slow for the past few days.
Boss Cripple wasn't worried about the profit; he had enough. He was just sad that he might never see many familiar faces again.
"I wonder, how many years has it been since the Marines suffered a defeat like this?" the owner murmured softly.
He thought about it.
While the Marines weren't undefeated, they did suffer occasional losses, such as when Vice Admiral Borsalino was almost annihilated by the Big Mom Pirates in the New World. But those were normal wins and losses and didn't have much of an impact.
This time, however, the Marines suffered a major defeat, something that hadn't happened in almost a decade.
Especially since the Marines had been on an upswing in recent years, capturing well-known pirates like Shiki, Roger, and the Redfield. For them to suddenly suffer such a defeat was a huge blow to morale.
Just then, the bar door opened. A Marine Rear Admiral looked around, found his friends, smiled, and walked over. Bosss Cripple looked up, a smile on his face. "Oh, isn't that Doberman? I heard you went to G-7 to work under that guy Diarmuid. What are you doing back today?"
Doberman smiled. "My Vice Admiral gave me a few days off a couple of days ago. It's nice to finally be back."
"Did Diarmuid go back to G-7? How is he? Is he okay?" Boss Cripple asked with concern.
Doberman waved his hand. "He's fine. He's not hurt. He's just not in a good mood."
"Sigh, it's not his fault," Boss Cripple said, his tone softening. He had his own sources and knew some of the details of what happened.
Doberman nodded. "The Vice Admiral wasn't held responsible either. It really wasn't his fault."
After chatting for a bit, Doberman grabbed a glass from the bar and walked over to a table in the corner. On his way, he was greeted by Onigumo, Yamakaji, Momonga, Stainless, Cancer , and Strawberry.
Onigumo and Yamakaji were wearing the Vice Admiral epaulets, while the others were all Rear Admirals. These men were the third wave of elite Marines of the new generation. The first wave, of course, were Diarmuid, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino. The second wave was Gion and Tokikake. The third wave was these guys.
"Doberman, come on over!" Momonga said, smiling and pulling out a chair. Doberman didn't hesitate. He took the empty glass and sat down, and Cancer, who was sitting next to him, poured him a drink.
Although the name Cancer (Kyansā) sounds like a girl's name, he's actually a handsome guy, the coolest guy in the group.
It might seem like they were all getting along, but that was only on a personal level. From a factional perspective, Onigumo and Stainless were clearly from Sakazuki's hardline faction. Without Diarmuid, Doberman would probably also be under Sakazuki.
On the other hand, Cancer and Strawberry were closer to Borsalino. Borsalino hadn't truly become a neutral party yet, so they didn't have a clear stance either.
Speaking of Strawberry, he was in a really bad state. He was still wrapped in bandages, with his left arm in a sling and a cast. That's right, his injuries haven't healed yet, in fact, you could even say they're still very serious.
Yamakaji, Momonga, and Doberman were Diarmuid's loyalists. Although Diarmuid hadn't formed his own faction as quickly as Sakazuki, he already had a certain presence.
"Congratulations, Onigumo and Yamakaji, on your promotion to Vice Admiral! I'm so jealous," Doberman said with a laugh.
Onigumo, like Sakazuki, had a habitually rigid expression, but he gave a stiff smile. "Thanks."
Yamakaji looked troubled. He waved his hand. "Don't congratulate me. I might be demoted in a couple of days."
Doberman was taken aback and looked at Momonga. "What do you mean?"
Momonga also looked helpless. "This great defeat was clearly the Intelligence Division's fault. Don't forget, Yamakaji was transferred to Chief of Staff Tsuru's unit... I mean, Vice Admiral Tsuru's... whatever, let's just call her Chief of Staff; we've been calling her that for years, it's a habit. Anyway, Yamakaji was transferred to the Intelligence Division, and in three days, he has to go to Enies Lobby for trial."
Doberman was silent for a while and drank his drink. "Then I guess I can't congratulate you. But you just joined the Intelligence Division. You shouldn't have made any mistakes, right?"
Yamakaji slowly lit a cigar, took a puff, and said with a helpless expression, "It has nothing to do with how long I've been there. This was a major mistake by the entire Intelligence Division. It could even be..."
He lowered his voice. "...It could be said that we were derelict in our duties! Even if I didn't handle it and it had nothing to do with me, I can't avoid being blamed. Every single person in the Intelligence Division will be investigated. The lucky ones will just be reprimanded. The unlucky ones will be sent from the courtroom to the execution grounds... Think about it, even the Chief of Staff was demoted. Do I need to tell you how serious this is?"
The others fell silent. Yamakaji was right.
"I wonder if the Chief of Staff will..." Strawberry began. But Cancer shook his head. "That's impossible. The Chief of Staff will definitely face hardship, but there's no way she'll be executed. I even think that she'll be reinstated in a couple of years after her punishment is over."
"Vice Admiral Diarmuid said it's a certainty. The World Government and we, the headquarters, all know that the Chief of Staff is primarily responsible for this, but we also know how important and capable she is. We can't erase her contributions to the Marines just because of one mistake. No one in the Marines' Intelligence Division can do a better job than her, so after her self-reflection and punishment, she will definitely be reinstated," Doberman also said.
"By the way, how is Diarmuid?" Onigumo asked suddenly. Now that he was a Vice Admiral and not in Diarmuid's faction, he called him by his name, and no one found it strange.
Doberman smiled. "He's fine. Nothing's wrong."
"It's lucky that Diarmuid and Vice Admiral Sakazuki weren't implicated in this mess," Onigumo said softly.
Strawberry interjected, "Implicated in what? The Buster Call was ordered by the Admiral. Vice Admiral Sakazuki was just following orders. Vice Admiral Diarmuid was only a temporary participant, and he even personally stayed behind to fight Whitebeard. They didn't do anything wrong, so why should they be implicated? On the other hand, I am the one who is guilty and should die."
Strawberry was originally in charge of the reconstruction work on St. Poplar, but he was heavily wounded at the very beginning. He was one of the causes of this incident... So, it wasn't unreasonable for him to say that he was guilty as charged. He collapsed too quickly. But on second thought, it wasn't his fault.
Cancer waved his hand. "We're Marines. We don't count things like that. Don't say things like that anymore. We're soldiers."
Momonga nodded. "I don't want to admit it, but it can't be counted that way. At the time, Diarmuid was the highest-ranking officer in the combat zone. He took overall command as an Admiral Candidate. As for Sakazuki, even though the Buster Call was authorized by Admiral Sengoku, he was the one who actually carried it out and was in charge of the fleet. Although they both performed admirably, in the end, under Diarmuid's command, the Marines suffered a great defeat, and Sakazuki's Buster Call fleet also collapsed..."
Momonga's words made perfect sense.
The Marines always worked as a unit, not as individuals.
The others looked helpless. But after drinking some more, Doberman smiled. "What's the matter? In the end, the Admiral and the Chief of Staff didn't blame Vice Admiral Diarmuid or Sakazuki, nor did they hold them responsible. Why are we getting worked up about it?"
"You have a point," Stainless also said with a smile.
After some more small talk, Onigumo looked at Yamakaji. "Speaking of which, this matter will ultimately fall on the Intelligence Division. Do you have any internal information? What exactly happened? You guys had no idea the Whitebeard Pirates were coming out of the New World?"
Yamakaji hesitated but eventually said, "The reason is very complicated. It's not just a problem with one department that caused this to happen. On the one hand, yes, there were some bastards who were derelict in their duties, and they deserve to be executed. On the other hand, there were some changes in the New World intelligence network that caused a certain degree of chaos, and our Intelligence Division hasn't had time to adapt.
"Finally, it's always been very difficult to get information on the Whitebeard Pirates. You know, they're not like other pirates. They don't have a fixed base. Instead, they divide the sea into their territory and roam around a few areas all year long. They don't even get off their ships unless there's a big deal... That's all I know for now. There are probably other factors involved, but in short, it was a coincidence of several factors that led to this happening."
"What happened to the intelligence network?" Cancer asked with curiosity.
"I know a little about that," Momonga said with a smile. "I heard there was a new round of reshuffling in the intelligence world, and it's in a state of chaos. Right now, our Marine Headquarters Intelligence Division, the Donquixote Family, the new Pleasure District organization, the Big Mom Pirates' intelligence unit, the CP Agency's spies, and many other large and small intelligence organizations are all fighting to divide up new interests and trying to trip each other up..."
Hearing this, the others looked at Yamakaji. Yamakaji nodded helplessly. "That's right. It's been chaotic for about three months. It's not just our Intelligence Division that has problems. The intelligence units of all the major powers around the world are probably in chaos. That's why I said this was a big problem caused by a mix of different reasons."
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