Following Borsalino to the warship's command room, Finn immediately noticed Admiral Sengoku staring at a nautical chart spread across the table, brow furrowed in thought. Only Sakazuki sat in the room besides them.
However, the video Den Den Mushi had already been activated. On the command room's screen were images of Vice Admiral Garp and Chief of Staff Tsuru.
Behind them sat Kuzan and Gion respectively.
Kuzan's presence made sense, but Gion was merely a Commander at Marine Headquarters at that time. She could only be here because she'd entered through the back door like Finn.
Hearing the noise, Admiral Sengoku looked up toward the door. When he saw Finn, he smiled. He showed no surprise and made no attempt to exclude him.
Finn quickly nodded to Admiral Sengoku but didn't speak given the circumstances.
Sakazuki glanced over and also noticed Finn, this inexplicable addition. But he wasn't someone who liked meddling in such matters, so he didn't express dissatisfaction. However, it was obvious he didn't care much about this junior Lieutenant Commander.
Borsalino said nothing either. He walked to the table and sat down.
As for Finn, there were no extra seats here. He was too self-aware to find a place to sit, so he stood quietly near the table.
In fact, both Borsalino and Sakazuki actually commanded their own warships and teams. As Vice Admirals of Marine Headquarters, they were fully capable of leading independent operations.
But this time, both had boarded directly with Admiral Sengoku.
Simultaneously, the Marines hadn't dispatched many warships for this operation penetrating the New World. Only three total. Two at the vanguard, and one about half a day's journey behind as support, led by Saul.
The two forward ships were naturally Admiral Sengoku's and Vice Admiral Tsuru's ship.
Finn hadn't quite understood before. For such an important matter, why didn't the Marines send a large fleet?
Not to mention the ten warships of a Buster Call, you'd think they'd at least deploy seven or eight ships, right?
He'd even felt ten ships might not be enough. After all, Shiki was known as the Pirate Admiral and commanded dozens of pirate warships.
However, when chatting with Borsalino, he'd finally understood the situation.
First, pirate power in the New World was flourishing. It wasn't safe for the Marines to sail here with large-scale forces.
Simultaneously, too many ship would affect speed. This mission was urgent and unsuitable for excessive warships.
Finally, in battles at this level, the number of warships and pirate ships was no longer the decisive factor. Top-tier combat power was what truly mattered.
Therefore, even though the Marines dispatched only a few warships this time, judging by combat effectiveness, they could definitely fight head-on against any pirate crew.
"Now that everyone's here, let me share the bad news that just came in," Admiral Sengoku sat at the table and addressed everyone.
Garp was first to ask, "What bad news? Don't tell me they're not fighting anymore?"
Admiral Sengoku shook his head. "That's not it, but all the surveillance ships we had trailing Shiki and Roger have been compromised."
The room fell silent. Everyone seemed to understand the implications.
"That is to say..." Chief of Staff Tsuru said softly.
Admiral Sengoku nodded gravely. "Just as you're thinking. We've lost all intelligence on the whereabouts of both the Roger Pirates and Shiki."
Finn standing aside was stunned. Though he had experience leading a warship independently to chase pirates before, that was in the North Blue. Small-time operations.
Now he finally understood how powerless the Marines were in the New World.
Good grief. It wasn't what he'd thought before. The Marines hadn't failed to catch up because the battle between Shiki and Roger ended too quickly.
The Marines had lost their targets before the war even started?
Was this a joke?
So what were they doing? Taking a sightseeing trip to the New World?
"We need to urge the Science Division to work on their submarine project. I think we should support them. If they can really develop this new ship type, it'll be very useful, at least for surveillance," Borsalino said suddenly.
Admiral Sengoku and the others nodded in agreement, though they also knew Borsalino's words were somewhat self-serving.
After all, Fleet Admiral Kong was already planning to make Borsalino commander of the Marine Science Division.
He was saying this now to secure benefits for himself. With this kind of contribution, he'd be able to establish himself there when he took office.
Of course, this was all within the normal range of "using one's position for personal gain," completely within "the rules," and reasonable. Naturally, no one would criticize Borsalino for it.
"Let's table that discussion. I've been studying the nautical chart. We've lost track of Roger and Shiki, but we've mobilized nearby surveillance ships to search for them. We're not sure if we'll succeed, and we have no other options now. So we need to speculate and determine our future course," Admiral Sengoku said gravely.
After speaking, he pushed the sea chart forward on the table, picked up a pointer, tapped the chart and continued, "Here are several sea areas I've circled where fighting might occur. Take a look. What are your thoughts? Which direction should we proceed?"
On the video Den Den Mushi's screen, Chief of Staff Tsuru and the others examined it carefully.
Borsalino and Sakazuki also looked down. Finn, standing near the table, leaned in as well.
Admiral Sengoku had circled three sea areas: the Rees Wilson Sea, the Chalanna Sea, and the Edd Sea.
Finn nodded secretly upon seeing this. Sengoku was truly an excellent strategist. Setting everything else aside, at least he'd included the correct answer within these three areas.
Don't think this was easy. Being able to narrow down such a vast New World area to three locations in such short time was already quite impressive.
"I just wonder how lucky the Marines are. Did they figure out the real answer? Did they fail to catch up because of the storm... or did they take the wrong path?" Finn wondered privately.
After allowing everyone time to consider, Admiral Sengoku finally asked, "What do you all think? Which is most likely?"
Chief of Staff Tsuru, incredibly sharp as always, asked directly, "Have you contacted Headquarters and gathered intelligence on recent climate conditions in these three sea areas? First, let's eliminate areas with bad weather. Shiki has talented navigator under his command. He knows his own weaknesses. He'd never go to war with Roger in an area with problematic weather."
Hearing this, Admiral Sengoku nodded. "I've already sent someone to investigate..."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone reported from outside the door. Then a Marine Captain entered and quickly handed information to Admiral Sengoku.
After scanning it briefly, Admiral Sengoku frowned. "What a bad timing! Intelligence shows all three sea areas have had clear weather these past few days."
Though the New World's weather changed constantly, there were still some observable patterns.
Of course, this kind of observation... if anyone took it as absolute truth, they'd definitely encounter serious problems.
For example, in the Edd waters, both Shiki's crew and the Marines were observing the climate. They'd tentatively determined clear skies there.
The result... was Shiki's complete defeat in a storm.
But then again, you could only predict what you could predict. If you really ran into something unexpected, you could only blame bad luck.
So this observational intelligence was still useful.
"Which sea area was Roger closest to previously?" Garp suddenly asked.
Admiral Sengoku pointed to the Chalanna Sea. "Here."
"Really? Based on my understanding of Roger, that guy has two different attitudes toward Marines and pirates. When we're chasing him, he doesn't care about his reputation at all and runs away without hesitation. But when facing pirates, he mostly charges around recklessly... If he's closest to that place, maybe he'll head there," Garp said after thinking.
When it came to fighting, there were genuinely few people in this world who could beat him. But if you wanted Garp to give strategic advice? Forget it...
Therefore, he could only offer this kind of not-very-nutritious advice based purely on Roger's personal habits.
But after all, Garp was the man who'd pursued Roger for so many years. He genuinely knew Roger extremely well. This advice couldn't be called useless.
Admiral Sengoku and Chief of Staff Tsuru also frowned, considering the possibilities.
Honestly, this deployment had been rather hasty. Much intelligence hadn't been gathered. But there was nothing to be done. Time was critical. The Marines had to deploy quickly, otherwise catching up would be impossible.
The result was their current predicament. Due to massive intelligence gaps, they were completely unable to make accurate predictions.
Sakazuki and Borsalino were obviously thinking seriously, but ultimately couldn't produce any effective suggestions.
At that moment, Admiral Sengoku noticed Finn. It seemed the young man had something to say but was unable to speak given the current situation.
Though he had no particular expectations, Admiral Sengoku still asked, "Lieutenant Commander Finn, do you have any thoughts?"
Finn was momentarily stunned hearing this, but he quickly composed himself and nodded generously. "If it's appropriate, I do have some."
"Speak freely," Admiral Sengoku waved his hand.
Anyway, this was the current situation. No one had good solutions. If you had ideas, share them. What if they actually worked?
"Yes, Admiral!" Finn responded quickly, then glanced at the sea chart and said in a steady, powerful tone, "Although we currently don't know the specific situation between Shiki and Roger, I heard this seems to be an ambush? It's highly likely the Roger Pirates haven't discovered it yet, and Shiki is waiting to besiege them?"
Admiral Sengoku nodded, not hiding anything. "Yes. The intelligence we received indicated Shiki was planning an ambush against the Roger Pirates. As for the Roger Pirates, due to their special nature, we don't have additional intelligence. We can't be certain whether they're aware of Shiki's actions."
Finn paused for a moment before continuing, "As the Pirate Overlord, Shiki never acts without careful planning. The New World is his territory, after all. Meanwhile, the Roger Pirates' independence makes their intelligence difficult to track — and at the same time, it limits their own ability to gather outside information. Based on that, I have reason to believe the Roger Pirates… haven't realized Shiki's plot yet."
Hearing this, Admiral Sengoku stroked his braided beard thoughtfully, then looked at Chief of Staff Tsuru. "Tsuru, what do you think?"
Chief of Staff Tsuru smiled and nodded. "I think the Lieutenant Commander Finn is correct."
"That makes sense," Admiral Sengoku agreed. He then looked at Finn. "So how does this speculation help our current situation?"
"Yes, sir!" Finn replied, then quickly explained, "We can use this angle to speculate on the Roger Pirates' actions!"
"What do you mean?" Admiral Sengoku asked.
"Suppose the Roger Pirates know nothing about the current situation. Where would their originally planned route and target sea area be? That place, I believe, is where Shiki wants to ambush the Roger Pirates!" Finn said confidently.
Admiral Sengoku was stunned momentarily, then quickly grabbed the Den Den Mushi. "Send me all intelligence on the Roger Pirates during this period. Quickly and accurately!"
"Yes, Admiral Sengoku!" the Den Den Mushi responded immediately.
In Admiral Sengoku's eyes, though they couldn't be certain whether Finn's statements and speculation were correct, at least for now, Finn had given them a more feasible approach, right?
That was enough! Enough for him to take it seriously!
Around the table, the atmosphere shifted. Kuzan looked at Finn with renewed interest. Even Sakazuki's cold gaze lingered a moment longer than before.
Borsalino smiled that sleazy smile, but there was approval in his eyes.
Finn stood straight, maintaining his professional demeanor, but inside he was calculating rapidly.
This was his chance. His moment to demonstrate value beyond physical strength. In an organization like the Marines, combat power mattered. But strategic thinking? That could elevate someone even faster.
He just needed to guide them toward Edd War without making it obvious he already knew the answer.