Whiteflame grabbed Kalifa's clothes with both hands and yanked hard.
RIP—
Her outfit was torn to shreds in an instant, revealing a swath of pale, exposed skin.
"Ah!"
Kalifa screamed, her eyes trembling with fear as she stared at Whiteflame.
She struggled with all her strength, but Whiteflame's grip was like an iron vise—there was no breaking free.
She already understood all too well what was coming next.
"Perfect timing. Everyone who needed to die is dead, everyone who needed killing has been killed. Under this vast sky and endless sea, there's no one left to interrupt us… and we've even got such a grand view as a backdrop."
"I used to be too rigid. Now, I've finally found a bit of 'fun' in my otherwise boring life."
Flames of desire burned in Whiteflame's eyes.
The more Kalifa resisted—the more pitiful and tearful she looked—the more entertaining it felt to him.
Her figure was already outstanding, and her looks were top-tier. Even among all the beauties in One Piece, she easily ranked in the top ten.
Naturally, the "experience" was all the more… memorable.
(At this point, Whiteflame forces himself on Kalifa. The scene is non-consensual and abusive; the explicit details are skipped here.)
Before long, across the open sky and sea, Kalifa's ragged, trembling cries echoed in a broken rhythm.
Water 7.
"Why has Mister Benefactor been gone so long and still not come back?"
"He didn't run into some kind of trouble, did he?"
Rebecca sipped her orange juice as she gazed hopefully toward the horizon, waiting for Whiteflame's figure to appear.
"Relax. There's no way my man would lose to those World Government clowns."
Baby-5 didn't look worried at all. To her, Whiteflame was the strongest person in the world—no exceptions.
Forget the World Government—even if every powerhouse in the world came at him together, Whiteflame wouldn't flinch!
"Look, he's back."
Nico Robin smiled as she spoke, and all the women immediately turned to look.
Sure enough, a yellow flash streaked across the sky in the distance. In the space of a single breath, the figure flew straight toward them and stopped right in front of the group.
But as soon as Whiteflame's form fully appeared, all of them noticed it at once—
He was holding a woman in his arms. Her clothes were in tatters, and her expression was shaken and uneasy.
"She's from CP9," Robin said, frowning. She recognized Kalifa at a glance.
"Whiteflame, why did you bring someone from the World Government here?" Nami asked, eyes full of wariness.
"H-her clothes… why are they all torn up like that?"
Rebecca seemed to suddenly realize something, her little face turning bright red.
The other women took a closer look—and sure enough, the rips and tears in Kalifa's clothing were clearly the result of being forcibly torn apart. What she wore now barely counted as clothing at all, just scraps—a great deal of skin still plainly visible.
In that instant, every woman present, including Rebecca, silently understood why Whiteflame had taken so long to return.
"This place will soon be crawling with World Government spies. We're leaving."
Facing their suspicious looks, Whiteflame didn't bother explaining. His tone was as calm and indifferent as ever.
Baby-5 pouted. She knew that Whiteflame's harem—her "sisterhood"—had just gained another new member.
Though she felt very unhappy about it, the moment she thought of staying by Whiteflame's side, Baby-5 decided she didn't care how many women he had.
On this trip to Water 7, Whiteflame had:
Wiped out CP9 effortlessly,
Abducted CP9's "flower of the group", Kalifa,
And obliterated nine-tenths of the Buster Call fleet—leaving only a handful of survivors to crawl back and report, delivering a loud, stinging slap to the World Government and the Navy.
This Water 7 visit had been profitable in every way.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In the Fleet Admiral's office, Admiral Akainu Sakazuki, Admiral Aokiji Kuzan, Vice Admiral Garp, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat together in heavy silence.
At that moment, a Marine major stepped in to break the oppressive stillness.
"According to the report, the Buster Call fleet lost nine of its top-class battleships. The remaining one will require 312 million Berries in repairs."
"Every officer below commodore rank was killed in action. Among rear admirals, five are dead. One is unconscious, three are heavily injured, and one is lightly wounded."
"At the vice admiral level, three were killed in action—Vice Admiral Doberman, Vice Admiral Onigumo, and Vice Admiral Strawberry. Vice Admiral Momonga is critically injured and undergoing emergency surgery. Vice Admiral Yamakaji is also heavily injured, but is out of danger and in stable condition."
After finishing his report, the Marine major quickly withdrew, leaving the room even heavier than before.
BANG!
Unable to hold it in any longer, Akainu slammed his fist onto the desk, shattering it to pieces on the spot.
"That bastard Whiteflame is getting way too arrogant!"
"He doesn't put the Navy or the World Government in his eyes at all!"
Akainu roared.
"Sakazuki, keep that nasty temper of yours in check… If you've got that much energy, you'd better save it for dealing with Whiteflame."
Aokiji gave him a lazy side-eye.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Give me the order!" Akainu shot to his feet, turning toward Sengoku. "I'll personally bring that bastard Whiteflame back—and execute him in front of the whole world!"
Whiteflame had provoked the Navy and the World Government multiple times now.
Originally, Akainu had planned to personally capture him during the Navy's grand expedition and use his severed head to restore the prestige of the Navy and the World Government.
But Whiteflame never showed up.
In the end, the Navy had to drop the expedition and use a cheap trick instead—blasting the sea and fooling the world—just to steal back some public trust.
And now the special Buster Call fleet had been turned into a slaughterhouse.
Nearly ten thousand elite Marines, all wiped out. Three vice admirals dead in one stroke.
This wasn't just a blow.
This was Whiteflame slapping the Navy and the World Government across the face.
"That's enough, Sakazuki! I know you're desperate to restore the Navy's honor—but now is not the time."
Sengoku sighed and gestured for him to sit.
"Our understanding of Whiteflame is still far too limited."
Sengoku's expression turned grim.
"We don't know the full extent of his abilities. We don't know his weaknesses. We don't even know if he has any."
"And from the moment he appeared until now… he has not suffered a single loss."
"We don't know what he relies on, where he gets his power… and to put it bluntly—we're not even certain he's human."
"Until we have answers, the Navy must avoid direct conflict with him. Otherwise, the consequences will be beyond anything we can handle."
His words plunged the room back into silence.
Everyone's brows furrowed unconsciously.
Even the "Hero of the Marines" Garp felt the weight of it.
As Sengoku had said, Whiteflame's very existence was shrouded in mystery.
No one knew where he'd obtained such overwhelming power.
From the very beginning—Doflamingo, Jack the Drought, Cracker, Gild Tesoro—
To the last attempt to corner him—Admiral Kizaru, Queen the Plague, BIG MOM's ministers—
Not a single one of them had managed to pin him down.
No one had beaten him.
They hadn't even seen him in person in most cases.
To recklessly provoke someone like that again… the Navy would likely suffer a defeat more brutal than any before.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, are we really supposed to just let this Whiteflame rampage across the Grand Line while the Navy stands aside and pretends not to hear or see?" Akainu growled.
"No… the Navy can't afford to provoke him right now."
"But someone else can."
A sharp light flashed in Sengoku's eyes.
"Sengoku, you can't mean… BIG MOM, Charlotte Linlin?" Tsuru asked, locking eyes with him.
At the mention of Charlotte Linlin, everyone's expression shifted slightly.
This ruler of the New World, one of the Four Emperors, and the only woman among them, possessed terrifying powers that could literally stir the sea itself.
Once she got serious, she was like a natural disaster.
She was the kind of woman no one wanted to mess with—not even Whitebeard wanted too much trouble with her.
If she truly set her sights on Whiteflame, then with her power and the might of her forces, the Navy might not have to lift a finger to remove that thorn from their side.
"Not just her," Sengoku said. "Don't forget—among the enemies Whiteflame has made, there's another Emperor."
"Kaido of the Beasts?" Garp asked.
"If I remember correctly, Queen the Plague was spared by Red-Hair and sent safely back to Kaido, wasn't he? Kaido doesn't really have a reason to go to war with Whiteflame. Unless we count Jack the Drought…"
"Does Kaido need a reason to pick a fight?" Aokiji shrugged.
"He's attacked Marineford alone eight times, and he's constantly running around causing trouble for the other Emperors. He lives for battle. And now Whiteflame's bounty is 1.568 billion Berries—almost up there with Kaido's 1.829 billion."
"There's no way he ignores that."
The others quietly nodded.
Kaido was a known battle maniac—and that so-called "immortal body" of his, with defensiveness off the charts…
The Marines had captured him countless times and tried nearly every execution method available.
They still couldn't kill him.
BIG MOM plus Kaido.
Two Emperors going after Whiteflame…
Just as they imagined, it might truly be possible to erase Whiteflame from the board without the Navy losing a single man.
"Sakazuki, send someone to track Whiteflame's movements," Sengoku said slowly.
"The moment you find him, pass the intel directly to the media."
"Let the whole world know exactly where Whiteflame is."
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