"It was you?" Whitebeard couldn’t help asking.
"That’s right. It was me," Nagasawa admitted openly.
"Holding back three Admirals at once was actually pretty exhausting."
In the end, Whitebeard had everyone else leave so he could speak with Nagasawa alone for a while.
Marco and the others weren’t sure what the two discussed, but Whitebeard did announce the outcome.
"I’ll help you once. Only once," Whitebeard said.
Nagasawa nodded.
"Then I look forward to working together."
After settling their cooperation, Nagasawa didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he stayed aboard the Whitebeard Pirates’ ship for a while.
After all, with so many Devil Fruits around, it would be a waste not to collect a few.
The Whitebeard Pirates were also very interested in someone as powerful and mysterious as Nagasawa, constantly dragging him into drinking and eating meat with them.
Before leaving, Nagasawa told Ace about Luffy.
"Your younger brother Luffy is currently training on Amazon Lily in the Calm Belt to prepare for entering the New World. But if you plan to go see him, be careful. The Marines have been keeping an eye on all of you," Nagasawa said.
In the original story, although Blackbeard ended up as the biggest winner by recruiting a group of powerful subordinates and obtaining Whitebeard’s power...
...at least the Marines managed to save face.
Whitebeard died.
Ace died.
The Marines could barely be considered victorious.
But in this world that Nagasawa had changed, the Marines had completely lost face.
Ace had been rescued, and even the Admirals had been injured.
Although Whitebeard and the others had ultimately been allowed to leave because of the circumstances, the grudge had been established.
Especially Akainu.
If given the chance, he would never let Ace go.
Ace was tempted.
Ever since the Summit War, he hadn’t seen Luffy.
After thinking about it, however, he gave up.
Rather than seeing Luffy now, he’d wait until Luffy entered the New World.
Ace didn’t believe Luffy would remain in the first half of the Grand Line for very long.
They would meet again soon enough.
...
After learning about Fujitora’s actions on Dressrosa, Akainu called to question him, asking why he had not only failed to stop the White Devil but hadn’t even captured a single Revolutionary Army member.
"I need an explanation," Akainu said in a low voice.
"The Revolutionary Army planned this operation well in advance. By the time I arrived, they had already completed their withdrawal. Only Senju Tobirama remained on the island. Besides, the White Devil isn’t easy to deal with. Didn’t Admiral Borsalino fail to capture him at Sabaody Archipelago as well?" Fujitora replied calmly.
Fujitora’s reasoning was sound, leaving even Akainu with little to say.
According to all available intelligence, even if the White Devil wasn’t quite as strong as an Admiral, he was extremely close.
He wasn’t someone who could be captured easily.
Akainu instructed Fujitora to thoroughly investigate the surrounding countries in search of the Revolutionary Army before hanging up.
Rubbing his forehead, Akainu sighed.
Since the Revolutionary Army had already escaped, there was nothing more to be done.
Now he simply had to prepare himself for another lecture from those old men of the World Government.
Besides, this wasn’t entirely the Marines’ responsibility.
The enemy had already fled before they even arrived.
What else could they have done?
If the World Government’s intelligence agencies had discovered the operation sooner, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way.
After finishing his paperwork, Akainu went for a walk around Marine Headquarters to clear his mind.
Unfortunately, during that walk, he ran into someone who made him even more unhappy.
Nagasawa had returned to Headquarters.
"Why are you back? Didn’t I tell you not to return until you’d dealt with the Beast Pirates?" Akainu asked coldly.
"I did deal with them," Nagasawa replied with a smile.
"Didn’t I capture Jack, one of the Beast Pirates’ Three Lead Performers? He was the one leading the attacks on Marine bases."
"You should’ve captured Queen too."
Already in a bad mood, Akainu showed Nagasawa no courtesy.
"You’re right. Maybe capturing just Jack wasn’t enough. Next time I’ll simply capture Kaido as well," Nagasawa said with a grin.
Akainu assumed Nagasawa was mocking him again.
With a cold snort, he turned and left.
Although he didn’t get along with Nagasawa, Nagasawa was still an Admiral—the Marines’ highest military power.
Akainu didn’t want their conflict to escalate too far.
Besides, Nagasawa had indeed earned considerable merit this time.
What Akainu didn’t know was that Nagasawa really did intend to destroy the Beast Pirates.
He wasn’t mocking anyone.
Destroying the Beast Pirates was Nagasawa’s next major move.
First, it would fulfill his agreement with Whitebeard.
Second, it would greatly increase his influence within the Marines.
Forget an Admiral defeating one of the Four Emperors.
Even in the carefully prepared Summit War, a single Whitebeard Pirates crew had inflicted tremendous losses upon the Marines.
Under such circumstances, if Nagasawa defeated Kaido and crushed the Beast Pirates...
...he would become the Marine Hero of the new era and gain extraordinary influence throughout the Marines.
Although Nagasawa wasn’t interested in the title of Marine Hero itself, increasing his influence within the Marines would greatly benefit him.
It would make spreading revolutionary ideals inside the organization much easier.
Unlike others, Nagasawa hadn’t spent his entire life climbing through the Marine ranks before becoming an Admiral.
He had practically skipped the entire process, rising from a recruit straight to Admiral.
That made this step especially important.
Of course, there were also a few smaller reasons.
Such as collecting more Devil Fruits.
And because he simply didn’t like Kaido.
Not long after returning to Headquarters, someone who rarely came there unexpectedly sought him out.
Zephyr.
Zephyr wanted Ain and Binz to train under Nagasawa for a while.
Naturally, Nagasawa welcomed the proposal.
He still hadn’t managed to collect Ain’s Return-Return Fruit.
Now that she would become one of his subordinates, he’d have plenty of opportunities.
Sooner or later, he’d get it.
"This time, I plan to resume teaching at Marine Headquarters," Zephyr explained.
"The situation keeps getting more dangerous. The Great Pirate Era is becoming increasingly chaotic. This is the only thing I can still do. I just hope this old instructor from a previous era can still make some contribution."
"The students should be delighted. They’ll have both the Marine Hero and a former Admiral as instructors," Nagasawa said with a smile.
Garp was also teaching at Marine Headquarters.
The conversation soon shifted to Nagasawa’s recent capture of Doflamingo.
"The Seven Warlords system has far too many flaws. Those utterly evil pirates were never going to sincerely help the Marines. Every last one of them has ulterior motives," Zephyr sighed.
"So in a way, the Revolutionary Army actually helped us this time. I only captured Doflamingo. They were the ones who completely uprooted his entire organization," Nagasawa said with a shrug.
"Keep those words between us. Don’t let anyone from the World Government hear you. They absolutely hate the Revolutionary Army and can’t stand hearing anyone praise them," Zephyr reminded him.
"Haha, so what if they hear me? What are they going to do? Strip me of my position?" Nagasawa said disdainfully.
"That would be perfect. I’d just go join the Revolutionary Army. I don’t care where I serve. Any place where I can carry out justice is a good place."
Zephyr looked at Nagasawa helplessly.
He felt that without the World Military Draft, Nagasawa probably would’ve never become an Admiral in his lifetime.
Not with such an unrestrained mouth.
In truth...
Zephyr actually agreed with Nagasawa to some extent.
Any place where justice could truly be carried out was indeed a good place.
Why had Zephyr joined the Marines in the first place?
Because he wanted to realize the justice in his heart.
However, after serving in the Marines for so many years, his feelings toward the organization ran extremely deep.
In the original story, had the World Government not gone too far by recruiting the pirate who had murdered Zephyr’s students and gravely injured him into the Seven Warlords...
...Zephyr would never have betrayed the Marines.
Even after leaving, he had created his own version of the Marines.
Perhaps in his heart, it wasn’t that he had betrayed the Marines.
The Marines had betrayed him.
Seeing Zephyr’s reaction, Nagasawa felt there was hope.
Perhaps he could eventually bring Zephyr into the revolutionary cause as well.
If Zephyr joined the Revolutionary Army, the impact would be enormous.
After all, he had taught far too many students.
Although Zephyr had served as an Admiral for only four years...
...he had spent nearly thirty years training Marines.
Pick a handful of Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, and Brigadier Generals from Headquarters...
...and a huge number of them would be Zephyr’s students.
Many of them respected him immensely.
Some might even follow him into the Revolutionary Army.
Just imagine it.
When the Revolutionary Army and the World Government eventually entered full-scale war...
Nagasawa could simply take away a massive number of Marines.
They could practically establish the Revolutionary Army’s own navy overnight.
That would be an enormous blow to both the Marines and the World Government.
Besides Zephyr, Nagasawa hadn’t neglected his other subordinates either.
He constantly corrected their way of thinking and occasionally took them along to rescue oppressed civilians.
He also continued paying close attention to Fujitora.
The trip to Dressrosa seemed to have affected him deeply.
According to Nagasawa’s information, after returning, Fujitora had been using every possible channel to learn more about the Revolutionary Army.
...
Revolutionary Army Headquarters, Baltigo.
A meeting was being held.
Naturally, the topic was the liberation of Dressrosa—a post-operation review.
"Everyone performed well this time, especially Tobirama and Sabo. We’ve taken another step toward our ultimate goal," Dragon said during his speech.
This operation had been especially important for the Revolutionary Army.
Because it wasn’t an ordinary liberation mission.
It had been broadcast live from beginning to end.
Fortunately, the operation had been an overwhelming success.
Dressrosa’s darkness had been exposed.
The Revolutionary Army’s reputation had also risen significantly.
Furthermore, the operation had recruited a number of new revolutionary fighters.
After learning about the world the Revolutionary Army wished to create...
...it was difficult not to long for such a fairy tale-like future.
A world without oppression.
Without discrimination.
Without war.
Next came Nagasawa’s speech.
He reviewed the entire Dressrosa operation before concluding:
"I don’t just want us to understand why we’re fighting.
I want the people of the entire world to know that there is a force fighting for the liberation of the world!"
In truth, Nagasawa had never intended to rely solely on his own strength to help the Revolutionary Army achieve its revolution.
Because he wasn’t originally from this world.
Once he had collected enough Devil Fruits and overthrown the World Government...
...he would leave.
Without him, could the Revolutionary Army truly preserve the victory it had achieved?
That was why Nagasawa had always focused on helping the Revolutionary Army grow rather than simply acting as its strongest fighter.
He introduced advanced theories from another world.
He helped the Revolutionary Army find allies like Amazon Lily.
He spread revolutionary ideals within the Marines.
Everything he did was for the Revolutionary Army’s long-term growth.
Otherwise, given Nagasawa’s strength...
...the very day he joined the Revolutionary Army, he could have led them straight to Mary Geoise.
There would have been no difficulty whatsoever.
But doing so would have had little meaning.
After the meeting ended, Nagasawa discussed the Revolutionary Army’s next plans with Dragon.
Things on Amazon Lily were basically settled.
Unless something unexpected happened, they would become a special unit within the Revolutionary Army.
Meanwhile, the liberation of Dressrosa had also significantly strengthened the Revolutionary Army.
Nagasawa could only say one thing.
Doflamingo had really been rich.
"Our next focus should be the non-member nations. They’re also an important source of support. Many weaker non-member nations suffer under the double oppression of both the World Government and pirates," Nagasawa said.
Although it was called the World Government...
...it didn’t actually govern the entire world.
There were still nations outside its control.
Each had its own reasons for remaining independent.
Some couldn’t afford the Heavenly Tribute.
Others were powerful enough that they believed they didn’t need the Marines’ protection.
Another reason for shifting focus was to let things cool down.
They had just completed a live-streamed liberation.
Continuing to target World Government member nations immediately afterward would only make the World Government even more vigilant.
Although the World Government now viewed the Revolutionary Army as a greater threat than pirates...
...that was mainly because of what the Revolutionary Army represented.
No matter how much pirates rampaged...
...they merely looted, murdered, and pillaged.
The civilians suffered, endured it, and eventually life went on.
The Revolutionary Army was completely different.
They sought to overthrow the World Government.
They wanted to cut off the heads of the World Nobles.
The significance was entirely different.
However, the World Government still didn’t believe the Revolutionary Army possessed the strength to achieve that.
They were only wary of the Revolutionary Army’s ideology.
In reality...
The Revolutionary Army had already accumulated far greater strength in secret than the World Government imagined.
If the World Government truly realized how dangerous the Revolutionary Army had become...
...they would undoubtedly change their strategy and target the Revolutionary Army far more aggressively.
Dragon nodded, agreeing with Nagasawa’s assessment.
"I’ll also continue developing more revolutionary comrades within the Marines. Many Marines possess a genuine sense of justice," Nagasawa said.
He then told Dragon about his plan to deal with Kaido.
"Do you want us to provide assistance? Kaido is extremely powerful, and most of his subordinates are Zoan users," Dragon asked after thinking it over.
"No need. If other people discover our involvement, it’ll only create trouble. A single Beast Pirates crew isn’t a problem for me," Nagasawa replied confidently with a smile.
Dragon had known Nagasawa for quite some time.
He knew Nagasawa never exaggerated when it came to revolutionary work.
Even so, he couldn’t help feeling surprised.
Dragon knew Nagasawa was incredibly strong.
He was an Admiral and had even defeated the World’s Strongest Swordsman, Mihawk.
How could he possibly not be powerful?
But defeating an entire Emperor-level pirate crew alone...
...that was difficult to imagine.
An ordinary Marine Admiral certainly couldn’t accomplish such a feat.
If you sent Kizaru to do it...
...he’d probably have no choice but to salute in surrender.
If Admirals were truly that powerful...
...the New World would never have become a paradise for pirates.
Three Admirals could each defeat one Emperor crew.
The Fleet Admiral could handle the fourth.
Wouldn’t that mean the entire New World would already belong to the Marines?
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