Chapter 257
The senior captain remained silent for several seconds after Zaraki made his decision.
He had already suspected that the encounter with Snack was connected to the wider operation around Kalles, but hearing the reconnaissance Marines describe the ambush stripped away whatever doubt remained.
Someone on the island had disabled Gion's launch from long range, and Big Mom's patrols had been waiting beyond the northern shelf to exploit the opening almost immediately.
This was not merely an Emperor taking advantage of a Marine vessel wandering too close to her territory.
It had been coordinated.
The captain looked toward the Eternal Pose recovered from Snack's ship and lowered his voice.
"If Dapus arranged the first shot and Charlotte Linlin's people handled the capture, then the Five Elders are involved in this part too."
"They were involved before we reached Kalles," Zaraki replied. "This only tells us how far they were willing to extend the operation."
"What about Kaido?"
"He was already given my route once. I'd assume he knows enough to be dangerous, but that doesn't mean he's sitting on Whole Cake Island waiting at the table."
The distinction did little to comfort the captain.
"We need to report this immediately."
This time Zaraki did not stop him.
"Do it. Tsuru has operational authority while Sengoku and Garp are tied up with Mary Geoise. Send her everything: Snack, the Aegis shot, the six recovered Marines, Konpira's sheath, and the Whole Cake Eternal Pose."
The captain nodded and turned toward the communications room, but Zaraki spoke again before he could leave.
"I'm not taking the Oni Slayer into Totto Land."
That made him stop.
Zaraki pointed toward one of the captured pirate vessels that had surrendered during the fighting.
It was much smaller than Snack's destroyed biscuit ship but still fast enough for patrol work, and its chart room contained a direct route toward Whole Cake Island.
"Use their navigator to get me through the outer routes. Once we reach the inner patrol line, he comes back with the ship or gets picked up by one of our launches. I go the rest of the way in."
The captain stared at him.
"You want to enter Whole Cake Island without a Marine escort."
"I want the Oni Slayer outside where it can still move. If I drag the whole crew into Linlin's territory, whoever planned this gets exactly what they wanted—a Marine warship trapped inside an Emperor's home waters with no clean way out."
The captain could not argue with that.
"And our role?"
"Stay outside the main patrol ring. Recover Gion when I bring her back, keep contact with Headquarters, and don't start a war unless someone starts one with you."
A faint, humorless smile crossed the captain's face.
"That last instruction would be easier to believe from anyone else."
Zaraki ignored him.
Word of the decision spread across the deck quickly, but the response was nothing like the wild cheering that might have followed a less disciplined crew.
The Marines had just recovered six injured comrades and learned that their Vice Admiral had deliberately stayed behind so those men could escape.
Anger ran through the ship, but it settled into something controlled as officers moved to their stations and the medical team took charge of the reconnaissance survivors.
Several Marines saluted Zaraki as he crossed toward the captured patrol vessel.
One petty officer called after him, "Bring Vice Admiral Gion back, sir."
Zaraki paused at the gangway.
"That's the plan."
Another Marine, younger and less successful at hiding his nerves, added, "And come back yourself."
Zaraki looked over his shoulder.
"No promises."
The senior captain immediately scowled.
"That was not helpful."
A few tense laughs moved through the deck, which was probably the best answer Zaraki could have given them.
The communications officer arrived carrying a secure Marine command Den Den Mushi rather than a Golden Den Den Mushi.
The latter existed for Buster Call authorization, not ordinary emergency conferences, and nobody aboard had any intention of turning Gion's rescue into an indiscriminate island bombardment.
"Headquarters is answering," the Marine said.
The senior captain took the receiver.
Before the call connected fully, Zaraki stepped onto the captured patrol vessel.
Two surrendered Big Mom navigators waited under Marine guard beside the helm, both pale enough that neither seemed inclined to test his patience.
The Eternal Pose to Whole Cake Island had already been secured beside the compass.
Zaraki rested one hand on Nozarashi and looked toward the route ahead.
The trap had changed shape.
So would his approach.
...
The secure command Den Den Mushi buzzed in the senior captain's hand as the captured patrol vessel carrying Zaraki pulled away from the Oni Slayer.
Purupurupuru...
Click.
Tsuru answered first.
The snail immediately copied her composed expression.
"Report."
The captain did not waste time.
"Vice Admiral Gion's reconnaissance launch was disabled from the Kalles side and intercepted by Big Mom patrol ships. Her six Marines have been recovered alive. Charlotte Snack later appeared with Konpira's sheath and confirmed that Gion was being taken toward Whole Cake Island."
Tsuru's eyes sharpened.
"Snack's current status?"
"Dead. He attacked Zaraki and was killed in the engagement."
The smallest pause followed.
"And Zaraki?"
"He has taken a captured Big Mom patrol vessel and their Whole Cake Eternal Pose. He intends to enter the inner waters without bringing the Oni Slayer into the trap. We are holding outside the main Totto Land patrol routes as extraction support."
A second connection clicked into the line.
Sengoku's face appeared beside Tsuru's.
He and Garp had not yet returned to Marineford.
The secure relay was reaching them from Pangaea Castle, where the Four Elders currently present had kept them occupied with questions about Zaraki, the Warlord program, and the Charlos incident while carefully avoiding any direct discussion of Kalles.
"Gion was taken?" Sengoku demanded.
"Yes, Fleet Admiral."
The snail reproduced the fury that crossed his face.
Garp's voice came from somewhere beside him.
"That brat already went after her, didn't he?"
The captain hesitated.
"Yes."
"Of course he did."
Sengoku leaned toward the receiver. "Listen carefully. The Oni Slayer does not enter Whole Cake Island. Hold outside the patrol ring, keep every prisoner and piece of evidence secured, and recover Zaraki and Gion the moment an extraction route opens. You are authorized to defend the ship if attacked, but you are not authorized to begin a general engagement with Linlin's territory."
"Understood."
Tsuru added, "Send copies of the reconnaissance report through three separate channels. I want the shot from Kalles, the timing of the pirate interception, and Snack's possession of Konpira documented before anyone can make the records disappear."
The captain understood exactly who she meant by anyone.
"Yes, ma'am."
Garp finally pushed his face into the connection.
"And when Zaraki comes back, tell him I'm punching him."
The captain almost smiled.
"I'll pass that along."
"Don't smile. I mean it."
The call ended with Sengoku shouting at Garp to get out of the Den Den Mushi's face.
...
Elsewhere, Big News Morgans was already on his way to Whole Cake Island aboard his own press vessel when one of Perospero's people delivered the story Linlin wanted the world to hear.
The invitation was no longer private.
Morgans read the message twice, then nearly threw himself across the cabin toward the long-range Den Den Mushi connected to the headquarters of the World Economy News Paper.
"PRINT IT!"
His editors flinched on the other end.
"President Morgans?"
"Front page! Extra edition! I want every News Coo that can fly carrying this before the tea party begins!"
He spread the information sheet across the desk, feathers trembling with excitement.
"War Demon Zaraki has been invited to Charlotte Linlin's tea party immediately after one of her sons died confronting him. Kaido is already moving around the same affair, and now Marine Headquarters has an Admiral candidate missing inside Big Mom territory. This isn't gossip anymore. This is the kind of story that changes shipping routes before breakfast!"
The editors moved.
Within hours, News Coos launched from the paper's distribution centers carrying an emergency edition.
The headline screamed across the front page:
[WAR DEMON ZARAKI HEADS FOR BIG MOM'S TEA PARTY!]
[MARINE VICE ADMIRAL MISSING AS KAIDO AND LINLIN MOVE AROUND THE SAME TARGET!]
The article did not claim to know everything.
Morgans had enough sense not to print the Government's hidden role without proof, and Gion's exact condition remained unconfirmed.
That uncertainty only made the story more explosive.