Chapter 179: Doctor Vegapunk Really Knows How To Get People In Trouble
“Retreat? A wise choice.”
“As expected of Teacher Zephyr.”
Dragon loudly praised Zephyr’s wise judgment.
“Even if you praise him, the old man can’t hear you!” Borsalino poured cold water on it.
“So what? This isn’t flattery. Teacher Zephyr shouldn’t stay in the Navy. The Revolutionary Army is more suitable for him. Only here can his ideals and beliefs have room to be realized. Otherwise, training more Navy officers in Marineford is just raising dogs for the Celestial Dragons.”
“Hey, hey, Dragon, don’t casually curse at people!”
“Borsalino, what exactly are you thinking?”
Dragon, transformed into Storm, was wrestling with Borsalino.
He looked at the laid-back Borsalino, his heart filled with emotions named confusion. Among so many colleagues in the Navy back then, Borsalino was the one he understood the least. Sakazuki’s justice was so easy to understand, Kuzan’s confusion had long been foreshadowed, but only Borsalino······
Couldn’t understand him.
What is ambiguous justice? Can such unclear ambiguity even be called justice?
“I don’t understand what you’re saying?”
Borsalino became even more at ease.
The Navy’s fleet began to retreat, so he didn’t have to worry too much about Dragon attacking the Navy fleet. Relying on the power of the Glint-Glint Fruit, just dodging and weaving, he could play with Dragon for days and nights if needed. Of course, he had no interest in tangling with Dragon.
Stall for some time, until the Navy’s fleet retreats to a sufficient distance,
Then this boring and dull battle can come to an end.
“Borsalino, you······ why are you being a dog for the Celestial Dragons?” Dragon’s questioning was so sharp and merciless.
“Hey, hey, I said don’t casually curse at people!”
Borsalino sighed, complaining about Dragon’s unreasonableness. “I’m just doing what I should be doing. Celestial Dragons, Revolutionary Army······ I don’t care. Executing His Excellency the Fleet Admiral’s orders is enough for me.”
Dragon was stunned.
This answer left him somewhat at a loss.
But······ thinking carefully, back when he was still in the Navy, it was rare to see Borsalino discussing ideals with people or arguing about the future. He treated everyone with a neither distant nor close, ambiguous attitude······
“Borsalino, you······ forget it, do whatever you think is good.”
Dragon proactively slowed his offensive.
The Navy’s fleet began to retreat, so there was no need for him to fight Borsalino to the death here. It wasn’t yet time for a decisive battle with the World Government. This time, their momentum had been frustrated. Even a powerhouse like the Navy couldn’t muster a stronger army to subjugate them again.
Especially with the estrangement between the Navy and the Seven Warlords now out in the open,
Based on his understanding of the World Government and the Navy, the Seven Warlords’ behavior of going through the motions without real effort would definitely leave an extremely bad impression on the Navy. That would be a rift that even the World Government’s strong authority could hardly suppress. Without the power of the Seven Warlords, the Navy would already be exhausting itself just suppressing pirates······
In other words,
The Revolutionary Army was temporarily safe.
Even if Nico Robin’s Life Card was still in the Navy’s hands, there was no need to worry about the Navy causing trouble for the time being.
Still, this trouble needed to be resolved as soon as possible.
Dragon secretly calculated in his heart, pondering how to deal with the Life Card in the Navy’s hands. Honestly, this job was more troublesome than rescuing Nico Robin. After all, such a big person was easy to find, but a small Life Card······
He didn’t even know whose hands it was in. It was a secret even Bear didn’t know.
Seeing Dragon start to go easy, Borsalino was happy to save effort. To be honest, he didn’t have much confidence in defeating Dragon. Continuing to fight would just waste time and strength with no meaning. He matched Dragon’s rhythm and also slowed his attack frequency.
After the Navy retreated to a sufficient distance,
A flash of golden light streaked across the sky,
Borsalino left the battlefield and chased after the retreating Navy, disappearing at the horizon.
————
Storm grew smaller.
The Navy fleet retreated along the route they came. As expected, Storm continuously weakened as the distance extended. The Revolutionary Army’s giant dragon army did not pursue relentlessly. After reaching a certain distance, the Revolutionary Army stopped the chase and watched the Navy’s fleet depart.
“Bang!”
Everyone gathered back on the flagship.
Vice Admiral Lacval, full of rage, smashed his fist on the table, splashing tea everywhere. “What kind of crappy battle was that? Being chased away like dogs, it’s simply····· a disgrace!!!”
“We were outmatched. Nothing to say about it.”
Gion’s face was unpleasant.
This guy Lacval couldn’t even speak properly. What did he mean by being chased away like dogs? If he liked being a dog, please don’t drag others down with him.
“We shouldn’t have called in the Seven Warlords from the start.”
Strawberry pushed the responsibility onto the Seven Warlords.
“Dogs can’t change their habit of eating shit. Pirates can’t turn over a new leaf. Expecting them to play a role was the biggest reason for this operation’s failure. This group of scum on the sea should be sent to the mines to dig stones.”
Zephyr and Borsalino sat in the upper seats.
Neither spoke.
They sat like clay idols, listening to the others argue.
By the way, the Seven Warlords were not included in this internal meeting, including Elus being excluded. Their performance in the battle with the Revolutionary Army had made all the general officers completely lose trust in the Seven Warlords. It was only due to military discipline that they hadn’t immediately turned on the Seven Warlords.
“This isn’t the time to assign blame. Isn’t the problem we face now what to do next?” Vice Admiral Dalmatian pulled the somewhat derailed topic back on track.
Everyone fell silent for the time being.
Yes,
Their most urgent problem now was the next action.
Ambushed and crushed by the Revolutionary Army, the sailors’ morale on the ships had hit rock bottom, the Seven Warlords’ attitude of watching the show was fully exposed······ In this situation, should they continue the mission? Or think of something else······
Either way, a decision needed to be made.
Any decision was better than stalling in this nowhere environment and arguing.
Gazes,
Turned to the two big shots in the upper seats.
“I’ve already contacted Sengoku and reported everything we encountered. Wait for orders from Marineford on what to do next!” After Zephyr finished speaking, he closed his eyes.
Borsalino didn’t speak.
The vice admirals looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
It seemed······ this was the best response. If Marineford couldn’t come up with a way to deal with those giant dragons, honestly, continuing the mission wouldn’t change much. The Revolutionary Army, which controlled air superiority, couldn’t be countered under current conditions.
“What about the Seven Warlords······” Vice Admiral Lacval was unwilling.
“Don’t stir up trouble.”
Borsalino looked over. “Black Prince······ that guy is super troublesome. Provoking unnecessary trouble at this time will only make things worse. One Monkey D. Dragon is troublesome enough. I don’t want to face two big troubles at once.”
Vice Admiral Lacval lowered his head with a gloomy face.
No matter how much he disliked the Seven Warlords, now clearly wasn’t the time to pick fights with those guys.
Without a General’s backing, Lacval didn’t think he could gain any advantage against the Black Prince. Starting trouble now would just be asking for humiliation. He didn’t have a masochistic hobby.
————
Marineford.
Another day of low pressure in the Fleet Admiral’s office.
“Zephyr and the others lost.”
Sengoku was sullen.
“How? Too fast, right?” Vice Admiral Tsuru furrowed her brows.
How much time had passed? If nothing unexpected, they might not even have encountered the Revolutionary Army yet. Even with that guy Dragon there, the Navy had deployed Borsalino and Zephyr this time. The Revolutionary Army shouldn’t have a second General-level expert.
“We’re the ones outdated.”
Sengoku’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot. “The artificial giant dragons Sakazuki encountered last time······ The Revolutionary Army used those beasts to dominate the sky. Zephyr and the others could only passively take hits and do nothing else. Borsalino was tied up by Dragon, Black Prince didn’t put in real effort······”
At this point, he closed his eyes, pondering whether the Seven Warlords had any meaning in continuing to exist.
The answer was naturally yes.
The stable triangle of Navy, Four Emperors, and Seven Warlords had formed. Removing one corner now would cause the barely maintained peace to collapse instantly. So, no matter how much the Seven Warlords schemed behind the scenes, as long as they didn’t openly rebel, nothing could be done about them.
“Artificial giant dragons?”
Vice Admiral Tsuru didn’t address the Seven Warlords issue. She knew very well these trashes couldn’t be discarded casually before losing their utility. Discussing it was a pure waste of time.
Instead, it was the artificial giant dragons.
Last time, Sakazuki hadn’t truly felt the pain of losing air superiority. The Navy lacked corresponding countermeasures in this area. After Borsalino and Zephyr suffered a big loss this time, they finally understood how painful it was to have air superiority seized by the enemy.
Vice Admiral Tsuru looked at a short record handwritten by Sengoku.
This was something Zephyr mentioned during his call with Sengoku, explaining the importance of air superiority from his own perspective, recorded by Sengoku.
As old friends for many years, Vice Admiral Tsuru knew Zephyr never spoke without aim.
“Has it been figured out yet where the Revolutionary Army’s artificial giant dragons came from?”
“This isn’t something that can be rushed.” Sengoku shook his head helplessly. “CP is also acting, but there’s still no result······ If not made by the Revolutionary Army themselves, the force cooperating with them behind the scenes is no ordinary one. It might take a year or two without any discoveries.”
“Besides, the current problem isn’t this. How to deal with the Revolutionary Army’s artificial giant dragons is what we need to consider.”
Navy Headquarters currently had no General stationed.
Sengoku was too lazy to gather a bunch of people for meaningless arguments and only called Vice Admiral Tsuru to discuss. Even Garp was excluded. That guy coming would just devour his rice crackers and be useless otherwise.
“Difficult.”
“Or to put it bluntly, no way.”
Vice Admiral Tsuru bluntly shattered Sengoku’s wishful thinking.
“You know it too. According to Zephyr, the Navy’s usual combat methods have no power to fight back against the Revolutionary Army’s artificial giant dragons. If Borsalino couldn’t fly and Zephyr hadn’t ordered the retreat in time, this fleet might not have withdrawn intact. Sending them to continue the mission now is no different from sending them to die.”
“Sigh! Artificial giant dragons······ Doctor Vegapunk really knows how to cause trouble!”
Sengoku frowned bitterly, tugging at his braided mustache, picked up the microphone, and dialed Zephyr’s Den Den Mushi. “Zephyr, mission over. You can come back.”
Zephyr, waiting for orders, obviously didn’t plan to waste words either.
He ended the call after exchanging a few words with Sengoku.
Putting down the microphone, Sengoku’s face grew even more dejected. The operation, which he had high hopes for, had thus been declared a failure. Not only did they fail to heavily damage the Revolutionary Army, they couldn’t even bring back the Devil Child Nico Robin.
A complete failure!
“Sengoku, how to solve the artificial giant dragon problem?” Vice Admiral Tsuru’s cold voice reminded Sengoku that now wasn’t the time for him to be downcast.
If the artificial giant dragons in the Revolutionary Army’s hands couldn’t be solved, or rather, if the loss of air superiority couldn’t be addressed, similar failures would definitely only increase in the future. If they didn’t want to keep passively taking hits, the Navy needed to make corresponding changes.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku closed his eyes and pondered for a moment.
After a long time, he opened his eyes. “From the current conditions, there are essentially two ways. One is to equip warships with sufficiently powerful anti-air firepower, so they don’t become live targets that can only take hits without fighting back when facing enemies flying in the sky.”
“The other is to seize air superiority. The Revolutionary Army has artificial giant dragon technology, don’t we? It doesn’t have to be giant dragons. Any weapon that can fly into the sky and fight······ will do!”
“As long as you have a plan.”
Vice Admiral Tsuru didn’t probe further.
He was just Staff Officer, not the head of the equipment development department.
“However, convincing the World Government to allow the use of artificial giant dragon technology won’t be easy.”
“Trouble!”
Sengoku sighed repeatedly.
The World Government was extremely strict in applying science and technology. Doctor Vegapunk’s research inventions numbered far beyond just artificial giant dragon technology. Yet many inventions were forcibly sealed by the World Government right after creation, unlikely to see the light of day in his lifetime.
Convincing the World Government to approve widespread use of artificial giant dragon technology was no simple matter.
Even for Fleet Admiral Sengoku,
He needed to plan carefully, think about how to maximize the success rate as much as possible. Without preparation, it would most likely be rejected like before.
“Tsuru, help me think. How exactly should I say this? The people in the Holy Land are more stubborn than stones.” Sengoku cast an expectant gaze toward Vice Admiral Tsuru.
