NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 97: [97] Substitution Strategy
Inside Sora's bedroom.
Hina, holding a Den Den Mushi with the Marine insignia, lay in Sora's arms, yawning from exhaustion.
If Sora hadn't asked her to report Moria's death to Sengoku, she'd have curled up like Reiju and gone straight to sleep.
Since her last contact with Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Hina had kept this special communication line to Marine Headquarters.
After days of sailing, Sora's island-ship had left the Florian Triangle and arrived near a nearby Marine base, allowing Hina to relay the message using the signal from the base.
On the other end, Brannew straightened at the sound of Hina's voice and asked gravely:
"Hina, do you have a report?"
Brannew was the only Marine aware that Sengoku had made a secret deal with the fugitive Sora. Sengoku had even told him that Hina was undercover at Sora's side and might call occasionally, instructing him to take her reports seriously.
Hina shifted into a more comfortable position in Sora's arms and began:
"Sora just killed one of the Seven Warlords, Gecko Moria. Let Fleet Admiral Sengoku know. Ask him to cover it up so it doesn't get out."
"Sora intends to use Moria's identity to infiltrate the war against Whitebeard."
"That's all."
She hung up.
"Haah~ happy now?" Hina muttered, placing the Den Den Mushi back on the nightstand and letting out a sigh.
She didn't care why Sora wanted to pose as Moria to join the battle at Marineford. Right now, she was completely exhausted and only wanted to sleep.
"Of course I'm happy. I was also... very satisfied just now," Sora replied with a sly smile.
"Hina is tired. Hina is going to sleep," she grumbled, glaring at him before rolling over.
Sora chuckled, gently kissed both her and Reiju's foreheads, then got out of bed.
Before the war at Marineford, the Marines would be summoning all Warlords. If Moria were missing, the truth would eventually come out.
So rather than hide it, Sora simply informed Sengoku in advance, asking for help with the cover-up.
Whether Sengoku agreed or not didn't matter. It was merely a way to throw him off, making him think Sora just wanted to act under Moria's name—when in fact, Sora had his own hidden agenda.
Outside on the balcony, Sora leaned against the railing, staring at Thriller Bark under the moonlight, lost in thought.
Suddenly, he noticed shadows sneaking around the forest in the distance.
"There are still people hiding on this island?"
Sora frowned and transformed into a bolt of lightning.
Zzt!
The thunderous flash exploded among the figures, instantly electrocuting them.
Looking down at the unconscious bodies, Sora realized:
"So it was Lola and her group... I totally forgot they were still on this ship."
...
Marine Headquarters, Intelligence Division.
"One of the Seven Warlords... killed by Sora..."
Brannew was frozen, phone still in hand, stunned.
He already knew about Sora's criminal record, and had heard he could instantly kill a CP0 agent. But this was still shocking.
Moria wasn't just any pirate—he was once a fierce rival of the Yonko Kaido.
A legendary pirate of the Grand Line... and Sora just killed him like it was nothing.
Brannew frowned, debating whether to wake Sengoku at this hour.
It was already late at night, and the Admiral was surely asleep. Reporting this now would likely earn him a scolding.
But the death of a Warlord was no trivial matter.
"Oh well, worst case, I get yelled at."
He opened the door and sprinted toward Sengoku's quarters.
Inside the Admiral's office...
"Garp, I've already eaten 315 rice crackers..."
Sengoku lay on the sofa, belly bloated, panting heavily.
Normally, he'd be asleep by now. But Garp had shown up to challenge him in an eating contest, claiming he'd broken his old record.
As the current record-holder, Sengoku couldn't let that slide.
So the two had been stuffing their faces with rice crackers since evening.
"Three hundred and sixteen! Heh heh heh..." Garp said smugly, then immediately passed out with a giant snot bubble.
These cracker contests often lasted days. Garp was just pacing himself for the long haul.
"Tch."
Annoyed, Sengoku shoved another cracker into his mouth.
"Three hundred and sixteen!"
Knock knock knock!
Hearing the knock, Sengoku glanced at the sleeping Garp, got up, and stepped into the hallway.
The ocean breeze cooled him as he faced Brannew and asked:
"What is it?"
Brannew wiped the sweat from his brow, took a few deep breaths, and said:
"Fleet Admiral, I just received a message from Hina—Sora has killed Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords."
"What?!"
"Moria was killed by Sora?"
Sengoku was stunned.
They were currently mobilizing every Marine unit for the Whitebeard operation, and now one of their designated allies had been killed?
"Are you certain Moria is dead?" he asked seriously.
They had to be sure. This was a major incident.
"I confirmed it with Marines who had their shadows stolen by Moria. Their shadows returned—so it's almost certainly true."
Brannew was confident.
"And Hina said Sora wants to use Moria's identity to join the war against Whitebeard. She didn't elaborate on the details. Probably doesn't know either."
"Using Moria's identity... a classic substitution tactic."
Sengoku frowned, thinking it through.
Because of the whole Celestial Dragon incident, Sora's "Godslayer" reputation made him politically toxic. If word got out that the Navy was working with him, the Five Elders would explode.
But if Sora pretended to be Moria, then Sengoku could plausibly deny any wrongdoing.
Still, Sengoku doubted that was Sora's only plan. The man always had something more going on.
Even so, Sengoku decided to play along.
Moria was already dead—there was no undoing that. Refusing to cooperate now would just push Sora away.
And as long as Sora didn't act against the Navy, Sengoku didn't care.
The Whitebeard war was already enough of a headache.
But if Sora crossed the line—Sengoku would make sure he didn't live to regret it.
______________
P/S: If you are interested, you can read up to 30+ chapters for $5 and receive daily updates at [email protected]/Betek (@->a).