One Piece: Scourge of the Seas

Fujitora's insistence on attending the Seven Warlords meeting stemmed from his fundamental disapproval of the Warlord system.

Only by being involved could he find a way to dismantle it.

As for Gion and Tokikake, no matter how much free time they had, they would never be interested in the Warlord meetings.

Their attendance was purely because of Bacardi Maude.

In contrast, Vice Admiral Momonga, who had suffered a crushing defeat at Maude's hands, had no interest in being part of this meeting at all.

Unfortunately, the higher-ups had assigned him this task.

Now, as he watched Maude enter the conference room, he couldn't help but feel a phantom pain from the wounds he had sustained.

For a Marine, being spared by a pirate was a lifelong disgrace.

If not for his ability to continue upholding justice, Momonga had even thought that dying under Maude's blade back then would have been a cleaner end.

Maude noticed Momonga's gaze but ignored it, walking directly to a seat and sitting down.

Doflamingo deliberately took a longer route and sat directly across from Maude.

Sweeping his eyes around the room, Doflamingo's gaze finally settled on Momonga.

Among everyone in the room, the last people he wanted to provoke were Vice Admiral Tsuru and Fujitora.

As for the other Warlords, they weren't even worth mentioning—there was no fun to be had in this setting.

That left only Gion, Tokikake, and Momonga.

The first two were strong, making it difficult to plant his Parasite String on them.

That left Momonga.

As the weakest person in the room, he might be susceptible to manipulation, which could provide some amusement.

"...!"

Sensing something, Momonga glanced at the maliciously grinning Doflamingo, his brows furrowing slightly.

He had heard rumors about what happened at past Warlord meetings—Doflamingo often used his Devil Fruit powers to toy with attending Vice Admirals.

Instantly, Momonga became wary.

He had no desire to become a laughingstock in front of such powerful individuals.

At the round table, Tsuru casually glanced at Doflamingo, as if she could see through his scheming thoughts.

Among Marine Headquarters' many Vice Admirals, some were strong, while others were weaker.

The stronger ones were usually too busy with missions to attend meetings like this.

As a result, the Vice Admirals attending the meetings were generally not among the most formidable.

This allowed Doflamingo to regularly amuse himself by using his String-String Fruit abilities to manipulate them during meetings.

From the Marines' perspective, such incidents were always a disgrace.

This time, with Gion and Tokikake actively volunteering to attend the meeting, Sengoku had ensured that Momonga, who was no weakling, filled the last vacant seat.

This effectively put an end to Doflamingo's usual antics.

After assessing the situation a few times, Doflamingo realized his chances were slim and lost interest in his little game.

To Tsuru, this was an inevitable outcome.

With Maude and Doflamingo seated, the remaining Warlords also took their seats.

Hancock distanced herself from the men, sitting closer to Tsuru.

Hawkeye crossed his arms and propped his feet up on the table, his posture even more arrogant than Doflamingo's.

Kuma, who had been silent the entire time, chose to sit on a couch near the balcony instead of engaging with the others. Unlike usual, he did not take out his book to pass the time.

Maude glanced at Kuma but said nothing.

Blackbeard, upon sitting down, smacked the table and laughed boisterously. "Zehaha! What a big table! Wouldn't it be a waste not to eat and drink? I'm starving—someone bring out some food!"

"Blackbeard, watch your words. This is not a restaurant."

Momonga frowned, his tone serious.

"You care about etiquette even when talking?"

Blackbeard gave Momonga a sidelong glance and sneered. "Idiot, I'm a pirate—I don't have to follow your damn rules."

"You—"

Momonga's gaze turned cold.

Blackbeard ignored him, continuing to pound the table while subtly watching Tsuru's expression.

Tokikake and Gion frowned, finding this former Whitebeard pirate unbearably loud.

Doflamingo raised an eyebrow at Blackbeard's antics and suddenly asked, "How long until Sengoku arrives?"

Tsuru responded flatly, "About three hours."

Since the Warlord meetings were always led by Sengoku, and his workload was considerable, he was often late—this time was no exception.

"Oi, three hours?"

Doflamingo scowled. "So we're just supposed to sit here and wait?"

Tsuru glanced at him and replied calmly, "Yes."

"..."

Doflamingo found himself at a loss for words.

They had no choice but to wait, so complaining was pointless.

Blackbeard seized the moment, slamming the table again and shouting, "Since we have to wait, let's eat and drink first!"

After a brief consideration, Tsuru acknowledged that Sengoku would indeed take time to arrive, so she ordered the guards outside to prepare food and drinks.

Seeing Tsuru comply, Blackbeard grinned and stopped pounding the table.

"Our 'fish-man friend' actually refused to answer this emergency summons."

While waiting for the food, Doflamingo suddenly brought up Jinbe.

Of all the Warlords, Jinbe was the only one who had not responded to the summons.

Tsuru glanced at Doflamingo but did not respond.

"Looks like our 'fish-man friend' values 'honor' more than Fish-Man Island itself. Fufufu…"

Doflamingo leaned back, placing his feet on the table and clasping his hands behind his head. His voice carried a hint of mockery as he repeatedly referred to Jinbe as their 'fish-man friend.'

"..."

Tsuru remained calm, watching Doflamingo's attempt to stir conversation.

Doflamingo chuckled coldly. "I'm quite curious. What happens when someone refuses to respond to an emergency summons? So, how's our 'fish-man friend' doing now?"

"He was sent to Impel Down."

Tsuru's tone was flat.

"Fufufu, terrifying… the Marines, that is."

Doflamingo sneered.

Hancock's eyes slightly narrowed.

She had previously considered ignoring the summons.

Had she done so, she might have met the same fate as Jinbe.

She wasn't afraid, but it would have been troublesome.

This also showed just how seriously the Marines took this summons.

"So Jinbe has been sent to Impel Down…"

Maude rubbed his chin, his eyes thoughtful.

Since the Straw Hat Pirates hadn't been scattered across the seas by Kuma's ability at Sabaody Archipelago, the original timeline's events—such as Luffy's invasion of Impel Down—were unlikely to occur.

This meant Jinbe might remain imprisoned until the end of the Summit War.

With that in mind, Maude glanced at Blackbeard.

This ruthless man had clearly answered the summons, yet when the public execution occurred, he was nowhere to be seen—instead, he had snuck off to Impel Down.

How had he managed that?

By slipping away at the last minute?

If Blackbeard followed the original timeline and sneaked into Impel Down during the war, would Jinbe be affected?

Maude shook his head slightly.

Rather than speculating on uncertain events, securing Whitebeard's head was far more important.

Still, it was a shame about Jinbe…

A strong fish-man was an invaluable asset on the sea.

If given the opportunity, Maude wouldn't hesitate to recruit him.

A while later, the feast was served.

Blackbeard and Doflamingo immediately dug in, while the others, including Maude, only took a few sips of wine.

Three hours passed, and Sengoku finally arrived.

With a thick stack of documents in hand, he stepped into the conference room and tossed the papers to the guards at the door.

"Distribute them."

Hearing Sengoku's command, the guards hesitated for a moment before quickly handing out the documents to everyone present.

Maude picked up the document and glanced through it.

"Battle formation?"

The document detailed the battle formations for the upcoming war, though it was incomplete—certain information was deliberately concealed.

Aside from the formation details, there was also a general overview of Whitebeard's forces.

Maude skimmed through it briefly.

Understanding Whitebeard's forces was secondary to him; what truly caught his attention was the formation strategy…

The Navy's deployment was arranged from weak to strong, positioned in layers from the outermost to the innermost defenses.

As for the Seven Warlords, they were placed at the very front.

That meant that when the Whitebeard Pirates attacked, they would be the first to bear the brunt of the assault.

To prevent them from slacking off, Sengoku's arrangement was certainly direct and ruthless.

Maude set down the document and glanced at Sengoku, seated at the head of the table.

The other Warlords also turned their gaze toward Sengoku.

Meeting their eyes, Sengoku clasped his hands together and said calmly, "If anyone has objections, feel free to speak up. That's the purpose of this meeting."

"..."

No one spoke.

Admittedly, the Navy's approach was somewhat inconsiderate, but with the strength of everyone present, self-preservation wasn't difficult.

Slacking off would be even easier.

Besides, even if they raised objections, they would most likely be overruled.

Rather than wasting their breath, they might as well accept the Navy's arrangement.

Even someone as unpredictable as Doflamingo didn't voice any complaints.

"I have a proposal."

Maude casually tapped the document in front of him, tilting his head toward Sengoku.

The formation strategy didn't concern him, but this was an opportunity he needed to seize—to secure a chance to enter Impel Down.

Sengoku turned his gaze to Maude and said bluntly, "I've heard from Tsuru. Your proposal isn't bad, but I don't trust you. More precisely, I don't trust pirates."

"No need to refuse so quickly."

Maude smiled. "Didn't I provide two options? If you don't trust me, the Navy can always choose the one that doesn't involve a crisis of trust."

"You mean the zombie army?"

Sengoku looked at Maude with a steady gaze.

Maude nodded. "Yes. If they're just mindless cannon fodder, your Navy wouldn't have to worry too much, would you?"

Sengoku pondered for a moment.

Hearing their conversation, Vice Admiral Tsuru and several other Navy officers, as well as the Warlords, looked at Maude with surprise.

This guy… actually wanted to use the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's ability to strengthen the Navy's forces?

Even as a Warlord, wasn't that going a bit too far?

Anyone who didn't know better might think his bounty poster was a fake.

Ignoring the odd looks directed at him, Maude kept his eyes on Sengoku and suddenly revealed the zombie army's weakness.

"Zombies created with shadows have one unavoidable weakness—sea salt."

"Oh?"

Sengoku raised an eyebrow, surprised by Maude's revelation.

Tsuru was equally taken aback.

She immediately grasped Maude's intentions and regarded him with newfound respect.

To enhance his credibility, he had willingly disclosed a key weakness of his own ability.

Was he really going to such lengths just to assist the Navy?

Tsuru felt something was off but reconsidered in light of Maude's background, past experiences, and his actions against other pirates since becoming a Warlord…

His motives made some degree of sense.

Maude hadn't expected the Navy to outright reject such a beneficial proposal. But as Sengoku had said, the real issue was—trust.

Of the two options he presented, implanting shadows into Navy soldiers to boost individual strength was the superior choice.

But the Navy would never agree easily.

After all, those enhanced shadows would remain under Maude's control, making it impossible to rule out the risk that he could also control the soldiers themselves.

That hidden danger was enough for the Navy to outright reject the proposal.

On the other hand, a zombie army was something they might reluctantly accept.

"A small amount of sea salt or seawater can easily expel the shadow from a zombie's body."

Maude elaborated on the zombie's weakness, then looked at Sengoku and said seriously, "So if you agree to this plan, you'll need to be strategic with their placement—otherwise, they won't even serve their purpose."

Sengoku, hearing this, was visibly tempted.

He didn't give an immediate answer but instead asked, "Acquiring shadows isn't difficult, but do you have enough corpses?"

"Huh?"

Maude paused briefly before answering matter-of-factly, "Just kill half of the prisoners."

"..."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

Extract shadows from half the prisoners, kill the other half to provide fresh corpses.

With that, a sizable army could be created on demand…

Of course, while the prisoners in Impel Down were criminals deserving of their punishment, they were still living beings.

Yet Maude dismissed their lives with a casual remark, sending a chill down the spines of those present.

To this man, life seemed nothing more than a cold statistic.

"Zehaha! Ruthless!"

Blackbeard's eyes gleamed as he let out a hearty laugh, giving Maude a thumbs-up.

Maude ignored Blackbeard's praise and instead looked at the frowning Vice Admirals, his tone indifferent.

"What, are you pitying a bunch of pirates who won't live to see tomorrow?"

"..."

Though Maude was clearly provoking them, Vice Admiral Gion and the others remained silent.

Maude smirked and turned back to Sengoku.

"So, what's your decision, Fleet Admiral Sengoku?"

...

Two days later.

A Navy warship arrived at Impel Down.

"We're here."

Vice Admiral Momonga glanced at the man beside him.

Maude nodded and, without waiting for the gangway to be lowered, leapt directly onto the dock.

His sudden movement startled the Marines stationed on the shore.

With Whitebeard's forces expected to attack at any moment, the Marines guarding Impel Down were constantly on edge. Even the slightest disturbance triggered an overreaction.

Led by Momonga, Maude passed through the heavy security measures—fenced drawbridges and multiple layers of armed guards—before finally reaching the prison's entrance.

A thick fog blanketed the area, adding to the already oppressive atmosphere.

Upon arrival, Maude was greeted by two Impel Down officers.

Moments later, a pair of Seastone handcuffs were presented to him.

"Heh. Are you an idiot?"

Maude's gaze turned ice-cold as he stared at the deputy warden of Impel Down—Hannyabal.

"Eh?!"

Stunned by Maude's insult, Hannyabal froze.

Aside from being scolded by Warden Magellan, when had he ever been treated this way?

Eyes widening in anger, Hannyabal glared at Maude.

"Hmm?"

Just as he was about to retort, Maude's overwhelming presence silenced him.

In that instant, he found himself utterly speechless.

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