Looking at the furious Sengoku, Tsuru let out a deep sigh.
You work so hard to raise bounties for your son, and now this? What kind of situation is this?
"Fleet Admiral, what bounty should we assign to those two newcomers from Jun Lin?" a Vice Admiral raised his hand and asked.
"The pink-haired woman who fought Doberman one-on-one—eight hundred million," Sengoku replied.
"And the other one, who intercepted and injured Onigumo and the other two—1.2 billion."
He paused for a moment, then spoke with certainty.
No one objected. It was a reasonable decision.
First, the pink-haired woman. If she could hold her own against Doberman—whose strength ranked in the upper tier among Vice Admirals—then an 800 million bounty was far from excessive.
As for the other woman, who delivered the final blow and intercepted the others—one strike had injured all three elite Vice Admirals, including Onigumo.
That kind of power... She was likely already at the level of a Yonko commander.
No—actually, even a Yonko's top commander, though capable of battling three elite Vice Admirals and potentially winning, wouldn't be able to injure all three in a single blow.
So in truth, 1.2 billion felt too low, not too high.
Only Tsuru stood there, lost in thought.
"Sengoku... that woman... could she be the one with the Weapon-Weapon Fruit?" she asked.
"According to Sakazuki, during interrogations of the Donquixote Family members, the woman who had once escorted the slave ship toward the East Blue and then vanished... was indeed a Weapon-Weapon Fruit user. Her name is Baby 5."
"Huh?" Sengoku was stunned.
"She's one of Doflamingo's people?"
But wait—did Doflamingo really have someone that strong under him?
Someone who could strike down three elite Vice Admirals with one move? Even Doflamingo himself didn't have that kind of power!
"Tsuru, is this Baby 5 woman really that strong?"
"Not really. Among Doflamingo's core members, she was considered one of the two weakest."
Sengoku froze in disbelief.
Then he turned to Tsuru and threw her a "Are you kidding me?" expression.
One of the weakest? If the weakest could do that, then Doflamingo would've become a Yonko long ago. No—stronger than a Yonko.
"I'm just speculating," Tsuru said coolly, not bothering to explain further.
Sengoku swept his gaze across the conference room.
"Alright, that's enough about Jun Lin. Next, let's discuss Caesar, who took advantage of the chaos and managed to escape."
"Isn't Onigumo and the others already searching the area?" Sengoku asked Borsalino.
"Yeah, that's right. He's even getting reinforcements from the incoming Buster Call fleet to join the search."
"That's fine. I approve."
In truth, Sengoku considered Caesar the bigger threat.
He was a genius scientist—second only to Vegapunk in the elite science division.
If someone like that were to fall into the hands of another faction...
The consequences would be disastrous.
So the Navy's top priority wasn't chasing Jun Lin all over the seas.
It was getting Caesar back.
Just then, Sengoku's Den Den Mushi began to ring.
Brr brr...
"This is Sengoku."
"Fleet Admiral, this is Onigumo."
"What's the situation? Have you found Caesar Clown?"
"No, that's actually what I called to report..."
Sengoku frowned.
Caesar had escaped no more than 15–20 minutes ago. He should've been easy to catch.
But now it seemed...
Onigumo and his team had failed to capture him?
Sure, Caesar could fly short distances, but this was the open sea.
Unless he could fly for hundreds of nautical miles, where could he go?
Nearby locations included Marineford, Impel Down, and Mary Geoise.
A little farther and there was Sabaody Archipelago...
But even that was a stretch. Sengoku didn't believe Caesar could make it there on his own.
After all, he wasn't a true flyer—he relied on his elemental form to float.
The problem was that it was slow, and more importantly...
Maintaining elemental form for extended periods was incredibly draining.
Even an Admiral couldn't stay transformed for hours on end.
"Onigumo, what happened?"
"Fleet Admiral, we found the small boat Caesar escaped on. But it was empty."
"Someone picked him up?"
"That's what we're guessing. Judging by the boat's position, Caesar must have left it less than ten minutes ago."
Sengoku furrowed his brow.
Clearly, someone extracted Caesar.
But who?
Jun Lin?
No—it wouldn't make sense. If they wanted Caesar, they would've taken him during the raid. There was no reason to wait.
Then... who?
---
While the Navy continued to comb the sea, back on the Danaan, now dozens of nautical miles away...
Viola finally stirred awake.
"Where... am I?"
"This is the flagship of Jun Lin's fleet," came a voice.
She turned her head to see a young man sitting by the bed.
And from the clothes he wore—there was no mistaking it. He belonged to Jun Lin, the group Doflamingo had been obsessively talking about lately.
But how...?
She had been imprisoned on a Navy ship. How did she end up here?
Wait—!
It suddenly hit her. Just before she lost consciousness, she had felt an overwhelming surge of spiritual pressure.
Conqueror's Haki!
Being from Dressrosa, a kingdom in the New World, and a long-time member of the Donquixote Family, Viola knew very well what that meant.
"You're the leader of Jun Lin?" she asked.
"Leader of Jun Lin..." The young man blinked.
"Oh, you mean 'Jun Lin's Lord.' That's the name Doflamingo gave me."
"I see... actually, that name's not bad," he said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"Pfft—aren't you a bit full of yourself?"
"Alright, enough jokes. Let's get to the point. I made a deal with your father—if I rescued you from the Navy, you would join Jun Lin."
"That's impossible! He would never agree to that!" Viola shot back instantly.
She knew exactly what Jun Lin was—Doflamingo had been investigating them constantly.
He had even asked her to use her powers to search various islands across the Grand Line.
And her father, King Riku, would never agree to her joining such an organization.
It wasn't that Viola had any personal grudge against Jun Lin or didn't want to join them.
She was just saying: her father wouldn't allow it.
And yet...
"I told him the terms, no lies."
"I still don't believe he'd say yes!"
"Well, I made the offer and hung up before he could reject it. So... no refusal means acceptance, right?"
...
...
He sounded so confident.
And yet...
It made no logical sense at all.
Viola was left speechless.
---
Currently at chapter 405 on Ko-Fi
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27