The deck erupted into an uproar.
Every pirate present instantly lit up with excitement.
This was the Marines’ newly appointed Fourth Admiral.
A rising star whom Marine Headquarters had been promoting relentlessly.
If he had really been defeated and captured by Atmos...
Then the Whitebeard Pirates wouldn’t even need to send Ace into battle.
Capturing a Marine Admiral alone would be enough to shake the entire world.
Cheers and praise for Atmos immediately rang out across the deck.
Behind Lucas, however, Atmos’s face twitched uncontrollably.
The words at the tip of his tongue simply refused to come out.
Listening to his crewmates shower him with praise that felt more like public execution than celebration, Atmos regretted everything.
If only he had kept a closer eye on Lucas instead of letting him stroll onto the Moby Dick ahead of him...
Now he didn’t even have a chance to explain.
One nautical mile away, aboard the Marine warship, Gion, Chaton, and the others wore bitter expressions.
They had heard countless stories about the Four Emperors.
But this was their first time witnessing them at such close range.
And there weren’t just one...
There were two Emperors gathered in the same place.
Even from a full nautical mile away, the overwhelming pressure left everyone’s nerves stretched to the breaking point.
These were the strongest powers on the seas.
Ordinary people would flee the moment they encountered even one of them.
Not to mention that Marines and pirates were mortal enemies.
Unless someone had been hit in the head...
Only a lunatic as obsessed with performance bonuses as Lucas would dare board their ship alone.
Thinking about how Lucas had boarded the Moby Dick solely to verify the purpose of Whitebeard’s meeting with Shanks...
Everyone felt their hearts pounding.
After all, they couldn’t exactly walk up to two Emperors and say:
"Excuse me, could you explain why the two of you are meeting? We’d like to take an official statement for Marine Headquarters."
If they actually tried that...
Their skin would probably end up flying from a pirate flag before long.
"Purururu... Purururu..."
The ringing of a Den Den Mushi shattered the silence.
Everyone who had been staring at the distant Moby Dick snapped back to reality.
Throughout the journey, they had been debating how they should report everything to Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
But every time they thought about Lucas’s reckless behavior...
Even Gion and Chaton didn’t dare submit a report.
Their only hope had been to wait until everything was over and then confess everything at once.
None of them had expected Marine Headquarters to call at a moment like this.
All eyes turned toward Gion.
She froze for a moment.
Looking at the vibrating Den Den Mushi, she wanted nothing more than to pretend it didn’t exist.
Unfortunately, she still gritted her teeth and answered.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru... this is Gion. Admiral Lucas, he..."
"He what?!"
Before she could finish, Sengoku’s furious roar burst through the receiver.
"Gion! You and Chaton promised you’d keep an eye on Lucas and stop him from causing trouble!"
"That brat even dared extort Kaido!"
"Hurry up and stop him from interfering with this mission!"
"I’m worried he’ll tear a hole in the heavens just for a ten-million-Berry performance bonus!"
Inside Marine Headquarters’ conference room...
Sengoku had snatched the Den Den Mushi directly from Tsuru and was roaring at the top of his lungs.
The gathered Marine officers instinctively shrank back.
Not wanting to become collateral damage, everyone quietly made themselves as invisible as possible.
Only Garp laughed.
"Sengoku, you promised me that even if the kid gave up the mission, he’d still get his ten-million-Berry performance bonus."
"Otherwise it’ll be hard for me to convince him to trust us in the future."
"Garp, shut your mouth!"
"If you’re so capable, then you become Fleet Admiral!"
Sengoku shot him a murderous glare before grabbing the receiver again.
"Gion!"
"Put that brat on the line!"
"It’s only three-thirty in the afternoon."
"It’s not five o’clock yet, so I’m still the Fleet Admiral!"
"My orders still stand!"
The furious shouting echoed through the Den Den Mushi.
Only now did Gion realize a Den Den Mushi could actually feel hot to the touch.
She glanced helplessly at Chaton.
The shameless man had already retreated several meters away.
Left with no choice, Gion forced herself to answer.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku..."
"The call came too late."
"We couldn’t stop Admiral Lucas."
"He defeated Whitebeard Pirates Thirteenth Division Commander Atmos earlier and boarded the Moby Dick with him."
"We’re now only one nautical mile away from the meeting between Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks."
"...Fleet Admiral..."
"We couldn’t stop him."
Clatter.
The Den Den Mushi slipped from Sengoku’s hand and landed on the conference table.
His heart felt as though it were being torn apart.
The enormous conference room fell deathly silent.
Everyone stared as if they had just seen a ghost.
Moments ago, they had all wondered how far Lucas would go for a ten-million-Berry performance bonus.
But none of them had imagined...
He would actually march straight onto Whitebeard’s flagship to verify the information himself.
Was he really chasing a performance bonus...
Or volunteering to die?
Even Garp was dumbfounded.
Feeling Sengoku’s murderous gaze, he coughed awkwardly.
"Ahem..."
"Sengoku, don’t you think someone willing to face two Emperors by himself truly has the makings of an Admiral?"
"Ah... I just remembered."
"I left some soup simmering back in my quarters."
"I should go."
Throwing out the flimsiest excuse imaginable, Garp turned and fled without another word.
Behind him, Sengoku’s earth-shaking roar, accompanied by a powerful shockwave, exploded through the room.
"GARP!"
"The makings of an Admiral, my ass!"
Back aboard the Marine warship, Gion, Chaton, and the others stood frozen in silence.
They exchanged helpless looks.
Only now did they realize that serving under Lucas came with one unexpected benefit...
It trained your nerves to become unbelievably resilient.
"Vice Admiral Gion!"
"Whitebeard is moving!"
From the lookout atop the mast, Ain called out while watching the Moby Dick through a telescope.
At last, the pirates aboard Whitebeard’s flagship had recovered from the shock of Lucas’s appearance.
Whitebeard, seated upon his enormous chair with IV tubes still attached to his body, turned toward Lucas and burst into laughter.
"Gurararara!"
"Earlier, I thought you’d make a perfect stepping stone for Ace to establish himself as a true ruler of the seas."
"But I never expected you to be so disappointing."
"You actually lost to Atmos and ended up his prisoner."
"It seems Sengoku really has gone senile."
"You little brat."
"You dared comment on Ace just now..."
"But as a prisoner, you don’t seem to understand your place."
Whitebeard’s booming laughter echoed across the deck.
After all...
During a summit between two Emperors, what could be more satisfying than showing off a captured Marine Admiral?
Lucas casually took another swig of his strong liquor before glancing over his shoulder at the visibly uncomfortable Atmos.
"Captain Atmos..."
"When your old man keeps talking about ’the prisoner’..."
"Is he referring to you?"
The smile on Whitebeard’s face instantly froze.
In the next second...
His expression turned as stiff as someone suffering from severe constipation.
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