Chapter 44: Sengoku: "What? Roger Is Going to Become the Pirate King?"

The news of Dragon's defection was successfully confined to a small group of people.

On the surface, things at Marine Headquarters were back to their peaceful, calm state.

A few days later, Diarmuid submitted some fragmented intelligence reports on Dragon, most of which were useless. But no one blamed him.

After all, Dragon was a high-ranking Marine who had a long-planned escape. He was very familiar with Marine tactics, so it was completely understandable that Diarmuid hadn't been able to find anything useful.

Soon, the Dragon matter was put aside. From all appearances, no one knew what he was going to do after leaving the Marines. Since he hadn't caused any major incidents yet, it was easier to act as if he didn't exist for now.

Life became boring again. Diarmuid now worked a regular job, analyzing intelligence reports and participating in strategic meetings. After work, he would go home to train and occasionally found time to meet with his sensei Zephyr to exchange experience. He was advancing both his power and his career.

Chief of Staff Tsuru was now fully focused on reorganizing the Intelligence Division. Some of Diarmuid's previous proposals had been approved, while others were not.

His idea to create an undercover unit was approved, as was his suggestion to create a "non-existent" organization. However, his proposal for a covert ops division similar to the CP agencies was rejected.

Diarmuid didn't bother to ask why; he had just made a suggestion. He didn't have a say in the final decision, and it didn't affect his personal interests.

As Tsuru became busier, much of the intelligence analysis was transferred to Diarmuid. He was even starting to attend meetings on her behalf, fulfilling the duties of a genuine staff officer by providing strategic advice to the Marines based on intelligence analysis.

"This is the latest issue of a private, unlimited geographical magazine. Please take a look, everyone." Diarmuid stood up and handed out a dozen identical copies of the magazine to the bigwigs in the conference room.

He was representing the Chief of Staff again today, and no one questioned his presence since he had already proven his competence multiple times.

When everyone had a copy, Sengoku flipped through his and asked, "What's noteworthy in here?"

"Number seventeen of the latest reports, from the Roger Pirates," Diarmuid replied.

The "Unlimited" Geographical Magazine was so named because it collected information from people of all walks of life. Pirates were particularly good at discovering new places since they were always traveling around the world. The Marines, by contrast, didn't make as many new discoveries.

"Roger?" Garp was surprised for a moment. He grumbled, "I had no idea those scoundrels also published knowledge-based magazines."

"It's not uncommon. Many pirates enjoy doing things like this. Life on the sea is too dull. Sometimes, they have vast reserves of knowledge on the strangest topics. Whitebeard even published a worldwide fine wine review in the newspaper once," Diarmuid said calmly.

When he said that, the entire conference room erupted in laughter.

"If I remember correctly, Shiki also published a paper on meteorology, even though you could tell he didn't write it himself," Sengoku said with a chuckle.

It was true. The pirates of the great seas were a strange bunch.

After a bit of joking, the high-ranking Marines began to read the seventeenth report in the magazine. A moment later, the faces that had been filled with laughter turned serious.

Sengoku was the fastest reader. He closed his magazine and said, "So, all this time, the Roger Pirates have been looking for things like the Poneglyphs with the goal of finding the final island?"

"At least, that's what they say in the magazine. If the Roger Pirates aren't just making things up, then there's a good chance that Lodestar Island isn't the final island, and reaching it doesn't serve a purpose. It wouldn't be a full circumnavigation of the Grand Line," Diarmuid said softly.

"A full circumnavigation of the Grand Line…" Sengoku murmured. His expression changed. "Is it that old legend?"

"That's right. If a pirate is the first to truly conquer the Grand Line, they will be crowned King," Diarmuid said in a low voice. As soon as he said this, the faces of the Marine officers fell.

The Pirate King!

The origin of that title was lost to history, but it was a well-known legend on the seas that the person who conquered the Grand Line would be recognized as the Pirate King. But since no one had ever done it, the legend was no longer taken seriously.

Major players like Shiki didn't care about it. Everyone had their own path to becoming a king. If Roger was taking this path, Shiki was taking the path of a conqueror. He wanted to take over the world and rule everything with his power.

"If this were anyone else, it wouldn't be a big deal, but given Roger's current reputation, if he really conquers the Grand Line and finds the final island, completing his epic voyage, he will undoubtedly become the true Pirate King," Diarmuid said in a low voice.

This was definitely something the Marines did not want to see happen.

If Roger became the Pirate King, it would be just as Diarmuid and Tsuru had discussed before. It would shatter the fragile balance of the world!

It would be a celebration for pirates, and no one could predict what kind of disaster the excited pirates would bring to the world. His success would also certainly inspire more ambitious people, like Shiki, to cause trouble.

"Have we received any recent intelligence on the Roger Pirates?" Garp asked in a deep voice.

Diarmuid shook his head. "For the past three months, the Roger Pirates have completely vanished. The last intelligence we have on them is from when they stole an important item from Charlotte Linlin on Whole Cake Island. It nearly caused a huge war in Totto Land."

That important item was, of course, a Road Poneglyph, but Diarmuid didn't reveal that information since the Marines' intelligence hadn't specified what they had stolen.

"So that means…" Garp said, his expression changing.

"That means the Roger Pirates are probably in some uninhabited part of the sea, looking for the final island. He's on his way to becoming the Pirate King!" Diarmuid said with a serious expression.

"This is a serious situation," Sengoku suddenly said.

To be honest, today's regular meeting had completely caught him off guard. The New World had been peaceful lately, with no one causing any trouble. He had thought that today's meeting would just be a casual chat about the current situation on the seas and a check-in on everyone's work, followed by some tea and a relaxing time. But Diarmuid had used a magazine to analyze the situation and come to the conclusion that the Roger Pirates, who hadn't been causing any trouble, were probably about to become the Pirate King.

What the hell? Are they just slow, or is the world changing too fast?

In fact, the Roger Pirates had reached Lodestar Island, which was thought to be the final island of the Grand Line, a few years ago. But when they got there, they realized there was another island after it, and it couldn't be reached by conventional means like a Log Pose.

After much investigation, they found out that the Poneglyphs held the key to its location. After that, they had been sailing all over the world, looking for that information.

So from the Marines' perspective, they didn't know the purpose of the Roger Pirates' quest. They had just observed them going all over the world collecting information from Poneglyphs.

For a while, they had disappeared without a trace. Now, based on the analysis of a magazine, Diarmuid had provided a theory about the Roger Pirates' true goal: to find the final island, to conquer the Grand Line, and to become the Pirate King!

When the fog cleared, Sengoku finally realized how serious the situation was.

"Increase our intelligence efforts on the Roger Pirates. Garp, your leave is canceled," Sengoku said in a deep voice.

Diarmuid nodded. "I have already ordered the Intelligence Division to intensify our search for intelligence on the Roger Pirates, but we haven't seen any results yet."

Garp also replied, "Understood."

Sengoku held his teacup and drank from it, frowning as if deep in thought. After a long time, he put his teacup down and said in a low voice, "We must prepare for the worst. It's possible that we won't be able to stop Roger. If he does become the Pirate King, we need to have a contingency plan."

"Public suppression? If we can keep the news a secret, even if Roger finds the final island, as long as no one else knows about it…" Gion quickly said.

Diarmuid shook his head. "That's impossible. While the World Economy News Paper might be leaning toward the Marines and the World Government, we don't have full control over the world's most widely circulated newspaper. Once that guy Morgans finds out that the Roger Pirates have conquered the Grand Line, he will certainly broadcast that news to the entire world."

Sengoku was clearly familiar with Morgans. He nodded in agreement with Diarmuid's analysis and said, "It's not a very good option. A lid like that can't be kept on forever."

"But I think using public opinion as a guide is a great idea. If we can use it to incite a civil war among the big pirates who don't respect Roger…" Diarmuid said softly.

Sengoku stroked his beard and nodded. "That's worth considering."

The whole situation had come on so suddenly that he was caught off guard. He looked at the other Marine officers and said, "Go and think of some countermeasures. We will discuss them in our next meeting."

Soon, the meeting was over. Diarmuid walked out of the conference room with his documents. Gion ran up to him and patted him hard on the shoulder. "Not bad, Diarmuid! I go on one mission, and when I come back, you're a Rear Admiral! And you helped the Fleet Admiral capture Redfield? You're something else."

"I'm just getting by," Diarmuid said with a laugh.

"I heard about your nickname, you know. The Ferocious Tiger of Marine Headquarters…" Gion said with a playful eyebrow raise.

Diarmuid's face went dark. "Can you please not bring that up again?" Before she could reply, Diarmuid quickly changed the subject. "What mission did you go on?"

"There was this madman named Dracule Mihawk…" Gion said in a casual tone.