Brannew, a Lieutenant Commander of Marine Headquarters, is primarily involved in administrative duties. His expertise lies in intelligence gathering. Since this talent was discovered, he has been responsible for summarizing intelligence at numerous Marine Headquarters meetings and conveying the latest information to officers of all ranks.
“Five days ago, the Beasts Pirates attacked the Standing Kingdom and openly seized ten warships belonging to the kingdom.”
The Marines below didn’t find this surprising; given the capabilities of the Beasts Pirates, it would be unusual if they couldn’t pull off something like this. Even a single Shichibukai can overthrow a nation. A lone affiliated nation is inherently powerless against an Emperor of the Sea.
“But the way they seized the ships is the main issue.”
Enlarged photos of Tyranitar and Emboar appeared on the screen. The Yonta Maria Grand Fleet’s Den Den Mushi recorded some terrifying scenes, such as the release of Hyper Beam and the destruction of the ship.
In addition, there were recordings by the Marines of Emboar’s past battle scenes.
“Fifteen years ago, a biological weapon known as “Emboar” by the Beasts Pirates appeared on the seas. It’s known to possess the ability to control fire, with combat power far exceeding that of ordinary Giants.”
Describing someone’s strength requires a point of comparison, which is one reason the bounty system was established. Although there are some cases where strength doesn’t match the bounty, the bounty can still indicate the strength of most people.
Different pirate crews have different ranking systems. The Marines face the entire sea and don’t have time to memorize and convert every ranking sequence, so the bounty becomes the simplest measure of strength.
Through bounties, the Marines can roughly gauge a pirate’s threat level.
For these biological weapons, the World Government has not issued any bounties, so Brannew chose a very clear comparison—Giants.
Size gives a decisive advantage in many aspects. Giants who join the Marines typically hold the rank of Vice Admiral, and most people lack the ability to face Giants.
Surpassing ordinary Giants already indicates the threat posed by these creatures.
“In the past fifteen years, we haven’t discovered a second similar creature. We thought this was just a fluke, but the appearance of this monster shattered that notion.”
Strange creatures aren’t uncommon; in fact, there are many. The sea is full of bizarre creatures, so this didn’t raise alarms with the Marines.
Gyarados and Magikarp are numerous, and their large numbers create the illusion that they’re a natural phenomenon. The theory that Gyarados are modified creatures exists, but it hasn’t been proven.
To this day, Gyarados hasn’t directly participated in the Beasts Pirates’ operations. With only a single Mandrell in the picture, it’s hard to confirm specific information.
But Tyranitar is different. If there was only an Emboar, it could be considered an isolated case, but the appearance of a second monster is significant. If they can create a second, there could be a third, a fourth, or even an entire army of such giant beasts.
“This is the ability it has demonstrated: a destructive laser cannon and possibly the ability to control sandstorms. The power of the laser cannon is enough to destroy a warship with one strike. If you encounter a large ship of Beasts Pirates, avoid engaging it at sea.”
“For now, it seems these two giant beasts might be following Jack’s orders. He is very likely the commander of this giant beast unit.”
This is why Jack’s photo was placed alongside them. Two might not seem like many, but given their massive size and terrifying power, it’s not unreasonable to treat them as a standalone unit.
“Alright, everyone, this is the main information I wanted to convey in this meeting. Next, we’ll address a more important issue: Queen the Plague.”
The photos of Emboar and Tyranitar were taken down, leaving only a picture of Queen.
“Queen the Plague, a veteran member of the Beasts Pirates and a former member of the MADS research group, is suspected to have made further advancements in the study of the Lineage Factor.”
“According to intelligence from the World Government’s Cipher Pol department, the first appearance of the giant beast codenamed Emboar was under Queen’s command. However, the higher-ups have always been skeptical about this.”
Even though their attention was now focused on Queen, they hadn’t overlooked the mysterious Arceus. But everything Arceus did and his movements left them baffled. Based on previous intelligence reports, his voyages didn’t resemble those of a pirate but rather an old guardian taking children on a tour.
This possibility was quickly dismissed. According to the intelligence, Arceus, though not very active, was undoubtedly the second-in-command of the Beasts Pirates. It was unthinkable that someone of his stature would just roam around with children, indicating there must be some secret they hadn’t discovered.
It is well-known that Kaido is searching everywhere for stones, but they have also studied these stones and found nothing special about them besides their indestructibility. They didn’t think these stones had any connection to the terrifying giant beasts.
There were too many mysterious elements involved. While they didn’t ignore Arceus, they had no clues to follow, so they concentrated their efforts on the more traceable target, Queen.
“Fleet Admiral Sengoku’s orders: if any of you encounter Queen while on a mission, you may immediately change your mission to prioritize capturing Queen, and you can call for support from Headquarters.”
Attacking the strongholds of the Emperors of the Sea isn’t wise, which is why this order was issued. However, it is likely not possible to carry it out.
They couldn’t predict where Queen would appear, and Queen himself was quite powerful, making it difficult to capture him.
Especially for ordinary Marine soldiers, Queen’s abilities were catastrophic. Without special precautions, regular soldiers would likely be wiped out by his Plague Bullets. Therefore, the Marines had produced a batch of new equipment.
“These are gas masks prepared by Headquarters. Those who frequently operate in the New World can arrange to collect them from the logistics department later.”
Originally, this type of equipment was only provided at Impel Down and certain laboratories. Most pirates don’t even have quality cannons, let alone such weapons. The gas masks were added specifically to counter some of Queen’s abilities.
Changing standard equipment because of one individual demonstrates just how seriously they took Queen.
This was the action plan within Marine Headquarters. Meanwhile, the Cipher Pol department under the World Government was also active, collecting vast amounts of data from around the world and handing it over to Vegapunk.
Vegapunk is a genius researcher, but with the data and scholars from Ohara gone, he lacked the resources to study certain things and was increasingly reliant on the World Government.
As the world’s rulers, they had access to far more things than anyone else…
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