Chapter 168: Headquarters decision

These three Battleships on the sea were naturally Momonga’s ships, chasing their tails.

The two Vice Admirals were sent by the marines to search for the mastermind, Marijoa’s arsonist, and the escaped slaves. In addition to Momonga, the other one was the Marine officer, Doberman.

It has been more than a week since they came out of the marine headquarters, but they have achieved nothing. Momonga has even wondered whether it is possible that the black-masked man juked them and returned to the first half of the Grand Line, without entering the New World.

After all, there were many fish-men among the slaves rescued at that time. With the help of the Fishman tribe, it would be easy for the black-masked mastermind to go back through the Fishman Island.

However, despite this suspicion, they can’t go on with it because the World Government and Fishman Island have been trying to alleviate racial conflicts. Raising such suspicion at this juncture may embarrass both sides.

This was why Jinbe wanted to take back the rescued fish-men from Ian. He couldn’t let the world government and the Marines catch any handle on his island.

Of course, even though he took the fish-men away to help his tribe, he also indirectly helped Ian a lot. If Momonga knew that Ian had some fish-men on board, he would definitely be 100% sure that he was the mastermind.

However, because he had none on board, which made so difficult for Momonga to judge, and he was very skeptical.

When the patrol ship was attacked, a marine Rear Admiral was seriously injured. After contacting the Vice Admiral Doberman, Momonga followed the so-called dragon Hunter Group all the way to this island. However, when he arrived near the Mainspring Island, he hesitated to go in and catch these pirates.

For other islands, Momonga might not even think about it, he would directly land and start looking for them, but things aren’t the same for this Island. This was the territory of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Now their ships have been sending signals to the whitebeard pirates through the Territorial Sea Slugs.

However, at this moment, Vice-Admiral Momonga, on his own ship, was talking to Doberman through Den Den Mushi.

“We must be cautious about this matter!” Momonga said: “We can’t be responsible for a war!”

Doberman was a middle-aged man with scars all over his face and cold eyes. In the Marines, he belongs to the ruthless group. His philosophy was similar to that of Akainu. As a Vice Admiral, he has participated in a lot of Buster Calls, and he has been meticulous in the execution of the extermination order.

However, even he seemed hesitant after hearing Momonga’s words.

The reputation of the Yonko, especially the Whitebeard, he was well-known all over the new world. As a Legendary pirate in the era of Roger, the pirate king, the Whitebeard has the title of “living legend”.

Originally, according to Doberman’s character, for these pirates who dared to attack the marines blatantly, he would not show any mercy and would chase them in to exhaust them.

However, this was the Whitebeard’s territory. Once they dare to openly send troops to the island to conduct a search, it means that they are challenging the majesty of the Whitebeard, which was likely to cause a war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the whole marines.

“What should I do?” Doberman asked: “Can’t we just carry out secret arrests?”

“It’s too hard!” Momonga said: “that pirate group, the dragon hunters were very powerful and they easily defeated a Rear Admiral. If we want to catch them secretly, we have to go there ourselves!”

These words made Doberman frown, whether he or Momonga were considered celebrities in the marines. How could the Whitebeard Pirates not recognize them? Once they landed on the island, they would be spotted immediately. At that time, what secret arrest is he talking about?

“Are you sure that the leader of the dragon hunter pirate group is the mastermind?” Doberman asked: “If you are so sure, then as long as we contact the Marine Headquarters, even if we risk the war against the Whitebeard pirates, then the headquarters will agree with us, and give us permission to go ahead to the island to catch them!”

“No, I’m not that sure!” Momonga frowned bitterly and said, “Otherwise, why am I so upset?”

They discussed it for a while, but they didn’t find a solution. At last, they had decided not to go to the island for the time being and guard around the periphery of the island. When the Dragon Hunter Pirates left the island, they would strike them.

This was the prestige of the four emperors. Just a site under the name of the Whitebeard can keep the two Vice Admirals away!

However, although they could not show up in public, Momonga and Doberman sent some disguised marine soldiers to the island in a small boat to inquire for information.

They must keep an eye on the movements of the dragon hunter pirates.

However, it didn’t take long for the soldiers posing on the island to give them amazing news through a small Den Den Mushi: [the black-masked man appeared on the island!]

What’s more, it seems that he’s going to join the Whitebeard Pirate Group!

As soon as they heard the news, Momonga was stunned, and directly asked, “Is this true? Are you sure about this!! Has the mastermind already joined them, or is he just in contact with the Whitebeard Pirates!?”

“They have just got in touch, it should be…” The marine soldier who was listening to the news said: “I heard that he was greeted by Marshall D. Teach, one of the Whitebeard Pirates! It seems that the two sides have reached an agreement. But still, they need to wait until he meets the Whitebeard in person. Then after the drinking ceremony with the Whitebeard, the black-masked man will formally become a member of the Whitebeard pirates.”

The drinking ceremony was a standard process for the newly joining pirates to swearing an oath of loyalty over Sake. It is a ritual, especially when the new member has a 500 million bounty. It’s the kind that needs to be announced to the world.

After hearing this news, Momonga and Doberman couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. The ceremony of adopting a new son hasn’t been done, which means that they can still arrest this man before this event, and the Whitebeard pirates won’t have a thing to say…

However, Momonga was a little surprised. He had come to hunt down the dragon hunter pirates, but unexpectedly he got the news from the soldiers that the black-clothed mastermind was there, which meant that his assumption was totally wrong!? There was no relationship between the dragon hunters and the mastermind…

‘Is it really just a coincidence?’ Momonga’s fingers were tapping on the table, thinking.

After a while, he could only put away the matter of dragon hunter pirate group for now. The masked man has appeared, so he needs to ask the Marine Headquarters for instructions.

In order to avoid a long delay, which may give rise to many a hitch, if the Marines don’t want the mastermind to run away, they must use force to arrest him NOW. In this way, it is imperative to invade the territory of the Whitebeard, but neither Momonga nor Doberman can bear this responsibility, so they can only ask the Marine Headquarters for orders.

After calling them, the world government and the Marines also hesitated. However, under the pressure of the Celestial Dragons, they finally gritted their teeth and decided to let the two vice admirals invade the island and catch the mastermind.

Even though, they didn’t want to start a war with the Whitebeard pirates, but the mastermind, the masked man must be seized, and the identity chip of the Celestial Dragon must return…

So they can only wait until finishing the operation, and then find a way to explain the situation to the Whitebeard, and hope that they can pacify him…

With the order from the Marine Headquarters, Momonga and Doberman no longer had any scruples. They drove their three warships directly, and approached the Mainspring Island.

But what they didn’t know was, far behind them, there was a huge ship of the Kuja pirates following them… Boa Hancock, the Pirate Empress, has been listening to their communication.

On her white and slender wrist, she wore a small black Den Den Mushi, which was especially used for eavesdropping. Although she was a little far away, and the signal was not very good, which made the eavesdropping intermittent, but she was able to listen to 70% of their call.

Why did Kuja pirates appear here?

This all started a few days ago when Boa Hancock learned the truth about Marijoa’s arson incident. When she heard that besides the arson incident was actually a second slave liberation movement. At that time, she couldn’t bear staying still without doing a thing…

Among the thousands of slaves rescued by Fisher Tiger rescued, Boa Hancock and her two sisters were between them. They were very grateful to their benefactor, Fisher Tiger, who saved them from that hell. But they were too young to help Tiger at that time. Afterward, the Sun Pirate Group was established, and they have been watching silently. They were very happy when the Sun Pirate Group, with the help of a large number of fish-men, defeated the Marines.

But it didn’t last long, and Fisher Tiger was seriously injured in an ambush of the marines, then he died because he refused a blood transfusion with a pack of human blood…

When Boa Hancock heard the news, she couldn’t believe it, Fisher Tiger was not only a savior for her, but also a hero in her mind. However, such a hero also died in the hands of the Marines.

At that time when they got the news of his injury, it was already late. Tiger’s death was a pity not only for the fish-men, but also for the three sisters. They didn’t have time to repay his kindness.

However, when she heard about the new arsonist of Marijoa, the Empress Pirate had another ripple of hope in her heart. She didn’t know who the masked person was, but she couldn’t watch the event repeat itself again without doing a thing… So she led her Kuja Pirate Group into the New World, and followed the Marines’ search forces from afar, constantly monitoring, trying to find the whereabouts of the masked man through the Marines’ hands.

Yes, she wanted to put Tiger’s affection on that masked man by helping him out of the marines’ pursuit.

So, after eavesdropping on the Marines, she found out that the man in black was on Mainspring Island, and the Marines had made a decision to arrest him by force, So Boa Hancock immediately stood up and ordered her ship to depart, heading to that island…