Although Dragon's intervention swiftly resolved the three most concentrated slave areas—GR27, GR28, and GR29—the lawless zone, which includes Area 0, Area 10, and Area 20, spans a total of twenty-nine regions. The number of criminals involved is far beyond mere hundreds or thousands.
This led to chaos and gunfire that persisted for an entire day and night before gradually subsiding. The island's residents, who had to endure the ordeal alongside the Marines, dared not close their eyes for a moment.
It wasn't until the next morning, as the sun rose once again from the eastern horizon, that the Marine branch's thorough investigation was finally completed.
During the process, due to the overwhelming number of pirates and kidnapping gangs detained, Dragon had no choice but to request prison ship support from Enies Lobby.
While continuing the search and capture operations, they sent batches of prisoners away. Even so, the base's cells were now completely full, awaiting the arrival of the next round of prison ships.
Meanwhile, news of the Marines' sweeping crackdown on the slave trade industry in Sabaody Archipelago spread far and wide through various channels, instantly enraging many powerful figures behind the scenes.
Previously, the capture of the Slave King had raised their vigilance, but since it didn't involve their own operations, no one was willing to step forward as the first to act. After all, a whip doesn't hurt unless it strikes your own body.
Moreover, Sabaody Archipelago had always been under the jurisdiction of the Holy Land Mary Geoise and adjacent to Marine Headquarters Marineford. For centuries, there had been no issues, leading them to believe that the Marines wouldn't dare to touch this place.
As for the reason, most assumed it was because the Celestial Dragons, the world nobles, frequently visited the island.
But now, their money-making machine had been completely dismantled by Dragon—no, more accurately, he had flipped, smashed, and shattered the entire table! He even stomped on the "printing press" itself! As the saying goes, cutting off someone's wealth is akin to killing their parents, and destroying someone's livelihood breeds deep-seated hatred for generations. This time, all the bigwigs involved in the slave trade could no longer sit idly by.
Even the undercurrents of the entire underworld surged toward Monkey D. Dragon! At the same time, more intelligence agents began probing into the inner workings of Marine Headquarters, seeking to determine whether this was Dragon's independent action or a directive from the higher-ups.
Meanwhile, the royal families used their noble connections to gather information from the Holy Land Mary Geoise, as they needed to understand the Celestial Dragons' stance on this incident.
Some hot-tempered figures, driven to desperation, didn't care about the details. With bloodshot eyes, they directly dispatched their top subordinates to Sabaody Archipelago.
In their view, regardless of who issued the order, since Dragon was the one executing it, they would take him out first! What? He's the son of the Marine hero Garp? So what?
Amidst this colossal storm, Dragon remained calm, seated at his desk in the base, quietly handling the documents in front of him. He intended to produce a detailed report on this operation.
As for the storm brewing in the underworld, he was fully aware of it. But if he had to say anything, it would be this:
He is the storm!
And declaring war on the dark world was exactly what he wanted!!
In the Holy Land Mary Geoise, within Pangaea Castle, loud thuds echoed one after another.
BANG!!
The bright yellow beam of light bounced off the sea-blue court, instantly skimming past the crimson-red racket that came to meet it, and flew out of the court with a surge of air.
The strong gust of wind caused Gion's bangs to dance wildly upwards. Sweat had already drenched her jet-black hair into strands, and beads of sweat slid down her face into her mouth. It must have tasted bitter, but she couldn't taste it.
"0:40, Nerona Saint scores."
Stussy, acting as the referee, stood by the court and looked helplessly at this Navy Rear Admiral, thinking to herself, "Why bother? Isn't this just asking for trouble?"
Gion on the court didn't know her thoughts, and even if she did, she probably wouldn't care.
She should be feeling sore all over, her legs trembling, and even a bit cramped, but this was just imagination. In reality, she couldn't feel anything.
She was seen kneeling on one knee, holding the racket handle, staring blankly at the sweat dripping from the tip of her nose onto the ground. The base of her thumb was numb, and her wrist was turning red.
But in Gion's world, there was nothing.
Her eyes saw only darkness, her ears heard no sound, and she couldn't even feel the touch of the racket in her hand. Only her Observation Haki was still functioning.
It told her that the racket was still in her hand, what her current posture was, and that Nerona Saint on the other half of the court was tapping the tennis ball, preparing for the final serve of the game.
Like a silent and colorless radar, it supported Gion as she slowly stood up and prepared to receive the ball.
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, Gion was shocked to find that she had lost her perception of Observation Haki. She only felt an invisible wave sweep over her for a moment, and then everything went 'black.'
Darkness, everything turned into darkness. No sight, no hearing, no taste, no touch, no feeling.
And in the outside world.
[Bang!]
Another explosive sound of a hit echoed throughout the social square. The tennis ball, struck by the racket, turned into a golden streak of light, rapidly exploding at Gion's feet, lifting visible waves of air.
"Game, score 6:0, Nerona Saint wins!"
Stussy called out the result while looking strangely at Gion, who stood motionless with a blank expression, wondering if the girl had been beaten silly or was just exhausted. "It seems the effect is quite good."
On the other end, standing on the half of the court representing the 'second half of the Grand Line,' Imu curled his lips into a strange smile.
He knew exactly what was happening to Gion; it was his doing after all.
By exerting unparalleled pressure on his opponent and combining it with precise mental control, he deprived her of her five senses during the game, causing her mental collapse and inability to continue the match. Yes, he tried to simulate the technique 'Five Senses Deprivation' from the Prince of Tennis, but he just added one more sense, the sixth sense.
The essence of Observation Haki is the use of mental power, the core of which is controlling one's sixth sense. So, as long as he used stronger mental power to suppress Gion, it would work.
It's also interesting that Gion had asked him to increase the force and speed, saying she wanted to challenge her limits. Of course, he was willing to oblige.
But as a price, being his guinea pig for developing new tennis techniques was only fair, wasn't it?
What was it called again? Ah, right, equivalent exchange! Stussy quickly noticed something was wrong and hurried over to Gion, giving her a pat. However, she found that the latter seemed genuinely out of it, showing no reaction at all.
"My lord, what's wrong with her?"
"Nothing serious. Help her lie down on the chair for a while. She should come to in about an hour. Don't forget to give her some saltwater."
Imu casually replied, walking over to the rack without a care and putting the racket back. He then washed his hands in the basin brought over by a maid.
As he pondered in his mind what other tennis techniques he could simulate, another maid approached with a Den Den Mushi but didn't say anything.
Imu glanced at the Den Den Mushi, lying back on his exclusive beach chair to bask in the warm sunlight. He squinted his eyes and asked, "Go ahead."
"My lord, CP0 has already escorted Crocodile into the Infinite Hell of Impel Down."
"Just keep him locked up for now."
"Yes."
The Den Den Mushi closed its eyes and lowered its little head. The maid respectfully stepped back and left, while Imu began to think about the matter of this sand crocodile.
This guy is twenty-two years old.
Since I only crossed over two years ago, I didn't propose the plan for the Seven Warlords of the Sea at that time. So, Crocodile didn't get invited to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea after failing to challenge Whitebeard at the age of twenty, as he did in the original story.
Of course, now we have it.
But this Seven Warlords of the Sea is not the same as that Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Anyway, after losing to Whitebeard, this guy returned to the "Paradise" in a daze and was captured due to one of my orders.
The question now is how to use this sand crocodile. Unlike Moria, he doesn't have any bonds that can be used as hostages, so it will require a bit more thought.