"Where is Tsuru? Does she know about this?" Sengoku turned to Garp and asked.
"I've already informed her. She said she would provide the details when we return to headquarters," Garp replied.
Upon hearing this, Sengoku glanced at the wanted poster of Carnes in his hand and then looked up at the vast sea outside the door, deep in thought.
"If... if this is true."
"If he's really alive and has returned to the Grand Line, then this sea is bound to be thrown into chaos again."
Garp remained silent in response, but he shared the same thoughts as Sengoku.
...
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
In an unknown kingdom's harbor.
The Marine battleships led by Vice Admiral Tsuru were slowly anchored in the port.
"Move quickly! Time is limited this time. We must ensure all supplies are replenished by afternoon.
From now on, unless we return to Marine Headquarters in Marineford, the ships won't make any more stops!" Tsuru instructed her subordinates on the deck.
"Yes!" The Marine soldiers responded in unison, immediately setting to work.
As the highest-ranking officer on the ship, Tsuru was also not idle.
She disembarked from the battleship and stepped onto the land.
Little did she know, or could even imagine, that at this very moment, in another direction within the kingdom...
Four pirate ships were sailing towards the kingdom.
At the forefront of the fleet was a silver-white vessel.
Its mast bore a colossal skull emblem adorned with a crown.
And this was none other than the "Gale Emperor Pirates" led by Carnes!
Carnes, sitting at the bow of the Eternal Gale, looked at the Map while enjoying some delicious food.
This time, instead of heading to the nearest island, Carnes chose to follow a predetermined route, deviating as little as possible, to reach the island and recruit new crew members.
Previously, Carnes had already figured out the guiding principle.
The system claimed that it would be best to go to the nearest island to welcome the new crew members, based on the prompt for the fastest way to recruit them.
In reality, regardless of which island Carnes chose to visit, they would still be able to recruit crew members.
Carnes discovered this opportunity during a situation where there were two adjacent islands in different directions.
Carnes randomly chose one of them, yet still managed to recruit new crew members.
In the vast sea, Carnes couldn't accurately pinpoint the exact location of the ships. If the system truly required crew members to be on the nearest island, the probability of recruiting them in that instance should have been 50%.
This probability may seem significant or insignificant, but it made Carnes keep an eye out.
For the next recruitment, Carnes deliberately chose a slightly more distant island and successfully recruited the crew member once again.
This confirmed Carnes' belief that the crew members were not on the nearest island but rather on the island they themselves chose to visit.
"It won't be long now." Carnes looked up and glanced at the nearby kingdom.
After reading the report about "Monkey D. Luffy," Carnes felt a sense of urgency.
It compelled him to reach the Sabaody Archipelago quickly to finish someone there and to prepare for the upcoming full-scale war with the Whitebeard Pirates.
If they missed the timing, Carnes wouldn't be able to personally kill Whitebeard!
Just as Carnes contemplated these thoughts, Demiurge approached from behind, holding today's newspaper.
"Captain, here's today's newspaper."
"Hmm." Carnes put down the Map and nodded, taking the newspaper.
After briefly scanning it and not finding any substantial useful information, Carnes calmly gave an order.
"Let them prepare a little; we're about to disembark."
"Understood." Demiurge replied and left Carnes' side.
...
...
Shortly after, the four pirate ships slowly approached the shore.
A group of people majestically stepped onto the island.
Usually, when Carnes disembarked, Lacey, Inouk, Lydia, and others would accompany them.
But this time, they asked Demiurge to dismiss them.
The reason being that Ulquiorra Cifer and Demiurge personally followed Carnes on their left and right.
There was no need for anyone else to accompany them.
Besides, Carnes never liked having too many people following them in such places.
After all, this wasn't a brawl.
Yes, Carnes thought the same.
Halfway through, Carnes stopped and slowly turned his head.
"Why are you all following me?"
Bonney, who had been following Carnes from behind, was slightly taken aback and puzzled by the question.
"You're my captain now. If I don't follow you, then who should I follow?"
Carnes remained silent, pondering for a moment, then looked past Bonney.
"And what about them?"
Behind Bonney, dozens of crew members followed, bustling with activity.
Since Carnes set sail again, they had never assembled such a large group or made such a high-profile disembarkation.
Upon hearing Carnes' question, Bonney instinctively turned to look behind her.
Before she could speak, her crew members immediately smiled and pointed at her in a simple-minded manner.
"Heh... hehe."
"We... We're also following the captain."
"Yeah, yeah, if we don't follow the captain, we wouldn't know who to follow."
"That's right..."
Carnes: "...."
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