**Chapter 73: Vice Admiral Tsuru Sets Out**

"Vice Admiral Tsuru, we've received intelligence from Dressrosa that the nearby branch is unable to assess, so they've sent it to Navy Headquarters."

A female soldier approached Tsuru, placing the report in front of her.

Since the matter involved a Warlord of the Sea, the naval branch was not in a position to make a judgment.

Even though the intelligence was sent to Navy Headquarters, there were only a few people there who could make a decision regarding a Warlord.

"Dressrosa?"

Tsuru narrowed her eyes, focusing her attention on the information.

After a moment, she furrowed her brows and walked toward the Fleet Admiral's office with the report in hand.

Inside, a carefree figure was leisurely sipping tea.

"Oh, Tsuru, you've got some free time today? Come and have some tea."

"Sengoku bought these rice crackers from the North Blue—they're pretty good."

Garp chuckled as he spoke to Tsuru.

Hot tea was placed on the table before him, and he held a rice cracker in his hand, looking every bit like a retired navy veteran.

"Garp, if you're going to eat, do it in your own quarters!"

"And those rice crackers were hard enough to get; you've taken all of them!"

Sengoku's forehead veins bulged as he lunged forward to reclaim the rice crackers.

The two of them started horsing around in the office, looking nothing like high-ranking naval officers.

They only showed this playful side of themselves in front of an old friend, shedding their usual seriousness.

"Ahem, Sengoku, it seems something has happened in Dressrosa."

Tsuru cleared her throat, urging the two to behave more appropriately in the office.

She placed the Dressrosa report on the table and briefly explained the situation to them.

It involved a pirate usurping a kingdom and the Riku family being ousted from the throne.

This revelation left the two old friends momentarily stunned.

A pirate seizing a kingdom was a serious matter.

If news of this were to leak out, neither the World Government nor the Navy would come out looking good.

Two massive organizations had failed to detect the pirates' covert operations, allowing someone to blatantly become the king of a World Government member nation.

This was nothing short of a slap in the face for both the Navy and the World Government.

"Tsuru, do you want to handle this personally?" Sengoku asked after some thought.

Sengoku actually wanted to go himself, as his adopted son had been killed by Doflamingo years ago, a memory that still haunted him.

"Yes, it's strange that we didn't notice anything unusual in the past year. I've been investigating Doflamingo, but every few days, I seem to forget certain details. I believe the answer lies in Dressrosa."

A shadow crossed Tsuru's eyes. As the Navy's strategist and one of its top officers, she had already noticed something was off.

However, Doflamingo was careful to leave no loose ends, making it difficult for them to find a reason to act.

But now, Tsuru had no intention of letting Doflamingo off the hook.

"Alright, I'll leave this matter in your hands," Sengoku nodded, agreeing with Tsuru's plan.

"Should we report this to the World Government?" Garp suddenly interjected.

"???"

---

The two people looked at Garp with a strange expression, as if they were seeing some rare and exotic creature.

"How could those words come out of your mouth, someone who despises the World Government?"

"At least Sengoku and I show some respect to the World Government on the surface. But you, Garp, don't even bother to pretend. Sometimes you even curse the Celestial Dragons in Mariejois. And now, you're talking about writing a report for the World Government?"

This scene made Sengoku and Tsuru feel a sense of unfamiliarity.

"Is this really Garp?"

"What's wrong?" Garp asked, a bit confused, sensing that the two were thinking about something unpleasant. Their looks were indeed strange.

"Cough, cough! It's nothing, nothing."

"We can't be sure about this intelligence yet. It's better to let Tsuru go investigate in Dressrosa first, then report it to the World Government," Sengoku said with a light cough.

The three of them, who held the highest positions in the Navy, silently decided to keep this matter under wraps.

Tsuru left the Navy headquarters with a warship.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the sea, a ship was chasing a group of pirates.

Doflamingo stood at the bow of the ship, suddenly stomping his foot. He seemed to be running across the sea as if he were flying.

In the next moment, countless transparent white threads descended from the sky.

A blaze of fire erupted on the pirate ship.

In the next instant, cries of battle rang out.

Chaos erupted on the ship.

A man in a feathered coat sat on the railing, lightly moving his fingers, controlling the pirates to kill each other.

Doflamingo had a sinister smile on his face, watching his men tear each other apart.

Suddenly, a man with four propellers on his neck flew over to Doflamingo. His appearance was comically absurd, a user of the Spin-Spin Fruit, allowing him to turn parts of his body into spinning propellers.

"Young Master, Trebol has something urgent to tell you," the man said.

"Trebol?" Doflamingo didn't stop moving his fingers. He took the Transponder Snail with one hand while still controlling the pirates with the other.

"Doffy, the Navy has come to investigate our affairs in Dressrosa," came Trebol's sharp voice from the Transponder Snail, his panic vividly portrayed.

Doflamingo frowned slightly, veins bulging on his forehead.

"The Navy? Why is the Navy here again? Are they trying to shake down us Shichibukai?"

Doflamingo was in a foul mood. Dressrosa was crucial to his future plans. He had taken great risks to seize Dressrosa, and he was not about to let the Navy drive him out like a dog with its tail between its legs.

"Vergo has investigated. It seems someone in Dressrosa knows about Sugar's secret. They discovered the truth from back then and requested Navy assistance," Trebol hurriedly explained.

"Baby 5 has been missing for three days and hasn't found anything. It's likely she leaked the information," Trebol added in a panic.

After all these years of lying low and building such a vast empire, if the Navy were to uncover anything, would they just abandon it all?

"Fufufufu, it seems like it's one of King Riku's people?" Doflamingo said, his eyes dark with malice. "These pests sure hid themselves deep!"

"I'll be back soon," Doflamingo said, tossing the Transponder Snail back to Buffalo, who caught it and looked at Doflamingo.

"Return to Dressrosa. King Riku and his wretched citizens don't need to be left alive," Doflamingo said with a menacing grin.

If the Navy were to investigate and discover something, not only would he lose his throne, but he'd also lose his position as a Shichibukai. He'd be forced back to being a pirate, lurking in the shadows of the sea.

"Yes!" Buffalo's neck propellers started spinning, and two more appeared on his heels, keeping him balanced. Doflamingo jumped onto Buffalo's back.

Buffalo's speed wasn't too slow; it would take only a day to get back. They might even arrive just in time to run into the Navy.

"Stop investigating the Gold-Gold Fruit user for now. We need to deal with our internal rats first," Doflamingo ordered before vanishing with Buffalo.

He left, but that didn't mean the pirates on the ship would survive. Doflamingo was vicious, enjoying the spectacle of slow, mutual slaughter. Meanwhile, Diamante and Lao G on the ship acted swiftly and decisively.

In just a few moments, the sea was littered with the wreckage of ships and dozens of corpses.