Despite putting up a fierce fight, Bullet was uo turide on his own. The coorditacks from Cudius and the others became increasingly overwhelming, leaving Bullet struggling just to defend and dodge. Eventually, exhaustion and the weight of his injuries caught up to him. With one final punch from Sakazuki, the mighty Bullet was stru the head, his blonde hair singed and turo ashes. He colpsed to the ground and did not rise again.

  On the fgship of Admiral Sengoku, anchored near Cybori Isnd, Cudius and the senior Marines gathered for a debriefing.

  "Even though the results of this mission were perfect, the pn was indeed disrupted, not due to any force majeure, but because some individuals took it upon themselves to ge the course of a. Yes, it worked out this time, but that doesn't make it acceptable. If it had failed, who would take responsibility?" Sengoku said, his toinged with disapproval as he sat at the round table in the feren.

  Cudius, always qui his feet, put on an i expression and said, "Well, I sehat somethi off at the time. The pn didn't seem necessary as inally outlined, but Garp told me not to dwell on such details and to just follow his lead. sidering his experience, I figured he knew best, so I went along with it..."

  Garp, who had been sipping tea, almost spat it out. Sure, his pn was shaky, but he hadn't inteo skip the inal goal of luring Byrnndi World to the isnd, it was Cudius who had suddenly suggested capturing World directly.

  "Hey, Cudius, you—" Garp began, but Sengoku cut him off with a sharp reprimand.

  "Garp! You were the one in and, not His Highness Cudius. Isn't that right?" Sengoku's voice echoed through the room, sileng Garp immediately.

  Caught off guard by Sengoku's outburst, Garp shifted unfortably. "Yeah, but—"

  "No 'buts'!" Sengoku snapped.

  Sengoku knew well enough that both Garp and Cudius had likely made that decision together. But Cudius was a Celestial Dragon, pg him out of Sengoku's reach for reprimands. Besides, Cudius wasn't teically part of the Marine of and; his status as a member of CP-X and his rank in the Wover hierarchy made him administratively higher than Sengoku himself. As an Admiral, Sengoku had no real authority to chastise Cudius, so he focused his frustrations on Garp, who, despite being a Marine hero, still held the rank of Vice Admiral and thus was under Sengoku's purview.

  However, Sengoku's expression softened a moment ter. "That said, you did achieve the mission objectives. Well done."

  "Hahahaha! I k was the right call to ge things up," Garp said, immediately rebounding with a grin.

  Sengoku rolled his eyes at Garp's casual demeanor. ", we return to Mariejois. While Bullet is no longer a threat, Byrnndi World's devil fruit power is too dangerous. We o make some preparations for that."

  The room grew thoughtful at Sengoku's words, but Cudius looked puzzled. "Preparations? What kind of preparations?" he asked directly.

  Chief Staff Officer Tsuru's eyes softened as she expined, "The Marine Sit has retly developed a device that freeze a person's body ahem alive indefinitely."

  Cudius raised an eyebrow. "So, you're pnning to freeze Byrnndi World? Just... store him away?"

  Sengoku met Cudius's gaze and nodded. "Precisely. The Marine Sit has made signifit progress over the past two years, especially in studying Devil Fruit abilities. We have reason to believe that, within the few decades, we might be able to trol the rebirth of Devil Fruit powers."

  "The Moa Moa no Mi is indeed a dangerous ability. If Byrnndi World were to die, that fruit would reinate somewhere in the world, potentially causing untold chaos," Tsuru added.

  "So your pn is to freeze Byrnndi World, keeping him alive and thereby keeping the fruit's power tained until such a time when the Wover trol Devil Fruit rebirths and harvest the Moa Moa no Mi for itself. This would prevent its power from falling into the wrong hands?" Cudius summarized thoughtfully.

  Sengoku nodded. "Exactly. We may also use this process for h-risk individuals, such as Golden Lion Shiki. His Fuwa Fuwa no Mi is another Devil Fruit with siderable destructive potential."

  Cudius couldn't help but smirk. Shiki, once a fierce rival and the greatest challenge of his early exploits, had been reduced to a vegetative state after being captured. Now, the pn was to freeze him as well. The idea that Shiki might remain indefirapped, uo escape, was almost ical.

  Sengoku looked around the room. "If there are no objes, we'll move forward with these arras. Now, let's discuss how we're going to annouhe results of this mission—the capture of Dougs Bullet and Byrnndi World."

  Cudius leaned forward. "CP-X has pns for this annou and would like Marine's cooperation."

  "Oh? What kind of pns?" Sengoku raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

  "We io use this event to promote the implementation of the Seven Warlords of the Sea program. The first didate we've selected is Crocodile, so we'd like Mario emphasize his involvement in this mission," Cudius expined.

  At the mention of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the room's atmosphere shifted. Sengoku and the other senior officers remained posed, while Garp said nothing, perhaps remembering the favor he owed Crocodile. Sakazuki, however, visibly stiffened, his face set in a disapproving frown. As a hardlihe idea of "fighting pirates with pirates" grated against his principles. But at this moment, he was only a Vice Admiral. His objes, for now, carried little weight, so he sat in sileh a scowl.

  Sengoku sighed, nodding. "Given what we've seen, including Dofmingo's involvement in capturing the Red t and Crocodile's role in this mission, we 't deny that the Seven Warlords of the Sea pn holds some merit. If it bes Marine operations, we'll cooperate with CP-X's initiative."

  Cudius he slight unease in the room but pressed on. Uhe inal Seven Warlords of the Sea cept, which felt like a relut promise, this iteration had been carefully crafted. It was more akin to embedding trusted operatives within the ranks of pirates, shifting the nature of the arra and making it more patable for some of the senior officers.

  With the major pyers on board, the pn was ready to move forward.

  ***

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