Chapter 504: Countdown to War: The Storm Gathers

Dragon’s orders swept across the three remaining seas within moments.

Borsalino was the quickest by far. As soon as he got word, he raced back to South Blue, landing on Hot Springs Island—the Revolutionary Army’s main base in the region—just minutes later.

“Sir, you’ve returned.”

“Did you catch the traitors?”

Borsalino slumped into the couch, pulling out a nail clipper and casually trimming his nails.

“We caught them. Seventeen in total—all part of the same network. As soon as you left, they tried calling the World Government. We caught them red-handed.”

Resas set a file on the coffee table in front of the sofa, spreading out photos of the captured traitors.

“Oh?”

“So Tuvias was a traitor too. No wonder the Navy kept catching wind of our plans.”

Tuvias was handpicked by Borsalino himself, nurtured along and promoted to head of the Political Department. He’d almost made the top decision-making circle, yet turned out to be a World Government spy.

“Yeah, I can’t believe Tuvias fell for the World Government’s allure. I guess we let our guard down.”

Regret colored Resas’ voice. Losing such a good comrade to corruption stung.

Good thing we caught them early. Otherwise, who knows how many of our plans would’ve been leaked? That would’ve been disastrous.

“Sir, would you like to take a look?”

“No, that’s not necessary. Just keep them locked up. We’re about to make a big move.”

Borsalino put away his nail clipper and straightened up, fixing his eyes on Resas across from him. “The Third Army’s already traveled over the Red Line. Their target is right here.”

“That’s a fully armed force, about a million strong. Aside from the initial 200,000 who came by ship, the bulk are stationed on the closest island to the Red Line—Pineapple Island.”

“Fighting the Army on land puts us at a huge disadvantage. We need to wipe out their vanguard on the sea instead.”

“Surround Pineapple Island and cut off all communication. The World Government can’t catch wind of this.”

Resas hesitated as he nodded. “But there are still a ton of people left on the island. If word slips out, all our planning could be for nothing.”

They did have signal jammers, but Pineapple Island was just too big. There was no way to fully block every message. Someone would eventually make it back to the Red Line with news.

“That’s not our concern. We only need to keep it quiet for two days.”

“Once the World Government is busy with their own troubles, the Army will fall straight into our hands.”

“All right then, I’ll give the orders right away.”

Seeing Borsalino so full of confidence, Resas said nothing more. He simply saluted and left the room.

Meanwhile, Sakazuki and Kuzan had reappeared within the Revolutionary Army, personally disposing of traitors and leading squads to set traps in the path of the advancing Army. They were getting ready to ambush and wipe out the government forces, taking the fight straight to the World Government.

There was one difference: Sakazuki eliminated all the traitors outright, while Kuzan chose the same approach as Borsalino.

As the Revolutionary Army finished positioning their people and signal jammers, the sun began to rise in the east, heralding the countdown to the battle at Marineford.

Impel Down, Fifth Floor!

“Zehahaha!”

“Magellan, you can’t stop us!”

After recruiting more than a dozen vicious pirates from the Sixth Floor, Blackbeard, along with his crew, now faced Magellan, who stood barring their escape.

“As long as I’m here, none of you pirates are getting out!”

“And you—Shiryu of the Rain. Never thought you’d side with pirates.”

Magellan’s eyes burned with anger. He couldn’t believe Shiryu had joined the Blackbeard Pirates. Sure, he’d been locked up for killing prisoners, but Magellan always thought Shiryu was still a just Marine at heart.

“Trapped here in this sunless pit day after day—you could never understand this kind of pain.”

“And what’s wrong with killing a few bloodthirsty pirates?”

“They’re never getting out anyway. Kill more or kill less, what does it matter?”

Shiryu unsheathed his blood-red cursed blade, pointing it straight at Magellan.

His bloodlust was partly fueled by the sword itself—without it, he might not have become so ruthless.

“Shiryu, if you walk away now, I’ll act like you were never a pirate.”

Magellan tried one last time to reason with him, but Blackbeard cut him off almost instantly.

“Zehahaha!”

“Talk as if you could actually stop me! Dark Vortex!”

“Huh? What—”

Magellan was suddenly caught in an intense gravitational pull, his body yanked straight toward Blackbeard.

Looking at that triumphant grin on Blackbeard’s face, Magellan released a huge cloud of purple poison gas. “Poison Dragon!”

“Poison Giant!”

A handful of ten-meter-long poison dragons burst from his back, while a dense layer of toxic mist hardened into armor around him.

“Zehahaha! The Dark-Dark Fruit trumps all other Devil Fruits!”

Shadowy black mist swirled behind Blackbeard, devouring every poison dragon Magellan sent. But the toxins were so strong that streaks of purple began to appear on Blackbeard’s face.

Crack!

Even so, Teach didn’t stop the pull. When Magellan was dragged closer, his right hand punched straight through the Poison Giant, grabbing him by the throat.

“What? How—”

Boom!

Before Magellan could react, Blackbeard smashed him across the room with a left hook, his fist flashing with five gaudy rings.

“Zehahaha, that’s the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit!”

“If you want to stop me, you’ll have to wait your turn!”

Blackbeard kept up his tough front, but he could feel the poison spreading through his body. Thick black mist billowed out in response, while more poison dragons shot from Magellan.

“Everyone, attack!”

Blackbeard was never one for one-on-one fights. With his shout, his entire crew lunged at the battered Magellan. Blades flashed, swords clashed and a riot of Devil Fruit powers erupted across the floor.

With Teach able to break through even Magellan’s Poison Giant, the warden couldn’t withstand this full-blown assault.

About twenty-five minutes later, a punch charged with Teach’s gravity knocked Magellan into the Fifth Floor’s wall—leaving him unconscious. Blackbeard and his pirates rushed out, leaving chaos in their wake.

Out on the sea, Luffy and his crew were already aboard the Thousand Sunny, speeding toward Marineford.

Trailing behind them, two Navy warships followed—sitting aboard were Buggy the Clown and his followers.

Just as Luffy’s group hit open water, Ye Fan stopped and glanced back at the pirates tailing them relentlessly.

“Hey, guys, the captain said there are conditions for busting you out. You’ve gotta follow us to Marineford and make some real trouble.”

“Marineford?”

Buggy’s eyes darted at the mention. That place was infamous; he wanted nothing to do with it. Instantly, he started plotting his escape.

“Is it because Ye Fan doesn’t have enough status that Buggy didn’t agree right away?”

“Must be. Buggy’s our captain, after all. That Ye Fan guy’s just a deputy at best—totally not the same level. So even if someone has to respond, it should be us.”

A few of Buggy’s more ‘clever’ crew members immediately decided Buggy was only hesitating because Ye Fan wasn’t his equal.

In their eyes, Captain Buggy was the bravest, most charismatic leader. Of course he’d repay this favor.

“Our captain’s not the kind of guy who’d forget a debt, you know! Marineford it is!”

“Yeah! He got us out, no way we’d sit back and do nothing now!”

“Totally agree!”

“Right. Lead the way, we won’t lag behind!”

So, before Buggy knew what hit him, his overzealous crew had shuttled him onto a Navy warship at the front. They sped off after the Thousand Sunny, headed straight for Marineford.