Chapter 371: The Last Question

Chapter 371: Chapter 371: The Last Question

Chapter 371: The Last Question

"So you’re not going to let me keep talking."

Axel lowered the silent golden Den Den Mushi, his expression quickly returning to normal.

He could understand Tesoro’s decision.

In their previous exchanges, Axel had repeatedly interrupted at critical moments, disrupting Tesoro’s rhythm and forcing the conversation onto his own terms.

This time, Tesoro had chosen the simplest countermeasure.

Hang up first.

Unfortunately, that left Axel with very little information.

Chopper stared at him.

"How can you still be so calm?"

Axel glanced over.

"Ace is your brother! He lost to Teach, and you’re not worried?"

"I am."

Axel began rummaging through his luggage.

"But Tesoro just revealed something useful."

Chopper blinked.

"What?"

"Ace is still alive."

That made everyone look toward him.

Axel continued searching while explaining.

"Tesoro said someone else completed the task before me, so he no longer needed my help."

"He wouldn’t phrase it that way unless Ace had already fallen into the hands of someone involved in his plan."

"And Tesoro’s goal requires Ace alive."

Robin understood first.

"He still intends to use Ace to draw Whitebeard into conflict with the Marines."

"Exactly."

Axel pulled aside another bag.

"That part of the plan probably hasn’t changed."

Teach was another matter.

Axel did not believe Marshall D. Teach was the kind of man who would obediently serve as Tesoro’s pawn.

But Teach was greedy.

Extremely greedy.

In the history Axel remembered, Teach had used his Warlord status to gain access to Impel Down, recruited powerful criminals, and later seized Whitebeard’s power for himself.

Most people would have considered even one of those accomplishments enough.

Teach wanted all of them.

He had dragged both pirates and Marines into his schemes and extracted every possible benefit from the chaos.

That kind of man would never settle for a single reward when several were available.

Now both Crocodile and Doflamingo had lost their Warlord positions.

The seas were unstable.

The Marines were maneuvering against Whitebeard.

And Ace had fallen into Teach’s hands.

Even with history already changing, Axel suspected Teach might still pursue the same opportunity.

Chopper watched him continue digging.

"Oh."

Then curiosity immediately replaced his concern.

"What are you looking for?"

"A Den Den Mushi."

Robin looked at the pile of luggage.

"You keep one buried in there?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"They’re hardy creatures, but won’t it suffocate?"

"Probably."

Axel kept searching.

Then his hand stopped.

"Found it."

He pulled out a rather miserable-looking Den Den Mushi.

Its shell had lost most of its shine and turned dull from neglect.

Axel stared at it for a moment.

"...Sorry."

He fed it some fodder.

The little creature slowly regained a bit of spirit.

Robin studied it.

"What’s this one for?"

"A Den Den Mushi."

Robin’s brow twitched.

Axel spoke before she could respond.

"It connects to Marineford."

Everyone froze.

"Marineford?" Sanji repeated.

Chopper stared at him.

"You can contact Marine Headquarters?"

Robin smiled.

"He used to be a Marine."

She deliberately added,

"A rather famous one."

Axel immediately looked at her.

Robin’s smile became more amused.

"The newspapers once called him one of the brightest rising stars in the Marines."

Chopper’s eyes lit up.

"Really?"

Robin continued before Axel could stop her.

"He became a Marine Captain while he was still a child. The newspapers made quite a spectacle of it."

Axel’s face stiffened.

He remembered those reports far too well.

Back then, the Marines had deliberately promoted him as a symbol of the younger generation, and he had cooperated with the publicity.

He had even said things like "the strongest rookie in the world."

Remembering it now made him want to bury the entire period of his life.

Axel placed one finger against his lips.

Robin laughed quietly and stopped.

Chopper did not.

"Robin, tell me more!"

Axel immediately began dialing.

The ringing Den Den Mushi successfully distracted Chopper.

Purururu...

Purururu...

Click.

"Hello, hello... Marine Headquarters."

The Den Den Mushi’s face changed.

Its features became lazy and vaguely irritating.

Axel recognized it instantly.

"You’re answering phones now?"

His voice turned openly mocking.

"Has being an Admiral become that boring, Borsalino?"

A pause.

Then another voice cut in.

"Enough nonsense."

The Den Den Mushi’s expression changed again.

The face became stern.

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Old man Sengoku?"

He sounded genuinely surprised.

"Did the Marines collapse while I wasn’t looking, or are you just that desperate?"

Several people nearby inhaled sharply.

Chopper’s eyes widened.

"S-Sengoku?"

He lowered his voice.

"The Fleet Admiral?"

Sanji looked equally stunned.

Unlike Borsalino, whose epithet Kizaru was better known among ordinary people, Sengoku’s name and position were familiar almost everywhere.

Sanji leaned closer to Axel and whispered,

"How the hell are you talking directly to the Fleet Admiral?"

He pointed accusingly.

"Your bounty was supposed to be gone!"

"Why does it sound like you somehow made things worse?"

"I’m not spending the rest of my life being chased by Marines because of you."

Axel ignored him.

Sengoku did the same.

"Axel."

His voice was heavy.

"There is something I want you to explain."

Axel sighed.

"Explain what?"

"You know exactly what."

Silence followed.

Neither side spoke.

Axel was testing him.

Sengoku’s wording had been deliberately vague.

There is something.

No specifics.

For an experienced strategist, that was an unusual way to open a negotiation. By refusing to name the issue, Sengoku was trying to pressure Axel into revealing information first.

Which meant the Marines themselves did not know enough.

Axel found that concerning.

If Sengoku was willing to use such a crude probe despite knowing Axel would notice it, the situation had to be serious.

The problem was that Axel was equally uncertain.

He did not know whether the Marines already possessed Ace.

He did not know what Teach had offered them.

And if he asked too directly, Sengoku could simply conceal the truth.

The silence stretched.

Axel finally broke it.

"This is getting us nowhere."

He leaned back.

"How about we stop trying to trick each other?"

Sengoku remained silent.

"We each say what we need to know."

"Simple."

A different voice answered.

"Fine."

Axel’s expression shifted.

"Tsuru?"

He knew relatively few high-ranking Marines personally.

Tsuru was one of them.

His teasing tone faded.

"Then I’ll ask first."

Axel looked down at the Den Den Mushi.

"How did you know I’d call?"

"Judging from how this line was arranged, you were expecting me."

Tsuru answered calmly.

"The Marines never stopped monitoring your movements."

Axel’s eyes narrowed.

"Your abilities have a range."

"The Marines have reconnaissance methods that operate beyond that range."

"There are plenty of officers and specialists capable of searching large areas of sea."

Axel understood.

If Ace had found Teach on Banaro Island, the battle had not happened in complete secrecy.

The Marines had likely been watching Teach already.

Perhaps they had even known enough to observe the confrontation from beginning to end.

Then Axel had arrived on that exact island shortly afterward.

Considering his history and his route, the Marines would never dismiss that as coincidence.

That explained the preparation on their end.

Axel nodded slightly.

"Your turn."

Tsuru asked,

"What do you know?"

Axel immediately frowned.

"That’s cheating."

"I’ll ask that again after you finish your questions."

"Aren’t you worried I’ll get what I need and hang up?"

"I trust myself that much."

Axel smiled.

"Fine."

He stopped playing around.

"Has Teach contacted the Marines?"

"Yes."

That answer came immediately.

Axel’s gaze sharpened.

"What did he want?"

Tsuru paused only briefly.

"He offered Fire Fist Ace in exchange for a position among the Seven Warlords."

Everyone around Axel went still.

Tsuru continued.

"If the Marines refuse, he intends to stage an execution at Sabaody Archipelago."

"Execution..."

Axel frowned.

Then he understood.

"Sabaody."

He tapped a finger against the table.

"Close to Marineford."

"Directly beneath Mary Geoise."

"If Ace were publicly executed there, the Marines couldn’t simply ignore it even if they wanted to."

His expression darkened.

"And Teach wouldn’t even need to carry out the execution personally."

"One sufficiently serious incident involving the Celestial Dragons would force the Marines to intervene."

Tesoro’s objective remained the same.

Use Ace to force Whitebeard toward the Marines.

The only question had been how to ensure the Marines became the ones responsible for Ace.

Axel had considered grander locations such as Enies Lobby or even Mary Geoise itself.

Apparently, Sabaody was enough.

Tsuru’s voice came through again.

"Is that all you wanted?"

"One more question."

Axel paused.

"But I’ll save it until after I answer yours."

"When you trust me, I’ll return the favor."

Tsuru did not argue.

"Then answer the question I already asked."

Axel’s expression became serious.

"I can’t tell you who the mastermind is."

Almost immediately, muffled voices erupted on the other end.

Someone clearly objected.

Axel continued before they could interrupt.

"Doflamingo is being used to push Kaido against the Marines."

"Ace is being used to push Whitebeard against the Marines."

"I suspect whoever is behind this has also reached out to other Yonko forces."

He paused.

"I don’t know whether Red-Haired Shanks has been contacted."

"But Charlotte Linlin is too obvious a possibility to ignore."

The voices on the other side grew louder.

Axel ignored them.

He had no intention of naming Tesoro.

Not while Ain might actually be in his hands.

The Marines weighed lives against larger objectives every day.

If Sengoku and Tsuru learned Tesoro was behind everything, Axel had little doubt they would move against him even if doing so endangered Ain.

From their perspective, sacrificing one person to prevent a world-scale war could be justified.

Axel was not willing to take that risk.

He changed the subject.

"There’s something else you need to know."

The noise quieted slightly.

"Teach wants access to Impel Down."

Sengoku’s voice came through.

"What?"

"He’ll use the Warlord position to get inside."

Axel continued,

"His goal is to release powerful prisoners and recruit them."

Silence.

"And there’s more."

"Teach ate the Dark-Dark Fruit."

"His body is unusual."

Axel’s tone remained calm.

"He can possess a second Devil Fruit ability."

Sengoku went completely silent.

Axel continued with the last piece.

"Whitebeard is already one of his targets."

Then Sengoku’s voice exploded through the Den Den Mushi.

"What?!"

Everyone around Axel flinched.

Axel leaned back.

"That’s most of what I know."

Tsuru caught the wording immediately.

"Most?"

Axel smiled.

"You didn’t exactly answer everything either."

There was a brief pause.

Tsuru sighed.

"Considering how much information you’ve provided, I’ll overlook it."

Her voice sharpened.

"Now."

"You said you had one final question."

Axel’s smile faded.

His crimson eyes rested on the Den Den Mushi.

Then he asked calmly,

"Do you want to cooperate?"

.....

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