Bounty #2

Meanwhile in the headquarters office, Sengoku sat at his desk with a frustrated look on his face reading through the report. "Is this really true… there are witnesses from G-5 giving some extra descriptions of her appearance but the attack on G-5 does not seem like an attack at all. It seems more like a sparring match than anything else, what worries me most is the massacre afterwards. Such a character with that amount of power would not usually do something like this unless they were trying to keep something secret or they were forced into that type of situation. There is also the lack of evidence and just the remains of the ships so Vergo's report is the main thing supporting this bounty. The name ghost is also a good name to use when describing someone who we have very little knowledge of. This character is too dangerous now that it has been confirmed that they are an enemy of us. What do you think Garp?"

Garp stole Sengoku's crackers and happily bit into them while laughing at his friend and colleague. "You are right, ghost is the perfect way to identify this joke of a bounty. No evidence, vague reports on description and their goals, blurry image and all we have is possibly a fake name too or the use of that person's initials. Back in our day, we needed not just authority to put someone on the bounty list but evidence. Now it seems we have become too corrupted from the inside and can easily target innocents without having any proof of them committing any crimes. By the way, I heard a strange rumour recently.."

Sengoku looked fed up. "Speak."

Garp continued. "Not that far away from that location there was a war that was taking place, I do not know if there was any shady deals or anything going on behind the scenes but the princess of the country caused a big commotion and blew herself up after being cornered, she killer herself along with many of her enemies resulting in there being one sole heir to the throne to inherit. Maybe the two things could have some connection to each other? Perhaps the crew of that person was caught up in a battle with those connected to the war. The question would.. why the massacre and why did the fight even start to begin with when that person chose to flee leaving no deaths within G-5? Perhaps something that crossed their bottomline or they had a hard fought battle and could not afford to spare them."

Sengoku had lost his temper suddenly. "Damn it Garp! Why did you not mention this sooner?"

Garp shrugged uncaringly and replied. "It is an unaffiliated country not belonging to the World Government so why should you care about such things. I only mentioned it just now because you mentioned the bounty and the details. If I was here earlier and knew of this I would have long recognised the strangeness of this bounty. hmph!"

Sengoku sat back and massaged his forehead to relieve his stress a little. "If the report was not from Vergo who is so well trusted and clean then I and others would not of even taken this seriously."

Garp looked at his seriously for a moment as he spoke. "Old friend, are you pretending to look the other way or have you gone blind already? Our days have long reached its end and the new generation may carry out our ideals but do not forget that there will always be snakes and leaches latching onto us and sucking the blood from us or spreading poison from within. This case reeks of either something shady or perhaps is a targeted frame job because of damaged pride of the G-5 base. Either one does not sound good to me. As for the person behind it… I would love to meet them to find out the truth for myself"

Sengoku looked at Garp and then turned his gaze away silently while deep in thought.

He was a smart man who was used to spotting many problems within his organisation and within the world but because of his position and politics, he had to often provide evidence to go against people within his own organisation otherwise trust towards him would be lost.

He could not just accuse Vergo of lying in his report, changing or removing certain parts of the story or removing certain pieces of evidence from the scene of the crime without valid proof that he had done so.

Now that he had gained some information from Garp, he now found Vergo's actions to be slightly suspicious.

Either he was acting out of spite towards someone that damaged the G-5's honour or he was a corrupt member of the Marines that was good at disguising their true nature.

He sighed and then asked. "Can you investigate further about the details of the war and try to track down any survivors that may have some connection to those ships and report it only to me privately."

Garp calmly nodded. "I will try to but there may be some interference and coverups involved if there is really someone in the dark manipulating these events, there will be very little evidence left behind."

Sengoku calmly replied but his tone of voice carried a little anger in it. "I just want to confirm if what you have said is true.. if it is then it is best we both keep this suspicion between ourselves."

Vergo was very clean and had a good reputation even among the G-5 who hated following the orders of their superiors with the addition of a high rank so it was difficult to go after him without evidence or cause but if the suspicion was planted then they could still remain vigilant and watch over him further.

—————————

On the Moby Dick when the newspaper was released, the story was read out by Marco the Phoenix. "What do you think pops?"

Whitebeard laughed. "Gurararara… it seems that they have been played for fools by a young female mink. I wonder who's student she must be.. is it Cat Viper or Duke Dogstorm? Gurararara… How I have missed them. Are there any other details?"

Marco looked again and replied passing over the bounty. "They seem to refer to her as a ghost because they were unable to catch her or discover any further information about her within the world. It is as if she appeared suddenly and caused a scene only to vanish once again-yoi."

Whitebeard looked at the picture and then laughed. "Gurarara… it is really suitable to be named as such. To even leave the Marines and World Government stuck and unable to track her down has earned her the title ghost or it simply shows that their power and influence has been lowered a lot over the years to the level where a child can escape their grasp so easily. The children of the recent generations seem to becoming more and more promising. If we happen to meet and ai like her then I shall make her my daughter."

Marco sighed. "Of course pops-yoi."

He had long become used to Whitebeard's habit of taking the younger generation under his protection within the New World.

Even 'Fire Fist' Ace had been brought into the crew and was now making a big name for himself among the crew battling many people and bringing in new blood to the Whitebeard Pirates different divisions.

On this ship, there was never a dull moment so Marco could not complain about the old man's habits.