One Piece: Alucard the Immortal-Chapter 497 - 496: Avoiding the Brunt of the Storm

"Ugh..."

Garp sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking incredibly restless, making strange, unintelligible noises every few seconds.

Inside the office, Fleet Admiral Sengoku glanced at Garp but said nothing. However, seeing the dark veins bulging on Garp’s forehead made even Sengoku’s heart skip a beat. It felt as though he wasn’t facing a comrade of several decades, but a wild beast perched on the edge of life and death, ready to pounce.

"Stop loitering here. I have absolutely no news."

Sengoku was one of the very few people who knew the truth about the relationship between Garp and Dragon; he also knew that Dragon’s full name was Monkey D. Dragon.

News of the Golden Hair Pirates visiting Marineford to demand intelligence on the Revolutionary Army from the World Government had long since reached Garp’s ears.

Upon hearing this, Garp’s first instinct had been to shadow the Golden Hair Pirates, following their trail to find his son and save him. Because his contact with Dragon was always one-way—Dragon contacted him, but Garp had no way of reaching Dragon—Garp was unable to warn him that the Immortal Pirates were targeting him. He had intended to follow the lead of Ivalis and the others to provide backup.

However, the intelligence the Marines received a few days later was baffling.

The Golden Hair Pirates hadn’t moved at all. After leaving Marineford, they stayed at Sabaody Archipelago, one of the islands closest to Marine Headquarters, and hadn’t budged for nearly a month.

Strategic minds like Sengoku and Tsuru saw through it immediately: the Golden Hair Pirates were monitoring the movements of the Marines and the Government. They weren’t the ones going after Dragon.

Furthermore, intelligence from the Marines in the New World confirmed that no large-scale units of the Immortal Pirates had mobilized. There was no movement.

But it made no sense to acquire intelligence and then not act.

Sengoku soon deciphered this strange phenomenon: Alucard had gone alone.

If Alucard had taken someone as massive as Wolf with him, it would have been conspicuous and easy to track. But Alucard, traveling solo, was a ghost; there was no telling where he was headed.

The World Government was also extremely supportive of Alucard dealing with Dragon and had no intention of sharing intelligence with the Navy. With Garp unable to contact his son, he could do nothing but wait here and fume.

"Your son is an expert at escaping; he’s fooled the CP organizations more times than I can count, Garp..."

Sengoku’s first sentence sounded like consolation, but his tone shifted instantly. His eyes turned cold. "But this time, I hope he doesn’t escape."

Dragon’s bounty was already second only to the Yonko, and his threat level was arguably even higher. Setting aside his feelings for his old comrade, Sengoku desperately wanted Dragon dead.

"..."

A choked sound escaped Garp’s throat. His brow furrowed deeper, and his expression turned even more somber.

...

Sea area surrounding the Ilisia Kingdom.

Jormungandr ground its upper and lower fangs together as if savoring a world-class delicacy. From the side of its mouth, a fragment of a face with red cross-shaped tattoos was briefly visible before being chewed a few more times and swallowed into its gullet.

"Don’t snakes usually swallow their prey whole and let the stomach acid do the work? It seems you really hated him." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Loli A teased, glancing down at the giant serpent. Under her control, Jormungandr’s massive form gradually dissolved into a pool of blood. She returned to her small ship, drifting away with the ocean current.

"This battle still didn’t trigger the True Ancestor’s power. A pity. If only I had been born in the era when Whitebeard and Roger were vying for supremacy..."

She looked toward the sky with a sense of melancholy before gradually vanishing beyond the horizon.

...

Aboard the Dragon ship.

Gilteo held a piece of Vivre Card about half the size of a palm. After they had retreated along the route planned by Sabo, Gilteo noticed that the previously intact Vivre Card had begun to burn.

By now, they had completely cleared the waters of the Ilisia Kingdom. The Vivre Card in his hand had burned away entirely, turning into ash that scattered into the breeze.

"Dragon... DRAGON!!!"

Gilteo and the other veteran officers of the Revolutionary Army stared at the vanishing ashes, falling to their knees in uncontrollable grief.

Sabo, the newcomer who had joined less than a year ago, watched the gray embers drift away and clenched his fists. Dragon-san, I will avenge you. I will inherit your will, find true freedom, and... protect Luffy.

After an unknown amount of time, the weeping subsided. Sabo stood up and said, "For the foreseeable future, the Immortal Pirates will be searching for us with everything they have. We must lay low, stay quiet, and wait for our opportunity to act."

Joe wiped his nose and nodded. "You’re right. The Revolution must continue."

"Gilteo, while Dragon is gone, why don’t you take over as the acting leader?" Sabo suggested.

"...No. I want to return to Baltigo first to discuss our next steps with Kuma and Ivankov." Gilteo did not believe he had the capability to lead.

"Kuma is one thing... but Ivankov is still locked away in the Great Underwater Prison," Sabo said, frowning.

Gilteo replied with frustration, "For now... we’ll contact him via Den Den Mushi. It would be for the best if he could somehow escape from Impel Down."