As chaos and war engulfed the center and the four corners of the Thutmose Kingdom, neither side noticed a headquarters-class warship, adorned with a dog-head figurehead, slowly approaching from the distant sea.
"Vice Admiral, it seems Major General Dragon and the others are in a bitter struggle. Should I take men to assist them?"
Dressed in a dark gray suit with a matching fedora, a pristine white Justice coat, and a black-sheathed longsword hanging at his waist, this man was none other than Vice Admiral Garp's personal adjutant.
A legend existed within Marine Headquarters: the strongest swordsman of Marineford might just be this obscure Major General Bogart!
The primary reason was that for the past decade or so, every time Garp caught up to the Roger Pirates, it was this adjutant who was responsible for intercepting the "Dark King" Rayleigh.
It was once said that if Rayleigh was considered the right hand of the Pirate King, Roger, then Major General Bogart was the left fist of the Marine Hero, Garp!
"Puhahaha! Forget it. This is that kid's mission. Let them handle it for now," Garp laughed loudly, gazing deep into the island.
"But in my view, given Major General Dragon's current strength, the probability of him defeating the 'Slave King' Taklama is very low," Bogart said, a hint of worry appearing on his face.
Although they were quite far from Sabak City, the power of Observation Haki allowed them to see the intense battle clearly.
"Isn't that a good thing? Only by defeating an invincible opponent can one become stronger." As he spoke, Garp's expression turned slightly serious.
"You and I both know that Haki can only be further enhanced under the extreme conditions of actual combat. While long-term, high-intensity training is useful, the efficiency gap between the two is far too large!"
Years ago, why had he gone to Mount Colubo to punch mountains? It was precisely because he couldn't find an opponent of his own level willing to spar with him; whether it was Sengoku or Zephyr, they both had mountains of work to attend to.
"..."
Regarding Vice Admiral Garp's remarks, Major General Bogart chose silence, knowing he could not change the man's decision.
"Besides, in my opinion, this Slave King's strength is mediocre. His Armament Haki is mediocre, and his Observation Haki is even more negligible. He's only decent at developing his Devil Fruit abilities. While his overall strength is slightly higher than Dragon's, it hasn't reached a level that is impossible to counter."
For some reason, Garp was talking much more than usual, and his adjutant, Bogart, served as the perfect listener.
"In my old eyes, this guy is the most suitable opponent for that kid at this stage. I suspect he's the opponent the kid himself is most satisfied with. Listen closely—the boy is excited right now!"
Having said that, Garp burst into another joyful laugh. To be honest, he was starting to feel a flicker of goodwill and gratitude toward the World Government.
Because if it hadn't been for the decision of the high-ranking officials of the World Government, Dragon would never have had the chance to be the commanding officer. After all, he was only a Major General, and he had a history of defection.
If the Marine Headquarters had decided the lineup for this mission to capture King Taklama and investigate Thutmose, it most likely would have been led by Sengoku personally, or they would have sent Garp himself. Dragon would have been, at most, a subordinate officer.
But God knows what the Five Elders were thinking; they had overruled all objections to select Dragon as the commanding officer, and they even forbade the inclusion of any combatants at the rank of Vice Admiral or higher.
Even now, Fleet Admiral Kong and Sengoku still suspected that the World Government was intentionally setting Dragon up to fail.
In fact, he had thought the same at first, but after observing the actual battle, he realized that wasn't the case. The Slave King was not an insurmountable opponent for Dragon.
On the contrary, a mission fought for hundreds of thousands of slaves would only stimulate the endless willpower and strength within Dragon's heart, and that was the best catalyst for improving Haki!
Hearing this last part, Major General Bogart nodded in agreement. Although Dragon was currently being heavily suppressed by the Slave King and looked quite disheveled, one could still feel his increasingly intense Haki.
Besides, if he truly lost in the end, it wouldn't matter. Weren't Vice Admiral Garp and he already arriving?
"Let's wait and see how long it takes for this Slave King to push Dragon to his limit," Garp said, crossing his arms and staring fixedly toward Sabak.
The sky above that area was occupied by massive clouds of yellow sand and wind, with occasional bursts of resilient green whirlwinds appearing.
***
At this time.
The battles of the other Marine officers had already ended. After all, the effect of the "Gousui" lasted only five minutes, after which they would automatically die.
Therefore, although all fifty elites brought by Dragon were wounded, fortunately, none had died in battle. However, due to the overwhelming force of the wind and sand, they had to retreat from the city and gather on a high sand dune to watch the battle.
The problem was, they couldn't see anything...
"Everyone, the situation is clear. We are of no help to Major General Dragon here; we are simply wasting time. Therefore, I suggest we go and support the battlefields in the four directions."
At this moment, a Commander stepped forward to propose this to everyone.
"Indeed..."
"We can't waste time like this!"
The Commander's words immediately gained much agreement and support, but just then, another Captain asked in return, "How are we supposed to reach the various battlefields?"
"What do you mean by that?" others looked over in confusion, thinking: *How else? By running, of course.*
Seeing the looks on the officers' faces, the Captain realized they hadn't grasped the point. He shook his head helplessly and said, "It seems you all don't know much about the desert."
"I am originally from Alabasta. I am willing to tell you: although the Thutmose Kingdom is not as large as my homeland, it is still a medium-sized island."
"Right now, we have no fresh water, no tools to determine direction, and no mounts or vehicles. If we just run into the sea of sand, we will only be trapped and die of thirst."
After the Captain's explanation, everyone realized the truth.
Indeed, they had arrived by warship, flying through the sky. Even so, it had taken quite some time. If they had to walk back on foot...
Looking out at the endless, boundless sea of golden sand, they fell silent.
As for that flying warship, God only knew where it had been blown by the distant sandstorms. Even if they found it, Major General Dragon was busy right now; he wouldn't have time to fly them anywhere.
"Then what do we do?"
"We can't just sit here and do nothing, can we?"
These elite officers from Marine Headquarters felt as though they possessed immense combat power but had nowhere to use it.
"We go save the people!"
"Think back to the core objective of this mission: it is to save the hundreds of thousands of slaves underground, not just to come here and slaughter the soldiers."
"Most of them are either at the four battlefields or have already been dealt with by us, so there won't be many guards left inside."
Finally, a Major who was uncharacteristically good at thinking stepped forward, pointing out a new direction, which brightened everyone's eyes.
"Well said, Major Amos!"
"Saving hundreds of thousands of slaves would be a massive achievement!"
"But how do we get down there? I remember the passage to the underground is inside that city..." another Major raised a question.
"Leave it to me!"
At that moment, a burly Commander wearing sharp claw gauntlets stepped forward with a smile. Simultaneously, he activated the abilities of his Zoan-type Rat-Rat Fruit, Mole Model, entering his beast form as a massive, dark-skinned mole.
"Isn't it just digging a hole? Follow me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his entire body became like a large black drill, plunging into the sand and digging out a pitch-black hole large enough for two people to walk through side-by-side.