Starting with One Piece, a Multiverse Simulation

The reason is quite simple: Mr. Wood saved the Roswald family from the clutches of vicious pirates, a fact that his eldest daughter, Lyria, can attest to!

Not to mention Wood's special status on the high seas, involving the interests of too many people, making him untouchable, with the Celestial Dragons' guarantee, Wood and his companions naturally left the Sabaody Archipelago without any hindrance.

Kizaru will ultimately have to take the blame for this huge mistake, because not only did he fail to capture the Straw Hat crew and other culprits on this trip, he even attacked Mr. Wood first, causing him great psychological trauma. Mr. Wood expressed his displeasure about this.

Wood's spirit was broken, so the production of weapons by Wood Weapons Company would have to slow down, and the allowance given to the Celestial Dragons would naturally have to be reduced accordingly.

Wood was unhappy, and the Celestial Dragons were naturally unhappy too. So, since they didn't dare to vent their anger on their sugar daddy after their allowance was cut, they could only turn to the Navy.

Poor Kizaru never imagined that his plan to take a leisurely job and gain some merit would almost cost him his position as a Marine Admiral...

If it weren't for Fleet Admiral Sengoku's strong defense of Kizaru, stating that the Admirals, as the highest fighting force of the Marine Headquarters, could not be lost, otherwise it would cause turmoil on the high seas, and Kizaru would probably have been stripped of his entire rank this time.

After being scolded by the Five Elders again, Sengoku returned to Marineford and summoned Kizaru for the same verbal attack.

Unfortunately, compared to Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Kizaru has no other advantages except for his thick skin. As a seasoned veteran in the workplace, he knows that if Sengoku were to criticize him like this, it means he has secured his job.

As long as he can keep his high-paying job while slacking off, Kizaru says he can accept being criticized a bit more.

Seeing Kizaru's nonchalant attitude, Sengoku, whose throat was almost dry from cursing, pulled out his last trump card and deducted a year's salary from Kizaru.

Admiral Kizaru, who had previously remained unfazed and indifferent, suddenly changed his expression upon hearing that Sengoku was going to deduct his salary.

After a lot of reasoned argument, Kizaru finally gave in. Although Kizaru said he was willing to accept a demotion but not a pay cut, Sengoku's attitude was quite firm.

He was quite clear that a pay cut was far more effective than a demotion in dealing with Kizaru.

Moreover, just as he told the Five Elders, with the seas in such turmoil, the Admirals, as the highest fighting force of the headquarters, cannot be easily replaced, as that would only lead to serious consequences.

Although Kizaru prefers to coast along, in terms of strength, he is indeed among the top in the Navy and can exert a greater deterrent effect on pirates on the high seas.

Gion's strength has improved rapidly over the years, and he has been a "candidate admiral" for a long time, but he is still slightly inferior to Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji.

When she retires in a few years, and one of the current three admirals succeeds her as Fleet Admiral, then Momousagi should be able to naturally become one of the admirals.

After sending Kizaru away, Sengoku suddenly remembered another guy whose salary he often deducted, so he quickly locked the door and took out a Den Den Mushi.

Don't misunderstand, the reason why the Warring States period was so cautious was not because he wanted to watch porn alone, but because he wanted to contact someone.

As for why he's being so secretive, it's entirely because the person he wants to contact now holds a completely different status than before.

To put it bluntly, in terms of influence and connections on the high seas, Sengoku instinctively felt that he, as the naval admiral, might not be able to match his opponent.

At least as the Warring States Marshal, he didn't have the power to make those arrogant Celestial Dragons obedient.

And after all these years, Sengoku never imagined that the boy could grow to this level. What was originally just a whim of his had now become the Navy's biggest core secret.

"Bru bru bru bru—!"

As the Den Den Mushi rang rhythmically, the other end picked up the receiver and a man's voice came through...

Chapter 395: Is Wood going to participate in the Marineford War?

"Old man from the Warring States period, if you want me to carry out some secret mission again, I advise you to give up."

This time, whether it's a promotion or a raise, I'm not going to care. If they want to deduct my salary, go ahead, I'm not short of money anyway.

Sengoku picked up the microphone, about to speak, when a rather displeased voice came from the other end, leaving Sengoku looking embarrassed.

Sengoku understood Wood's emotions, because none of the tasks he had given Wood over the years had been easy.

First, he attacked Impel Down in a feigned rebellion, and then he caused the Donquixote Family's deal with the World Government for the "Operation Fruit" to fail.

Then there was the "Pluton blueprints" incident at Enies Lobby, and more recently, the conflict between the Four Emperors Big Mom and Kaido of the Beasts.

Every mission, regardless of the people or things involved, is extraordinary, and the difficulty level is always at its maximum.

Even with these challenging tasks, Wood always managed to complete them to Sengoku's satisfaction, which is why he repeatedly entrusted Wood with important responsibilities.

Wood always completed his missions perfectly and extricated the navy from the turmoil, which made Sengoku greatly admire Wood's competence.

However, there were indeed some things that Warring States period disliked about Wood.

That's because Wood is becoming increasingly difficult to fool...

When he first became a pirate, he could still fool this lazy and trouble-averse kid by offering him a promotion and a raise.

But when Wood realized that his undercover career seemed to be quite long and that he would never get paid, this approach stopped working for him.

Helpless, in order to keep Wood from taking action, Sengoku could only promise that as long as the mission was completed, he would grant Wood's wish to retire and let him find a remote place to be a branch colonel who could just loaf around and wait to die.

But after so many years, the promise made by the Warring States period was never fulfilled, so Wood impulsively quit.

Until the last time, Sengoku was almost helpless against Wood. In the end, he took on the mission to go to the Big Mom tea party because he estimated that his sister Ein would be in danger on the mission.

Sengoku was also quite clear that using Ain was a one-time thing, and could not be done twice, otherwise it would really force Wood to betray him.

Over the years, Sengoku and Garp, along with other high-ranking naval officers, have remained convinced that they were right in their judgment of Wood, believing that he possesses the quality of "justice."

However, Wood's "justice" differed from the "justice" they upheld; he always acted in his own way.

The Navy is not Wood's enemy now, which is why he has maintained contact with him. In addition, the Navy also has people Wood cares about, such as Gion, Ein, and Zephyr. Therefore, unless there are special circumstances, Wood is unlikely to become an enemy of the Navy.

"I don't have any classified missions for you this time. I just want to ask why you went to the Sabaody Archipelago and why you fought with Kizaru?"

What seemed like a casual question was actually Sengoku's concern for Wood's answer, because he wanted to know if Wood's attitude towards the Navy was still the same after all these years.

After all, compared to a "Vice Admiral" in name only, Wood's current status as the emperor of the "Ancient Weapons" underworld is obviously much more prestigious.

Humans have desires, and when they are immersed in power and money, even the Warring States period couldn't tell whether the current Wood was still the same Wood as before.

"I just happened to be passing through the Sabaody Archipelago. I heard that the 'Pacifista' developed by the Naval Science Unit is a very powerful human weapon."

As you know, I'm in the arms business, so I thought I'd get one and see if Vegapunk was as powerful as the rumors say.

As for that guy Kizaru, I didn't provoke him. He attacked first. He probably thought I was too handsome, so his washed-up, sleazy old man face couldn't steal the spotlight at all when he was on stage with me.

Upon hearing Wood's shameless reply, Sengoku's veins bulged on his forehead. Kizaru was the head of the Navy's scientific unit.

Wood was swaggering around, ready to take home the latest research results from the science unit. How could he possibly ignore them!

Although he was furious, Sengoku judged from Wood's answer that Wood probably did not intend to betray the Navy, so he continued, "The date for Fire Fist Ace's execution has been set, and the location will be Marineford, the Marine Headquarters. You must find a way to be there."

The Navy has discovered that Portgas D. Ace is a descendant of the Pirate King Gol D. Roger, and is preparing to demonstrate their power through a live broadcast.

However, the key point is that Fire Fist Ace was the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Given Whitebeard's protective nature, he would never stand by and watch his adopted son be executed by the Navy.

Among the Four Emperors, the Whitebeard Pirates are undoubtedly the strongest, and Whitebeard himself is hailed as the strongest man in the world.

To be honest, although the Navy had done a lot of preparations, Fleet Admiral Sengoku was still unsure whether they could successfully take down the Whitebeard Pirates.

The Seven Warlords of the Sea are essentially pirates; they might turn against each other during the fighting.

Garp watched Fire Fist Ace grow up and treated him like his own grandson. Given Sengoku's understanding of him, it was inevitable that he would choose to let Ace go.

In fact, if the three admirals of the Navy were to fight Whitebeard in a three-on-one battle, they should be able to easily defeat him. However, the key point is that the captains of Whitebeard's divisions are all formidable opponents.

In order to stabilize the situation, the wise general Zhan Guo not only took multiple preventive measures, but also felt that more combat power was needed to stabilize the situation and prevent any unexpected situations from arising.

Wood is clearly an excellent candidate. Not only is he full of wicked ideas and clever enough, but more importantly, his strength is currently among the top in the world.

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, are you kidding me? I'm a pirate, and you want me to participate in the Marineford War?"

Is this preparation, a plan to make me confess to the whole world? To admit that I'm a Navy spy?

Frankly, even if Marshal Sengoku really intended to force Wood to reveal his true intentions, he might not do it now.

Because his current identity is very useful on the high seas, and he has connections with various forces, he is quite influential.

However, returning to the Navy, even if he were to be reinstated and promoted to Vice Admiral, would be extremely disadvantageous for Wood in his current situation.

Unless Wood admits to being a naval spy, even if Sengoku were to publicly reveal this now, probably no one would believe him.

The reason is quite simple: given what Wood did in the past and his current status, it's impossible for anyone to believe that he is actually a naval officer.

The Navy is merely a lackey of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons, but Wood has used money and power to tightly control the Celestial Dragons.

As the most powerful figure in the underworld, Wood could single-handedly cause half of the underworld market to collapse. Could the Navy do that?

If Wood has an idea, he can immediately assemble a massive pirate fleet equipped with the latest weapons. Even if he were to compete for the title of "Four Emperors," his chances would be extremely high. Can the Navy really do that?

"No, your current identity is good. If it is not exposed, it will obviously be of more help to the Navy. Although I hope you will participate in the Marineford War, I hope you will participate as a 'pirate'."

Sengoku, the wise general, was no fool. He had worked hard to rise from a novice pirate to a prominent figure on the high seas. How could he possibly choose to expose his identity so easily?

With Wood back at Marine Headquarters, Marineford simply gained another capable admiral, codenamed "Ink Dragon," as a candidate.

If Wood continues to maintain his current identity, he can not only receive important intelligence from time to time, but also use his identity to complete some very difficult tasks for the Navy. How could Sengoku bear to let Wood expose his identity?

"I'm a pirate going to participate in the Marineford War. Fleet Admiral Sengoku, do you think the Whitebeard Pirates aren't enough to fight, and are you planning to increase the difficulty of the challenge?"

Wood was genuinely bewildered by what Sengoku said. Pirates and the Navy are naturally opposed. If he participated in the Marineford War without revealing his true identity, he would only be able to fight against the Navy.

"Wood, our Navy has made thorough preparations for this Whitebeard Pirates. This time, Whitebeard will not be able to leave Marineford alive."

"You've been a powerful force on the high seas for so many years now, don't you want to take it a step further and become one of the 'Four Emperors'?"

Upon hearing the composed voice of Fleet Admiral Sengoku coming through the Den Den Mushi, Wood instantly understood.

Sengoku is planning a very big scheme. This time, he not only wants to destroy the Whitebeard Pirates, but also wants to push Wood, that traitor, to one of the Four Emperors!

The Four Emperors are currently the pinnacle of pirates, and are also the emperors of the sea who combine strength and power.

If one of the Four Emperors were all from the Navy, Sengoku believed that this would give the Navy a greater advantage in controlling pirates at sea.

"I refuse! Being one of the Four Emperors is just being a target. Even if Whitebeard dies, and others fight tooth and nail for that position, I'm not really interested."