One Piece Gunslinger

That being said, one should still be careful. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to contact Vergo using a Den Den Mushi.

However, this attempt to make contact completely alarmed Doflamingo and the others, because they simply couldn't get in touch with them.

"How is that possible? Did something happen to Vergo?" Torrepol said in surprise. "He shouldn't seem like he's in some kind of emergency and can't be contacted. The G-5 Navy has nothing to do at all."

Ming didn't say anything, just had a gloomy face. After a while, he called Vergo again, but still couldn't get in touch.

Seeing this, Doflamingo grinned and said, "Looks like we need to be more careful these days."

Meanwhile, at the G-5 naval base, numerous naval soldiers in various uniforms were also puzzled as to why they couldn't contact their respected Vice Admiral Vergo. Even though Vergo sometimes disappeared for periods of time, or sometimes didn't return for days (while on Doflamingo's orders), he would never be completely unreachable.

Upon discovering the problem, they immediately reported the situation to the Navy Headquarters.

So, at Marineford, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, who was already overwhelmed with work due to the World Government meeting, he received another piece of news that made him want to vomit blood: "What?! A vice admiral has gone missing."

The disappearance of a lieutenant general is an extremely serious matter, especially during this particular period. Sengoku immediately asked, "How could a lieutenant general disappear? How did he disappear?"

The visitor then recounted the description he had heard from the soldiers at G-5 base.

"A naval warship went missing? And then the Vice Admiral of Vergo disappeared when he led his troops to investigate?" Sengoku rubbed his forehead, feeling that there was a shocking conspiracy behind this. They dared to attack a naval vice admiral, so this must be someone with a powerful background and a grand ambition.

"Moreover, what could possibly be within the operational range of G-5 base in this location that would warrant such a large-scale operation? I've thought about it over and over but can't see anything that would make those major powers so eager to get involved. Could it be that they're vying for some hidden treasure?"

Or perhaps some exceptionally powerful Devil Fruit has been born? But that doesn't make sense; I haven't heard anything about it lately. If it's a Logia-type Devil Fruit or an ability like the Op-Op Fruit, any news about it would be impossible to keep quiet unless some powerful force is blocking the information.

However, this matter still needs to be investigated, regardless of the circumstances. Whether they are missing or already decapitated, this question must be clarified. If they are trapped, they should be rescued; if they have been murdered, the killer must be found.

Sengoku then mentally reviewed the list of naval commanders: "But right now, there's really no one to handle this. All three admirals have their own duties, a vice admiral can't handle this, and Vice Admiral Vergo is missing. This is really troublesome. It seems the only person who can solve this problem right now is..."

Just as Sengoku was pondering who to send to handle this matter, a familiar voice came from outside the door: "Haha, Sengoku, do you want some senbei?"

Then the man walked in and saw Marshal Sengoku staring intently at him, as if afraid he would run away.

Chapter 242 Framing

Even Leon hadn't expected this. Vergo's death not only alerted Doflamingo, but also led the Navy to send a ruthless character capable of easily defeating a dragon to investigate Vergo's disappearance.

Alas, even if Leon knew, there was nothing he could do. The Revolutionary Army was simply unlucky; Sabo's first stop was the Enix Kingdom, where he encountered the Navy.

Moreover, Sabo had no choice but to fight; if he didn't fight, the news would have leaked long ago.

It was only because the younger one was attacked that the older one came along, and this chain of events led to the current situation. A small accident caused a major change in the entire plan, leaving Li Ang completely bewildered.

However, Li Ang was not entirely without options and could only passively accept the situation. Anyone with a brain would know that the Navy would not let it go so easily, especially since the person involved was a vice admiral.

So Li Ang came up with a plan to mislead the navy and give them the wrong direction.

Since Marineford was right next to Mary Geoise and not far from the New World, Garp leisurely made his way to the vicinity of the Kingdom of Enix in a single day.

Garp stood motionless at the bow, wearing a dog-head hat, the sea breeze blowing. He was like a statue.

Just then, Garp's nose twitched slightly, as if he had smelled something, and he turned around to ask, "How much longer until we reach the Kingdom of Enix?"

"Judging from the flight distance, we should arrive in less than an hour." The soldier said this while holding a recording pointer and a map.

Karp nodded slightly: "Looks like there's still a long way to go."

"Um, Lord Garp, were you sleeping just now?" Finally, the soldier standing next to Garp, who was at the helm, couldn't hold back any longer and asked the question that everyone wanted to ask.

"You brat!" Garp roared, punching the soldier on the head. "What are you saying? Get back to work!"

The man, clutching a large bump on his head, obediently continued to steer the ship as Garp instructed. After sailing for a while, following Garp's directions, they soon spotted a wrecked naval warship.

"Lord Garp," said the soldier standing on the lookout tower, "there seems to be no one on that warship ahead."

“Yes, there’s not a single living person here,” Garp said, looking at the warships in the distance.

There's a huge difference between having no one at all and having no living people at all.

Garp finally found the source of the bloody smell. He had been sleeping soundly at the bow of the ship, but was awakened by a faint smell of blood. Now he saw that it was coming from this warship.

Then Garp led several squads of soldiers onto the damaged naval warship to investigate.

"Check these bodies on the ship, see if Lieutenant General Vergo is among them," Karp ordered grimly, looking at the several corpses scattered on the deck.

A short while later, a soldier ran up and reported, "Lieutenant General Cap, Lieutenant General Vergo's body is in the cabin."

"So, he was already murdered?" Karp said in a deep voice. "Take me to see his body. I want to see how he died. The rest of you continue the investigation and see if you can find any clues."

In fact, this ship was the fake crime scene created by Li Ang. He deliberately placed it in this location so that the investigators would discover this fake crime scene first and stop them before they went to the Kingdom of Enix.

The ship was a real ship, the very same warship Vergo used to travel to the Kingdom of Enix. The people inside were also real people; the corpses were those of the group Vergo had brought with him.

Apart from the faked battle marks with Vergo, all the others were genuine, traces left during the battle.

It can be said that Li Ang went to great lengths to disguise this place as the scene of the crime.

Karp had the ship's doctor examine Vergo's body carefully, and had the soldiers record the examination as he did so.

"Judging from the appearance of the body, this must have happened a few days ago. There are three obvious wounds on the body: the left hand, the lower back, and the abdomen. Moreover, the wounds on the lower back and abdomen are connected, and the wound on the abdomen is larger."

Judging from the wound, it appears to have been a gunshot wound to the lower back. The gun was so powerful that it not only passed through the front but also tore through a large amount of flesh. We later found a completely deformed bullet in front of the wound, which confirmed this theory.

However, this only severely injured Lieutenant General Vergo; the cause of death was a broken neck. Judging from the technique and force used, it was a seasoned individual.

Karp listened calmly to the doctor's description before saying, "Let me see that bullet."

Although Vergo has never demonstrated his exceptional Armament Haki—otherwise he wouldn't have been assigned to the remote and unpopular G-5 branch—he is still a Vice Admiral, and his records state that he is proficient in the Six Powers.

As for Garp, an old guy who has been sailing the seas for decades, even if his personality is exactly the same as that of the idiot Luffy, his IQ is definitely much lower than that of his grandson.

Garp immediately realized that this bullet was crucial to the investigation. The fact that a vice admiral proficient in the Six Powers had been pierced through the body by a bullet made Garp take this bullet very seriously.

"This bullet is huge! I've never seen one like it before, and the material is unusual too. It's actually a pink bullet." Karp held a bullet that had been forged and modified by Leon in his hand and couldn't help but think, "Although it's deformed, judging from its size, the caliber of the gun is definitely not small, at least thirty or more."

And the result did not disappoint Garp; this bullet was indeed significantly larger than any other bullet Garp had ever seen. Once they could determine what kind of gun fired it, they would surely be able to find out who killed Lieutenant General Vergo.

Thinking this through, Garp put the bullet away. After all, whether or not they could find the culprit might depend on this strange bullet.

After a while, and confirming that there were no further clues on the ship, Garp left a team to sail the ship back and bury the body. Then he led the rest of the crew back to the original ship.

"Change course and head to Punk Hazard." Garp made this strange decision as soon as he returned to the ship.

"Lieutenant General Garp. Isn't Punk Hazard the location of the Science Unit? What are we going there for?" the helmsman asked again.

"Just turn when I tell you to. Why are you asking so many questions?" He was met with another iron fist.

Garp's thinking was simple: since this was the location where Lieutenant General Vergo was attacked, there was no need to go any further. In any case, the important clues had been found, and all that was left was to decipher the information on the bullet.

Decipher the false information that Li Ang deliberately released.

After all, this area of ​​the sea was still near Dressrosa. Garp moved forward at full speed and soon arrived at Punk Hazard.

Upon arriving at Punk Hazard, Garp didn't waste any words. He went straight to the science unit, handed them the bullets, and asked them to examine what kind of gun had caused the damage.

It has to be said that Garp's influence is really useful. If it were an ordinary lieutenant general, they wouldn't even give you the time of day. They're busy with a lot of experimental projects every day, so they wouldn't have time to help you with these things.

Even so, Garp still slept for two hours in the living room before receiving the results.

"We reconstructed this deformed bullet to some extent, estimating that its original diameter was thirty-five or thirty-six centimeters. Then we analyzed the bullet's materials..."

Upon hearing this, Karp was completely exasperated and quickly interrupted, "Stop, stop, stop. Forget about the research reports. Just give me a document to take back, and you can tell me if you know what kind of gun it is or what kind of bullet it uses."

Seeing that Garp said this, the man had no choice but to hand over the series of identification data to the soldier who was with Garp on the other side, at Garp's instruction.

Then he hesitated before saying, "After our research, this bullet may be from a percussion pistol, and it uses .36 caliber 'Walker' bullets."

Well, Garp didn't really understand the last sentence either, only assuming it referred to a special type of bullet for a special weapon, since he knew nothing about it. He could only call it a day for now and leave this challenge to Sengoku.

"You're back in less than two days, and with such results." Sengoku looked at the bullets in his hand and the stack of documents Garp had brought, and asked curiously, "When did Iron Fist Garp become this efficient?"

Sengoku had originally thought that Garp's trip would take several days, perhaps even until the World Assembly ended and Nao returned. However, he not only returned quickly but also obtained crucial evidence.

However, Garp actually nodded in agreement with Sengoku's teasing: "Sengoku, I feel like this time it went too smoothly. My intuition tells me that things are not actually like that. The incident happened right on our route, and we found Vergo's body and this strange bullet so easily."

"You've been sleeping too much. Isn't it normal for you to run into Vergo on the road? After all, Vergo was also on this road and got killed halfway there." Sengoku thought Garp was overthinking it. "Besides, who would bother to clean up the battlefield? The fact that someone can attack a vice admiral means they're not afraid of us."

Sengoku was interrupted by the sound of a Den Den Mushi (snail phone) as he was speaking.

"Okay, I understand."

Sengoku put down the phone, sighed, and said, "What did I just say? I just got information from CP that the pistol called 'Walker' is in the hands of Big Mom's children."

Chapter 243 The Most Crucial Person

Rather than framing someone, it was really just a way to buy time and divert the navy's attention.

With a few more days of investigation, it will be clear that the old lady hasn't actually been making any moves in that direction recently. And after a few days, the Revolutionary Army itself will have revealed the truth; everyone will know it was their doing, no guessing required.

However, this only mitigated one aspect of the impact of Vergo's death; the other aspect of Doflamingo's influence remained unresolved.

At that moment in Dressrosa, a strangely dressed person appeared at the door of an inconspicuous ordinary house.

"Knock knock, knock knock knock." The person knocked rhythmically on the wooden door.

After a while, a voice came from inside: "Who is it?"

Do you need any cleaning or sanitation services here?

"No cleaning is needed here."

The person calmly replied, "But I am the most professional."

After a while, the door opened, and the person who came in hurriedly went inside.

"Who are you?" The owner of the room asked in surprise, looking at the visitor's appearance and attire. "You've come? Is it finally time for something to happen?"

"Oh dear, if I hadn't come two days early, it would have been troublesome to get back in now," the newcomer said, feigning surprise. "It seems Doflamingo reacted quickly enough, already starting to rigorously check suspicious individuals at various ports."

“Well, Lord Jack,” said another thin man next to Jack, “it’s not quite appropriate for you to just swagger into Dressrosa like this.”

“What’s inappropriate?” Jack laughed. “Don’t worry, I haven’t been around for years with this face, so hardly anyone remembers me. Also, don’t call me Lord Jack, call me Captain Jack.”

Oh dear, actually this "Jack" is the same Jack that Leon disguised himself as a few years ago in the Kingdom of Yutaka, Jack Sparrow.

To be precise, Jack hadn't appeared in public with this new face for six years. After causing trouble in the Kingdom of Yutaka, Jack didn't attend the previous World Government Summit for two years. During the summit, he officially raised the banner of the Revolutionary Army, and it was only then that people learned he was a member of the Revolutionary Army.

Four years have passed since the last World Conference, and the Revolutionary Army has once again stirred up trouble during the conference. That makes a total of six years.

This seemingly ordinary resident, who had lived in Dressrosa for several years, was actually a spy planted there by the Revolutionary Army. Even ordinary Revolutionary Army soldiers, including him, and other non-high-ranking Revolutionary Army cadres were unaware that Jack, who had led the Revolutionary Army to conquer the Kingdom of Yutakana, was their Chief of Staff, Leon.

Leon hesitated before appearing in Dressrosa as Jack. The reason was that his original identity was already in Alabasta, and if he were to use Leon's identity to cause trouble in Dressrosa, their secret cooperation with Alabasta would be ruined.

Although Jack's face had appeared before, and he was even wanted by the World Government as a member of the Revolutionary Army, his performance in the Yutaka Kingdom a few years ago was not outstanding, and he attributed some of the credit to others. In addition, he had not shown his face for six years, and his fate was unknown. This allowed Jack to appear openly in this guise.