East Blue, Loguetown Marine Base.
Smoker, the newly appointed Fleet Captain and highest-ranking officer stationed at Loguetown, scowled at the mountain of paperwork stacked in front of him. His thick brows knitted into a pronounced furrow, as if a storm was brewing on his forehead.
A Logia Devil Fruit user, wielder of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, and a powerful figure in the Marines, yet he had been sent to the East Blue to serve as a base commander. He had already been frustrated with the reassignment, and now, with this mess left behind by the previous officer, his mood had plummeted to rock bottom.
"Commodore Smoker… confidential dispatch from headquarters!"
Just then, the office door burst open, and a young girl, no older than seventeen or eighteen, rushed in, holding a document marked with urgency. She approached Smoker's desk, visibly flustered.
"Confidential dispatch?" Smoker blinked and took the file without hesitation, tearing it open.
Seeing this, the girl quickly turned her head away.
"Tashigi? What are you doing?" Smoker frowned, voice stern. "You're my adjutant. Are you seriously going to make me handle all this paperwork myself?"
"Huh?", Tashigi, blinked slowly in confusion. Her expression was dazed and innocent. "It's a classified file… I'm not allowed to read it."
"I'm not talking about this one!" Smoker growled, veins bulging on his forehead. He pointed at the towering stack of paperwork beside him. "You've got half an hour. Find anything remotely useful."
Without another word, Smoker turned his attention to the newly received document.
But as he read through the opening paragraphs, his eyes widened. He abruptly shot up from his seat, staring at the file as if it had just exploded.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku is unwell… and Vice Admiral Elio is temporarily assuming command as acting Fleet Admiral?!"
"Report!"
Before Smoker could fully process what he had read, a Marine officer burst through the door, clearly out of breath and in a state of panic.
"We've just received intel! Captain Nezumi of the 16th Branch has been executed on the spot by the newly appointed commander! The reason cited was colluding with pirates and oppressing civilians. And… and the 153rd Branch has undergone changes as well. The new commander there is someone named Morgan!"
Smoker's head whipped around, his gaze sharp as blades. "What's the name of the new commander at the 16th Branch?"
"I think… I think it was someone named Vergo. He was dispatched directly from headquarters!"
"Damn it!" Smoker cursed, slamming a fist against the table. "I know that guy. Vergo is one of Elio's trusted men. And Morgan at the 153rd Branch, he's Elio's man too!"
He paused, then slowly placed the classified file down on the desk. His expression turned grave.
"This is bigger than it looks. That document… it wasn't voluntarily signed by Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Headquarters has likely already fallen into Elio's hands. If my guess is correct, by the time I received this file, countless other Marine bases across the Grand Line and East Blue were undergoing silent takeovers. All by Elio's most loyal subordinates."
"W-what are you saying?" Tashigi stammered, blinking in disbelief. "Vice Admiral Elio is just a Vice Admiral… how could he act as Fleet Admiral?!"
Smoker looked her dead in the eye and dropped the bomb.
"Coup. Elio has launched a military coup and forcibly taken the Admiral's seat."
"W-what?!" Tashigi nearly dropped her glasses from shock. She fumbled to push them back up, her face pale. "That's… impossible! Vice Admiral Elio is a good man. I've heard so many stories about him, he's helped countless officers and soldiers who were struggling with family hardships!"
Smoker slammed his fist onto the desk. "That's exactly how he bought their loyalty!"
Brrrr-brrrr~
Suddenly, the transponder snail on the desk rang out.
Before Smoker could respond, a voice thundered through the snail, firm, commanding, and unmistakably authoritative.
"Is Captain Smoker present? This is the Grand Commander's Office of the Holy Land. Lord Kong has a directive!"
Smoker instantly straightened up. "Lord Kong."
"Smoker, good. It's me, Kong!"
The voice on the line sounded tense and rushed.
"I'll be brief. Headquarters has lost all contact with the Holy Land. It's safe to assume Elio has completely taken over. Not just Headquarters, even bases across the East Blue are no longer answering transponder snail calls. If they're silent, it means they've already fallen to Elio's loyalists. Your mission now is to establish contact with the remaining uncontaminated bases. Stabilize the East Blue!"
The line went dead before Smoker could reply.
Tashigi stood there, mind blank, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the situation.
"Mr. Smoker… why? Why would Vice Admiral Elio stage a coup?"
Smoker didn't answer. He stared silently at the now-quiet transponder snail.
Until a moment ago, it had all been speculation. But after hearing Kong's words, everything became terrifyingly real.
Still, one question gnawed at him.
How?
How did a Vice Admiral manage to pull off something this massive? He had seized full control of Marine Headquarters and even severed communication with the Holy Land.
That place wasn't just guarded by Sengoku. The Three Admirals, Headquarters' most formidable fighting force, were stationed there. Even if Elio had allies, unless at least two of the Three Admirals had defected, there was no way Headquarters could've been taken so easily.
No, more than that, Elio should've been killed by them.
And yet, in just a single night, he had done it. Headquarters had fallen. And there, on paper, was Sengoku's signature, officially granting Elio command.
"…Tashigi. Headquarters is lost."
After a long pause, Smoker slumped into his chair, his voice weary.
"For Elio to seize control so swiftly, it means that at least two of the Three Admirals have switched sides. And Vice Admiral Gion, she's always been close to Elio. I'm sure she and many other Vice Admirals were part of this coup."
Tashigi was completely overwhelmed. "So… what should we do?"
Smoker glanced out the window, expression unreadable. "Elio sent Vergo to eliminate Nezumi. He placed Morgan in charge of the 153rd Branch. And yet… Loguetown remains untouched. That's no accident."
"…What do you mean?"
"He's giving me a choice."
Tashigi still looked confused. "Mr. Smoker… what are we going to do?"
"…Wait."
Smoker's eyes hardened with resolve. "If Elio staged this coup for his own ambition, I'll fight him with every ounce of justice left in the Marines. But if, under his leadership, the Marines continue to uphold justice, I'll remain here in Loguetown, doing the duty I was assigned. I have no interest in politics or power struggles."
Just as Smoker had predicted.
At the very moment he received that document,
In the West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue, over half of all branch commanders were replaced overnight.
A sweeping purge had begun, one that would shake the very core of the Marines.