A week later-

---In Marine Headquarters---

"Sengoku, we just got some intel on the Hokage of Konoha. He was seen sailing in the first half of the grand line just a few hours ago." Crane reported the information that she got from one of her eyeliners in the sea just a moment ago.

"Is that so? Do you know what his intention could be for going out in the sea right now? Normally, a leader of a country shouldn't be so free to wander around the sea like this. Especially now that they have started to do various trades with other allied countries, he should have been very busy with paper works instead of going out of his territory and wandering around." Sengoku expressed his doubts.

"We currently don't have much intel from which we can successfully deduce what his intention might be.  But I don't think that him sailing out of his territory now is just an random act. He must have some purpose. Even though we have no clue about what that purpose might be, I think I might have some idea what he is going to do there." Crane said.

"Do you remember the reports we received a few months back about the recently emerging underworld emperor in the Grand line? Back then we thought that the strange powers shown by the underworld emperor are related to some kind of strange devil fruit that we have never heard of."

"But now that we know some of the techniques used by ninjas, I strongly suspect that this underworld emperor also comes from Konoha," Crane added.

Sengoku also understood what Crane was trying to say. So he asked, "Do you think that the Hokage deliberately let him take control of the underworld and now he is going to see him for some reason?"

"Whether it was deliberate or not, we will know in a few days. If he does meet him, then it can be confirmed that the Hokage surely has some conspiracy. Otherwise, we can dismiss it as an act of some rebels." Crane spoke out her thoughts.

"In this age of pirates, many people like to leave their country and become pirates or criminals to realize their so-called dreams. So, it wouldn't be that strange if the underworld emperor betrayed Konoha and left on his own accord to fulfil some sort of dreams.' Crane elaborated.

"I guess you are right. I will order our best scouts to keep an eye on them for now. Though I really hope he has nothing to do with the underworld emperor. If not, the relationship that we have built just a week ago would crumble and we would have one more enemy to fight against. Sigh!" Sengoku rubbed his forehead in distress.

"We are already having enough headaches because of the newly emerging pirate emperors. If Konoha becomes our enemy as well, the situation will become more unfavourable for us." Crane replied also hoping for a positive relationship with Konoha.

"Anyway, Let's leave that matter aside for now since we wouldn't be able to come to any decision until we clearly know about the relationship between the Hokage and this underworld emperor." Crane said.

"By the way, I have already chosen a few candidates whom we can fully trust. Here is the list. Should I send this list to the Hokage right now or wait for the reports from the marine scouts about the relationship between him and the underworld emperor?" Crane asked to Sengoku.

"I think it is better for us to wait. If he does have any kind of dealings with that person, we would have to redefine our relationship with Konoha anyway. So, let's observe him until he leaves that area of the sea and then we can decide what to do depending on the reports." Sengoku replied after thinking for a bit.

"By the way, why didn't you add Sakazuki and some of the other vice admirals that should also be eligible for this task?" Sengoku asked even though he already have an answer for this in his heart.

"You should already know about the tempers of those marine officers that I purposefully left out. Even though, in terms of strength, they wouldn't loose out to any other marines chosen in the list but their behaviours are far from satisfactory for this task." Crane replied.

"Specially Sakazuki, even though he is highly motivated in work unlike the other admiral candidates, his view of justice is what forced me to exclude him from this list. If we sent him to Konoha marine branch, I am sure he will create some kind of conflict with them because of his insistence on absolute justice." Crane explained her reason.

"I even wanted to exclude some other people like Kuzan and Borsalino as they are very lazy in their works. But if I do that, we would not have much strong people left whom we can send to Konoha." Crane added.

"After all, it is in the new world and unless we send at least an admiral candidate level powerhouse there to maintain the pirates, it won't be long before our branch there would get destroyed by some daring individuals or groups." Crane further added.

"Sigh! Except for Kagami, all the other admiral candidates are very unreliable. If he didn't used to be a citizen of Konoha, I would have liked to send Kagami there. With how he has done all of his jobs so far, you can hardly make any complaint." Sengoku commented.

"Now that you mention it, what are you going to do with Kagami if we find that the Hokgae is plotting something with the underworld emperor?" Crane asked.

"Even if the situation turns that direction, I don't plan to do anything to Kagami as he has already proven his loyalty to the marine. But I don't think the five elders would let him get promoted to anymore to higher positions if something goes wrong with the relationship with Konoha."

"Even if he is loyal, he can never deny the fact that he used to be a citizen of Konoha. As such, it is quite certain that his future promotional path will be directly blocked if we become the enemy of Konoha." Sengoku said with sigh.

Even though, he is the supreme commander in the marine, he has no right to deny any orders from the five elders unless he wants to be an enemy of the world government.

Unlike the ignorant pirates in the sea, he clearly knows how much strength the five elders and other organizations behind them possesses. If he ever seriously decides to go against the wishes of the five elders, it would only result in his and a lot of other marine's death.

That's why, even when the world government's decision went against his view of justice, he didn't do anything drastic except for expressing some dislike and complaints for the orders that he was given.

The Ohara incident is a perfect example for this. Most of the higher ups who knew about the real situation were unwilling to destroy the innocent people of Ohara with a buster call. But in the end, they could only silently protest about this without having the courage to directly go against the decision. Because they knew full well the consequences of them doing that.