150 Chapter 149
On the live broadcast, Law continued speaking:
"When I brought that marine back, Corazon recognized his identity."
Someone familiar?...
"This marine is none other than Vergo, a member of the Donquixote Family that have the previous code name Corazon! He was sent on a secret mission by Doflamingo before I joined the Donquixote Family. Even Corazon never expected Vergo to be an undercover agent in the Marines. "
This news surprised everyone.
Not only did the Marines send spies to the Donquixote Family, but Doflamingo also sent spies to the Marines.
They came up with the same trick.
This left everyone astonished and bewildered.
What concerned them even more was that this time Rosinante was critically injured while Vergo remained in good condition. Law entrusted Vergo with the intelligence Rosinante obtained, so Vergo would surely realize that Rosinante was the spy.
Things would likely get very serious from now on. They finally understood why Law expressed such remorse and agony when talking about this matter.
The ally they sought turned out to be an enemy, someone who caused the death of their benefactor. It was unforgivable.
Meanwhile, cries of shock spread throughout the Marineford.
The name Vergo was well-known within the headquarters.
He was Vice-Admiral Vergo, already a high-ranking officer in the Marines. Above Vice-Admiral was Admiral, and above that was Fleet Admiral.
He had reached the pinnacle of Marine ranks.
Moreover, Vergo was currently the base commander of G5, leading a significant branch. This wasn't a small branch like the one under Vice Admiral Doberman in the East Blue.
This was a Marine branch in the Grand Line, guarded by a Vice-Admiral, overseeing tens of thousands of Marines.
To think that someone in such an important position was a spy for Doflamingo!
The Marines couldn't believe it.
And their expression was terrifyingly grim. they never imagined that Rosinante's cover being blown was due to a traitor within the Marines!
And this traitor had yet to be exposed. In the span of over a decade, Vergo had even risen to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
They had been deceived for over ten years like this!
Marineford was filled with uncontrollable anger and roared, "Immediately inform G5 to capture Vergo! He must not be allowed to escape! Send Kizaru to G5 immediately. I want Vergo brought before me alive!"
Sengoku promptly responded and quickly went to deliver the order.
The fact that Vergo was a Vice-Admiral was not a secret within the Marineford. Usually, promotions to this level in charge of a significant branch in the Grand Line were accompanied by special reports and announcements.
So, upon hearing the name Vergo, they immediately recalled that he seemed to be a Vice-Admiral.
The revelation that a Vice-Admiral was a pirate infiltrator spread like wildfire throughout the world.
Even though this pirate is one of the Shichibukai, the fact that pirates had infiltrated the upper echelons of the Marines still caused shock and panic worldwide.
How could it not be terrifying?
The top brass of the Marines turned out to be pirates, which meant their minds had been invaded by others.
If the previous collusion between Captain Nezumi and the pirates only stirred people's anger, the revelation that Vice-Admiral Vergo was a pirate started to instill fear.
Even if they disliked the current state of the Marines, living under the control of pirates was something they couldn't bear. At least here, they could still see order.
And now, the Marines who chose to stay in the organization held the same thought. Even if the World Government was corrupt, if there was no reliable organization or force to replace the Marines in maintaining world order, they could only choose to remain here.
Their world might not be ideal, but without them, it would undoubtedly be worse.
Therefore, for both civilians and Marines, Zephyr's NEO Marine represented their hope. However, this hope was still too weak at the moment.
The revelation about Vergo being a pirate also triggered a chain reaction.
Because when you find one cockroach in a room, there might already be a nest in there.
They even suspected that Vergo was not the only spy in the high ranks of the Marines; even the Three Admirals could potentially have spies among them.
Among the speculations, Kuzan, also known as Admiral Aokiji, appeared to be the most suspicious.
Every time he encountered pirates, he didn't capture them, and he even abused his authority. What was even more outrageous was that he later joined the Blackbeard Pirates. They even suspected that he might be an undercover agent infiltrated by Blackbeard into the Marines.
Otherwise, they couldn't understand why a Marine Admiral like Aokiji would act so recklessly, not capturing pirates, handing out Buster Call carelessly, and choosing to turn a blind eye when countless people faced death threats in the New World... These were not actions expected of a Marine.
Apart from Aokiji, another suspicious figure was Kizaru. His behavior during the Summit War was questionable, and his move of kicking Luffy into Whitebeard left them unable to comprehend how to interpret it.
Some even speculated that he might be a spy from the Revolutionary Army. Since Luffy was Dragon's son, Kizaru, as a member, would naturally not be able to harm him severely...
Various opinions circulated, and discussions about which side Aokiji and Kizaru might be spying for filled the high-level Marine discussions. Even the Marine hero, Vide Admiral Garp, couldn't escape the debate about which side he might be an undercover agent for.
However, the only person not implicated in these discussions was Admiral Akainu.
No one even mentioned him.
Because he was immovable. His head was too stubborn, and the words "Marine" were as clear on his face.
But regardless, it was confirmed that Vice-Admiral Vergo was a spy.
In the New World, when Big Mom and Kaido heard that Doflamingo had pulled off such a move within the Marines, their eyes lit up. They applauded and exclaimed, amazed that such a scheme could be executed. If the top brass of the Marineford were their people, why bother fighting them? Allies, they were allies!
Regret filled them for not playing this move earlier.
Occupying the Marines from within, it was quite formidable.
Meanwhile, on the moving headquarters of the NEO Marine, Zephyr's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this news.
He was familiar with Vergo. This guy showed exceptional performance at the academy and could be considered the most outstanding student of his year. After graduating from the Marine Academy, Vergo quickly rose through the ranks, now becoming a Vice-Admiral in the Marineford.
He never expected him to be an undercover agent planted by Doflamingo in the Marines.
Zephyr felt terrible about it. As a teacher, he failed to detect it.
This also made Zephyr uneasy. If Doflamingo could plant a spy in the Marines, then it was not unlikely that there were people with ulterior motives among the newly established NEO Marine.
The NEO Marine had plenty of enemies. Pirates were their number one enemy, and they targeted all pirates. However, what worried him the most and seemed most likely was the involvement of the World Government.
The World Government had numerous spies, CP 0-9, scattered all over the world.
These individuals specialized in intelligence work, eliminating threats to the World Government. Previously, their work focused on the Revolutionary Army, but now the NEO Marine was likely their target.
This had to be guarded against. If undercover agents from the World Government infiltrated the higher ranks of the NEO Marine, it would be like occupying the birds' nests.
His efforts would go down the drain, and he couldn't let that happen.
Zephyr immediately ordered Ain to establish a specialized team to investigate whether there were moles within the NEO Marine. Background checks would be conducted on every new recruit, and the promotion of officers would require thorough verification.
At the same time, they would monitor any abnormal signals from Den Den Mushi and the soldiers' unusual behavior. They must not let the moles destroy the NEO Marine.
However, what Zephyr didn't expect was that Ain's subsequent investigations did uncover several individuals.
