“Absent leader”

On a small island, you could see a navy base of a small size compared to the giant Marineford. This was the 80th division of the West Blue Marine. Apart from the marine base, there was a medium sized village, where most of the villagers were relatives of the division's marines.

This was the base that was led by Nelson, but for more than a week he has been missing and there is no news of him. Inside the base in the office that was Nelson's was a chubby middle-aged man.

"This stupid son, all he does is complicate things for me!" exclaimed the man who was Nelson's father, his name was Carter and he held a very high position within the World Government.

After the incident where Yamamoto destroyed 8 marine ships and killed 3 vice admirals, the West Blue was an area put under the magnifying glass to find Ohara's demons and now his stupid son disappeared more than a week ago.

"Tell me is there any news of my stupid son?" asked Carter to a subordinate who was dressed completely in black.

"No director, so far we have no news from your ship" the man quickly replied respectfully.

*Of all the times he has to disappear, he does it at this critical time* thought Carter holding his hands to his head.

Although his son disappeared for over a week he was not worried about him as this is not the first time he has done this. He was bothered by the timing as there is a big movement of people brewing to catch and kill the Ohara demons.

There are many marines from HQ coming to West Blue to catch Yamamoto and the other archaeologists and one of the bases being used as a temporary headquarters to regroup troops and supplies, is the 80th division and if the leader of this division is absent it will be a problem.

It will be a problem because if the leader is absent he will show his ineptitude and the responsibility may fall on him, since thanks to his father he got such a position.

When Carter was thinking of a way to find his son, he heard someone knocking at the door, "Come in" said Carter in a cold tone.

Instantly another man dressed in black entered, "Director I have a report about your son" spoke the man in black, to which Carter waved his hand to tell what he knew.

"According to the marines in this division, they said that Commodore Nelson was acting very low profile and selected the men he considered the strongest to go after some sort of treasure, he even hired a black market mercenary at a great price" the man in black reported.

*That fat idiot looking for treasure right now...* thought Carter with a frown.

"Any word on where he went?" asked Carter.

"No..." replied the man in black a little nervously. Carter pounded the table angrily, in the end, it did no good to know this information, as he still didn't know where his stupid son was.

Before he could complain anymore, a den den mushi sounded next to him so he reluctantly responded, "Director the ships from HQ have arrived!" reported the voice behind the den den den mushi.

"Tsch they arrived faster than I thought" said Carter as he stood up and headed to greet the new arrivals, his men followed respectfully behind him.

When they arrived at the harbor they noticed two large ships, although one of them was a bit smaller than the first ship that landed on the island. From the first ship came out a very tall man with a rather strange uniform compared to the other marines, even so, on his back, he had the characteristic marine jacket.

*Why of all the vice-admirals do they have to send this sly fox?* thought Carter with annoyance.

The vice admiral who stepped off the marine ship was Komei who had the task of taking care of the Ohara villagers who had escaped on a different ship.

Komei noticed Carter turned to him with a smile as if they were old friends, "Hi Director Carter nice to see you again, CP5 sure moves fast" said Komei as he greeted Carter with a handshake.

Komei was known as a "Genius Strategist" due to his cunning and brilliant plans proving to have great intelligence and someone who relies heavily on tactics.

Carter was the leader of CP5. The Cipher Pol is a series of World Government organizations. They act as secret bodies responsible for carrying out various clandestine tasks such as infiltration, espionage, and assassinations. As the leader of CP5, Carter had great authority and a very high position.

"The pleasure is mine, this mission is of utmost importance so I moved all the troops as fast as I could" Carter said as he accepted the handshake.

From the other smaller ship came down a huge round man leading the other marines following behind him. He walked towards Komei and Carter, "Greetings Director Carter" said the man in a calm tone in contrast to his frightening appearance.

"Greetings Rear Admiral Boo Kong" returned Carter's greeting in a monotone.

This person was Rear Admiral Boo Kong a huge man, his torso is very robust and compared to his small legs he looks even deformed. He has blond hair with curls on his cheeks, and on his torso, he has several green tattoos in triangular patterns. His clothes are more barbaric than those of the other marines, as he wears only a navy vest, unbuttoned showing his gigantic stomach.

"Now we are all here we should start with the strategy to locate the whereabouts of the Ohara demons" suggested Komei, "By the way... where is the leader of this base?" he added in a questioning tone.

The three of them counting Carter were strangers to this base, so it was normal that the leader of the 80th division would come to greet them, then enter the base and plan their next moves.

Hearing this question Boo Kong started to search for this person, but found no one, on Carter's part he put on an ugly expression and replied, "He is not here, he went on a mission."

"What...? I thought all the West Blue bases had been warned to give priority to this mission, and if they were performing something to put it aside and go back to their fleets" Komei said while squinting his eyes.

"Besides, it's been a week, I think that's enough time to return to the base" he added.

Komei is very strict with his subordinates and would not tolerate insubordination, so he kept harping on the subject, plus the 80th division leader knows West Blue better than the others, so he would be a good source of information to devise his strategy.

Carter frowned and after a few seconds said, "I gave him the mission...". At this Komei raised his eyebrow with doubt on his face, since a Cipher Pol director works for the World Government and not the navy, "He is my son, so I gave him a first mission to make it easier for us to find the Ohara archeologists" he added.

He knew it was useless to try to hide from Komei that Nelson the leader of the 80th division was his son, as sooner or later this cunning man would find out, it was better to create an excuse and behind the scenes, he would look for his son.

If the higher ups at HQ found out that his son a supposed Navy Commodore was so useless and weak they would begin to suspect how he got to such a high position, and even if he was the head of CP5 they would punish him regardless of his position. After all, he pulled a lot of strings and bribed a lot of people to get his son to this position.

"I didn't know that the Commodore of the 80th division was his son..." said Komei knowing that Carter is hiding something, "But if I already gave him a mission, I guess he will be fine..." he added.

This mission included the CP5 so he doesn't see bad that Carter ordered a Commodore of the marine of one of the weakest seas and more if it is his son, so he left the subject aside.

"Yes, let's go to the office to plot the strategy," Carter said to change the subject, as he led the way to the base, Komei, and Boo Kong followed behind him.

To the office where Carter was before, only the three of them entered as they were the ones in charge of making the first step to find the whereabouts of the Ohara archaeologists.

"Where is there a map of West Blue?" asked Komei as he sat in one of the office chairs.

Carter didn't know the answer to this question, for this, they needed the leader of the 80th division here, "You go get the map" ordered Carter to one of his men who left to accomplish the task as soon as possible.

After a few minutes where Carter cursed his son in his mind, the man arrived with the map, Komei took it and unrolled it on the table, "Well let's start" said Komei while looking at the map.