(Third Person POV)
[Marineford]
Inside a room, Liutenant-Commander Brannew stood in front of several Marine Officers who sat crossed-leg, hearing out his briefing.
"Alright, listen up!" He said as he stood in front of a board, "We have a situation fresh off Loguetown in the East Blue. Yes, I know, it is a bit odd for the East to provide such a crisis. But aside from Straw Hat Luffy, we have another criminal to keep an eye out for....and this one is arguably worse than an upstart Pirate."
He slapped a picture of a young man with black hair and green eyes on the board, who wore a black suit with a black overcoat. The young man was tall, around 6'4, and had a muscular build. For the average and normal human, this was a respectable height, not reaching the heights of other large humans.
One of the Marine Officers raised an eyebrow, "Who is that?"
"This here is Samuel." Brannew said, "A Shopkeeper in Loguetown whose store mostly comprises of clothing."
"A shopkeeper?" Another Officer said, "And this person is more dangerous than that Upstart Squirt?"
Brannew tapped the picture of Samuel several times, "Do not be deceived!" He said, "Samuel here is not your ordinary Shopkeeper....in fact, he is not your ordinary person at all!!"
The Marine Officers all shifted tensely; they knew that is someone like Brannew, who is in charge of assigning Bounties on criminals, would dub someone dangerous, then it means that the person is in fact dangerous.
"Why, you ask?" Brannew said with a serious scowl, "That is because Samuel has gone by the name of Klaw, at one point.....in his days as a Cipher Pol operative!"
There was a bit of a shocked reaction from the room full of Marine Officers. Some murmured among each other as others simply stared at Brannew.
"A Cipher Pol agent?" one of them asked, "What? Was he undercover? Did he go rogue?"
"The details of the situation is classified, even I do not know what truly happened...." Brannew said, "But yes, he has gone rogue. In fact, it was believed he was dead. Klaw was a prodigy Cipher Pol Agent, mastering the Rokushiki Martial Arts with ease. It is without saying that this information does not leave this room....but Klaw was a top-tier assassin and spy. But one incident caused him to fake his death and disappear.....until now...."
"So this Klaw now goes by Samuel." A Marine Rear-Admiral said, "What is he doing in the East?"
Brannew grabbed another photo from his folder and slapped it on the board. This was the photo of a strange-looking Devil Fruit; pitch-black with purple hue in its twisted and circular swirl-pattern. The devil fruit, at least in the photo, was emitting a strange black-like mist or aura that some of the Marine Officers cannot make out from where they sat.
Brannew then slapped two more pictures on the board; one of Dragon, The Revolutionary and the other of a Tall man with grey hair and blue eyes, wearing a dark grey trench coat.
"This is the situation!" Brannew said, "We have reason to believe that the Revolutionary Army has stolen a Devil Fruit from Egghead Island! Vegapunk reported a very valuable devil fruit that he was studying missing! After Admiral Kizaru shut the entire island down and had a very serious investigation, it had turned out that a deep-undercover Revolutionary had stolen the fruit and escaped with it. That Revolutionary then passed the Fruit onto to this man: Dante!"
He pointed at the picture of the grey-haired man.
"Dante...." One of the Officers said, "The Chief of Staff of The Revolutionary Army, Dragon's Number Two...."
"That is right." Brannew said, "And Dragon was in Loguetown....he had made contact with Straw Hat Luffy, which was a bit odd...but we chalk it up to coincidence....his true purpose of visiting Loguetown was to see Klaw!"
"Klaw....?" an Officer said
"Dante, who was in possession of the stolen Fruit....." Brannew said, "Most definitely traveled to the East Blue to avoid the heat of the Marines and other World Government forces....he ended up going to Loguetown and most definitely delivered the fruit to Klaw. In turn, Klaw waited for Dragon to arrive and make contact with him....however....there was one issue....according to the reports, Dragon and Klaw never made contact..."
"Which means that Klaw is still in possession of the Devil Fruit." A Marine Captain said, "Or at least knows where it is he has hidden it...."
"Precisely." Brannew said, "To summarize....this is what it is all about; A Stolen Devil Fruit which our superiors have dubbed highly important for Vegapunk's research. That devil fruit is now in the possession of a former Cipher Pol agent, who has gone rogue....as a result, we need to alert all Marines in the Grandline about this....the capture of Klaw and the whereabouts of the Item is crucial!"
"Where is he now?" an officer asked
"He is currently in the custody of Captain Rhea, barely crossing the Calm Belt." Brannew said, "He will rendezvous with Captain Smoker and Rear-Admiral Punkpink."
"If he is in custody, why take extra precautions?" A female Captain asked
"You do not seem to understand." Brannew said, "This is a former Cipher Pol agent....who has mastered the art of espionage and assassination. Being captured by a Captain is but a trivial situation to him. Expect an escape and expect resistance. The only way to truly bring him in is to have a Vice-Admiral or at the very least a Rear-Admiral to detain him."
"Hm...." the Captain said, "So....have we warned Captain Rhea?"
"We have sent a warning." Brannew said, "Last we heard from them, they were caught in a storm."
"So....." Another said, "What are the odds that this Klaw.....or Samuel...what are the odds that he has eaten the Devil Fruit?"
"Pretty low." Brannew said, "That Devil Fruit is extremely valuable and the Revolutionary Army might use it as leverage against the World Government.....or at the very least that is what we hope. According to Dr. Vegapunk, That Devil Fruit is incredibly dangerous as it is powerful. And the one that stole the fruit must have already known the risks."
"But does Dante know the risks?" An officer asked
"More than likely." Brannew said, "All that said.....these are the orders from Fleet-Admiral Sengoku! Properly detain Klaw or Samuel! And take him into the nearest Marine Outpost with maximum security!"
"Otherwise, he will escape our sights!!"
***************
[On Captain Rhea's Ship]
As the ship docked on a shore, the waves crashing against them as the storm raged around it, there was an alarm blaring.
"Dammit!!" Captain Rhea said as she ran down the hallway, "What happened now?!"
"The prisoner escaped his restraints!!" a Marine exclaimed
"You imbeciles!!" Rhea exclaimed, "I just received word from HQ! He's a former spy!!"
She turned the corner and saw that there were several marines collapsed on the ground with blood pouring out small circular wounds on their chests and shoulders.
"Shit...." She said with a serious scowl, "This is bad...."
"This is very bad!!!"