Unlike the external intelligence run by Lucci, the Imperial Guard led by Who's-Who handles internal matters, basically an investigative unit.
With territory this huge, and after the hard lesson from those merchants, they can't afford a second incident like that — it would seriously hurt business.
Sage himself doesn't really care and is confident he can suppress anything, but Lily doesn't want the hassle. Since the intelligence organization now has enough people, she had Who's-Who specialize in this.
They're both intelligence departments, but with different roles. This is the first time the two units are formally interacting, and it's clearly targeted.
For this Uta, what Sage wants is to find her quickly. He's not going to let them waste too much time, which is why the two departments are cooperating.
As for how they cooperate...
It's basically a race to see who finds her first.
Once his shadow returned to human form, Who's-Who shot Lucci a provocative look, didn't linger, and turned to leave.
Lucci clicked his tongue, sat back down, and said, "Aside from Kalifa, recall everyone. Push all other missions back. What matters now is finding where that Uta is."
"Understood."
Jabra stopped fooling around and looked toward the door. "That Paijiu guy is feeling pretty smug right now. The Governor's really let him shine."
Back when Who's-Who served under Kaido, they didn't know that when they were CP9. They only found out after joining CP0 later.
Under Kaido, he never got to fully show his stuff. Even though he was running intel scouting, the stage he had to work with wasn't big enough. Kaido himself put more weight on brute force — intel just needed to be 'good enough.'
Unlike on Sage's side, where the territory is so vast it eclipses the major nations by a good margin and is highly prosperous; there are countless internal issues that need preventing, which is why both Who's-Who and Lucci now have room to operate.
Being a commanding officer is much tougher than passively taking assignments. Above Lucci now there's only Sage; Lily just issues orders. For him to get things done, most of the work is figuring out how to deploy people to investigate the surrounding intel.
Besides their former CP0 personnel, they also need auxiliary intelligence staff, and those people are basically recruited from the Disaster Pirates.
As for how they were selected...
Simple. Whoever works diligently, does things cleanly and well — recruit them, you won't go wrong.
The core of the Disaster Pirates is that it's absolutely impossible for them to do a job perfectly. Aside from Lily and Marika, no one else can be relied on.
And those who do a good job? Eight out of ten are Special Agents sent by the Government or the Navy.
Work is work no matter where you do it, right?
Might as well gather them under his banner. Now most of them are scattered outside, digging for intel.
By contrast, in the investigation-oriented unit led by Who's-Who, the ranks are packed with Samurai from Wano Country. They seem to value strength more than secrecy — internal investigations are usually about finding informants willing to cooperate of their own accord.
Besides those two, there's a third unit, led by ten-year-old Las, completely and directly under Sage, to the point they don't even have to follow Lily's orders. These Demon Race subordinates are now his Personal Guard, specifically tasked with punishing anyone who betrays the Disaster Pirates.
You can walk away, you can stop being a Pirate, you can even take your loot and savings back home to retire — as long as that checks out, no one will make things hard for you.
But betrayal is the one thing that's not allowed.
They don't target all of O'hara, only those Disaster Pirates who've sworn loyalty to Sage — and likewise are targeted by them.
It's annoying, sure, but those people are proper, official Household Servants of Sage, sworn to serve him for generations.
Same as the Fur Race.
Speaking of Household Servants...
"Let him be a Joker. Maybe he can play a different kind of role that way."
Lucci stood up. "You carry out the missions. I'll go talk to Sage."
With both sides cooperating, intel is of course shared. The other side wouldn't dare hide anything; Sage's orders are absolutely paramount.
But before that, there's something he just finished compiling that he needs to report.
Not long after, Lucci met with Sage and Lily, who was sitting beside him.
"Oh! Lucci!"
Sage grinned, baring his teeth. "Sit, sit. I haven't seen you in ages. But you're not here to complain, are you? That Who's guy has always wanted to compete with you. As a comrade, you should give him some face."
"I'm not that bored."
After sitting down, Lucci said, "I just finished organizing my current files. There's something I think has about come together. It's about the Fishman Race... Recently lots of Fishman have come to settle in O'hara. From the way they talk, they're full of gratitude and respect toward you. They're all 'other races' that are quite different from humans. Lately they're very envious of the Fur Race. I'm wondering if you might want this piece of intel, and maybe bring the Fishman Race under your banner as well."
"Fishman..."
Sage froze for a moment.
How to put it... the term "human" is very inclusive, covering many races. In Sage's eyes, true humans should be like him and Luffy: no taller than two meters.
Anyone over two meters basically has some Giant blood, especially those five or six meters tall — the Giant blood is even stronger.
Like Who's-Who, with horns on his head — real horns, not the ornamental ones some of the Flying Six wear — that means, like Kaido, he carries Ancient Giant Race blood.
But once it's mixed down, they're called the Ghost Race, like Moriah.
These can still be counted as humans, because they have human form. Other races like Longarm, Longleg, and Longneck also get treated as human.
But the Fur Race, Little People Race, Fishman Race, and Giant Race are too different from humans, so they're treated as "others."
No matter how tolerant things get, in some places these races will encounter either subtle discrimination or outright fear.
You can't expect ordinary people to treat "others" completely equally. Even in O'hara, the place most deeply influenced by him, there are still people who look at these obvious nonhuman-looking "others" — who are clearly still people — with different eyes and attitudes.
But not toward the Fur Race.
Because they're Household Servants. That concerns Sage. Even the dullest commoner in O'hara, influenced by Sage's reputation, will treat them with respect.
"Indeed."
Hearing this, Lily nodded in agreement. "When the time is right, making them Household Servants is a great fix. Sage, several outlying islands recently tried to capture Mermaids and Fishman. We suppressed all of it, and punished them, but the impact is still bad. Having a once-and-for-all solution wouldn't be half bad — and it'd let us indirectly control Dragon Palace City at the same time."
Sage's prestige is immense, especially in O'hara. Anyone living here, no matter who they are, feels awe toward him.
He pays well, his strength inspires fear; he has both the jujube and the stick. Naturally his authority is sky-high.
"Here's what we'll do. Call Fukaboshi over. He's the Eldest Prince, the future King; he can represent all Fishman. If he's willing, I don't mind becoming the Master of the Ocean."
The location of Fishman Island is so special that even if Sage wants to rule it, he can't. He can't personally go down there — the moment he hits the water, he'll be swarmed by Sea Kings.
But the place can serve as a transit hub. Their secret passage through the Red Earth Continent and the route by the Gate of Justice are both guarded by Fishman. As long as the crates are watertight, the Fishman can place smuggled goods there.
In Sage's plans, the strategic value of this location is huge; it's absolutely not something he can casually give up. But just flying a flag there is meaningless.
His glory should reach the ocean depths as well.
Lily's words had prodded him, giving him the idea.
"Whether Fishman Island agrees or not doesn't matter. The Fishman at sea and the Fishman down below can always be split into two categories."
Sage laughed. "Neptune has a deal with me, and I won't break that promise. But he can't stop Fishman from pledging themselves to a new master either, can he?"