Out on the sea, countless others had tuned into the broadcast. It churned beneath the waves, a chaos brewing, gathering strength.
And at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise,
Inside the Five Elders' Office, fury smoldered in the quiet. The five who commanded the highest authority of the world sat stone-faced, staring at the man kneeling before them to answer for his failure, Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
"It is fortunate your Marine HQ cut the signal when it did. A moment longer, and this would have been an irreparable disaster."
Marine HQ cut the signal? No, shouldn't it have been the World Government who cut it? He didn't know who was actually responsible for cutting the signal, but Sengoku kept his head down and didn't contradict the Gorosei.
What would be the point of contradicting them now?
The signal was already cut. At this point, saying it wasn't them, that it was just an accident, was he asking for a beating?
"Enough, Saint Saturn. What's done is done. There's no need to keep assigning blame. The priority now is dealing with the current situation." The Warrior God of Justice, Saint Topman Warcury, sighed and looked at Sengoku. "We were fortunate that we stopped him from saying any more. Otherwise, this would have been a monumental disaster."
"It's already a disaster. The Ancient Weapons... previously only a select few knew about them. Now the entire sea is aware." The Warrior God of Agriculture, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, remained stern. "This will undoubtedly drive more schemers to seek them out."
"No matter. The Ancient Weapons are not something just anyone can control!" The Warrior God of Finance, Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, cradled his sword and shook his head. "Compared to the Ancient Weapons, the revelation that the world is sinking is far more serious."
He sighed. "This will cause more and more people to question the World Government. And it will draw ambitious eyes toward the Land of the Gods, plunging it into chaos. The Revolutionary Army in particular, we must monitor their movements closely."
"Suppress the information. Even though the entire world has already heard, we must still suppress it. No one is permitted to spread it. Any who do are subject to immediate judgment on the spot. We keep at it until the news dies down again. Don't worry, give it a few years, and those insects will begin to doubt the truth of it, or even forget it entirely. As for the other matter..." The cold voice of the Warrior God of Environment, Saint Marcus Mars, cut in. "Mock is the real scourge. He must be dealt with swiftly. He absolutely cannot be allowed to speak again."
"Agreed. To think that madman Roger would pass this on to his own son..."
"The bloodline of demons must be exterminated!"
The five of them turned their gazes upon Sengoku. "You know what must be done now?"
"The Marines have already dispatched a force to capture Mock," Sengoku replied quickly.
However, as he spoke, a look of bitterness crossed his face.
"It's just that he has good relations with the Whitebeard Pirates, and the remnants of the Roger Pirates are still alive. Once we move to capture him..."
He didn't finish.
The Gorosei understood what he meant and fell silent.
Mock's connections were truly troublesome. Were they really about to start a war at this moment?
"Regardless, he cannot be allowed to continue." Saint Jaygarcia Saturn held firm to his stance. "Even if it means war, so be it. This scourge must be eliminated. We have no way of knowing when this lunatic will have his next outburst!"
"If possible, we should avoid it." Saint Marcus Mars sighed. "We must avoid large-scale war during this period as much as possible."
"Unfortunately, Vegapunk hasn't been found, and Caesar is an colossal idiot. Most of the critical research has been forced to a halt."
"Carry out the capture while avoiding the Whitebeard Pirates notice as much as possible. Pass judgment before they have time to react. By the time they do, it will be too late!"
"But war will come eventually."
"Then war it is. This man cannot be left unchecked any longer. He knows too much."
"Correct. He must be judged swiftly. I fear another incident if we wait."
Within moments, the Gorosei concluded their discussion. Their decision stood unchanged.
Even if it meant war, they would capture him.
"Tell Marine HQ to get ready as well!" Saint Jaygarcia Saturn's flat stare fixed on Sengoku. "Mobilize every Marine. Get everyone moving. We don't want any more unexpected incidents, Sengoku."
"...Understood. I will make the arrangements." Sengoku's heart ached with bitter resignation, but he lowered his head and accepted the orders all the same.
He understood the Gorosei's intent. Even with the Marines forces crippled, they had to capture Mock.
But...
They truly couldn't let him continue unchecked. The man was a menace. A thought struck Sengoku. He hesitated. "The East Blue Branch mutiny..."
Before he could finish, Saint Topman Warcury cut him off with a dismissive scoff. "Set aside the East Blue matter for now. What matters is capturing Mock and wiping out every last trace of the demon's bloodline. A mere branch mutiny in the east blue doesn't even matter. As long as they stay put in the East Blue, dealing with them later is no issue!"
"East Blue certainly keeps producing troublesome characters."
"I said it at the time, we should have just killed Zephyr on the spot. And now it's a joke at our expense. Marine HQ is absolutely useless!"
"But the more pressing concern is Mock. Warcury is right. A minor branch mutiny can be dealt with later."
"And that Shichibukai... he's of the Buccaneer Race, isn't he?"
"The Buccaneers really are only fit for slavery. Forget it. There will be time for a reckoning later."
Hearing the Gorosei, Sengoku fell silent again, then nodded. "Understood. Marine HQ will focus all resources on capturing Mock."
"You're dismissed. And... do not disappoint us again."
"Yes!"
With the Gorosei's command issued, Sengoku turned and hurried out of the office. Only after the doors closed did the five look at one another.
Then a cold voice spoke.
"We should report to Lord Imu and seek guidance."
On the other side.
Having left the Gorosei's office, Sengoku gazed up at the sky over Mary Geoise, his face full of melancholy. He sighed. "Luck is on your side, Zephyr."
He had never expected something like this to happen.
A stroke of compensation, maybe, for the tragic first half of his life.
Now he could only pray the man would know when to stop and not do anything further out of line.
Sengoku shook his head and said nothing more.
A minor mutiny at an East Blue branch, how much impact could it really make on the sea?
He had more important matters to attend to.
He hadn't gone far when another thought struck him. Sengoku frowned, muttering in confusion, "Who interfered with the signal, anyway?"
Obviously it was Dante when he saw Mock was running out of talking points.
"That's all I know."
Vegapunk's looked with suspicion as he stared at Dante.
Dante had to be feeding him another half-truth.
Come to think of it, this brat really did know a lot of secrets. Where exactly was he getting all this from?
But before Vegapunk could open his mouth, Dante had already guessed what Vegapunk was about to say. He spread his hands wide. "I really don't know anything else. If I did, why would I have you cut the signal?"
Wasn't it because if he kept talking, the whole thing would blow up?
And speaking of which, what was with the World Government and Marine HQ? It had been ages, how had they still not managed to cut the signal themselves? Completely useless!
And Ace and Teach, still lounging around on Mock's ship... They called each other brothers, didn't they? So how long had it been now, and they hadn't even tried to stop Mock?
His words hung in the air.
Vegapunk fell silent again.
Now it all made sense. No wonder, the whole Mock broadcast was clearly Dante's doing, but midway through, this idiot came barreling over in a panic, yelling at him to cut the signal immediately. He'd wondered what the big emergency was.
"After the stunt you've pulled, the World Government is probably convinced Mock knows the whole truth by now." Vegapunk sighed in disappointment. "A shame. I thought you knew everything, I was ready to have you just tell me the truth directly. As I suspected, that history isn't so easily uncovered."
Now that he thought about it, he had obtained part of Ohara's legacy as well. He had originally planned to study it in secret once he arrived at Egghead.
But the very first day he got there, his boss got swapped out. As a result, he never got around to studying those Ohara documents. Even now, the documents were still hidden away in a secure location he'd chosen.
Going to retrieve them now, though... he was afraid the World Government might catch wind of something.
After all, the Ohara research documents he'd taken back then were hardly a small pile.
Vegapunk rubbed his chin. After a moment's thought, he decided to tell Dante about it.
Dante mulled it over for a while. In the end, he didn't refuse. He promised Vegapunk he'd help retrieve the documents when the chance came.
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