"Hm... that really is strange," Borsalino said slowly.
"That's right," Onigumo added coldly. "Even if that man is still alive, ten years have passed. There's no way he wouldn't have changed at all. And yet the person in these photos looks exactly the same as he did ten years ago."
"Exactly."
"He looks way too young."
"It's been ten years—he should be around thirty by now, right?"
The officers who had personally witnessed the great war back then all began speaking one after another.
"Impel Down really has some nerve," Sakazuki said coldly. "To avoid taking responsibility, they're actually trying to pin this on someone who's supposedly been dead for ten years."
"I wish he were fake," Sengoku said grimly. "Unfortunately... he's real."
Then he looked toward the adjutant.
"Play the footage."
"Yes, sir!"
A major serving as Sengoku's aide immediately took out a Den Den Mushi and placed it on the conference table.
Once activated, a projected image appeared before everyone.
It was footage of Rosinante slowly walking into Impel Down.
The video was fragmented and clearly stitched together from multiple clips.
But even so, his face was perfectly visible.
So was the expression on it.
That calm.
That confidence.
That terrifying composure.
"You all know this," Sengoku said heavily. "That confidence. That ease. There's no mistaking it."
His voice dropped.
"He's back."
"The emperor who died ten years ago... has returned."
The moment those words fell, the entire room turned grave.
Kuzan fell silent, expressionless.
Borsalino's brows furrowed.
Sakazuki's face darkened so much it looked almost murderous, and molten lava began dripping from his body in response to his rising fury.
"Gentlemen," a voice suddenly said.
It came from a blind middle-aged man sitting in the room.
Among everyone present, he was the only one dressed in a warrior's kimono.
"If I heard correctly... the person you are all discussing should be that once-famous figure from ten years ago."
He paused.
"The captain of the Gray Kingdom Pirates, whose name once shook the seas... Dragon King Rosinante, yes?"
"Swordsm—" No, Sengoku corrected himself in his own mind.
This was no ordinary man.
"Mr. Issho is correct," Sengoku said aloud. "It is indeed Dragon King Rosinante."
"But as far as I know," Fujitora Issho said, "this Dragon King was officially declared dead by the Marines. So how has he appeared again?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"And more importantly... what kind of man is he, exactly?"
At Issho's question, the expressions in the room changed again.
Many of the officers who had personally witnessed that battle ten years ago revealed unmistakable traces of fear.
Not caution.
Not concern.
Fear.
As for the younger officers—or those who had joined later during the massive military expansion—
Their faces showed curiosity instead.
After all, ten years had passed.
Back then, Rosinante's sphere of activity had not actually been all that wide.
Many people who knew of him only knew what they had read in newspapers.
Compared to Rosinante himself, the Gray Kingdom's divisions were actually more familiar to many of the newer Marines.
After all, those divisions had once ruled the four seas as pirate overlords for years.
Each had controlled more than a dozen kingdoms.
So they were all wondering the same thing:
What kind of person was he...
That so many Marine powerhouses still showed fear at the mere mention of his name, even after ten years?
Sengoku's expression turned solemn.
"Originally, the World Government had already ordered that this matter was never to be mentioned again."
"But since he's returned... that no longer matters."
Then he looked at everyone in the room and spoke slowly.
"If I had to summarize Dragon King Rosinante in just two words..."
He paused.
"A monstrous prodigy."
The room shook with silent shock.
Many of the Marines who hadn't known much about Rosinante were stunned.
The sea often called extraordinary strong people monsters.
But monstrous prodigy...
That was different.
It was sharper.
More terrifying.
More absurd.
And what made it even more shocking was this—
Even Sakazuki, who hated Rosinante to the bone, didn't refute Sengoku's judgment.
If anything...
His face only grew darker.
"A monstrous prodigy..." Issho murmured softly as he took a sip of tea.
"That's right," Sengoku said. "Never before had there been someone so young who possessed such terrifying strength."
"And never before had there been someone who, at that same age, could build such a massive force."
His eyes darkened with memory.
"If ten years ago the Marines and the World Government had not mobilized nearly all of our highest combat forces..."
"If we had not gravely wounded him..."
"And if, in the end, we had not used the Paramecia-type Expulsion Fruit to banish his soul into another dimension..."
Sengoku's voice became heavier with every word.
"Then the seas today would likely have an entirely different structure."
"The Gray Kingdom... would have become an existence even the World Government would have feared deeply."
He looked around the room.
"And from the moment he began building the Gray Kingdom... to the point where it became that terrifying..."
"Rosinante only spent five years."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
"So if I don't call him a monstrous prodigy... there is no other word sufficient to describe him."
The Marines who hadn't known—or only vaguely knew—about Rosinante were left completely dumbstruck.
As for those who did know...
Their expressions became even grimmer.
"No matter what," Sakazuki said coldly, breaking the silence, "the Gray Kingdom suffered a catastrophic blow ten years ago. Sleepless City was taken by the World Government. And throughout all of that, Rosinante never appeared."
"That clearly means for those ten years, Rosinante remained in that soulless state."
He stared hard at the photos.
"With a ten-year gap like that, even he must have declined significantly."
His eyes burned.
"And don't forget—while he was lying in bed for ten years..."
"We were out there fighting desperately."
"There's no need to fear some man who's been rotting in bed for a decade."
Sengoku looked at him and nodded slightly.
"That is exactly what I wanted to address next."
The room immediately quieted again.
"When Rosinante invaded Impel Down, Magellan fought him."
Sengoku's face was as dark as iron.
"With one sword strike, he erased half of Magellan's Venom Demon."
"With another strike, he defeated Magellan."
"And he left multiple sword wounds across Magellan's body."
He paused for a moment, then swept his gaze over the room.
"Some of you may not know this."
"But some of you do know very well what Magellan's strength is."
"He possesses combat power on the level of an Admiral."
Sengoku's next words landed like a hammer.
"You all understand what that means, don't you?"
Even with a ten-year gap...
Even after ten years of lying motionless...
Rosinante's strength was still no weaker than that of the Four Emperors.
And perhaps—
Sengoku's voice dropped one final time.
"He may even be stronger than he was ten years ago."