"The Five Elders have already issued a clear directive. If Blackbeard wants to take a seat among the Seven Warlords, his pledge of allegiance must be the live capture of Fire Fist Ace."
"And according to reliable intelligence, they're already mentally prepared for a full-scale war with that old monster Whitebeard."
Although everything was unfolding exactly as predicted—and the script was proceeding according to his design—this was, after all, a grand drama that would decide the course of the world. As the幕后总导演, Tenma would not allow even the slightest flaw.
Even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of deviation had to be completely strangled in the cradle.
Now that it was confirmed the overture to the Paramount War had begun, the rest was simple. Tenma only needed to wait quietly for the coming storm.
Thus, life in the Sky Kingdom remained as indulgent as ever—songs and dances without end, days spent in reckless extravagance, every day like an endless party.
The only small regret was that those vibrant young girls weren't around. Without them flitting about, Tenma felt the vast palace lacked a bit of youthful vitality.
Naturally, A-Toki and the others would never agree with such an assessment.
Whether it was Toki, Shinobu, or even Stussy—who had maxed out every imaginable beauty-maintenance secret—they all consciously or unconsciously blurred their real ages.
This was partly a woman's innate love of beauty, and partly the subtle psychological effect brought on by "pure gold."
That miraculous metal could nearly halt physical aging—but the gears of time in this sea never stopped turning.
As Tenma continued to enjoy his decadent, gilded lifestyle, another month quietly slipped by in the outside world.
Just as he had predicted, the chess piece named Luffy truly possessed the power to stir up the winds and clouds.
In just one month, this restless child of destiny had caused yet another major sensation.
The prolonged civil war that had plunged Alabasta into misery had actually come to an end.
Even more shocking—Crocodile, a veteran member of the Seven Warlords, was exposed for a monstrous conspiracy to usurp a nation, and in the end, he had fallen at the hands of a rookie wearing a straw hat.
"Hey, did you hear? That famous Crocodile got taken down by a pirate rookie who just debuted! This is the hottest news these days!"
"Another monster from the East Blue? If I remember right, the last one who dragged a Warlord off his pedestal—Fire Fist—was also from the East Blue, wasn't he?"
"I don't buy that pirates can be national heroes. At the end of the day, they're just thieves after treasure—dogs biting dogs."
"That was a government-appointed Warlord, you know. Turns out he was dirtier than actual pirates. The one Fire Fist beat before was the same—he'd been poisoning a whole town for years…"
There were no airtight walls on the sea. These truths, impossible to conceal, spread instantly to every corner of the Four Seas via the World Economy News Paper's ever-flying News Coos.
The upheaval in Alabasta and Crocodile's downfall hit like a super bombshell, throwing the entire ocean into an uproar.
The tide of the era was already unstoppable. Events of this magnitude would only snowball—more frequent, more violent.
The aftershocks of this incident continued to spread.
Beyond the endless debates over the legitimacy of the Seven Warlords system and the ferocity of that East Blue rookie, the ones suffering the biggest headaches were Marine Headquarters and the upper echelons of the World Government.
After all, though the Seven Warlords bore the title of pirates, they were legally "licensed pirates," aligned with the World Government—essentially off-the-books allies of the Marines.
Now being cursed as "the government's lapdogs" might sound ugly, but it wasn't exactly wrong.
Atop the Red Line, Mary Geoise.
Inside the luxuriously decorated chamber symbolizing the highest authority in the world, the Five Elders gathered with dark expressions, the atmosphere stifling.
"That bastard Morgans actually dared to leak the news before us!"
Normally, whenever news unfavorable to the government surfaced, a bit of money was enough to shut Morgans up—an unspoken rule both sides understood.
But this time, the scandal erupted too suddenly. The World Government had only just gotten wind of it and was preparing to do damage control when the News Coos had already blanketed the world with newspapers like falling snow.
The negative impact of this incident was catastrophic.
Not only did it lay bare the flaws of the Seven Warlords system for all to see, it also delivered a heavy blow to the government's already waning credibility.
"That damn birdman… forget him for now. We'll still need his paper as a mouthpiece in the future."
"At the end of the day, this whole mess was caused by that Straw Hat brat."
As they spoke, the old men made no mention at all of Crocodile's crimes.
In truth, the World Government had long turned a blind eye to Crocodile's plot in Alabasta to obtain the Ancient Weapon "Pluton"—one could even say it was tacitly approved.
After all, Pluton was something they themselves coveted. For the blueprints in Water 7, the CP organizations had been infiltrating for years.
Put bluntly, they intended to use Crocodile as free labor. Even the Poneglyph in Alabasta that recorded information about Pluton had been deliberately leaked by CP agents under their instruction, serving as bait.
Of course, those arrogant Celestial Dragon lackeys never believed Crocodile could actually decipher a Poneglyph. Their plan was to swoop in once he found it—either seize it outright or destroy it.
Who could have imagined that such a well-laid game would be completely ruined by some hotheaded upstart who barged in from nowhere?
"A brat who can't even use Haki, yet he beats a Logia like Crocodile… should we say it's no surprise, given he's Dragon's offspring?"
The white-bearded Elder spoke with a chilling tone.
"First a revolutionary leader, now a budding great pirate. The bloodline of Garp's family is truly crooked."
Despite all their grumbling, the Five Elders had no real intention of going after Garp.
After all, solely based on his merits at the God Valley incident, the Marine hero still carried considerable weight among the Celestial Dragons.
"Enough. These are minor matters. For now, we can only hope the coming great war will help us recover the face we've lost."
"What a bunch of troublesome nuisances. The Seven Warlords system is collapsing too early—the Seraphim Project has only just reached the critical stage of loading lineage factors. During this gap, we still need them to hold the line."
"Exactly. The top priority is preparing for war. That treacherous Blackbeard definitely has what it takes to capture Roger's son."
Based on the intelligence in their hands, they were well aware that Blackbeard was a deeply hidden menace—the three scars on Red-Haired Shanks' face were the best proof of that.
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