As more and more of Rōmu's hidden forces revealed themselves, the shock spreading through the world only grew stronger.
"Enel and Chinjao, leader of the Happō Navy, were forces Rōmu cultivated in secret too?!"
"No wonder they dared come to Marineford, a place covered in layers upon layers of traps!"
"In just a short while, the combat power gathering around Rōmu has already become this terrifying!"
"Could it be… he still has more forces that haven't appeared yet?"
The thought made countless viewers' hearts tremble.
They looked at Rōmu, calm and composed atop the giant wall, and the shock in their hearts deepened once again.
And then—
another person suddenly appeared at Rōmu's side.
The audience blinked hard, rubbed their eyes, and looked again.
There really was one more person standing there.
"Who is that?!"
"He wasn't there just now! How did he appear in the blink of an eye?"
"He's dressed all in red… looks like a pirate too!"
"That's way too strange. He appeared without anyone noticing at all…"
The crowd had barely finished marveling at Rōmu's terrifying hidden power when yet another figure appeared beside him.
The man was tall and slender, with white hair braided into two long tails that hung over his shoulders. He wore a crimson shirt and blood-red trousers, black leather shoes trimmed in gold, and a broad scarlet cape lined in checkered fabric. A blue rose rested at his collar, and in his hand he held a long umbrella with a bat-shaped handle.
A wicked, confident smile curved across his face.
It was none other than—
The Lone Red, Baloric Redfield!
"Wait… that's the Lone Red!"
"Baloric Redfield!"
Among the viewers, one old man's expression changed drastically. He spoke in a trembling voice.
Years ago, he had once seen that man in a tavern. At the time, Redfield had slaughtered several people with a single strike, and the scene had seared itself into his memory.
Even after all these years, he still remembered that face clearly.
"The Lone Red?"
"Who's that? Is he strong?"
"If he can stand beside Rōmu, then even if he isn't as strong as a Warlord, he can't be weak. At minimum he has to be Supernova level!"
Because Redfield had always kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public, most people had never even heard his name.
But the fact that he had appeared soundlessly at Rōmu's side told them one thing for sure—
his strength was anything but ordinary.
The old man coughed lightly, steadying himself.
Once the surrounding people quieted down, he spoke in a low, solemn voice.
"The Lone Red is terrifyingly strong. He's far beyond the level of the Seven Warlords."
"In the era of Rocks, he stood shoulder to shoulder with men like Whitebeard and Golden Lion."
"If anything, his strength may even have surpassed some of those great pirates."
His voice was quiet, but to everyone listening, it weighed like a mountain.
If he had truly stood on equal footing with Whitebeard and Golden Lion back in the day—
then that meant he possessed power on the level of a Four Emperor.
The crowd instantly erupted in shock again.
Just how many hidden powerhouses did Rōmu have under him?
A monster with Emperor-level strength…
and even he was only one of Rōmu's subordinates?
"Damn it… why is the Lone Red here too?!"
On the execution platform, Sengoku's face twisted with shock and dread.
He had expected people like Enel and the Happō Navy.
He had even mentally prepared for them.
But Redfield—
he had never considered the possibility.
This was a man who could contend with monsters like Whitebeard and Shiki.
And now even he stood under Rōmu's banner.
Not only Sengoku—
Kong, Garp, and even the three Admirals all narrowed their eyes.
Redfield's appearance once again tilted the balance of power in a way that was almost laughable.
Another monster from the old era.
Another terrifying variable.
"Hmph. The ghosts of the old era really are stubborn."
The kimono-clad elder's gaze turned cold as he looked at the scarlet figure of the Lone Red.
"He seems to have eaten a Devil Fruit. Forty years have passed, but age has barely touched his face."
The blond elder observed Redfield carefully.
"More importantly… the aura around him is different."
By all logic, after forty years, even if Redfield were not as old as Whitebeard, he should at least have aged into something like Shiki.
But he hadn't.
Though his hair had turned white, his face still looked astonishingly youthful, and the strange energy around him was unmistakable.
The Five Elders recognized it instantly.
"So that peerless great swordsman became a Devil Fruit user after all."
The long-bearded elder stared at him in silence.
"What a troublesome bastard."
"The Marines really are useless. Not a single report on the Lone Red in all these years."
The white-curled elder seized the chance to sneer at the Marines yet again.
On the wall, Redfield bowed slightly toward Rōmu's back.
"Leader."
At the side, Kaido glanced at him and let out a low laugh.
"Lone Red."
"So after all these years, you still look this young. You're doing a lot better than that old fossil Whitebeard."
As he said that, he even shot a glance toward Whitebeard standing aboard the Moby Dick.
Kaido genuinely hadn't expected someone from Whitebeard's era to still look so youthful.
That surprise showed clearly on his face.
Redfield answered calmly,
"I have the Leader to thank for that Devil Fruit."
In recent years, as his body had begun to decline with age, Redfield had once believed his end was near.
But on an otherwise ordinary day, Rōmu had given him a fruit.
Mythical Zoan: Vampire Form.
That was why, even after all these years, he still retained such a young appearance.
"You too became a Devil Fruit user?"
Kaido's expression flickered with surprise, though he quickly returned to normal.
In his memory, Redfield had always been a pure swordsman. He hadn't expected that after so many years, even this man had changed paths.
Truly—
time changed everything.
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