Holy Land Mary Geoise. Pangea Castle, Hall of Authority. The Gorosei, the five elders with the highest power in the World Government, were holding their daily routine meeting, discussing various matters concerning the future development of the world. As if thinking of something, Issac Baron V. Nasujuro, the God of Finance, considered the situation.
Nasujuro, who was propping his sheathed saber with his right hand and sitting on the long sofa, raised his rimless round glasses with his left hand and analyzed.
"Ever since we announced the new legal provisions, the Umbrella Corporation immediately terminated its cooperation with the Whitebeard Pirates. Because of this, the Umbrella Corporation, having lost Whitebeard's protection, was severely hit in all industries in the New World, except for its properties in Dressrosa, and was completely divided up by the wild dogs of the underground world..."
"In addition, the Umbrella Corporation's properties in the Four Seas were also affected, experiencing varying degrees of shrinkage. According to my estimation, the Umbrella Corporation's size, which was originally capable of controlling twenty-two percent of the world's Berries, will eventually drop to around twelve percent..."
Shepherd Ten Peter, who had blond hair and a full beard, walked unhurriedly in the Hall of Authority with his hands in his pockets. He asked, "Then do we still need to put some pressure and restrictions on the Umbrella Corporation? So that it completely collapses and disintegrates..."
Hearing this, Issac Baron V. Nasujuro shook his head and directly denied the suggestion.
"Not needed for now. The Umbrella Corporation involves the interests of multiple countries. We suppressed the Umbrella Corporation with laws only last year, and now we are forcefully suppressing it again, which might make those countries dissatisfied... Therefore, this matter needs to be like boiling a frog in warm water, slowly forcing it to a dead end, so that they won't suddenly rebound from the bottom..."
Blurp! Blurp! Blurp~!
The sound of a den den mushi suddenly echoed in the Hall of Authority, interrupting their discussion. Jaygarcia Saturn Saint, who was originally propping his cane with both hands and thinking with his eyes closed, slightly opened his eyes, reached out his right hand, took out a den den mushi from his black suit jacket pocket, and answered the call. "Reporting, Jaygarcia Saturn Saint, I am Katorna, the squad leader of CP8. Vafflod, which you sent us to monitor, has an abnormal situation.
The entire island, along with the surrounding seawater, has all floated up out of thin air and flown into the sky..."
Topman Warcury Saint frowned, his hand rising to stroke the inverted, eight-shaped mustache on his face. "This phenomenon… Could it be caused by Golden Lion Shiki using his Float-Float Fruit?"
Hearing this, Jaygarcia Saturn Saint immediately hung up the Den Den Mushi call. He said thoughtfully, "Golden Lion Shiki… one of the three legendary Pirates. With his ability, it's certainly possible!"
Marcus Mars Saint stroked his long, white beard, which hung down to his chest. "But according to the information we obtained a few months ago, didn't Golden Lion Shiki disappear after fighting with Sephiroth?"
Although in that battle, Sephiroth had directly blown up Golden Lion Shiki's palace, killing everyone inside…
…the World Government's intelligence personnel had still obtained the figure of Sephiroth rapidly sweeping through from the surveillance Den Den Mushi that Golden Lion Shiki had placed throughout the island. The World Government also learned about Golden Lion Shiki cultivating ferocious beasts on the floating island. Considering that the more than ten floating islands controlled by Golden Lion Shiki had fallen into the sea, and that he'd been missing ever since, the Gorosei had almost all assumed he'd been killed by Sephiroth…
Issac Baron V. Nasujuro gently stroked his chin with his left hand. "Golden Lion Shiki was a figure who could contend with Roger back then. He shouldn't die so easily. Moreover, that man once broke the myth that no one could escape from Impel Down…"
"With this scale of ability development, it should only be possible for Golden Lion Shiki…"
"After that guy's ambition to rule the world with ferocious beasts was ended, is he now eyeing the ancient weapon, Gods Breath…?"
"If the Gods Breath falls into the hands of Golden Lion Shiki, the entire world will likely fall into turmoil in the future…"
Listening to the other four elders' discussions, Issac Baron V. Nasujuro hugged his sheathed saber, leaned back on the long sofa, closed his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "We must quickly come up with a countermeasure…"
Silence fell over the Hall of Authority. It was so quiet a pin drop could have been heard.
"With Golden Lion Shiki's high mobility in the sky and his unpredictable whereabouts, it's really difficult for us to target him… Now, the only way is for us to also have the means to contend with him…" Jaygarcia Saturn Saint sighed. "Contend with him, are you saying…?" Marcus Mars Saint asked, surprised, and turned to look at Jaygarcia Saturn Saint, who was in charge of scientific defense. "That's right! If it is really as Vegapunk said, that he can make that thing called the Mother Flame… Then, we will have a weapon to contend with him!"
Jaygarcia Saturn Saint nodded.
Hearing this, Issac Baron V. Nasujuro suddenly opened his eyes. He sat up straight and said with a serious face, "How about this! You tell Vegapunk to increase the research efforts in this area, and I will add double... No! Five times the research funds for him to use. However, I have one prerequisite... Before completing the Mother Flame, he cannot do any other messy research; he must develop it as quickly as possible!"
Jaygarcia Saturn Saint raised his cane and gently tapped the ground. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes. "Hmph!"
That's right, when the situation was not serious before, I could turn a blind eye and tolerate Vegapunk tricking us out of research funds under various pretexts to do those messy research... Now, I must give him a good warning! I need to make him understand that he is just a tool in our hands..."