Holy Land Mary Geoise.
The Five Elders were gathered in a room, seemingly discussing something important.
"The Navy's promotion ceremony should be almost over by now. The probing should have begun as well," one of the Five Elders said.
"It should have started, but I still don't agree with letting the Navy test him," another elder said. "Alerting the snake by beating the grass could introduce variables into that plan."
"Plans never keep up with changes. Letting the Navy test him isn't a bad thing," a different elder said. "But just in case, have Number Three take people over there directly. If there's an opportunity, act immediately."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"..."
As several of the Five Elders voiced their approval, a masked CP0 agent appeared, bowed respectfully, then vanished from the room.
"I still don't feel at ease. That brat Rosinante cannot be underestimated. I should go personally," said the sword-wielding elder.
"You going wouldn't be any better than letting Kong go," another elder replied. "You haven't fought on the front lines in a long time. In actual combat, you might not be stronger than Kong."
"I agree. It's not yet time for us to take action."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"Then let Kong make the trip," the sword-wielding elder said, seeing that all the others opposed his suggestion and choosing not to insist.
…
Marine Headquarters.
The light sword forming before Borsalino grew larger and larger. In the blink of an eye, it had expanded to over a hundred meters in length. The increasingly condensed light caused the air around the blade to boil violently.
"What a huge light sword!"
"I can feel how terrifying its power is. If that thing accidentally falls over here, wouldn't we be finished? Shouldn't we leave?"
"Is there anywhere safer than Marine Headquarters right now? Besides, this is a battle of the century. How could we miss it?"
"No way. I'm not going crazy with you people. I'm leaving, getting out of Marine Headquarters. Judging from the situation, neither the Navy nor the Dragon King was truly serious earlier. If the three Admirals and the Dragon King really go all out, whether Marine Headquarters will even still exist is questionable."
"I'm leaving. Nothing is more important than my life."
More and more people began shouting about leaving. The scene was simply too terrifying. These monsters were far beyond what normal people could endure.
"Oh? This is getting interesting," Rosinante said, looking at the enormous light sword with surprise. In the original timeline, Borsalino never had a move like this.
Just as Rosinante was surprised, waves of scorching heat and extreme cold erupted from both sides of him.
He turned his head and saw Sakazuki transformed into a colossal lava giant over ten meters tall. Within the molten body, it was as if countless volcanoes were erupting simultaneously, providing endless energy to the lava titan.
On the other side, everything around Kuzan was covered in ice and snow.
Originally, within the Heaven-and-Earth Losing Color domain, there were no colors. Lava flames appeared gray-white, and ice was also gray-white. Yet Kuzan had forcibly carved out his own domain within it, pure white frost and snow spreading across the area.
This ice-and-snow world looked beautiful, but it was a forbidden zone of life. Any living thing would be frozen solid.
Now Rosinante was genuinely shocked. In the original story, the three of them never displayed abilities like these.
What Rosinante did not know was that the reason Sakazuki and the others had reached this point was entirely because of him.
In the original timeline, although there were people stronger than Sakazuki and the others, they all belonged to the older generation.
Garp and Sengoku went without saying. Whitebeard, Kaido, and Charlotte Linlin were also monsters of the same era as Garp.
Although these people were far stronger than Sakazuki and the others, Sakazuki believed that one day, sooner or later, he would catch up to them, perhaps even surpass them.
Among their own generation, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino were practically unmatched.
Then Rosinante appeared, shattering that reality.
Rosinante was far younger than them, yet his strength firmly suppressed theirs.
If Sakazuki and the others had been ten or twenty years older, perhaps they would not have had such drive and momentum.
But they were in their prime, young and strong, filled with vigor. Naturally, they could not accept being suppressed by Rosinante for their entire lives.
(Some might ask, would Kuzan be fired up? Would Borsalino be fired up? The answer is yes. It's just that no one had ever pressured them like this before. Coupled with Sakazuki constantly pushing them, it inevitably drove them forward.)
In short, Rosinante placed immense pressure on them, forcing them to advance further and become stronger.
To become stronger, for Logia users, the most direct path was to develop their Devil Fruit abilities to a higher level.
All three were geniuses to begin with, and under such enormous pressure, their growth was naturally astonishing.
Moreover, when developing these abilities, their imagined enemy was always Rosinante.
That was why the powers they had awakened now all carried a distinct sense of being tailored specifically to counter him.