"How should I put it... as expected of him," Kuzan said. "Even after lying in bed for ten years, he still has this kind of strength. Just like the Fleet Admiral said... if you don't call him a monstrous prodigy, there really isn't any other word for it."
Then Kuzan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So... this trip to Impel Down was to rescue Bins, right?"
"That's right," Sengoku said darkly. "Bins has already been rescued."
"Another troublesome figure back on the board..." Kuzan muttered.
"Well, Bins was captured by the Marines because he tried to save him," Borsalino said slowly. "Now that Rosinante has woken up, there was no way he was just going to leave Bins there."
"I said it a long time ago," Sakazuki said coldly. "That man should've been executed immediately."
Back then, after Bins had been captured ten years ago, Sakazuki had indeed proposed executing him on the spot.
But the World Government had hoped to recruit him instead, to force him into serving them.
Because of that, Bins had been kept imprisoned in Impel Down all this time.
"And besides Bins," Garp suddenly said, "there's another troublesome bastard Rosinante released."
The moment Garp spoke, everyone in the room revealed shocked expressions.
For someone to be called troublesome by Garp...
There was no way that person could be ordinary.
"There's someone in Impel Down even Vice Admiral Garp would call troublesome?" Kuzan asked, genuinely surprised.
"Red The Aloof," Garp said. "The man known as the Red Count... Patrick Redfield."
His eyes sharpened.
"A monster who, by himself alone, could stand against both the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates."
The room instantly went dead silent.
A man who, all by himself, could rival the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates?
And now that kind of monster had been released too?
What would the future of the seas even look like now?
"But there is one thing we can be relieved about," Tsuru said calmly.
"With Redfield's pride, there is absolutely no chance he would ever submit to someone else."
"In other words, although Rosinante released him, he won't be joining the Gray Kingdom."
"And besides... he is getting old."
"He's no longer likely to stir up some overwhelming storm on his own."
Her expression turned grave.
"The truly dangerous one is still Rosinante."
"Just as Sengoku said... that man is a monstrous prodigy."
"If he's left unchecked..."
Tsuru's eyes darkened.
"He may really be capable of overthrowing the World Government."
As Tsuru's words fell, the expressions of everyone present became incomparably grim.
The four emperors already put enough pressure on the Marines as it was.
And now, out of nowhere, another being had appeared—
A man at the level of a Yonko.
Or perhaps...
Even two Yonko.
That thought alone made many of them feel an invisible mountain pressing down on their shoulders.
"But there's one thing I find strange," Issho said suddenly.
"Hm?" Sengoku and the others all turned toward him.
"If the Gray Kingdom really had such enormous power ten years ago," Issho said slowly, "then even after the Marine purge, some of its strength should still remain."
"Logically speaking, now that this Dragon King has reappeared, he should immediately begin gathering his former subordinates."
He tapped the table lightly.
"And yet the seas are completely quiet."
"There hasn't been the slightest movement."
"In fact, when he stormed Impel Down, he went alone."
Issho frowned.
"Even if he's strong enough to do that... isn't he worried about exposing himself and allowing the Marines to launch another encirclement?"
Sakazuki let out a cold laugh.
"The Gray Kingdom of today has long since shattered."
"The five great divisions under him have already split apart and become their own independent pirate crews."
He began listing them one by one.
"The Mammoth Pirates."
"The Detonators Pirates."
"The Emperor Crocodile Pirates."
"The Blood Swordsmen Pirates."
"The One-Eyed Wolf Pirates."
"These five crews are now the largest pirate forces on the seas outside the Four Emperors."
His tone turned even colder.
"They've already grown too large, too independent, too entrenched."
"They're not something Rosinante can simply summon back just because he wants to."
Hearing that, many of the Vice Admirals revealed shocked expressions.
They had never imagined that even after the destruction of the Gray Kingdom...
Such terrifying power still remained.
If those forces were ever gathered again—
Then the balance of the seas might truly be overturned overnight.
"And right now," Sengoku said heavily, "the Marines would also have a very hard time carrying out another full-scale purge against him."
At those words, people like Issho—those who didn't fully know the past—looked puzzled.
Borsalino casually raised a hand.
"Well... back then, the people who participated in the purge were Fleet Admiral Sengoku—well, newly promoted at the time—Vice Admiral Garp, Commander-in-Chief Kong..."
He paused.
"And one of the Five Elders."
Then he lazily pointed at himself.
"The three of us also helped out a little."
The room trembled again with shock.
Although Sengoku had already said earlier that the Marines and the World Government had mobilized their highest combat power to hunt down Rosinante...
No one had expected it to be that extreme.
Even a member of the Five Elders had personally moved.
"But even with all that," Garp said, his face darkening, "we still couldn't truly kill Rosinante."
"His ability could erase certain forms of damage."
"And he possessed terrifying vitality."
"Even with all of us attacking him at full force together, all we managed to do was gravely wound him."
Garp's voice dropped lower.
"In the end, the only reason we won was because one of the World Government's Expulsion Fruit users sacrificed his own life... and used that power to banish Rosinante's soul into another dimension."
Silence spread again.
That wasn't a victory.
That sounded more like barely surviving a catastrophe.
"Over these years, the Marines have grown much stronger," Sengoku said.
"But even so... if we rely on Marine power alone to hunt him down now..."
His eyes swept across the room.
"The losses would be unimaginable."
"At least half of the top-tier combat power in this room would be lost."
"And even then..."
He paused.
"We might only barely manage to grind him to death."
That sentence landed like thunder.
If Marine Headquarters alone went all out against one man...
And half of the strongest forces here still had to die...
Just to maybe kill him...
Then what kind of monster had returned to the seas?
"If Marine power alone isn't enough," Issho said gravely, "then the only option is to gather the Seven Warlords and have them participate in the purge."
"After all, they were established precisely as a force to help the Marines and the World Government suppress the balance of the seas."
"If there was ever a time to use them... it would be now."
"The problem," Sengoku said immediately, "is exactly there."
The entire room turned toward him.
"Among the Seven Warlords, three of them were once Rosinante's subordinates."
"Doflamingo goes without saying."
"He's Rosinante's biological older brother, and he himself once joined the Gray Kingdom."
"Then there's Moria."
"He was once subdued by Rosinante and became a member of the Oathblood."
"A large portion of the high-ranking officers in the Shadow Hunter Pirates were the same."
"They all had similar histories under Rosinante."
"And then there's Mihawk."
"Mihawk was once defeated by Rosinante."
"Though he never joined the Gray Kingdom, Rosinante spared him afterward."
Sengoku's face was dark as iron.
"So Mihawk owes Rosinante a debt."
"He will not make a move against the Gray Kingdom... or against Rosinante himself."
"And then there's the Pirate Empress."
"She never responds properly to summons in the first place."
Sengoku slowly pressed both hands against the table.
"In other words..."
"More than half of the Seven Warlords will not participate in a purge against Rosinante."
His voice turned heavier than ever.
"And some of them... may even become hostile forces."
At those words—
The entire conference room fell into a suffocating silence.
The pressure in the air had become so heavy that even breathing seemed difficult.
The terrifying part wasn't just Rosinante's strength.
It was the truth they were finally being forced to face—
Even after the Gray Kingdom had been shattered...
Its shadow still stretched across the entire world.