It's not like that.
It really isn't like that.
Imu felt a gloomy, aggrieved weight in their heart that was hard to put into words. As the King of the World, could they really be spouting fake history at a time like this?
"What Im says… is not false…"
Imu could sense the questioning looks the Five Elders were casting over from the side.
It was just that after so many years never appearing in the human world, even contact with the Five Elders who carried out Imu's will had been extremely rare. It was as if their language functions had atrophied along with their communication; for the moment, they couldn't even string together a full, coherent sentence.
"Is this really the King of the Heavenly Celestial Dragons?"
Akihara Kagura looked at the clearly flustered Imu, then at Navy Admiral Akainu, and casually started grumbling, "Feels like the Five Elders are afraid we'll betray the Heavenly Celestial Dragons, so they just dragged out some random guy to pretend to be the King of the World to fool us…"
"Silence!"
"How dare you offend Lord Imu!"
Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro immediately grew anxious!
Even though the Heavenly Celestial Dragons had suffered heavy losses in the Mary Geoise Destruction Incident, and they indeed no longer had absolute confidence in suppressing the Navy, that didn't mean they were completely powerless. How dare this Navy Admiral Akihara Kagura slander the existence of Lord Imu here!
If they didn't still need the Navy's strength to deal with the Konoha Pirates, and if Akihara Kagura's combat power weren't the strongest among the Navy, these two Five Elders, Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro, would really have wanted to immediately eliminate Akihara Kagura for the sake of defending their king!
Simply forcing the other side to shut up was already their utmost tolerance!
After Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro barked at Akihara Kagura, the two of them exchanged a look, each understanding perfectly what the other wanted to do.
No.
They couldn't let Lord Imu keep talking!
Otherwise people might even suspect that Lord Imu was just a puppet the two of them had pushed out…
Lord Imu's ability to express themselves clearly couldn't convince anyone. They had barely opened their mouth and said a few words, and were already on the verge of making a laughingstock of themselves before the entire world; trying to rewrite history in the name of the King of the Heavenly Celestial Dragons in front of everyone would never gain recognition…
The credibility of the World Government and the Heavenly Celestial Dragons…
Had long since been judged by the people of the seas to be completely exhausted!
If they let Lord Imu keep talking with the Konoha Pirates now, it would only invite more ridicule. The Konoha side had already made it clear they couldn't even be bothered to respond to Lord Imu's questioning…
At this point…
Only strength could win recognition!
Only by gathering overwhelming power and defeating Konoha could they silence the seas' doubts about the Heavenly Celestial Dragons; only by becoming the victor could they rewrite history once more!
"Lord Imu!"
Saint Saturn gripped his cane and knelt respectfully before Imu, offering his suggestion: "Now, there is no need to exchange any more words with the Pirates…"
"Lord Imu!"
Saint Nusjuro likewise knelt before Imu, his Samurai Blade gripped in his hand as he said in a deep voice, "Delay breeds change; we must begin the war as soon as possible!"
"..."
Imu hesitated, tilting their head slightly.
"As you command."
Having served Imu for so long, Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro, as the Five Elders, had long since learned to read Imu's little gestures. They understood that Imu had already consented to their proposal!
"Prepare for war!"
Saint Saturn immediately turned his head and issued orders to Akainu, speaking in a low voice: "Sakazuki, order the Navy to attack Black Island at once and join us in annihilating Konoha!"
"..."
Akainu held a cigar at the corner of his mouth and slowly nodded.
"Wait!"
A voice cut off Saint Saturn's words!
Red-haired Shanks had overheard the exchange on the Navy's side. He loudly stopped Saint Saturn's order and shouted, "Right now… there should still be one important person who hasn't arrived yet, right!"
"???"
Question marks popped up over everyone's heads.
What was that supposed to mean?
What did he mean, there's still one person who hasn't arrived?
Just as everyone was puzzled, Red-haired Shanks suddenly turned his gaze toward Black Island. Staring at the figures of the Konoha Pirates, he continued shouting, "Hey, things have already reached this point; there's no need for you guys in Konoha to keep hiding the master standing behind you, right? At a time like this, why not just lay all your cards on the table!"
This was what Red-haired Shanks cared about the most!
Red-haired Shanks didn't want some unknown person hiding in the dark, especially someone whose strength was unknown yet extremely terrifying!
It would be best if…
They could force that person to show themselves before the war began!
At least that way, they could target them accordingly in the battle and feel out their weaknesses!
"Hmph…"
However, Uchiha Madara just gave Red-haired Shanks a contemptuous glance and sneered, "A loser who can't even defeat us thinks he has the right to face him? The mastermind who controls us has always been the most mysterious existence in this world…"
"Hahahaha…"
Red-haired Shanks didn't mind Uchiha Madara's mockery; he only cared about achieving his goal: "Exactly because we're going to lose, we want to lose with our eyes open…"
"Red Hair's got a point!"
"At least let us see clearly!"
"I'd really like to know just who the hell it is!"
The crowd couldn't help breaking into a commotion.
Because they really were curious about that person the Konoha Pirates kept mentioning, the one behind the scenes, the one who had once rescued the Goddess of Rabbit, the one who had always been supporting the Konoha Pirates in their actions!
Ever since the Enies Lobby incident broke out, everyone in the world had been curious as to what kind of existence could make that group of Konoha monsters so obedient!
Not only were the people present curious about that person's identity, there were even members within the Konoha Pirates who were curious about the identity of the one behind them!