"Demons!!!"
"That bunch… they're definitely demons!!!"
Looking at the surging lake before them, glowing with a blood-red sheen, as well as the corpses and fragments of ruined buildings that occasionally floated up from the depths…
The eyes of the Five Elders were instantly filled with a terror they had never known before. It was as if their souls had left their bodies; they could only stare in disbelief at the catastrophe below.
Gone!
It was all gone!!!
The Celestial Dragons, who had ruled the world for over eight hundred years, had at this moment completely withdrawn from the stage of history!
Tens of thousands of Celestial Dragons had been reduced to less than a tenth of their number by Laboon's single strike.
Eight hundred years of accumulation. Eight hundred years of authority. All of it had been wiped away.
"Demons!!!"
"Those demons absolutely cannot be allowed to remain in this world!!!"
Saint Warcury, the round-headed Elder, gripped his wooden staff viciously, his eyes bloodshot as he repeated the same words like a madman. It was obvious that what the Straw Hat Pirates had done had completely shattered his mind.
Yet at that very moment, a deep, ancient voice suddenly rang out in their minds.
"You four, come into the throne room!"
"...Lord Imu!!!"
Hearing that voice, the Five Elders jolted, their minds snapping back from the disaster before them.
But in the next second, endless fear swallowed them once more.
The plan to attack Whitebeard's territory had failed. Mary Geoise had been invaded. Large numbers of Celestial Dragons had died…
They could not even imagine what kind of bloody storm awaited them next.
If Lord Imu became enraged and directly replaced all four of them on the spot, that too was entirely possible.
And so, with uneasy hearts, the Five Elders stepped toward the legendary Empty Throne.
Twenty weapons, weathered by the passage of time, surrounded the throne in a ring.
According to the story passed down throughout the world, the twenty kings who founded the World Government eight hundred years ago had left their weapons here to prove their resolve in pursuing peace, and swore an oath…
That no one would ever sit upon this throne, symbolizing the equality of all nations and the vow that no dictatorship would ever arise.
And yet, at this very moment, when the four Elders stepped into the great hall of the throne, a tall figure was already seated upon that throne meant to represent equality and freedom.
"Lord Imu!!!"
No matter how turbulent their hearts were, the Five Elders still hurried into the dark hall and knelt before Imu.
At this moment, the expressions of the four were incomparably stiff, like condemned prisoners waiting to be led to the execution ground, awaiting judgment from fate.
But what they had not expected was that the furious outburst they had imagined from Imu never came.
Instead, Imu asked in a deep yet calm voice:
"Have the Straw Hat Pirates already left?"
"..."
The Five Elders pressed their lips together, not daring to answer. In the end, the bald Elder spoke first:
"They… have already left."
"We are deeply sorry, Lord Imu!"
"That man's power was simply too strange. We had no chance to deal with what was happening in the outer city."
"It does not matter."
Imu's voice sounded again, and it shocked the Five Elders to the core.
If not for the last scraps of reason stopping them from raising their heads, they truly would have wanted to see whether the one seated upon the throne was still the Lord Imu they knew so well!
This was not the usual Lord Imu!
And as Imu looked at the four kneeling below—able to clearly sense the fluctuations in their hearts—his grip upon the throne's armrest tightened ever so slightly.
The Straw Hat Pirates had provoked him again and again, slaughtered huge numbers of Celestial Dragons, and even awakened Joy Boy's power…
With so many incidents happening one after another, how could Imu possibly not be furious?
But precisely because too many things had happened, and because the World Government's remaining strength was dwindling more and more, he had no choice but to abandon his former tyrannical approach and face reality.
If he were to execute the four below him now, then the World Government truly would have no one left whom he could trust.
Thinking this, Imu forcefully suppressed the rage in his heart. After taking a long breath inwardly, he said to the Five Elders below:
"Immediately count the number of surviving Celestial Dragons in the main district and calm those idiots down."
"Notify the armies on the Red Line to return to Mary Geoise at once and stabilize the situation."
"Then inform the remaining staff inside Pangaea Castle that they now have a chance to become Celestial Dragons!"
"Have them first restore the basic functioning of every institution under the World Government. Whoever performs well may become a Celestial Dragon, and may even establish a new Celestial Dragon family!!!"
"What!?"
Hearing this order, the Five Elders could no longer suppress the fear in their hearts. They all raised their heads in shock and stared at Imu.
Over the past eight hundred years, it was not as though they had never promised lowly commoners the chance to become Celestial Dragons.
But that had only been bait—using human greed to bring greater benefits to the World Government.
Throughout the World Government's reign, there had never once been a case of a lowborn commoner truly becoming a Celestial Dragon.
And this was precisely the difference between true rulers and mere executors.
In the eyes of the Five Elders, the Celestial Dragons were of paramount importance, and protecting their interests was one of their most important duties.
But in Imu's eyes, the Celestial Dragons of today were merely the descendants of former allies.
It did not matter who became a Celestial Dragon. As long as there were Celestial Dragons, and as long as they still acknowledged him as their master, that was enough!
As it happened, this disaster had left the Celestial Dragons devastated, with less than a tenth surviving. Imu could use this opportunity to replace the current rotten, worthless Celestial Dragon families and seek out new people with power and talent—injecting fresh blood into the ranks of the Celestial Dragons.
The staff within Pangaea Castle were only the beginning.
They were sufficiently loyal to the World Government and capable enough. Imu merely intended to dangle this grand promise before them so that the World Government's rule would not collapse due to a shortage of personnel.
And next, what he intended to seek out…
Were the royal nobles across the world who pursued privilege and power while holding heavy military force in their hands—binding them firmly to his war chariot with the three words "Celestial Dragon."
Thus, under Imu's orders, the Five Elders obediently began carrying out one outrageous measure after another.
And sure enough—
When they announced the loosening of Celestial Dragon policy to the survivors within Pangaea Castle, the staff members, who had all been keeping their heads lowered in dejection moments earlier, instantly seemed to come alive as if injected with chicken blood. Their eyes lit up, and without caring in the slightest about the ruined environment around them, they began throwing themselves into the handling of World Government affairs with all their strength.
Deep in their subconscious, Celestial Dragons were still the most supreme beings in the world.
Even though the Straw Hat Pirates had humiliated the World Government again and again like a toy to be trampled on, it still could not change that belief.
Those deeply rooted thoughts, ingrained for decades, had long since made them lose themselves. They had even forgotten that not long ago, a group of madmen had been rampaging through Mary Geoise, slaughtering Celestial Dragons like lunatics!
In the end, under Imu's command, though Mary Geoise had suffered a devastating blow, peace was restored with surprising speed.
Of course, that was mainly because the majority of the surviving Celestial Dragons this time were patriarchs or high-ranking members of the Celestial Dragon families.
Compared to the ordinary Celestial Dragons, they were not nearly as stupid, and they were capable of understanding just how grave this incident truly was.
No matter how one looked at it, for both the World Government and the Celestial Dragons, this was a defeat they could scarcely bear.
…
…
Two days later, a world-shaking report once again appeared in the newest edition of the World Economy News Paper, taking up the largest section of the front page.
Ordinarily, in the past one or two years, the newspapers had been breaking major news every few days. People should have become numb to the shock of such headlines by now.
And yet this time, no matter what, they could not place this report on the same level as those previous stories.
No!
This could no longer even be called mere news!
This was completely… a turning point for the world!!!
Even while living through it in the present, people could already sense that this day was destined to be written into history, becoming a moment no one would ever forget.
Because in the newest newspaper, there was not a single word of report across the entire page.
Instead, there was only a high-definition full-color image.
And beneath the image was a single line of small print:
[The Current State of the Holy Land · Mary Geoise]
That's right!
This was none other than an aerial photograph of Mary Geoise that Red had taken from the sky before leaving.
And to give the public an intuitive comparison, in one corner of the image there was also a picture of the original Mary Geoise.
The once-prosperous castle district had now vanished completely.
In its place was a vast and tranquil lake.
And if one looked carefully, one could even see crushed building fragments and corpses exposed from the mud along the edges of the lake.
…
…
"Th-This… what is this!?"
At the Sabaody Archipelago, inside Shakky's Rip-Off Bar.
Looking at the newest contents of the newspaper, the cigarette butt in Shakky's hand suddenly slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor, scorching a burnt black mark into the wood finish of the bar counter.
But at this moment, Shakky paid no attention at all to her damaged counter. She looked up at Rayleigh in shock, her lips trembling as she remained speechless for a long while.
"Shocking, isn't it?"
As if he had long expected that expression from her, Rayleigh showed no surprise. He merely stubbed out his cigarette and let out a soft, bitter chuckle.
"To be honest, I even wondered whether the Straw Hat Pirates had gained control of the World Economy News Paper and had Morgans publish fake news for them."
"But this morning, I specifically climbed up the Red Line to take a look myself…"
"What I saw there was exactly the same as in that picture!!!"
"So… this is real!?"
Shakky's pupils suddenly dilated, and she drew a deep breath.
Then, as if she had abruptly thought of something, she immediately cried out in alarm:
"Wait! If Mary Geoise was destroyed to this extent, then what about those Celestial Dragons who used to live there…?"
"Heh…"
Rayleigh, pouring himself a drink, lifted his brows and chuckled.
"The answer you want is all in the paper in your hand."
"This time, the heavens really are changing!!!"
Rayleigh raised his glass and gazed out the window at a forty-five-degree angle.
Watching the drifting clouds and the sunlight scattered through the air under the Tyndall effect, he could not help but marvel:
"One wave really is stronger than the last~"
"Roger, is this really the person you were waiting for?"
"I think… even you probably never imagined the future world would turn out like this, did you?"
Rayleigh smiled in relief, then slowly poured the strong liquor from his glass into his mouth.
…
…
"Old Man!!! Old Man!!! Look at this!!!"
"Ace's little brother… he's way too damn amazing!!!!"
Aboard the Moby Dick, which had docked ashore for repairs, the atmosphere had originally been somewhat gloomy because the World Government had played them for fools. But suddenly, a cry of wild excitement rang out.
In the next instant, Marco—normally so steady—flapped his blue-flamed wings and shot from the harbor onto the deck, handing the latest newspaper to his old man.
At the same time, he did not forget to pass the extra copies in his hand to the brothers around him.
A moment later, the air above the Moby Dick erupted with exaggerated shouts one after another—things like "Holy shit!" and "That's insane!"
Even Whitebeard, after reading the contents of the paper, could not help but rise excitedly from his seat.
His physical condition was no longer that of a frail old man in decline, so naturally no one around him urged him to mind his health.
Every single one of them was immersed in the report, as though they themselves had become the Straw Hat Pirates, slaughtering Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise.
"Good brat!!!"
Shock flickered through Whitebeard's eyes as he praised in disbelief:
"To think he could force the World Government into such a state. Now I understand why that little brat Red dared to guarantee that the World Government wouldn't dare harass our territory anymore."
"With the World Government in its current condition, now it's their turn to beware of the whole world!"
Whitebeard lifted his head and looked toward the distant horizon.
The newspaper in his hand fluttered loudly in the sea breeze before finally settling on a sub-report regarding Mary Geoise—
[Celestial Dragon Bounty Posters]
[A bounty is hereby offered on Celestial Dragons across the world, dead or alive.]
[Any Celestial Dragon head may be exchanged in the Pokémon Sea for 300 million Beli or an equivalent reward, and the bearer shall receive the eternal protection of the Straw Hat Pirates!]
And it was precisely this secondary article that made Whitebeard sigh from the bottom of his heart.
"First they exposed the World Government's weakness, making the world realize how feeble it has become…"
"Then they placed bounties on the Celestial Dragons, dragging those once untouchable Celestial Dragons completely down from their altar."
"The Straw Hat Pirates' methods really are terrifying."
This act of placing bounties on the Celestial Dragons might not actually embolden the people of the world to raise their blades against them.
Even if some people truly did kill Celestial Dragons for the reward, their numbers would not be many.
But in the minds of the people, whenever Celestial Dragons were mentioned again, what they would think of would no longer be the lofty "godly race"…
But rather, a bounty worth 300 million Beli!
That bounty might seem meaningless on the surface, yet it completely put an end to the Celestial Dragons' rule.
From this day forward, the legend of the so-called divine race would collapse on its own.
And the weight of the Straw Hat Pirates would instead replace the former Celestial Dragons, becoming an invisible new "godly race."
(End of Chapter)