Pangaea Castle, Social Plaza.
At that moment, after Yemu finished declaring war on the Celestial Dragons and the World Government, the entire plaza fell deathly silent. All the royals, nobles, and their guards swallowed hard, trying to suppress the terror rising inside them.
"This..."
Many of them wanted to say something, but fear locked their throats. Not a single word came out, as if speaking might bring disaster down on them.
Just then, Yemu descended from the sky and landed before everyone.
The hourglass, its sand already beginning to trickle down, descended with him.
"Then we only have three hours, Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
Veins visibly bulged on Sengoku's forehead. His fury was clear, and he questioned Yemu again.
"Do you know what you're doing, Fire Dragon Yemu? Declaring war on the World Government means you're courting death! In the eight hundred years since the World Government was founded, even someone as powerful as Rocks met his end at sea. Do you really think you can surpass Rocks?"
Faced with Sengoku's question, Yemu did not answer directly.
"Who knows the answer to that? Instead, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and all the Marines behind you, Vice Admiral Tsuru, Vice Admiral Kuzan, Vice Admiral Borsalino, and Vice Admiral Sakazuki, isn't this exactly the moment for you to act on your justice? I know you each have your own justice in your hearts. But because of the pressure from the World Government, there are some things you can only watch without being able to do anything, such as the darkness hidden beneath the Holy Land of Mary Geoise. But now, I will bear the price for all of this. So isn't this an opportunity for you as well? Or is your so-called justice truly that hollow? Do you really not care about the cries of the slaves suffering inhuman abuse beneath this land?"
As soon as he said that, Sengoku, Tsuru, Kuzan, Borsalino, and Sakazuki all froze slightly, their expressions shifting in different ways. Sengoku looked deeply conflicted, while Tsuru, Kuzan, Borsalino, and Sakazuki all fell into thought.
Seeing this, Yemu pressed further.
"As I said, I actually do admire the justice of you Marines. Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku's justice that reigns over all feels somewhat hypocritical to me, but all of you are indeed making your own efforts for the sake of justice in this world. And isn't now the best chance? You can place all the blame on me, just as the World Government has done in the past, and just as Roger and Garp once defeated Rocks together. You can lend your strength to freeing the slaves here, unless you truly don't care whether these ordinary people live or die."
At that point, Yemu glanced at the hourglass, whose sand had already fallen for a while.
"Hurry, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. There isn't much time. Now is the time to go speak with the Five Elders and make your decision..."
At that moment, the royals and nobles nearby could finally no longer hold back. One of them stepped forward and said, "Captain Yemu, since your target isn't us, could you let us leave first? There's no point in us staying here..."
In an instant, the surrounding royal families began echoing him one after another.
"That's right, Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Protect us and get us out of here first!"
"There's no need for us to be involved in such a major incident!"
Unfortunately, Yemu's cold voice sounded then.
"I'm truly sorry, kings of the various kingdoms. After all, provoking the Celestial Dragons and the World Government alone is extremely dangerous, and I have no intention of leaving myself trapped here. So I'll have to trouble you for a while and ask you to serve as hostages here for three hours. But don't worry. I imagine many of your relatives had some contact with me during the incident at the Sabaody Archipelago, so you should know I keep my word. As long as you all stay quiet, I guarantee you won't be in any danger."
In an instant, everyone's faces turned deathly pale, cold sweat pouring down their backs.
And what Yemu did next drained the color from the faces of everyone present, including Sengoku and the other Marines.
"Come here."
As Yemu's baffling words fell, under everyone's gaze, a guard dressed exactly like him, clad head to toe in armor, slowly walked over and stopped beside him.
Yemu reached out and opened the armor over the guard's stomach, revealing a strange purple glow inside.
The instant he saw that light, Borsalino shouted in shock.
"Hey, hey, hey, you've got to be kidding me. That's Power Rock... With that amount, it should be enough to destroy the entire Holy Land of Mary Geoise. How terrifying."
Yemu looked at Borsalino with an unreadable gaze, then smiled and said, "It may not be enough to destroy all of Mary Geoise, but blowing up this place won't be a problem."
At that moment, Sengoku truly understood that Yemu had absolutely come prepared. He had not lost his mind and simply charged into the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
But Sengoku cared more about one question.
"Where did you get this much Power Rock?"
The secret base that stored Power Rock had never sent any warning about missing stock.
Yemu gave him a mocking smile.
"It seems the World Government hasn't told the Marines quite a lot of things, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. I seized these from the World Government's CP9. To cover up their enslavement of the Harrot Tribe, they used Power Rock to destroy Warship Island. I was lucky enough to take some from them."
In an instant, Yemu's words made Sengoku remember something, and his expression grew even uglier.
But then, Yemu seemed to lose patience.
"It seems that unless I do something, none of you, nor the Celestial Dragons deep within the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, will truly understand fear. In that case..."
Under everyone's terrified gaze, Yemu reached into the hollow body of the guard and pulled out a tube of Power Rock. The purple glow shone across every face.
Sengoku's expression changed drastically.
"What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? Giving you a reminder, of course. I'm also letting the Celestial Dragons, who have enjoyed eight hundred years of privilege, experience what fear feels like."
As his words fell, under the panicked gazes of everyone there, cold sweat streaming down their faces, Yemu crushed the test tube holding the Power Rock in his hand. Then he grabbed the Power Rock on the verge of exploding and flung it away.
The purple light streaked across the sky like a beam through the night and landed at the Celestial Dragon Gate, the forbidden boundary that separated the Celestial Dragons from ordinary people.
"Boom..."
Amid a violent roar, a purple light as dazzling as the sun erupted, and a huge, terrifying blast swept outward, devouring everything around it.
At that moment, four figures in CP0 uniforms flashed into place around the explosion. They extended their palms at the same time, forming a barrier with shockwaves of Haki to block the full force of the blast.
Even so, after the towering purple explosion lit up the entire night, the four CP0 agents spat blood and were sent flying, losing consciousness on the spot. The sight left the royals and nobles present, who had no idea what Power Rock was, pale with terror.
A single Power Rock had such terrifying power. And now, inside the hollow body of that guard, whose structure no one understood, there appeared to be at least five more test tubes containing Power Rock...