"Alright then. Sorry for the trouble," Leno nodded at Hancock.
Hancock immediately blushed shyly.
"That's wonderful, Lord Leno!"
If the other women hadn't been present, she would have glued herself to him on the spot.
Instead, she shot a disdainful glance at the women nearby.
Her eyes seemed to say: You're all in the way! You've ruined my private time with Lord Leno!
Women were women.
They seemed to understand perfectly.
Not willing to be outdone, they glared right back at her.
Sensing their territorial hostility, Leno felt a little speechless.
However—
Two statues within his body began to loosen once more.
He still wasn't sure whether he should unlock another one.
Awakening was a real headache.
Soon after—
They stopped lingering.
The group boarded their ship and sailed toward the Land of Women—Amazon Lily.
Meanwhile—
The massive shockwaves caused by the Marineford War were spreading wildly across the world.
A few days later—
As Leno and his group arrived at Amazon Lily—
Marine Headquarters, Marineford, was still shrouded in a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford
Although the war had ended, the island remained in ruins.
It seemed they had already decided to abandon Marineford altogether.
Inside a temporarily converted medical ward—
Garp lay on a hospital bed, wrapped head to toe in thick bandages, his face pale.
His chest was tightly bound.
The cracks across his body had been prevented from spreading—
But they had not disappeared.
A gift from his "good" disciple.
How could he bear to let such a gift fade?
In truth—
There was simply no way to erase it.
On the other side of the room—
Aokiji Kuzan was in no better condition.
Half his body was encased in plaster, his breathing weak.
His left arm and leg had been nearly destroyed by Leno's terrifying "Annihilation of All Things."
Whether he could ever fully recover remained unknown.
Actually—
Everyone knew the answer.
There was no recovery.
Aside from the two injured men, Sengoku, Akainu, Kizaru, and Tsuru stood inside the ward.
They were still on their feet—
But each of their expressions was terrifyingly grim.
"Cough…" Garp coughed, the motion pulling at his wounds and making him suck in a sharp breath.
Thinking that his own disciple had done this—
His brows furrowed deeply.
A wave of regret surged in his heart.
If only he had given Leno a little more care back then.
Things wouldn't have turned out like this.
Leno had never been hard to satisfy.
It was precisely because he had always seemed obedient that Garp had neglected him.
But regret—
Came too late.
"That brat Leno… must be dealt with as soon as possible!"
His voice was thick with killing intent.
Regret had been buried deep inside him.
What sustained him now—
Was the desire to see Leno dead with his own eyes.
His strength was gone.
The moment he moved, the cracks in his body would widen.
Let alone fight.
Akainu let out a cold snort.
"You don't need to tell us that! You were the one who insisted on driving Leno out in the first place—"
Before he could finish, Sengoku shot him a warning look.
Akainu didn't feel like backing down—
But he still had to sit in that Fleet Admiral seat.
He had to behave.
"Garp, focus on resting," Sengoku said calmly. "Leno will die."
Extreme malice flickered undisguised in his eyes.
Thinking about how Leno had publicly defeated the Hero of the Marines—
Knocked Aokiji flying—
And only later realizing he had stolen Whitebeard's corpse—
And yet still managed to leave unscathed—
Sengoku felt flames burning in his chest.
It was a direct slap to the Marines' face.
Even if that face was already swollen.
Kizaru, for once, dropped his usual leering tone.
"That boy is truly frightening… growing far too fast."
"And now he's inherited Whitebeard's legacy… we can't let him continue unchecked."
Tsuru said coldly, "Anger won't solve anything. We're already taking action."
She looked at Sengoku.
Sengoku inhaled deeply, suppressing his fury.
"The plan has begun."
"What we need now… is time."
"Exactly," Tsuru continued, her earlier hesitation gone. "Once we lock onto Leno's location, manpower won't be an issue."
"At that point, all of Marine Headquarters' top-tier combat forces—along with every available vice admiral—will surround and eliminate him."
"No matter how strong Leno is, no matter how strange his abilities—"
"Can he really fight the entire Marine Headquarters alone?!"
At those words, a subtle light flickered in Kizaru's eyes.
Ruthless.
Not long ago, Tsuru had practically treated Leno like a future grandson-in-law.
And now…
Tsk.
On the hospital bed, Garp's lips curled upward, a trace of joy appearing.
He did not doubt Sengoku, the so-called wise general—
Nor Tsuru, the external brain.
"He's as good as dead," Garp muttered, closing his eyes.
Not because he didn't want to continue talking—
But because he once again had to suppress the tearing force within his body.
One by one, the others left.
Garp only needed to lie there and sleep.
They, however, had far more to consider.
Meanwhile—Across the Seas
Marine Headquarters wasn't the only place in turmoil.
The outside world was equally shaken by the outcome of the war.
Whitebeard—the "Strongest Man in the World"—had fallen.
The long-standing Four Emperors balance of the New World was shattered.
The territories once controlled by the Whitebeard Pirates—
Had become ownerless land.
A delicious cake—
Drawing countless greedy eyes.
Pirates across the New World stirred restlessly.
Among them, the Big Mom Pirates moved the fastest.
The so-called "Worst Generation" Supernovas also grew restless.
So what if Whitebeard was dead?
One Emperor gone—
Wasn't it time for the new generation to rise?
Unfortunately—
Even getting kicked around by Kizaru one by one hadn't taught them reality.
Their ambition hadn't diminished in the slightest.
And at a time like this—
How could the News King Morgans possibly stay quiet?
Through his News Coo network, newspapers were distributed across the globe.
The bold front-page headline declared:
[A New Emperor of the Era Is Born! "The Fallen One" Leno Officially Crowned — The Fourth Emperor of the Sea!]
Every corner of the world received the paper.
Leno's reputation soared to its peak.
"A new Emperor?! What kind of joke is this?!"
"That Leno… how long has he even been at sea?!"
"A monster! Another monster has risen!"
"…The Marines are useless!"
On territory that once belonged to Whitebeard—
Several ambitious pirate crews were engaged in bloody conflict over control.
When the newspaper arrived—
The fighting gradually stopped.
"Leno… the guy who wreaked havoc at Marineford…" a scar-faced pirate captain stared at Leno's portrait.
Handsome.
Not ferocious at all.
Yet his legs trembled uncontrollably.
He had watched the broadcast.
He knew Leno's strength.
"Captain… are we still fighting?" a subordinate asked nervously.
"Fight my ass!"
The captain crumpled the newspaper, his face dark.
"Can't you read?! A new Emperor's risen! Most of Whitebeard's territory will probably fall under him!"
"Are you tired of living, fighting here like idiots?!"
Several pirate crews retreated in disgrace.
Soon—
The island's civilians picked up the discarded paper and read aloud.
"The Leno Pirates… the new Four Emperor…"
Similar scenes unfolded across the New World.
Of course—
Not everyone was willing to give Leno face.
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