"Deliver a message? Tch. Being spared like that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth… Still…"
Zoro looked around, a bead of cold sweat sliding down from the corner of his eye.
"Where exactly am I, and which way am I supposed to go?!"
Leaving aside the Straw Hat Pirates' upcoming adventures, over on Roy's side—
Hidden within the Grand Line was the mysterious archipelago of Merveille, the base of the legendary Flying Pirate, Golden Lion Shiki.
As the first prisoner to successfully escape from Impel Down, Shiki eventually arrived on an island called Merveille.
Golden Lion discovered that the island was filled with animals that had become ferocious after consuming plants containing a substance called IQ. He therefore used his ability to tear the entire archipelago from the earth and raise it into the sky, transforming it into his floating territory.
From then on, the floating archipelago became known as Strong World.
For twenty years, Shiki concealed his whereabouts and worked alongside his trusted subordinate, Dr. Indigo, to research IQ while preparing his grand return.
His objective was to release the mutated animals into East Blue, allowing them to wreak havoc and demonstrate the strength of his vengeance against the World Government.
Honestly, when Roy first read the manga and watched the anime, his immediate impression was that Golden Lion had completely lost his mind.
He possessed the incredibly powerful Float-Float Fruit, an ability capable of controlling seawater and entire islands, yet he chose to spend twenty years developing ferocious animals alongside his subordinates.
Roy simply could not understand it.
The ship's wheel lodged in Golden Lion's head must have affected him far more seriously than anyone realized.
As for his assistant, that man hardly seemed normal either.
And so, the two fools wasted nearly twenty years hiding in the sky, only to be utterly defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates at the very end.
Not only was Shiki's reputation destroyed late in his career, but decades of painstaking effort were wiped out overnight.
Worse still, Luffy came from East Blue—the very sea Shiki looked down upon the most.
What a miserable end.
Roy felt that Golden Lion's fate had been a terrible waste.
More importantly, he felt that the Float-Float Fruit itself had been wasted.
The Float-Float Fruit could not levitate living beings other than its user, and if the user was defeated, everything kept aloft by the ability would fall.
However, the ability possessed one extraordinary advantage: there was no known upper limit to the total weight it could lift.
What did having no upper limit mean?
It meant that, as long as the user possessed enough stamina to withstand the burden, they could theoretically levitate an unlimited number of objects.
Combined with the electromagnetic force of the Goro Goro no Mi and Roy's immensely powerful body, the ability was a perfect match for him.
With a mere thought, he could turn the world upside down and darken the skies.
The combination was simply too powerful.
Roy had no reason to give up the Float-Float Fruit.
And so—
One day in the year 1520, while the Straw Hat Pirates were storming Enies Lobby, an astonishing event occurred somewhere in the first half of the Grand Line.
More than a dozen islands, together with countless unknown beasts and plants, suddenly fell from the sky.
The disaster caused tremendous problems for the Marines.
During the subsequent investigation, the Marines unexpectedly discovered the corpse of Dr. Indigo, one of Golden Lion Shiki's closest aides.
After conducting a lengthy investigation, analyzing the available evidence, and interrogating several severely injured survivors found on the fallen islands, the Marines finally reached a shocking conclusion.
Golden Lion Shiki had been killed!
The person responsible was none other than Thunder Emperor Roy!
The Float-Float Fruit and Shiki's two renowned blades, Oto and Kogarashi, had most likely fallen into the Thunder Emperor's hands as well.
After some time, the intelligence report was placed before the Five Elders.
"The Goro Goro no Mi, the Hie Hie no Mi, and now the Float-Float Fruit—not to mention the numerous Devil Fruit abilities we still know nothing about. The Thunder Emperor has become far too terrifying!"
"The Thunder Emperor's power is obvious for all to see. It has already been established that even the five of us are no match for him. Therefore, my position remains unchanged. There is no need to provoke him."
"Should he truly decide to wage war against the World Government, Imu-sama will naturally deal with him. There is no point in us exhausting ourselves over the matter."
The middle-aged blond member of the Five Elders spoke as though he had completely given up on salvaging the situation.
Upon hearing this, the sword-wielding Elder tightened his grip around his weapon.
Only after a long silence did his hand slowly relax in helplessness.
They were facing an enemy so troublesome and overwhelmingly powerful that they could do nothing except watch and leave him unchecked.
This feeling of complete powerlessness was something the Five Elders had not experienced in more than a century.
None of them spoke.
The hall fell silent as the oppressive atmosphere grew increasingly heavy.
After a long while—
"We should discuss the recent incident at Enies Lobby."
The curly-bearded Elder very obviously changed the subject.
"Monkey D. Luffy, Garp's grandson. It's that family again. They cause nothing but trouble for the World Government!"
"After successfully storming Enies Lobby, their reputation has risen dramatically. I believe we should eliminate them before they become an even greater threat."
"Aokiji was apparently wandering near Water 7 recently. Have him handle it."
"Buru buru buru…"
As the Five Elders traded opinions, the dedicated Transponder Snail in front of them suddenly began ringing.
"Hello?"
"Five Elders-sama! Marshall D. Teach, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, has defeated Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates and delivered him to the Marines!"
"Blackbeard? And Fire Fist Ace?"
Even the Five Elders were visibly stunned by the report.
Then—
Once they understood the implications, all five exchanged meaningful looks.
This was serious!
To Ace, Whitebeard was like a father.
He had perfectly filled the emptiness left by Roger's absence from Ace's life and given him the warmest paternal affection he had ever known.
However, while Ace was away carrying out a certain mission, he encountered Blackbeard.
Blackbeard was currently one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a former division commander of the Thunder God Pirates, and a traitor who had once served aboard the Whitebeard Pirates.
Ace already wanted nothing to do with him and had no intention of even acknowledging his presence.
However, what Ace had never expected was…
(End of Chapter)
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