New World, Dressrosa.
In the palace hall at the top of the towering royal capital, Doflamingo leaned against a spacious windowsill, looking down at the lively Colosseum in the distance.
In the center of the open-air arena, which was modeled after the Celestial Dragons' favorite arena and built on a one-to-one scale at great expense to accommodate a hundred thousand spectators, a brutal battle was taking place.
Warriors of the Longarm Tribe, Longleg Tribe, Fish-Man Tribe, Giant Tribe, Tontatta Tribe, and Longneck Tribe were holding swords and attacking each other with ferocious expressions.
In the stands, the excited audience, fueled by the flying blood and constant loss of life, laughed heartily and threw their money around.
Some gamblers who had placed bets on the gladiators' lives or deaths let out excited screams or sharp curses when their chosen gladiators lived or died.
The savage and bloody slaughter made countless decent people shed their masks, revealing the darkness beneath their skin.
This kind of show was Doflamingo's favorite.
In the past...
Well, at least 33 years ago, most of the Celestial Dragons living in Mariejois loved this kind of show.
It was only later that a certain man appeared and stained this show, which was exclusive to the Celestial Dragons, with the blood of the organizers.
Since then, the gods perched in the clouds have no longer held a celebration every three years as they did 33 years ago.
They were afraid.
The Colosseum in Dressrosa actually existed before Doflamingo came to this country.
But it was not built by the family of Dressrosa's former king, Riku.
The Colosseum was built by the Donquixote Family centuries ago for the Celestial Dragons' celebration.
This country originally belonged to him, Doflamingo. Riku and his family were the outsiders.
While listening to Vergo's narration from the Den Den Mushi he was holding, Doflamingo looked at the savage slaughter in the arena, his mind fantasizing about the day he could expand the scale of the slaughter in the arena a hundred, a thousand times.
Just like the triennial celebration of the Celestial Dragons 33 years ago.
It would be best if those great gods and those five old ghosts could also personally participate.
To repay the "kindness" of being mercilessly rejected at the gates of Mariejois when he brought his father's head there.
Thinking of this, the corner of Doflamingo's mouth couldn't help but curl into an exaggerated arc, and he let out a strange laugh.
"Fufufufu, one day, I will be the organizer of that ultimate arena..."
Just then, the voice of Vergo on the Den Den Mushi came to an abrupt halt. Immediately after, a loud bang came from the other end of the line.
The sudden change made Doflamingo's face change. He held the Den Den Mushi and asked in a deep voice, "Vergo! What's going on over there?"
No one answered.
After the loud bang from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, the communication was abruptly cut off.
This kind of cutoff didn't sound like it was hung up.
It sounded more like Vergo's Den Den Mushi had suddenly died.
"Vergo is currently at the G-5 Marine Base. There are four to five thousand Marines stationed on the island. How could something have suddenly gone wrong?"
Doflamingo sat up, his expression becoming more and more serious.
He reached out, about to contact Diamante, a top executive of the Donquixote Family, to have him send Vergo's contact person to G-5 Island to investigate the situation.
To him, Vergo was family, just like Diamante.
His loyalty, strength, and steady work style were all highly valued by Doflamingo.
But before Doflamingo could dial the number, the door to the hall was slammed open with great force. Diamante, his face covered in sweat, rushed in frantically, holding a newspaper in his hand.
"Doffy, Doffy! This is bad, this is bad! The New World is about to change!"
Without waiting for Doflamingo to speak, Diamante handed over the newspaper he was holding.
Doflamingo looked down, his pupils instantly constricting, and his Conqueror's Haki couldn't help but leak out.
"This is!"
New World, Elbaf, the world's strongest village.
In a huge and empty tavern that resembled a human palace, burly figures with large muscles sat at tables and chairs seven to eight meters high, made of the thickest logs, chatting with each other with voices like rolling thunder.
"Every time I come here, I feel that humans are so small. Compared to the Giants of Elbaf, even the tallest among us, Snake and Ro, look like underage children in front of them."
Yasopp, who was hugging a barrel of wine as tall as he was, was flushed with drink and spoke with emotion.
That barrel, which was as tall as he was, was actually just a wine glass in the hands of the Giants.
"Hahahaha, don't say that." Shanks, who was leaning against the bar with his shirt open, pointed to several snot-nosed Giant children beside him, who were four to five meters tall, and said with a smile, "Even Giant children are much taller than them, okay?"
"Are you an idiot, Shanks? You're comparing humans to Giants. Why don't you compare the Tontatta Tribe to us humans?" Lucky Roo, who was as fat as a balloon, chewed on a large chicken leg in his hand and chuckled indistinctly.
"Hahaha, Red-Haired, although your bodies are not as big as us Giants, in terms of strength, you are not weaker than us at all. Am I right, Broggy?"
"You are absolutely right. Even we have to admit it. There is a huge potential hidden in those seemingly small human bodies that even we Giants are envious of."
Two Giants, who were even bigger and stronger than normal Giants, sat side by side with Shanks, with hearty smiles on their faces.
"Captain Broggy and Captain Dorry are joking. When you two were sailing the seas, we weren't even born yet. As for potential, I'm more envious of your long lifespans, which allow you to witness the changes in history."
Shanks smiled and raised his wine glass.
Just then, the door of the tavern was pushed open. Benn Beckman, with a cigarette in his mouth, walked in with a serious expression, holding a newspaper. Before he even got close, he said in a deep voice, "Shanks, we need to leave. Something big has happened in the New World."
"Huh? Why? We just arrived in Elbaf. I heard that Captain Dorry and Captain Broggy were back, so I came all this way to see them." Shanks was stunned.
Broggy and Dorry, who were drinking, were also surprised. "What's so urgent? We haven't even taken you to see Prince Loki yet."
Looking at the extremely serious Benn Beckman, Shanks knew that the matter was definitely not ordinary. Otherwise, Beckman, the most composed vice-captain of the Red-Haired Pirates, would not have such an expression.
After Shanks took the newspaper from Beckman, his face instantly changed dramatically as he looked at the familiar figures of four men sitting majestically at a large round table on the cover.
"As expected, it's a major event! Damn it, is the balance that has just been established in this sea about to be broken by an old ghost who disappeared many years ago? Bastard! Does he even know how many people will die because of this?"
The violent fluctuation in his emotions caused Shanks's aura to be released a little uncontrollably.
In that instant, a corner of a terrifying aura, like divine power, was revealed from his small body.
The terrifying pressure caused Elbaf, known as the world's strongest village, to fall into a brief silence.
Time seemed to have stopped at that moment.
A few seconds later, from an unknown place deep within Elbaf Island, a thick and powerful aura, like a mountain, also shot up into the sky, as if responding to Shanks's aura.
Looking at the Giants who had been knocked unconscious in the tavern behind him by the aura he had unintentionally released, Shanks apologized to the stunned Broggy and Dorry. "I'm sorry, Captain Dorry, I have to leave now. I'll come back when I have a chance and bring a token of apology."
He placed the newspaper in his hand on the tavern counter and quickly left the tavern, following behind Benn Beckman.
Behind him, the members of the Red-Haired Pirates followed closely, and none of them had the relaxed posture they had before.
A few minutes later, the world-famous Red Force left the waters of Elbaf and sailed toward Sphinx Island.
On the deck, Shanks took out a Den Den Mushi.
"It's a good thing Whitebeard isn't among them. Otherwise, the future of this world would really be uncertain."
He turned his gaze to the vast, endless sea in front of him. There, dark clouds were beginning to gather, and a fierce wind was starting to blow.
An unprecedented storm was coming.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Arriving even earlier than the newspapers delivered by the News Coo, were the Den Den Mushi communications from the New World.
Sengoku, sitting at his desk, listened to the pieces of intelligence coming from the Den Den Mushi. His old face twitched non-stop, his teeth were clenched, his eyes behind his round glasses were wide open, and streaks of blood filled them.
"So, so, Rorschach was right!!"
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi was a report from a Marine intelligence officer stationed in the New World.
Sengoku had no doubt about its authenticity.
Because such shocking intelligence simply couldn't be kept secret.
And the most crucial thing was that the other party had no intention of keeping it a secret.
Sengoku gritted his teeth and stood up from behind his desk. Just as he was about to get up and leave the office, the Den Den Mushi in his hand rang again.
This time, it was from the Five Elders.
It was obvious that the World Government had also received this earth-shattering news.
With a creak, the door to the Fleet Admiral's office was pushed open. Vice Admiral Tsuru, who was always smiling, appeared at the door with a solemn expression.
"Sengoku..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she heard Sengoku say in a deep voice, "Tsuru, I know. Go and prepare. Get this message out to all Marine branches as quickly as possible. We need to gather our forces and head to the New World in the shortest amount of time!"
He clenched his fist and slammed it heavily on the desk in front of him, making a dull sound.
"Issue a declaration of war mobilization! Gather the elites and prepare for battle!"
Beneath Marineford, in Vegapunk's science lab.
Enel, with a displeased look, was lying shirtless on a workbench, with various patches all over his body.
Metal tubes connected these patches, linking them together, and the ends flowed into a precision instrument that Rorschach couldn't understand.
Lilith, her face flushed with fanaticism, stood in front of the instrument, recording some data, and occasionally reached out to touch Enel's body, which made Hibari's face, who was standing beside her, turn red.
Rorschach's mouth twitched, and he secretly shook his head.
He really didn't know if this woman, Lilith, was genuinely doing scientific research or if she was using it as a pretense to get her hands on Enel, this rare species.
Only she knew what was going on in the mind of Vegapunk's evil clone.
He didn't care about these things. Anyway, Enel wouldn't lose a piece of flesh if she touched him a few times.
On the other hand, the electric propulsion engine for the Unicorn was already being manufactured.
Three sets of scientific battle suits had also been obtained and given to Hibari, Law, and Bepo.
These three battle suits were not like the one Sanji's brother Yonji wore, which could only be used by people with a specific lineage factor.
Lilith's methods were obviously much more advanced than Judge's.
She had removed this restriction, allowing the battle suits to be used by anyone.
These battle suits were quite good and could provide a lot of battle power bonuses to Hibari and the others.
The battle suits, made of memory metal, had dozens of abilities, including flight, speed boost, electrocution, strength amplification, defense boost, invisibility, and seawater isolation.
The functions were extremely powerful.
When he first got them, even he couldn't resist trying them on.
After experiencing the novelty of transforming, Rorschach still gave the battle suit to Hibari.
For his current strength, the battle power bonus from this battle suit was almost nonexistent.
Not only that, it might even limit the发挥 of his power.
After all, the material of the battle suit couldn't withstand an electric shock of several hundred million volts.
But for Hibari, Law, and Bepo, the help was immense.
Lilith's research lab was actually quite boring.
After all, this was Marineford, not Egghead Island. The reason Lilith came back from time to time was just to provide technical guidance for the construction of the Seastone steel wall.
There were no ongoing research projects for the first Pacifista here, nor were there many of the high-level research projects that Rorschach had heard about from Sentomaru.
He had originally thought about whether he could feed a Devil Fruit to his Heavenly Dragon Halberd or something.
Lilith, however, gave him an annoyed look.
"Stop dreaming. Your weapon is about to become a black blade. How can it eat a Devil Fruit? The technology to make inanimate objects eat Devil Fruits does exist, but it requires a special method of manufacturing by fusing the Devil Fruit with the object's material. Materials that are too strong or Devil Fruits that are too powerful will not allow the experiment to succeed."
The reason for the former was simple. If Rorschach wanted to feed a Devil Fruit to his Heavenly Dragon Halberd, he could. But he would have to first break the Heavenly Dragon Halberd, melt it down, and let the two materials mix thoroughly.
As for the latter, Lilith was very vague, saying things like "desire," "consciousness," and "the material can't bear it."
In short, it was better not to understand.
In fact, the moment he heard that he had to break his weapon to make it eat a Devil Fruit, Rorschach had already given up on the idea.
How hard was the Heavenly Dragon Halberd? An electric shock of five hundred million volts did nothing to it. God knows what kind of metal it was made of.
Perhaps it was also due to the continuous Haki nourishment for hundreds of years.
If he could break this ancient halberd, which was about to become a black blade, wouldn't he be able to defeat an Emperor of the Sea with a single punch?
Just as he was thinking about these random things, the Den Den Mushi in his pocket suddenly rang.
As soon as Rorschach answered, he heard Vice Admiral Tsuru's voice.
"Rorschach, come to the meeting hall. Shiki has declared war on us."
(End of Chapter)
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