"Everyone, get yourselves sorted out first. Take a few days to get organized."
Shanks looked around at everyone and made his decision, "We'll stay briefly at Sabaody Archipelago, then we'll set out together to rescue Juste."
Hearing this decision, Lucky Roux's brows suddenly furrowed. Contrary to his usual behavior, he stepped forward and raised an objection, "Captain, are we really going to save him?"
His tone was heavy, "If we go, regardless of whether we can actually rescue him in the end, we'll definitely lose some of our own people again, won't we?"
That was indeed the case. It had never failed.
Every time they went through such a critical turning point, they would ultimately pay the price of losing people, watching their companions fall before their eyes while being completely powerless to do anything, leaving them with nothing but grief and anger.
As he spoke, his gaze slowly swept over every person present, as if calculating who would be the next to die.
Luffy. He was where the hope of Nika lay, and even more importantly, he was the protagonist of this grand drama personally selected by Rosse. There was no way he could die here.
Shanks. As Luffy's guide, Rosse's previous words were practically an explicit indication that he would betray Luffy in the future, so there was absolutely no way he could die now either.
Robin. Rosse had personally acknowledged her as his pet, so she certainly could not die.
As for Sanji, Usopp, and the others, nearly all of them had countless connections with the World Government, so they would likewise not easily get into trouble.
After going around the whole circle like this, wouldn't the only people left who could be lost in the end be the ordinary members of their Red-Haired Pirates?
To save an outsider whom they did not know at all and who had nothing to do with them, yet have to stake the lives of their own brothers. However you calculated this deal, they would lose everything, wouldn't they?
"Whitebeard and the others will go," Shanks's voice was steady and firm, without the slightest hesitation, "We can't stand by and watch without doing anything."
"But against the power of the entire World Government, can just the few of us really affect the final outcome whether we go or not?"
Lucky Roux also slowly stepped forward and calmly raised his own question.
"You don't have to go," Shanks merely snorted coldly, his attitude leaving no room for argument.
"Exactly. Lucky Roux, if you're scared, you can stay here," Yasopp straightened his chest, his face full of righteous conviction, "Just let me, the vice captain, go together with the captain and the others."
"Your injuries just healed, and your skin is itching again, is that it?"
Lucky Roux glanced at him with a smile that did not reach his eyes. Looking at Yasopp's utterly overconfident appearance, he genuinely wished he could beat him up on the spot.
At this moment, he could not even help secretly cursing him in his heart.
This time, when they went to rescue Juste, it would be best if they just left Yasopp, this troublemaker, there forever.
But he also knew clearly that this kind of thing was most likely impossible.
If someone like Yasopp were going to die, he would have died eight hundred times already.
People this stupid, who were also especially good at dragging everyone else down, often had extraordinarily tough lives and died later than anyone else.
Perhaps even the World Government could not bear to let him die.
If Lucky Roux did not know that Yasopp was genuinely stupid rather than harboring bad intentions, he would almost have suspected that the other man was an undercover agent planted by the World Government.
At some point, Lucky Roux realized that he had actually begun subconsciously weighing the advantages and disadvantages.
In the past, he had never bothered wasting these brain cells.
Because back then, Beckman had been on the ship. That steady and reliable vice captain would think everything through for everyone, while all he needed to do was charge into battle.
But now... Beckman was gone.
He was more clearly aware than anyone that if they continued forward in such confusion and without considering the consequences, all that awaited them could only be a dead end.
But unfortunately, a low-ranking person's words carried little weight. What a mere ordinary member said on this ship filled with obsessions could not have any effect at all.
In the end, on the basis that all the ordinary members of the Red-Haired Pirates collectively abstained while everyone else unanimously agreed, they still made that decision.
Go rescue Juste.
After all, he was Luffy's older brother. Moreover, Whitebeard and the others had already set out, and Shanks had long since regarded Luffy as the only hope of realizing his lifelong ideal.
For the sake of this hope, no matter what, he would definitely go.
———
On the day of the execution, the sky was clear.
Marineford, the strongest fortress of the Marines in the first half of the Grand Line, welcomed its greatest moment ever today.
Across the enormous Marine plaza, ten densely packed Marine formations stood in place.
Each formation consisted of exactly ten thousand people. Their military appearance was orderly, and a murderous aura soared into the sky.
Each formation was personally led by three Marine Vice Admirals. They stood at the very front of their formations, their expressions cold and their eyes sharp.
The Marines' total forces naturally numbered far more than one hundred thousand, but the Marines who had the honor of standing here today to witness this historic execution were all elites among elites, with strength reaching at least D-rank.
Looking across the scene, every one of them was battle-hardened. Their postures were straight as spears, their breathing rose and fell in unison, as if they were a precisely operating war machine.
And directly in front of these ten formations stood a gigantic temporary execution platform, divided into three levels.
Six seats had been arranged on the third level.
At this moment, the three Marine Admirals, the Minister and Deputy Minister of Military Affairs, and the Minister of Finance were all seated in their respective positions, their presence so powerful that people did not dare look directly at them.
Borsalino, Yamato, Ace, Zephyr, Kozuki Hiyori, Shirahoshi.
Aside from Zephyr and Borsalino, who could be considered older-generation powerhouses from the old era, every one of the others was a young prodigy personally nurtured by Rosse.
Yet when it came to their actual combat strength, they were in no way inferior to any of their predecessors.
In fact, in certain fields, they had already surpassed their teachers.
On the second level of the execution platform, one level above, there stood an extremely conspicuous gigantic execution platform.
Sakazuki, dressed in a crisp white suit, stood beside the execution platform with a posture straight as a pine tree, his entire body radiating suffocating dignity and pressure.
He folded his arms across his chest and looked down expressionlessly, like an immovable god of magma.
Juste was half-kneeling, his hands firmly locked in heavy Seastone shackles, while two burly executioners pressed him firmly against the execution platform.
His lips were tightly pursed, his expression incomparably complicated. It was a struggling expression in which guilt, unwillingness, grief, and despair were intertwined.
Yet on the highest level, there was only a solitary Supreme Throne.
The throne was empty at this moment, as if quietly waiting for its only master to descend.
The next second, Rosse's figure appeared without warning before the throne.
His arrival made not the slightest sound, as though he had always been meant to stand there, as though the entire world revolved around his existence.
At the same time, the two peerless beauties, Gion and Stella, stood respectfully and elegantly on either side of the throne, like priests serving a god.
Seeing this scene, Sakazuki, who was on the second level, was the first to bow and salute, his voice like a great bell, "We respectfully welcome His Majesty Rosse!"
Following his lead, not only did the six powerhouses in the third row rise together and turn around to bow deeply toward the highest level.
Even the full one hundred thousand Marines on the plaza below bowed in salute in perfect unison at the same instant and shouted together, "We respectfully welcome His Majesty Rosse!"
The sound was like thunder rumbling, echoing magnificently through the skies above all of Marineford, deafening to the ears.
It was the awe and worship of one hundred thousand people coming from the depths of their hearts. The waves of sound overlapped layer upon layer, almost as if they would overturn the heavens.
And this extremely spectacular scene was simultaneously broadcast live through the visual Den Den Mushi arranged by the World Government, transmitted in real time to every corner of this world.
Countless people, even merely looking through their screens, could not help but reveal deep reverence and awe in their eyes as they gazed at that figure high above them on the screen, as if a deity had descended.
It was submission to absolute power and looking up to supreme authority.
Rosse merely raised his right hand slightly without showing any emotion.
In an instant, all the voices disappeared like a receding tide, easily suppressed by an invisible force.
The entire Marineford suddenly fell into a solemn silence.
Immediately afterward, he merely nodded slightly before slowly sitting down on the throne symbolizing supreme authority, in a calm and unhurried manner that fully displayed his majesty.
Only after confirming that Rosse had taken his seat did everyone below breathe a sigh of relief and return to their normal standing postures.
Sakazuki stepped forward, took a deep breath, and spoke in a loud and dignified voice, loud enough for every corner of Marineford to hear clearly, "Today, the Marine has gathered here to solemnly..."
Before he could finish this opening statement for the execution.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
At the harbor outside the Marine fortress, the seawater suddenly began churning violently like a flash flood.
Immediately afterward, one enormous ship after another, each with its distinct flag, suddenly appeared at the harbor like giant beasts emerging from the surface of the water.
The one hundred thousand Marines, who had already known that today would definitely not be calm, nevertheless maintained a quiet solemnity in which orders were obeyed without question. Not a single person even turned his head to look. They merely narrowed their eyes slightly and tightened their grip on their weapons.
It was the ordinary viewers watching this scene through the live broadcast who did not understand what was happening and could not help exclaiming, "This is quite a lineup! Who exactly are they?"
"I heard that the former pirate king is going to be executed today. Could these people be those legendary pirate kings from back then?"
"They really do seem pretty strong. Their presence is extraordinary."
"But that's all, right? Against our current World Government, this is nothing more than throwing an egg at a rock and seeking death."
"Exactly. The current World Government isn't something these people can even contend with."
The barrage comments and discussions flooded the screens like snowflakes.
Dozens of ships, as the seawater continued to churn, soon all leaped out of the water and lined up neatly around the harbor, forming a dark mass that blocked out the sky and sun.
Immediately afterward, an extremely bold burst of laughter came from the enormous Moby Dick at the very center, "Gurararara! Little magma brat, if you want to execute my son, you'd better ask whether this old man, his father, agrees!"
This was the voice of Whitebeard, the former strongest man in the world.
As soon as he appeared, without waiting for Sakazuki to respond at all, he suddenly swung the enormous naginata several meters long in his hand forward.
Rumble!
Space seemed to tear apart at this instant. Violent shockwaves crazily spread inward from the outside as the blade was swung.
In an instant, the originally calm seawater surrounding Marineford began to churn wildly, sweeping inward at a speed that violated the laws of nature.
In merely a moment, it formed towering waves a hundred meters high. Those terrifying waves almost completely swallowed the entire Marineford fortress.
The wall of water blotted out the sky and sun, crashing down with the might to destroy heaven and earth.
Facing this catastrophic attack powerful enough to destroy an island, even among the one hundred thousand elite Marines, the eyes of many young soldiers flashed with panic and wavering that they could not conceal.
Too strong!
At least, the opening move alone was enough to leave the weak unable to breathe.
Many people were seeing such a grand spectacle for the first time.
But they soon noticed that the six powerhouses sitting on the third level of the execution platform all wore relaxed expressions, completely calm.
It was as if the apocalyptic wave before their eyes were nothing more than a breeze brushing across their faces.
Seeing this, the soldiers who had originally been somewhat shaken immediately felt reassured.
"Not a bad opening..."
A crisp, pleasant laugh like the ringing of silver bells suddenly echoed across the entire sky above Marineford. There was a hint of innocence in the laughter, yet it also contained a power that made one's heart tremble.
"But the power seems to be a little lacking!"
Shirahoshi gracefully stood up from her seat. Within that seemingly delicate body was a terrifying power capable of shaking the entire ocean.
A Sea King Trident exactly identical to Rosse's Sea God Trident had appeared at some unknown point in her slender hand, radiating a deep blue light.
With a light wave of her hand, as if a child were playing...
BOOM!
The sky was dyed a fantastical deep blue in this instant.
That was not the color of the sky itself. Rather, it was because in an instant, the enormous waves that filled the sky and were powerful enough to swallow everything had actually been forcibly broken apart by an invisible force into countless crystal-clear droplets, which flowed back toward the sea as densely as raindrops.
Sunlight passed through the countless droplets, refracting an extraordinarily gorgeous and beautiful seven-colored radiance.
The entire sky seemed to have transformed into an inverted ocean.
"So strong..."
Seeing Shirahoshi's effortless display of power, Marco the Phoenix, standing beside Whitebeard, instantly became much more solemn, and fine beads of cold sweat even appeared on his forehead.
This time, the only people from the Whitebeard Pirates who had come to rescue Juste were actually Marco and Whitebeard.
As for the other people aboard those ships, they were either members of the peripheral pirate crews under the Whitebeard Pirates, or all the members of the NEO Marines who had already parted ways with the World Government.
However, their lineup this time was in no way weak.
In fact, it was countless times stronger than the Whitebeard Pirates themselves.
But even so, seeing Shirahoshi's performance, Marco still felt a heavy pressure.