Two days later, Caelan and Joy Boy rushed back overnight.
At this time, the Neo Navy was ready to depart.
However, before the expedition, Caelan made some additional arrangements among the officers.
Joy Boy was assigned as the vanguard. Roger and Bullet were placed under Garp's command, while Redfield, Whitebeard, and Byrnndi World were placed under Sengoku.
These people all wore masks, meaning they had lost their original identities.
But as old rivals, how could Sengoku and the others fail to recognize these former great pirates?
Seeing great pirates who had once been confirmed dead reappear before their eyes, Sengoku, Zephyr, Aokiji, and Fujitora were all shocked.
The Pirate King, who had been dead for twenty years, had returned. Roger had clearly opened the Great Pirate Era with his execution in Loguetown, yet now he stood before them alive.
There was also Whitebeard, whose upper body had been blown apart by Akainu during the Battle of Marineford. His death had also been considered beyond doubt.
As for Bullet, Byrnndi World, and Redfield, Sengoku and Zephyr had encountered them once while escorting Devil Fruits to Dressrosa, so they were not as surprised.
"Roger, you're alive." Garp patted Roger on the shoulder and laughed. "I never thought you'd still be alive and working under me."
Looking at his old rival from more than twenty years ago filled him with excitement.
It was not that he truly wanted Roger to be resurrected, but if Roger came back to life and had to listen to his orders, that was another matter entirely.
"He is too strong. I couldn't do anything about it."
Roger recalled Caelan's figure and spoke helplessly.
When he was summoned by Caelan, he had also been confused.
He had thought about resisting, but after receiving Caelan's command, he had no choice but to obey.
Facing his old rival Garp now, he could only follow orders.
"Roger, do you regret starting the Great Pirate Era?"
"Your son died because of it, and countless criminals appeared on the seas."
Garp looked at Roger and asked the question that weighed heaviest on his heart.
He often wondered what would have happened if Roger had not started that damned era, if Roger had been executed and died quietly.
Ace and Luffy would not have shouted about becoming pirates.
Would the World Government still have wanted to kill Ace? Could Ace have survived as an ordinary person?
"If that man had not appeared, I would not regret it."
Roger fell silent for a moment before answering calmly.
Without Caelan, he would have had to start the Great Pirate Era to shake the World Government.
As the One Piece had said, it was to let the true hope of this era grow.
But with Caelan's existence, everything changed.
Caelan rose like a comet, destroying both the World Government and the Great Pirate Era within a few short months.
The prophesied Nika did not succeed, so the Great Pirate Era he had opened naturally lost its meaning.
What made him regret it even more was the giant standing on the battleship at the front.
Wearing a straw hat, a mandarin jacket, and shorts, the figure looked overwhelmingly domineering.
This was not the Joy Boy recorded in history, so who else could it be?
If not for the prophecy that this man's successor would end everything, he would never have started the Great Pirate Era.
Seeing someone who had supposedly been dead for eight hundred years standing alive before him, he truly did not know what to say.
He wanted to curse, but had no idea where to begin.
"How could we possibly lose this?"
Sengoku looked at the masked men under his command and sighed sincerely.
Whitebeard, Roger, Bullet.
Only those who had fought them knew how terrifying they truly were.
And now, these people had become expendable forces under his command.
That was right, they were expendable. Caelan had explicitly said to use them as cannon fodder.
Having such overwhelming capital to squander filled him with excitement.
The Five Elders and Akainu would soon witness an unprecedented lineup.
At the same time, Bullet and the others were also filled with bitterness.
They were not like Roger and Garp, who shared both love and hatred. They and Sengoku's side were true enemies.
They despised each other and had never gotten along.
Being forced to obey Sengoku's orders was more painful than being killed.
What was even more unbearable was that resistance was impossible, and even suicide was a luxury beyond reach.
Several of them could not help but look toward Caelan, who stood on the same main ship as Sengoku. Beside him was Kaido, ready at any moment to serve as his mount.
It was that man who had left them unable to live or die.
At this moment, Caelan stood on the deck of the main ship and surveyed his surroundings.
Countless warships were anchored at the port of Dressrosa, now fully loaded with the Neo Navy.
Caelan nodded slightly and gave the order. "All troops, move out."
In an instant, thousands of ships began moving together.
The tightly connected fleet cut through the endless waves, heading straight for the Red Line.
On the shore, those watching the fleet depart were filled with emotion.
The World Government was about to fall, and the world was about to welcome a new ruler.
(To be continued.)