"Woooahhhh~~~!"
The crowd erupted again, an uproar sweeping through the entire square like a tidal wave.
"Kozuki Oden, the legendary samurai of Wano Country!!!"
"Another dead legend, brought back to life!!!"
"That's the third one already!"
"What in the world is happening in this war today?"
"One by one, the dead are returning from the grave!"
"The Fairy Tail Guild Master—Sugisawa Yuuto—could he really be a god?"
"There's no doubt about it! That man is Uranus incarnate—the ruler of the underworld itself!"
Voices overlapped and crashed together, rising in panic and awe.
"To make him your enemy is the same as declaring war on the entire underworld!"
"Even the World Government doesn't stand a chance against that godlike man!"
Tens of thousands of reporters and spectators in the plaza could hardly contain their hysteria. Cameras flashed, quills flew across notepads, and the air buzzed with disbelief.
"As expected… the third undead legend has appeared!"
Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death, stood motionless, his face drawn tight with grim realization.
"I thought resurrecting the Pirate King Roger and Rocks the Sea Overlord was already pushing the limits… but now there's a third one. And if there's a third, what's to stop there from being a fourth—or a fifth?"
Nearby, Capone Bege—the captain of the Fire Tank Pirates—shook his head in stunned disbelief.
"To go up against that man… to stand against Fairy Tail… it's hopeless."
From the skies above, Urouge, the Mad Monk from Sky Island, nodded solemnly.
"What's even more terrifying is that we still don't understand how he's doing it—this resurrection of the dead. That's the true danger."
Hawkins, the stoic Fortune-Teller of Disaster, spoke quietly, his tone as unreadable as ever.
"As his enemies, that's the worst part. None of us know the limits of his ability. These legends from the old era—revived one after another—no one alive could stand against them."
Even Drake, a former Rear Admiral of the Marines turned pirate, could only shake his head, his expression clouded with despair.
"At this rate… the Marines don't have a future."
And the truth was exactly as he said.
The reappearance of the third undead legend—Kozuki Oden—did more than just break the composure of Kaido of the Beasts. It also shattered the confidence of every high-ranking officer at Naval Headquarters, and even the stalwart officials of the World Government.
If it had been just Roger, the Pirate King, and Rocks, the Sea Overlord—
the situation would still have been dire, but at least manageable.
But now…
With the third resurrection, a new level of dread took hold.
Oden's power might not rival Roger or Rocks, but that wasn't the point. The truly terrifying part was the implication:
If there's a third… there could be a fourth. Or a fifth.
No one knew how many more undead legends they'd have to face.
That uncertainty was what broke them.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"How could this even be possible?"
"Sugisawa Yuuto—the Fairy Tail Master—is he really a god?"
"If we've been fighting against a god all along… then we never stood a chance!"
"Becoming enemies with Fairy Tail was the greatest mistake we ever made!"
"Honestly… I always had a good impression of them."
"Same here. Fairy Tail's achievements over the past year—everyone's seen them!"
"They're the real heroes of the sea! Their justice puts ours to shame!"
"They've saved countless nations and people!"
"If it weren't for the World Government and those damned Celestial Dragons—"
"If it weren't for those parasites pulling the strings, none of this would've happened!"
"Why are we even fighting Fairy Tail, the heroes of the sea?"
"If I'd known how this would end, I'd have followed what the Fairy Tail Master said from the start—'everyone can live in harmony.'"
The elite officers of the Naval Headquarters fell into deep self-doubt. Facing Fairy Tail, not a single one of them could muster the will to fight anymore.
They couldn't win—and they knew it.
Not just because of power, but because deep down… they knew Fairy Tail stood for true justice.
And it wasn't just the lower ranks who felt it.
Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku, the very man who'd made the call to go to war with Fairy Tail, now regretted not standing his ground and refusing to fight them to the end.
"Ku la la la la la…"
A deep, mocking laugh rumbled across the battlefield.
"It's far too late for regret now, Sengoku!!!"