The Throne Pointing to the Void
The punishment verdict began to appear on the Sky Screen, its golden letters casting a cold light in the dusk.
[Punishment targets: the Five Elders (all five to bear it jointly)]
[Reason for punishment: in the name of the highest authority, they approved and carried out over two hundred large-scale purges over eight hundred years, and bear ultimate responsibility for all the World Government's atrocities]
[Punishment one: the complete "purge list" from the eight hundred years since the World Government's founding will be forcibly disclosed, including the target country, operation codename, approving official's signature, and final casualty figures for every operation. The list will continue to be broadcast at a rate of ten entries per hour]
[Punishment two: the "Light of Judgment" mark will be applied. The Five Elders' real-time locations will be shown to the world as points of light on the Sky Screen for seventy-two hours]
[Punishment three: the World Government's authority to control information on the "Poneglyphs" will be revoked. Effective from this verdict, the system gains the authority to broadcast any Poneglyph-related content to the entire world]
The moment the three punishments appeared, the world's reaction could be summed up in a few words.
Mad. Everyone had gone mad.
The first meant that eight hundred years of the World Government's dark history would be laid bare before the entire world over the next two hundred hours, entry after entry, without pause or interruption.
The second was even more vicious. Revealing the Five Elders' real-time locations to the world made them living targets. Though no one would dare assassinate them given their strength, the act itself was the ultimate humiliation.
The five most mysterious people in the world were being treated as though they'd been stripped naked and thrown into the street.
But the third was the real bombshell.
The Poneglyphs.
The thing the World Government had spent eight hundred years suppressing and covering up could now be broadcast to the entire world by the livestream at any time.
In a cabin aboard a ship in Water 7, Robin clutched the fragment the system had rewarded her with, her fingertips turning white.
"The restrictions on Poneglyph information have been lifted."
Her voice trembled.
"That means this livestream can reveal the truth of the Void Century at any time."
"At any time."
Nami looked at Robin's expression. For the first time, she saw an almost feverish gleam on the face of this ever-calm woman.
"Robin, you're smiling."
"Am I?"
Robin reached up and touched the corner of her mouth. She was smiling.
"I've waited twenty years."
"Twenty years on the run, twenty years searching."
"I never thought that one day, the truth would fall from the sky on its own."
Holy Land Mary Geoise, the Room of Authority.
The Five Elders reacted more intensely than anyone else in the world.
The first punishment made the blond Elder's fingers gouge a deep groove in the tabletop.
The second made the long-sword Elder draw the First Generation Kitetsu and slash at the Sky Screen.
The sword energy cut through the air and passed through the golden virtual screen without hitting anything.
The Sky Screen remained intact. The golden letters didn't even flicker.
"It's no use."
The bald Elder's voice grew grave.
"The Marines couldn't damage it in the slightest with their strongest firepower before. Your sword won't work either."
The long-sword Elder withdrew his blade, his breathing a little more rapid.
But what truly shook the five of them was the third punishment.
The restrictions on Poneglyph information had been lifted.
Those words were ten thousand times more deadly than the first two punishments combined.
Because the Poneglyphs recorded more than just the history of the Void Century.
They also held clues to the Ancient Weapons.
And the truth about the D. Clan.
And the greatest secret they had guarded for eight hundred years.
"We must report to Lord Imu immediately."
The curly-haired Elder's voice grew urgent.
"No."
The blond Elder interrupted him.
"We can't go to the Empty Throne now."
"The whole world is watching our locations in real time. If all five of us move in the same direction at once, everyone will deduce that there's something in that direction."
The five exchanged glances.
Yes, the truly vicious part of the second punishment wasn't that it exposed their locations.
It was that exposing their locations would reveal the location of the person they most wanted to hide.
If they went to see Imu, the points of light for the whole world to see would gather in the deepest part of Holy Land Mary Geoise, in the most mysterious room in the world.
They were pinned in place.
"Seventy-two hours."
The blond Elder's voice regained its cold, rational tone.
"We stay here for seventy-two hours. No one is allowed to leave the Room of Authority."
"Once the seventy-two hours are up and the marks disappear, we'll go see Lord Imu."
"What if it reveals more within those seventy-two hours?"
"Then we'll watch."
The blond Elder's fist slowly clenched on the table.
"Just as we have for the past eight hundred years, we'll watch."
The punishments on the Sky Screen were carried out. Three pillars of light descended from the sky toward Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Five points of light appeared on the world map on the Sky Screen, marking the Five Elders' current locations with precision.
People all over the world watched the five points of light, and a storm of discussion erupted.
"They're in Holy Land Mary Geoise."
"The Five Elders really do live in the Celestial Dragons' holy land."
"So the Celestial Dragons are the real masters of the World Government. The Five Elders just manage it for them."
"Then what about above the Celestial Dragons? Is there anyone higher?"
The question pierced everyone's minds like a needle.
In the tavern, Lin Qi watched the five points of light on the Sky Screen and downed the last of his beer.
"All right, all right, second place is done."
He tossed the empty can into the trash, hitting it dead on.
"Now for the main event."
He turned back to the screen and looked at the name of the number-one war criminal recommended by the system. His heart involuntarily began to beat faster.
"To be honest, I only caught a tiny glimpse of this name in the original work."
"System, you actually managed to dig up this much information about him."
"Wait, is it a he? Or a she? Or an it?"
He rubbed his hands together, excited to the extreme.
"Who cares? First place is always the most explosive."
He pressed confirm.
The golden text on the Sky Screen dissipated for a moment, then gathered again.
The whole world had held its breath too many times in a single day, but this time everyone knew that, at the very end, the real climax had arrived.
[Ten Great War Criminals, first place]
[The final reveal]
The text remained on the Sky Screen for five seconds, long enough for heartbeats across the world to fall into the same rhythm.
Then the golden characters began to form.
So slowly that it made people want to scream.
The first character appeared.
A character no one recognized.
Then the second.
The third.
When the last character settled into place, 99.9 percent of the world looked utterly bewildered.
Because they had never heard the name before.
But the remaining 0.1 percent, including the Five Elders, saw their expressions completely shatter at that moment.
[Ten Great War Criminals, first place]
[Master of the Empty Throne—Imu]
In the Room of Authority in Holy Land Mary Geoise, the blond Elder's hand slipped off the table.
The long-sword Elder's hand lost its strength around the First Generation Kitetsu.
The bald Elder's teacup fell to the floor and shattered into countless pieces.
The five old men who had lived for eight hundred years all lost their expressions at the same moment.
A line of supplementary text immediately appeared on the Sky Screen, shattering the entire world's understanding.
[Note: the Empty Throne is the throne that twenty kings swore never to ascend when the World Government was founded, symbolizing that the world belongs to no single person]
[But one person has sat on that throne for eight hundred years]
[The true master of the World Government is neither the Celestial Dragons nor the Five Elders]
[It is Imu]
[He is the true king of this world]