Inside the silent laboratory.
The confidence gleaming in Roy's eyes made Whitebeard's heart sink sharply.
As for the conditions Roy had proposed, Whitebeard knew he had no right to refuse.
Leaving aside his crippled state, there were also the powerful figures gathered in this room.
Whitebeard knew they were beyond what he could handle in his current condition.
Most bonds in the Pirate World were nothing but bullshit. Interests were what truly determined the course of a relationship.
His relationship with Golden Lion, meanwhile, could only be considered average.
So when faced with Golden Lion's rescue this time,
Whitebeard knew that whether in terms of sentiment or strength, he had no possibility of refusing.
After all, that bastard Shiki was no kind-hearted man on these seas.
Thinking back on everything that had happened since their reunion, Whitebeard always felt as if he had fallen into some scheme.
If Whitebeard had been fifty years younger, he would have turned hostile the instant he received such an invitation.
But Whitebeard was old now.
The bonds he carried meant that he could no longer become the carefree pirate he had been in his youth.
He wanted his family and friends to live freely beneath the shelter of his wings.
So when faced with this helpless, shitty situation,
the bonds surrounding Whitebeard made him want to restore his body immediately and announce to the entire sea that he was not dead.
Only by doing so could he draw the World Government's fire and protect the people he cared about from the side.
Silence and oppression.
They were the only themes within the enormous laboratory.
Roy and Whitebeard stood at the center of everyone's attention, the protagonists of this meeting.
And the powerful figures standing around Roy and the others
were the audience witnessing this