Garen tossed aside his bionic mask, revealing his exceedingly famous face.
Then, he entered Data Mode, transforming into that even more famous suit of armor and greatsword.
Kurozumi Orochi's eyes bulged, his mouth fell open, and he nearly spat out his last breath.
"Ga, Ga, Ga—"
The elite agents' tongues twisted, and they all began stammering in unison.
They had never imagined that the "Commander Phantom" who had led them these past few days was actually—
"Garen?"
"H-How is that possible?"
The CP0 agents stared at one another, looking as shocked as if they had seen an alien.
"Hahaha!"
Garen burst into laughter, his smile full of mockery.
"You're not mistaken."
"I, Garen, am your 'Commander Phantom.'"
"..."
The CP0 agents looked at each other.
Faced with such an unbelievable turn of events, their minds could barely process it.
"It's simple."
"The real Commander Phantom was killed by me long ago."
Garen chuckled as he answered the doubts in their hearts.
"H-How could this happen?"
The agents' expressions changed drastically. One particularly simple-minded and blunt agent could not help asking,
"Aren't you an ally of the World Government?"
"Hahaha!"
Garen laughed even more heartily.
"I'm an ally of the World Government? Who told you that?"
"Commander Phantom said—"
The blunt agent answered reflexively, but before he could finish, his face turned an absurd liverish red.
Garen had always appeared to be on excellent terms with the World Government, and these agents knew nothing about his distribution of subversive books in the East Blue. So when "Phantom" fooled them, they had genuinely believed the story that Garen and the World Government were putting on an act and working together to eliminate Kaido.
Under "Phantom's" forceful brainwashing, that claim had truly taken root in their minds.
Yet the Commander Phantom who had