Meanwhile, people all over the world who were following the Summit War had already been stunned by the apparent secrets of the World Government that had been revealed.
Countless bold reporters ran away from the giant screens of the Visual Den Den Mushi, shouting like mad as they ran, "This is insane! Someone actually wants to persuade the Marines to declare war on the World Government!!!"
"Front-page news for sure! The Marines are actually going to betray the World Government and declare war on the Celestial Dragons!!!"
"The World Government's most closely guarded secret!!! What exactly are the Moon People?"
"The Moon People have reappeared!!! Humanoid lifeforms with monkey tails, powerful strength, and mysterious confidence!!!"
As these news people ran and shouted, they somehow turned it into a competition among peers, each claim becoming more outrageous than the last.
Quite a few nobles and commoners from various countries remained where they were, watching the show.
"God, what kind of devil is this? He actually bewitched the Fleet Admiral into rebelling against the World Government?"
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, you must not be deceived by such a devil!"
"Hero Garp, hurry up and kill him!!!"
"I knew it! The Celestial Dragons' rise to power had to be a conspiracy! Set sail!!! I refuse to be oppressed by the Celestial Dragons any longer!!!"
"Moon People? Do they live on the moon? I really ought to look up at it properly..."
"They actually declared war on the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. This is too insane..."
"Madman, madman! This is a madman even crazier than Whitebeard and the One Piece Roger!!"
For a time, the Four Seas boiled over, and the whole world erupted!
Marineford.
The vast plaza was deathly silent.
Zhu Mang's voice was not loud, but everyone capable of taking part in a battle like this was an outstanding figure in their respective fields.
Any pirate from the New World, if tossed into the Four Seas, would be worth a bounty of hundreds of thousands or even millions.
And the Marines summoned here were elites at their respective Marine bases, at the very least commissioned officers.
While strength and hearing were not necessarily directly correlated, there was still some connection.
Under such circumstances, his words continuously spread outward.
In the end, even places far from the Execution Platform began discussing it.
"Hahaha, Marines, even your Fleet Admiral is taking the lead in betraying the World Government. Why the hell are we still fighting? Come on, join the embrace of piracy!"
"That's right, that's right! Come be brothers on our ship!"
The Marines had varying reactions to the pirates' recruitment attempts and mockery.
"Pah! I'm a Marine! A Marine for one day, a Marine for life!"
"Even if I'm no longer a Marine, I'll still fight you wicked pirates to the bitter end!"
"If you ask me, we should break away from the World Government from now on and establish a new Marine force!"
These were soldiers who had joined the Marines because they already harbored immense hatred for pirates.
They were determined to remain irreconcilable with pirates.
Even if the higher-ups wavered, they could not be swayed.
However, clearly not everyone in the Marines was like that.
There were also Marines who had grown dissatisfied with the World Government for various reasons.
Even though they had answered the call to fight, they had done so only out of their commitment to justice, not loyalty to the World Government.
"Even if Fleet Admiral Sengoku leads the Marines out of the World Government, we can establish our own pirate crew—the Marine Pirate Crew!"
"That's right, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, let's establish the Marine Pirate Crew!!!"
"Marine Pirate Crew!!!"
These Marines actually began shouting as though they were egging each other on.
The content of their cries made Sengoku's face darken.
What the hell was this Marine Pirate Crew?!
Did they even hear themselves?!
"Pfft—" Even Zhu Mang burst out laughing.
The Marine Pirate Crew—now that was a path he had never imagined.
Just picture it: Fleet Admiral Sengoku becoming the captain of this Marine Pirate Crew, the three Admirals becoming the "Three All-Stars," and the Vice Admirals below becoming figures similar to division commanders.
"Old man Sengoku, your pirate crew is going to be pretty big. There must be tens of thousands of people in it, enough to form a massive fleet. Looks like the New World's balance is about to change—the Four Emperors will become Five Emperors," Zhu Mang teased.
When Sengoku heard that, his face darkened even further.
"Hahahahaha, Four Emperors becoming Five Emperors, the Marine Pirate Crew, Sengoku the Buddha as the Fifth Emperor, hahahahahaha—" Garp seemed to think of something. His earlier gloom vanished, and he laughed until tears nearly came out.
"Garp!!! Laugh again and see what happens!!!!!" Sengoku was so enraged that his hat was pushed up, exposing a genuine explosive afro brimming with fury. "Is this the time to laugh?!!"
He was furious at his unreliable old friend.
What time did he think this was?
All of this had been broadcast around the world through the Visual Den Den Mushi. Who knew how much of an uproar it would cause?
And there was also the World Government.
Who knew how the Five Elders would react to this?
Fortunately, he had noticed things going wrong and shut off the Visual Den Den Mushi on the Execution Platform, while ordering the others turned off as well. The words spoken here afterward should not have been transmitted.
Buru Buru—
Buru Buru—
Just as Sengoku finished roaring at Garp, the Den Den Mushi in his hand began to ring. Its head changed into the likeness of someone with a tuft of upright, curved white hair on his head and three inverted triangular white beards on his chin.
"A call from Commander-in-Chief Kong..."
Just what I was afraid of, Sengoku thought.
"Steel Bone" Kong was not only the current Commander-in-Chief of all the World Government's forces, but also Sengoku's predecessor as Fleet Admiral.
In private, he was also the shared teacher of Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr.
The Armament Haki armor he had developed could integrate Armament Haki into flesh, blood, and even bones!
Garp's "Fist" and Zephyr's "Black Arm" had earned their names through this technique.
Although Sengoku had not gained a title in that regard, he had still mastered exceptionally impressive Armament Haki under Kong's careful guidance. It simply was not as conspicuous as Garp's and Zephyr's.
Thus, upon hearing Sengoku's words, even Garp immediately became serious. Like an elementary school student seeing his homeroom teacher, he sat upright even though class was not in session.
"Commander-in-Chief Kong."
"Sengoku, Garp!!! What are you doing!!! Who is that person?!! Are you planning to rebel against the World Government?!!!" The Den Den Mushi flew into a rage, looking as if it would blow its shell off in the next second.
And that was merely imitating the old man on the other end.
It was clear just how furious Steel Bone Kong was at that moment.
"No, well, this..." Faced with Kong's questioning, Sengoku stammered for a long while, unable to think of how he should explain it.
Who would have thought that even the Buddha of Wisdom would one day be anxious because his wits were insufficient?
At that moment, his vision blurred and his hand suddenly felt empty. He discovered that his Den Den Mushi had appeared in Zhu Mang's hand.
A sense of foreboding immediately surged up within him.
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