The Five Elders! Imu!

Meanwhile.

The Marine Headquarters building's round-table conference room.

Sengoku remained seated in the Marshal's chair at the head of the table, while Hound and the various ranks of Marine officers loyal to Akira were spread out on either side.

The conference room was deathly silent. Only the heavy breathing of a few soldiers, their adrenaline still surging, could be heard.

They were all Marine soldiers and officers loyal to Akira. If not for him, they wouldn't have dared, even with ten times the courage, to "escort" Marshal Sengoku to this conference room!

After all, they had never been allowed inside this room. Only Marine Headquarters Rear Admirals and officers of higher rank were permitted to enter.

Yet now, not only had they entered the conference room, they had also brought Lord Marshal, who had always seemed untouchable to them, here under guard.

Along with their nervousness, a sense of pride unlike any they had ever felt welled up inside them.

"Bang—"

Just then, the tightly shut conference room doors were thrown open with a crash.

Vice Admiral Menard stormed into the room, furious. Right behind him came Akainu, also a Headquarters Vice Admiral.

"Marshal Sengoku?"

As soon as he entered the conference room, Menard's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of Sengoku sitting in the Marshal's chair. He stood frozen for several seconds before suddenly coming to his senses. Turning to Hound, he shouted, "Hound, what in the world is going on? Have you joined the rebellion too?"

Hound shrugged slightly and replied coolly, "Menard, please calm down. If you keep making a scene, I won't go easy on you just because we're colleagues! A lot of people have died tonight. If you want to be one of them, I can make that happen!"

At this, Menard took a sudden step forward.

"Menard!"

Before Menard could reach Hound, Sengoku spoke up sharply. "Sit down!"

Just then, Akainu walked over. He patted Menard on the shoulder, then took the empty seat to Sengoku's right.

Menard didn't sit down at once. He glared at Hound, eyes wide with anger.

As if he knew what Menard was thinking, Hound stepped forward in defiance and said sternly, "Menard, I'm ordering you to sit down. Otherwise, this will be where you die!"

As soon as Hound finished speaking, the soldiers standing on either side of the room raised their guns, their icy muzzles aimed straight at Menard.

"Marshal Sengoku!"

"This is treason! Akira has rebelled!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out from beyond the conference room doors, urgent and panicked.

Before anyone inside could react, several figures rushed into the room.

The man at the front was also a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, named Stainless. Right behind him were Urban, a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral with flowing hair and a pair of tusks, and Red King, a Rear Admiral with six chins.

As soon as they entered, the three men, who had been in such a hurry moments ago, froze in place.

Feeling the room's tense, hostile atmosphere, they exchanged a tacit swallow, then silently walked over and sat down to Sengoku's left.

Seeing this, Menard stopped confronting Hound and promptly took the seat beside Akainu.

It wasn't that he had backed down. Rather, more and more of his colleagues from the same faction were gathering in the conference room, and Marshal Sengoku, known for his strategic brilliance, remained silent. Menard naturally chose to hold back for now and wait to see how things unfolded.

As soon as Stainless and the others sat down, a clear set of footsteps sounded from outside the doors.

Momousagi, wearing a Vice Admiral's coat, strode into the conference room. To everyone's surprise, she went straight to the empty seat diagonally opposite Sengoku and sat down.

As soon as Momousagi was seated, two Rear Admirals and more than a dozen soldiers who had followed her lined up behind her.

"Gion, what does this mean?"

Seeing that Gion had taken a seat she normally wasn't entitled to, Menard's expression changed. He asked grimly, "Have you joined the rebellion too?"

Gion didn't answer Menard. Instead, she looked at Sengoku with a hint of apology and nodded slightly. "Marshal Sengoku, I'm sorry about what happened tonight. For the sake of true justice, I can only choose to follow Lord Akira!"

At her words, Menard, Akainu, Stainless, and the others all stared at her in shock.

When they'd first seen Gion enter the conference room, they'd assumed the rebels had "invited" her there too. They hadn't expected her to have already switched sides to Akira—and to address him as Lord Akira.

That meant Gion hadn't merely chosen to stand alongside Akira. She had chosen to pledge her allegiance to him.

Of course, none of that was the important thing.

What mattered was that Gion was a candidate for Admiral, a swordswoman with the greatest chance of becoming one of the next Three Admirals. Someone with such a bright future had chosen to pledge allegiance to a young Vice Admiral who had only recently risen through the ranks.

"True justice?"

A hint of confusion crossed Sengoku's eyes. He was even more curious about Gion's choice than Menard and the others.

"That's right. True justice!"

Gion nodded and continued unhurriedly, "Lord Akira told me some things about the World Government. At first, I didn't believe him. I even thought he was exaggerating. Even after I followed his advice and sought confirmation from Vegapunk in the Science Division, I was still only half-convinced!"

"It wasn't until I went to the Holy Land on rotation that I believed Lord Akira's claims weren't just alarmist talk!"

Sengoku's expression shifted. "Vegapunk? The Holy Land? What exactly did he tell you?"

Gion didn't answer directly. Instead, she asked, "Have you ever been to the royal palace in the Holy Land, Marshal Sengoku? The palace built eight hundred years ago, when twenty kings founded the World Government? In the palace's great hall stands the Void Throne!"

"We all know that no one is allowed to sit on the Void Throne, because it represents equality among the twenty nations that founded the World Government. It represents the principle that no one can sit above the others and become a dictator."

"However, according to what I've learned, someone has been trying to sit on the Void Throne all these years!"

"Impossible!" Sengoku sprang to his feet, staring at Gion's calm face. In his agitation, he called her by her code name. "Momousagi, that's a lie Akira made up so you'd help him launch this rebellion! You should know that the reason Akira was able to take control of the situation so quickly tonight wasn't that he was desperate to fight back before being transferred to Enies Lobby. He had already been planning all of this in secret!"

"Marshal Sengoku, I'm not a child!" Gion's expression remained calm. "Lord Akira told me about these things three years ago. At the time, he told me not to rush to investigate, because it could put my life in danger. But I've continued investigating in secret over the past three years. Four months ago, I finally uncovered a clue, and I was able to confirm that the so-called highest authorities of the World Government—the Five Elders in the Chamber of Power—were nothing more than someone's puppets."

"Because behind them is a hidden power, someone who aspires to become a dictator!"

At this point, Gion's composure finally wavered. She slowly stood and said something that stunned everyone: "That hidden power is living in a place in the Holy Land called the Flower Chamber. The Five Elders call him—Lord Im."