Outside the palace hall.
The Five Elders and Gringo were the first to emerge. They stopped in front of the Knights of God, while Sengoku and the five others who followed him walked straight over to face them.
The Five Elders were all feeling extremely conflicted.
Of the conditions Akira had proposed, none of the others would have much impact on them.
Only the rotation of the Five Elders' seats was something they truly couldn't accept.
Akira's intentions were obvious. With full control of the Navy, he had no need to come to the Holy Land. He could simply lead the Navy out of the World Government.
The reason Akira hadn't done so was simple. If he led the Navy—a massive war machine—out of the World Government and made it their enemy, both sides would suffer enormous losses. They might even bring each other down, benefiting the Revolutionary Army, the lawless pirate forces of the Grand Line, and all the Affiliated Nations.
Of course, this was also a problem Lord Im had to face.
Lord Im and Akira both wanted to avoid reaching that point. That was why they had chosen to sit down and talk.
One side wanted to keep the Navy, that massive war machine.
The other wanted to secure greater benefits and power from this coup.
Still...
They all understood the stakes. But why did it have to be the rotation of the Five Elders' seats?
Rotating the seats meant any one of them could be replaced. They had wielded the highest power in the Chamber of Power for so many years that they had grown used to it—and enjoyed it. Naturally, they couldn't accept being rotated out so suddenly.
But things had come to this. They had no choice but to face reality.
Gunko watched the