"We should be able to hear it, right?"
Buggy's muttering still stood out a little amid the chaos of the night.
The moment Akainu heard that voice, his fists clenched.
This was the man who had teamed up with the World Economic News during the Summit War, broadcasting the whole spectacle and pushing the pressure on the Marines through the roof.
The public execution was supposed to intimidate pirates and weaken the Yonko. Instead, in front of the entire world, someone had put a Celestial Dragon up for auction.
And he'd brazenly killed three Celestial Dragons.
At most, two hundred million of Buggy's 1.2-billion-Beli bounty was for his strength. The remaining billion was for his nerve.
The Marines had lost every shred of face.
"Good. Now we can get back to what we were discussing, Your Excellency Saint Miklos."
"What was it you said just now? Every three years, the Celestial Dragons hold some kind of event, didn't you?"
Buggy's voice came from somewhere along the street.
That man had taken another Celestial Dragon hostage!
Had the CP Organization been raised on filth? How had they failed to make even a sound?
"I'll cut off the broadcast. Gion, go find Saint Miklos."
Akainu made his plans with a cold expression.
That brazen Joker had shown himself again. He'd better be prepared to die for it.
As for cutting off the broadcast, Akainu had to handle that personally.
The brazen Joker's seemingly random actions all carried a strong sense of purpose.
After manipulating Saint Charmark, he had quickly taken another Celestial Dragon hostage. He was moving without pause, keeping the Marines, the CP Organization, and every Celestial Dragon focused on him.
Being forced to react put them at a disadvantage.
But Akainu had no choice but to follow the other man's lead.
He could already imagine how grim the Gorosei must look right now.
An annihilation event held once every three years.
The Celestial Dragons reveled in it, but for the Marines in the middle ranks, it was the kind of thing that could shatter their faith in an instant.
If they gathered the strength of nations in the name of justice, they had to be prepared for that name to turn against them.
But not yet!
Not every Marine treated those two words like they meant nothing.
At least, not among the lower- and middle-ranking Marines or the people of the Member Nations.
Akainu's hand clenched, turning into slowly flowing, terrible magma.
He still needed the Marines' strength to carry out his own justice in the name of justice!
Along with his precise grasp of timing, Akainu had learned something else about the brazen Joker.
That bastard always found a way to force you to play by his rules.
The broadcast was being supported by Morgans and Holbach.
As an information mogul, Morgans had clearly put a lot of effort into transmitting sound.
After all, he'd even managed to pull off a live broadcast.
A radio broadcast was no challenge for him.
Holbach's support, meanwhile, came in the form of the equipment.
The voice was coming from a figure wearing a dark robe and hood, his head bowed the whole time.
His chest was hollow, shaped into a massive loudspeaker.
A dark-skinned Den Den Mushi crouched inside.
It shook its head with a wide grin, imitating the signal coming from the other end.
"So, as you say..."
"Every three years, the Celestial Dragons choose a Non-member Nation to host their Hunting Ground."
"Y-yes. The people of that country are the prey. We hunt them as hard as we can so we can earn rewards."
The Den Den Mushi imitated Saint Miklos's frightened voice to perfection.
"I've taken part twice. Besides the commoners we use as prey, we also deliberately release some prisoners for the hunt. They're worth more points."
"But... but..."
His terrified tone made it easy to imagine a cold blade pressed against his throat.
"But what?"
The Joker's mocking voice was unmistakable. The weighty truth Saint Miklos had just revealed seemed to have done nothing to dampen his good mood.
Well, he enjoyed exposing such interesting truths.
Though they weren't as entertaining as the real face of his old friend.
But they'd do.
The Den Den Mushi's face turned.
"But ever since the God Valley Incident, every extra prisoner we use has to undergo a strict screening process."
"..."
"..."
"Is what the Celestial Dragon said true, Vice Admiral Momousagi?"
A Marine Soldier beside Gion suddenly stopped. He clutched his rifle, his face filled with unmistakable fear.
From the moment they enlisted, the Marines had been taught that the World Nobles were great, that they were descendants of the Creator, and that it was their ancestors—the twenty kings—who had established the order they now lived under.
They were the foundation upheld by the World Government and the Marines.
Everyone said it. Every page recorded it.
From childhood to old age, from the elderly to toddlers just learning to speak.
So even when they saw the World Nobles acting arrogant and disgusting...
Before they crossed a certain line, before people came to share a common understanding, the soldiers had simply buried their doubts about the World Nobles deep in their hearts and continued to uphold their justice.
But now, his worldview was beginning to crumble.
Gion's long legs came to a stop.
Though she was good at comforting people, she suddenly didn't know how to face this subordinate, whose expression was so lost.
She lightly pressed her red lips together.
But she hesitated only for a moment.
Then she strode forward again, her long legs moving in a straight line.
"The Joker is skilled at manipulating people. Don't take his words at face value."
Those words were clearly not enough to restore the soldier's suddenly shattered worldview.
But the Marines around him merely watched with cold eyes.
Like a powerful current, they swept him along.
Saint Miklos's residence wasn't far from Central Street. It was even closer to the heart of the Holy Land and the imposing Pangu City.
His status had nothing to do with him personally.
It all came from the name Markas.
One of the current Gorosei was a Markas.
Gion was quick. Once she passed the estate ahead, the range of her Observation Haki enveloped the entire Baroque-style building before her.
Three floors. In the room at the far end...
A masked life-form, facing one... two Den Den Mushi?
Gion had no intention of wasting time.
Her slender fingers rested on the hilt of Kompira. She bent her long legs and stepped through the air several times.
"Geppo."
"Could you tell us how you screen them, Your Excellency Saint Miklos?"
The Joker's voice still echoed through half the Holy Land.
"The screening..."
"Because of what happened last time, we now select them directly from the Marines."
"We pick some naive, hardworking people and send them to the Hunting Ground early, under the pretext of special training."
"Sometimes we say it's for a mission."
"But in their records, we write that they deserted."
"That way, no one will ever ask questions."
We're almost at thirty days now, everyone. Invest soon and you can still grab a little more~~
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