Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Inside the grand conference hall, from Fleet Admiral Sengoku of Marine Headquarters down to the junior warrant officers, every officer had gathered in the hall that day.
The last time Marine Headquarters' officers had assembled so completely was when they were rewarded for successfully carrying out Roger's public execution.
After so many years, Marine Headquarters' officer conference was being convened once again.
And the culprit forcing Marine Headquarters to make such a huge move was a newspaper distributed across the world.
"Click—"
The lights in the conference hall dimmed. On the stage at the front, Brannew, then a Marine Rear Admiral, walked to the side of the projection screen and pressed the remote in his hand.
A newspaper was immediately projected onto the enormous screen behind him.
The headline on that page read—"BIG MOM Defeated, the Path to Becoming Pirate King Revealed!"
Below the huge headline was a photograph of an archipelago.
The photograph had been taken not far from the islands. From it, one could see that the islands' surfaces were covered in shattered stone, rubble, and ashes left behind after vegetation had been scorched away.
The archipelago in the photograph was a dead land devoid of even a trace of life.
"This is Cake Island in Whole Cake Island, BIG MOM's territory."
"According to reports, former Marine Headquarters Admiral Tsugikuni Yoriichi invaded Cake Island. His objective was the Poneglyph in BIG MOM's possession."
As Brannew spoke, he lightly pressed the remote. The photograph of the archipelago printed in the newspaper enlarged on the screen. At the same time, a new photograph appeared in the lower right corner.
That photograph showed Cake Island before its destruction. It had been taken from far offshore. Although the details on the island were not especially clear, Cake Island in