Hero?

"What's going on? Is it an earthquake? Has Niu Gete gone mad?!"

"It doesn't matter if it's him or not, we should focus on how to leave this island! I think this island is about to sink!"

The effects of Oran's gift were still ongoing. The explosion at the center had triggered a chain reaction. Although the canyon terrain had limited the blast radius, the immense force had affected the entire island.

The Celestial Dragons, under Navy protection, began to evacuate. However, it wasn't easy to safely escort a group of useless people under these circumstances, as they had no teleportation abilities.

"The Celestial Dragons' ship capsized! Hurry and save them!"

"Saint Rodriani fell! Pull him up quickly!"

The Navy was in a frenzy, and the pirates were also looking for their escape routes. Those who could fly, like the Golden Lion, had the easiest time.

As for Rocks?

The structure of the Rocks Pirates meant that no one would fight to the death for their captain.

Rumble...

Under the impact, the high mountains of God Valley began to collapse.

Hex Crystals contained immense energy. It was this special energy that allowed Hex Craftsmen to create one incredible invention after another.

Destruction was far easier than creation. To make something run stably, one had to consider energy stability. Self-destruction, however, did not require such thought; one only needed to figure out how to unleash maximum power.

"Kaido! This is for you. Rocks is probably finished. What do you say, want to join my pirate crew?"

"Ugh-gh-gh, Linlin, you know my answer."

"Maa maa~ Maa maa, that's true. Don't die, Kaido. Let's meet again if we have the chance!"

The pirates with strength on the island began to leave using various means. Kaido also ate the Devil Fruit gifted by Charlotte Linlin and transformed into an Azure Dragon, flying away.

As for why he could fly as soon as he ate it, it could only be said that this was normal. Those who couldn't even use the most basic ability of a Devil Fruit were the problematic ones.

A few days later.

South Blue, Kingdom of Sorbet.

This was Bear's homeland and one of the locations where Bear sent his beacons. Some people were sent to this country using the power of the Hex Gates. Many did not choose to stay but left by ship after resting.

They couldn't stay together forever and needed to find new ways of life.

"Mr. Oran, I'm leaving. Thank you for saving my life. I'll be waiting for you on Merfolk Island!"

Shak knelt formally by the sea before turning and diving into the ocean. As a merman, he didn't need to rely on ships like humans.

Merfolk Island was etched into the very memory of his race, and mermen naturally had ways to return there.

Shak was not the first to leave. Those who remained in the Kingdom of Sorbet were now the minority.

In an old church, which was Bear's former home.

Ivankov was currently criticizing the newspaper in his hand. Even before Oran entered, his disdainful tone could be heard.

"Let's see, the supremely evil pirate Rocks attacked God Valley in the West Blue for unknown reasons and kidnapped Celestial Dragons who were traveling. Traveling? Those guys really know how to spin things."

"What else? They won't admit to a massacre... No, this action is even worse than a massacre. You've known the World Government's face for a long time, haven't you?"

"Oran, you're back? I know, but there isn't a single word in this newspaper that can be trusted. Especially this reporter named Morgans, who wrote a pile of articles without getting a single thing right!

He has no idea what happened on the island and is just making wild guesses.

Hero Garp fought for days to defeat Rocks, saving countless Navy soldiers and World Nobles. It's sickening just to read about it.

I think this newspaper should be renamed 'The Legend of Hero Garp.'

You and Bear are the real heroes. You at least saved four thousand people from that island!"

This was the result Ivankov had calculated. Freed slaves, the original inhabitants of God Valley, plus those Bear had sent flying – a scattered estimate of that number.

"It's normal. As those in power, guiding public opinion is a basic method. Those World Government guys are already doing a poor job in this regard. I think they want to use this opportunity to promote the Navy's strength and aid their rule.

As for that so-called hero, it's a joke. If they wanted to, they could elevate a dog to that position.

Is there no information about Celestial Dragon casualties? If there's only one, it's a bit of a loss."

Oran didn't care who was the Navy's hero; Koby was already considered the future of the Navy.

Although Roger and Garp had joined forces to defeat Rocks, the alliance between the Navy and pirates was something that could never be revealed. In the end, all of Roger's contributions were erased, and all the credit was given to Garp.

The Navy had also issued a gag order. News about God Valley could still be seen now, but according to the World Government's plan, this event would soon be completely hidden in the darkness of history and never mentioned again.

"Let me see... Detailed information. The newspaper only mentions slight casualties. This reporter is really useless."

Ivankov flipped further, finding no valuable news, only the World Government's platitudes and arrest warrants for the remaining members of the Rocks Pirates.

After all, in the newspaper, the root of all this destruction was attributed to the pirates.

Meanwhile, in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, the atmosphere was extremely tense.

Even World Government officials were cautious here. Everyone knew that the Celestial Dragons were in a very bad mood after their trip, and many people had already been executed by the Celestial Dragons for various inexplicable reasons.

"Everyone, this is the current situation. Elatin was brutally killed by the enemy, and five others died from the aftershocks of the explosion. The injured are countless."

Gringu was holding a meeting with members of the Divine Knights. Also present as observers were members of various Celestial Dragon families. For the Celestial Dragons, this was a major event unprecedented in hundreds of years.

And there was an even more troublesome problem: the massive explosion on God Valley, coupled with the battles between several monsters on the island, had caused the island of God Valley to disappear from the sea.

The Celestial Dragons wanted to investigate the culprits, but for a time, they could find no clues. Oran's appearance had even triggered a chain reaction; for instance, Bear did not encounter Saturn on God Valley, making it even harder for the Celestial Dragons to track information.

The outside world had sealed off news of God Valley, but the Celestial Dragons' internal circles had not. This event ultimately became a great unsolved mystery in the history of the Celestial Dragons