Imu Appears

Time passed second by second. The Marine high command, led by Sengoku, gazed up at the sky, hoping for a miracle, hoping the Five Elders would come back to life.

One minute, three minutes, five minutes.

As time went by, everyone's spirits sank lower and lower.

The Five Elders, the supreme rulers of the World Government, seemed to be truly dead.

So... were they supposed to keep fighting?

The officers present all looked to Sengoku, waiting for orders from the Fleet Admiral.

"Are the Five Elders really dead?" Sengoku thought bitterly.

If word of this got out across the seas, it would deal a devastating blow to the World Government.

Never mind the pirate forces that had never submitted to the World Government's rule. Even the Shichibukai, who openly cooperated with it, and its Affiliated Nations might waver—or even leave the World Government.

After all, the World Government did not treat its Affiliated Nations kindly. The exorbitant Heavenly Tribute weighed on every one of them.

If not for the World Government's overwhelming military might, and the God's Trial—launched by the Celestial Dragons, which destroyed one country every three years among non-member nations and those Affiliated Nations unable to pay the Heavenly Tribute—

there would not be so many countries across these seas willing to become Affiliated Nations.

The World Government's relatively stable rule on the surface was built entirely on its military might.

If news spread that the Five Elders had fallen and the Marine high command had suffered a crushing defeat, the countries and forces that had endured oppression for so long would surely rebel and try to side with Kizaru.

As long as Kizaru exploited those countries even a little less than the World Government did, he could win over countless followers.

By then, the order of this