The salty, damp sea breeze carried the stench of gunpowder, while the dull crash of waves against the hull sounded especially piercing across the deathly silent battlefield.
Just then, the snow-white Den Den Mushi suddenly twitched its antennae. An aged, authoritative voice carrying unquestionable power slowly emerged from it, reaching the ears of everyone present with perfect clarity:
"Vice Admiral Gion."
The voice from the Den Den Mushi held not the slightest ripple of emotion, yet it bore the absolute authority that had ruled these seas for centuries. Each word struck the ocean's surface.
"The Uchiha Clan may settle in the West Blue, and Origin Island may be granted to them as well. But in exchange, I require the Uchiha Clan to send one clan member to Mary Geoise."
The instant those words fell, Gion's face turned deathly pale. Her grip around Kompira's hilt tightened sharply, her knuckles turning bluish white.
It sounded as though they had relented, granting the other side permission to settle there legally. But which of the Navy's high-ranking officers present could fail to see the scheme hidden beneath those words?
It sounded pleasant enough—"requesting one clan member to go to Mary Geoise"—but everyone here knew the truth perfectly well.
Bartholomew Kuma, the "Tyrant" and one of the Shichibukai, the king of the Sorbet Kingdom, had been tricked into going to Mary Geoise. In the end, he had been completely transformed.
What was more, Kizaru had casually mentioned a few things to her before, while Chief Staff Officer Tsuru had occasionally hinted at it as well. Deep within Mary Geoise, the World Government hid countless unspeakable human experiments. When had they ever not used living people as expendable materials?
Far out on the sea, Uchiha Fugaku's brows instantly furrowed into a tight knot. The patterns in