Extremely Dangerous! The World Government Has a Headache, and His Bounty Soars

The Grand Line, Marine Headquarters, on the island of Marineford at the center of the world.

Inside the conference room, nearly all the senior officers of Vice Admiral rank and above had gathered, except for those away on missions.

Not only that, a Projection Den Den Mushi sat right in the middle of the spacious conference room.

The image shown by the Den Den Mushi was of the Five Elders, seated in the Hall of Power in the Holy Land.

"The Five Elders..."

Some of the Headquarters Vice Admirals present swallowed nervously.

Aside from the Fleet Admiral and the Admirals, many of them were seeing the Five Elders for the first time.

These five represented the World's Highest Authority!

Even through the screen, their imposing presence was enough to command respect.

"Saint Charlos is dead, Kong. Don't you think you owe us an explanation?"

The Five Elders immediately shouted at Kong when they saw him. Their anger was palpable even through the screen.

"Things aren't the way you imagine!" Kong began explaining what had happened.

The Five Elders didn't interrupt. They listened quietly as Kong recounted the events.

Whenever he reached an important point, the Five Elders' expressions darkened further.

"Kong, is what you're saying true?"

After hearing him out, the Five Elders' faces had turned ashen. They asked in disbelief.

"It's absolutely true. Garp experienced it firsthand!" Kong declared, pounding his chest.

"An extraordinary talent who can learn anything just by seeing it once!"

"His three areas of expertise-Swordsmanship, Haki, and Hand-to-Hand Combat-are all exceptional. He's at least at the top level!"

"He also has the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit!"

"If that's true, then it's no surprise Saint Charlos died at his hands."

"More terrifying still, Rono is only seventeen!"

The Five Elders carefully turned over Kong's words in their minds.

Every single thing he'd said gave them a massive headache!

Most importantly, after joining the Rocks Pirates, Rono was bound to grow even more terrifyingly powerful!

"Damn it! Rono already hated the Celestial Dragons, and now he's joined the Rocks Pirates!" The more the Five Elders thought about it, the more their heads ached.

Those two meeting was surely like rain after a long drought, like dry tinder meeting a raging flame.

The seas were about to be stirred up again.

"There's no point in worrying ourselves sick. At this point, all we can do is step up our efforts to strengthen our forces!"

Another Elder chose to face reality.

"That's all we can do. Marine Headquarters has already begun recruiting talent from around the world!"

"I hear we've recently found three promising candidates!"

"Kuzan, Kāsasuki, and Borsalino!"

"All three have Logia Devil Fruits: one has the Ice-Ice Fruit, one the Glint-Glint Fruit, and the other the Magma-Magma Fruit!"

"They're all powerful Logia Devil Fruits. And of course, all three are devoted to Justice!"

Kong nodded, offering a piece of good news.

Sure enough, the Five Elders' expressions eased considerably when they heard it.

Though the Rocks Pirates had gained a monster of a genius, the Marines hadn't come away empty-handed either!

Three powerful Logia users, with limitless potential!

If they were properly trained, the Marines' strength would increase tremendously.

"Zephyr, from now on, make sure you train these three. Add Garp's son, Dragon, to their number, and do everything you can to help them grow as quickly as possible."

"Sengoku, you should help Zephyr train the rookies too. We urgently need fresh blood to strengthen the Marines."

Kong then began assigning everyone their duties.

Sengoku and Zephyr both nodded.

Their own strength had more or less reached Admiral Level, and they had hit a bottleneck!

Emperor-Admiral Level powerhouses were among the strongest in the world!

To advance further, they would have to rely on their own talent and a stroke of luck.

In short, it was nearly impossible to become stronger in the short term.

Training rookies and helping promising newcomers improve was the most cost-effective thing to do right now.

"By the way, where's Garp?"

At this point, Kong noticed that an important figure seemed to be missing from the conference room.

"Garp? Ever since Rono got under his skin, he's been training like mad. It's been several days now!" Sengoku then opened the window.

The first thing everyone heard was a rumbling sound.

It seemed both far away and close by.

"That's..."

Everyone looked out the window, completely stunned!

On a mountain not far from Marineford, a figure was repeatedly punching the mountainside!

Each time he punched, the mountain shook, and huge boulders kept tumbling down its slopes!

The mountain was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye!

What made everyone's scalps tingle even more was that, before long, the mountain had been flattened!

The figure immediately moved to another nearby mountain and continued hammering away!

The guy was completely using mountains as punching bags!

"That Garp..." Kong looked on and nodded in satisfaction.

The only person at Marine Headquarters who could use an entire mountain as a training punching bag was probably Garp!

Though Garp had already reached Admiral Level, Kong knew that with his potential, he could still break through!

"Finally, send his Bounty Poster around the world at once!"

"Warn people about how dangerous this guy is!"

"Hey, hey, have you heard? [Most Evil Criminal] Rono killed a Celestial Dragon!"

"What, he killed a Celestial Dragon? How could that be? Didn't the Marines send an Admiral?"

"Of course they did! [Iron Fist] Garp was the first to arrive at the scene!"

"What? [Iron Fist] Garp went too? He's been the Marine making the biggest waves lately!"

"It wasn't just [Iron Fist] Garp. Kong, Buddha Sengoku, and Black Arm Zephyr all went too!"

"What! So many powerful people went?"

"Of course, but Rono still got away, and he killed the Celestial Dragon!"

"My God, he killed a Celestial Dragon with all those powerful people there! Doesn't that mean the World Government and the Marines must hate him?"

"Definitely! His Bounty has already soared. It's reached 1.5 billion!"

"1.5 billion?!! My God, this is only his second time getting a Bounty Poster!"

In the bars of the Sabaody Archipelago, nearly ninety percent of the people were discussing today's newspaper!

Everyone was deeply shocked by the events reported in it.

People talked among themselves, afraid they might miss some detail.

This scene wasn't limited to the Sabaody Archipelago. Nearly every bar in the world looked the same.

"Hahahaha, I can't believe it, Rono. You've beaten me to it again!"

On the New World stretch of the Grand Line, aboard an ordinary sailing ship, Roger laughed heartily as he held the newspaper.

By then, five or six people stood behind Roger.

Clearly, after leaving Rono, Roger had recruited quite a few reliable companions.

"[Most Evil Criminal] Rono? Captain, do you know this guy?"

Rayleigh, Gaban, and a few other crew members crowded around and asked, thoroughly curious.