Contradictions and Rivalry

Messi and Ronaldo had once been the Navy's brightest prospects.

But Garp and Sengoku, chosen by Admiral Steel Bone Kong, had risen rapidly and were arguably even more outstanding.

To make Messi and Ronaldo more competitive with Garp and Sengoku, the Four Seas Navy had given them two rare and powerful Devil Fruits.

After all, Kong had taken the finest Devil Fruits from the Navy's secret vault. No one knew who had received the Hurricane Fruit, but Sengoku had undoubtedly eaten the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu.

That had caused considerable resentment within the Navy, especially from Messi and Ronaldo, who had long had their eyes on those two Devil Fruits.

Messi had wanted the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu; Ronaldo had wanted the Hurricane Fruit.

That left them no choice but to seek other Devil Fruits.

The Mythical Zoan Lightning Mouse Fruit and the Paramecia Motion-Noise Fruit.

The powerful nations of the Four Seas backed them. They did not want the Four Seas Navy to weaken, since a strong force helped protect their interests.

They had even reached into Marine Headquarters.

The Four Seas Navy's growing influence had shown them its potential.

They kept supporting the Four Seas Navy, hoping to make it their own. Through constant collusion and contact, they sought to pit it against Marine Headquarters, which had the World Government's backing.

Naturally, this had angered the World Government. Before it knew it, the Four Seas Navy had grown this powerful.

Its ties to the kingdoms of the Four Seas had loosened the World Government's and Marine Headquarters' control over it.

The World Government had never expected that, even as it used the Navy to control the world, the kingdoms would eat away at the Navy's strength—and at the foundations of its own rule.

Behind the naval officers of