Perhaps Sengoku had initially been shocked by the strength of the forces the World Government and the Celestial Dragons had kept hidden.
But once he knew all this and could roughly gauge the World Government's strength, his mind settled down.
The unknown and the known inspired different feelings.
Especially since, as the Navy's Acting Fleet Admiral, he knew something of the World Government's internal affairs.
His intelligence also allowed him to draw his own conclusions.
That bloody war had essentially exposed all the World Government's strength.
Even if it still had some hidden forces, they would amount to no more than five Top Combatants.
It was precisely that terrifying strength, combined with the World Government's legitimate authority, that kept the Navy firmly under its thumb.
The difference was that this situation had been changing ever since the Rocks era.
Looking at the broader timeline, Sengoku could clearly perceive the changes in the World Government's strength.
Had revealing greater strength made the World Government more intimidating?
No, it had not. The World Government was growing weaker by the day.
The more it revealed, the more it showed how unstable its position had become.
That fact could not be concealed.
Even the Five Elders had entered the fray themselves.
Although the Navy's strength was now recovering.
In truth, it had not recovered by much.
Its strength was only superficial.
In wars against pirates, High-End Combatants and Top Combatants were what mattered most.
The World Government had a training system that stretched back eight hundred years.
It had maintained its powerful position for a long time.
Once that structure was broken, restoring it in a short time would be difficult.
The heavenly tribute, wartime losses, and all manner of other factors hindered the World Government's recovery.
For at least the next twenty years,