As they watched Gern stand on the stage before the eyes of the world, barely able to suppress the upward curl of his lips,
the Five Elders looked worse than displeased. They looked as though they had swallowed a huge lump of something unspeakable.
His proposal to relocate Marine Headquarters, in particular,
had caught them completely off guard.
Before this, apart from Sengoku, who had already reached an understanding with Gern, and Tsuru, whose keen mind had allowed her to vaguely guess his intentions,
everyone across the seas, including the Five Elders, had taken it for granted
that Marine Headquarters would be rebuilt on Marineford's old site.
Yet Gern had exploited that very blind spot to play a wild card no one had seen coming!
From the very beginning, the World Government had kept its guard up, fearing that Gern would stop at nothing to seize the position of Fleet Admiral.
They had even prepared a chain of schemes to smother him with praise, divide public opinion, and sideline him with an empty title.
And the result?
Gern had no interest in fighting for a "position" that still came with shackles.
He simply bypassed that dead end and followed the "path of honor" the World Government had laid out for him,
personally restoring Sengoku to that position before the entire world, displaying perfect "loyalty" and "regard for the greater good."
Then came the dazzling honors and the title of "Grand Commander" that the World Government itself had bestowed on him.
Now, however, they had become the strongest, most radiant shield of "legitimacy" for every demand of his that seemed "unreasonable,"
or even downright "rebellious"!
Oppose Gern?
That would mean slapping the World Government in its own face!
It would mean repudiating the "wise decision" and "supreme honors" they had just