Shanks fell into a daze. They had been drinking together just a while ago... but now...
The crewmates around him watched him with worried faces.
"Boss."
"Captain..."
Their overlapping, quiet calls brought Shanks back to his senses, and he waved a hand.
"I'm fine."
He stared fixedly at Bullet's name and photograph.
His crewmates spoke up.
"Captain, should we head back now?"
Shanks finally calmed down.
"No."
"We'll stay in Foosha Village for a while first."
"We'll face him sooner or later."
His clenched fist unconsciously tore the newspaper in his grip. Mr. Rayleigh, and Mihawk...
The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
The sword-bearing member of the Five Elders hung up the call and snorted coldly.
"Useless."
"Sure enough, they failed again."
The burly Elder said,
"That was to be expected, wasn't it?"
"Zoan fruits possess wills of their own."
"Let alone this fruit, which bears the name of a god..."
The tall, thin Elder frowned slightly.
"Send someone to retrieve it."
"The time that man foretold is almost upon us."
"Our immediate priority is to eliminate every uncertain factor."
The curly-haired Elder shook his head.
"Even if we do that, how much better could the outcome be?"
"For hundreds of years, successive governments have never stopped trying to retrieve it."
"But it simply never reaches our hands."
The burly Elder nodded.
"Exactly."
"Besides, that fruit has long since become a legend even to us, hasn't it?"
"Over the past several hundred years, not one of its successive owners has awakened it."
"Our immediate priority is to bring order to the world."
"The trouble on the Grand Line isn't over, and now unrest has begun in the Four Blues."
The tall, thin Elder remained unconvinced.
"I disagree."
"If it posed no danger..."
"Why would the World Government deliberately give that