"They-they captured over a hundred Devil Fruit Users. They seem-they seem to be trying to resurrect an ancient demon!"
When the blood-soaked intelligence officer exhausted his last ounce of strength to roar out that despairing report, his voice choked with tears, the air in Marine Headquarters' most classified conference room seemed to be sucked dry in an instant.
Dead silence.
A silence so absolute it could stop a heart.
For the first time, a trace of uncertainty appeared on Fleet Admiral "Steel Bone" Kong's rock-solid face. His hawklike gaze remained fixed on the intelligence officer, who had already passed out, as though he meant to dig out the fear buried deep within the man's soul.
An ancient demon?
What was that?
What exactly was that lunatic Rocks trying to do?
Clatter.
The black document envelope slipped from Sengoku's hand. The newly drafted proposal for Yas's future assignments scattered across the floor. He whipped his head around and exchanged looks with Zephyr and Vice Admiral Tsuru beside him. In one another's eyes, the Marines' three foremost strategists saw unprecedented shock and horror.
"Hachinosu. Rocks's main force." Vice Admiral Tsuru's aged voice had grown somewhat hoarse from sheer shock. "We spent decades working on that place, sacrificing countless elite agents just to barely plant a single operative there. Now we've lost contact with Bluebird. That means we're completely blind."
"Being blind isn't the problem, Tsuru!" Sengoku slammed his fist onto the conference table. The table, forged from a special alloy, groaned under the strain. "The problem is that so-called sacrificial ritual! Over a hundred Devil Fruit Users! Where the hell did Rocks and his pack of lunatics capture so many ability users? If they succeed in resurrecting that thing, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
"Consequences?"
At some point, Garp, who had been snoring away in his hospital bed, had sat up. His right arm was still in a cast, suspended from his neck. But his usually sleepy eyes now flashed with a bloodthirsty chill that made hearts tremble.
"What other consequences could there be?" Garp grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth, but his smile was as cold as the New World's ancient ice. "It'll just mean us old bastards having another real fight with that bastard! We failed to kill him last time. This time, I'll twist his head off and kick it around like a ball!"
Despite his words, Garp's left hand gripped the edge of the bed so hard that his knuckles turned white.
Only he-only someone who had truly fought that man, Rocks D. Zebek-understood just how terrifying, how insane he was! That man's ambition was to become King of the World! And now, that lunatic had begun meddling in a forbidden realm that even the Poneglyphs treated with profound secrecy!
"This isn't the time for tough talk, Garp!" Sengoku growled. "Hachinosu is Rocks's lair, the most dangerous den of monsters in the New World! It's not just Rocks himself on that island. There's Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Big Mom, and Kaido. Those future emperors of the sea are all mad dogs aboard his ship right now! What are we supposed to stop him with? Throw all of Marine Headquarters into that pit?"
Sengoku's questions plunged the entire conference room back into despairing silence.
Indeed, what could they stop him with?
The Marines seemed powerful now. Yet before those monsters in the New World, they were utterly outmatched. It seemed all they could do was watch helplessly as that evil ritual, capable of overturning the world, moved step by step toward completion.
Amid that atmosphere of despair, so heavy it was almost tangible, Fleet Admiral Kong's bell-like voice slowly rang out.
"No."
Fleet Admiral Kong slowly rose to his feet. His towering figure, like a demonic god, cast everyone beneath its shadow.
"We still have one other choice."
Everyone instinctively followed Fleet Admiral Kong's gaze, their eyes settling together on the enormous Visual Den Den Mushi screen at the other end of the conference room.
On the screen, the boy covered in tubes, who should have been in a deep coma, had at some point slowly sat upright.
The bandages around his chest had split apart under the raging vitality within his body, exposing horrific wounds that were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. There was not a trace of confusion in his ice-blue eyes. Only pure coldness, as though it could devour everything.
He had heard.
He had heard about Rocks, about the sacrifice, about the demon. He had heard the profound helplessness and despair of the Marines' highest leadership.
Then he smiled.
It was a crazed, bloodthirsty smile, brimming with endless fighting spirit.
The Visual Den Den Mushi clearly captured every minute change of expression on his still-bloodstained face.
It also clearly captured his hoarse, utterly arrogant voice.
"So noisy."
Yas slowly raised his head. His icy eyes seemed to pierce the screen and stare straight at everyone in the conference room.
"A bunch of old geezers sitting here sighing. Planning to cry that Rocks guy to death?"
Everyone present was stunned by his words.
"Yas! Watch your language!" Sengoku instinctively snapped.
But Yas paid him no attention at all.
His gaze finally settled on the one man who made him feel threatened. Garp.
"Hey, you in the dog-head hat."
Yas's voice was quiet, but it carried an unquestionable tone of command.
"That Rocks guy. Is he tougher than you?"
Garp froze.
He had never expected that the brat who had just put him in the hospital would say this first thing after waking up.
He instinctively touched his still-bandaged fist, then looked at the boy on the screen, who seemed as though he might die the next second, yet whose presence was more ferocious than ever. Suddenly, he burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha! Tough! Of course he's tough! That bastard is the toughest son of a bitch I've ever seen in my life!"
"Is that so?"
At that moment, the light in Yas's eyes blazed to its utmost, as though two stars had exploded within them.
"Now that sounds interesting."
He slowly pulled away the tubes connecting his body to the life-support equipment.
Under everyone's horrified gaze, he stepped barefoot out of the hospital bed, one step at a time.
With every step, his wounds healed a little more, and his imposing presence rose another notch.
Finally, he stood before the camera. Only a few faint scars remained on that virtually perfect body, filled with explosive strength.
He slowly crooked a finger at the utterly petrified Marine leadership in the conference room. His lips spread into a cruel curve.
"Enough bullshit."
"Tell me where that Rocks guy is."
"I'll go crush him."
Fleet Admiral Kong's heart began pounding uncontrollably. He looked at the outrageously arrogant boy on the screen, then at the top-tier fighters beside him, all steeped in gloom because of Rocks. An idea that even he considered insane began growing irrepressibly in his mind.
Perhaps dealing with a lunatic really only required another lunatic-one even crazier and stronger?
"Sengoku!" Fleet Admiral Kong abruptly turned his head, his voice commanding and urgent. "That proposal you just made-I approve it!"
"Now! Immediately! This instant!"
Fleet Admiral Kong's gaze returned to the screen. It collided violently with Yas's icy stare, sending fierce sparks flying.
"Captain Yas!"
With all his strength, he roared the order that represented the Marines' highest will.
"Your first mission isn't to clear the way!"
"It's to hunt!"
Before you continue