"That's right. They should have already launched their attack on the East Blue. If all five of the Five Elders make a move, that guy will definitely come too."
"I wonder how he's doing now. If he's still in the same condition as a year ago, dealing with this won't be a problem at all. We'll all be able to withdraw under his cover!"
Garp thought that if Shane's condition hadn't deteriorated and he was still at his peak from a year ago, dealing with the Five Elders would surely still be easy.
But...
What if Shane still hadn't recovered?
After the banquet on Hachinosu, Shane had vanished without a trace.
Garp also wondered whether that great battle had left Shane with any lasting damage.
A year ago.
No sooner had Shane disappeared than the middle-aged Five Elders revived. At first, everyone had felt indignant.
It meant those five really were immortal and indestructible, until people began encountering them around the world.
Only then did they discover that, in terms of individual strength, they weren't actually stronger than Garp, Roger, or Whitebeard.
Their immortal bodies were simply rather troublesome, and fighting them had also begun to reveal some secrets.
Namely, they weren't the former Five Elders.
Kong and Sengoku in particular had once served as Fleet Admiral and Admiral of Marine Headquarters.
They knew something of the former Five Elders and discovered that these five were more forceful in both their habits and personalities, and had no memories of them at all.
They merely knew the relevant information. In other words, Shane really had finished off the aged Five Elders back then.
About half a year ago, the Seagull Laboratory had achieved a breakthrough in its Lineage Factor experiments on Cyborgs and clones, after Caesar and the others had carried