"Why didn't I come earlier?", Rosse raised his eyebrows and looked mockingly at the battered and disheveled Saint Peter.
"Then let me ask you, when everyone was fighting, where were you, Saint Peter?"
"When I was being blocked by the Figarland family, why didn't you cooperate with Saint Warcury in battle?"
"There were quite a few enemies, but if you and Saint Warcury had acted immediately, they wouldn't have been able to cause such massive destruction."
"As long as you had held on until Borsalino and I arrived, even if the Holy Land wasn't left unharmed, at least more people could have survived."
"Saint Peter, it was your arrogance that led to today's outcome," As he said this, Rosse turned around and left, completely ignoring Saint Peter.
Vanessa and Borsalino had no interest in dealing with Saint Peter either and simply followed behind Rosse.
The two CP0 agents hesitated for a moment, looked at the corpse in their hands, and hurried to catch up with Rosse.
Although Saint Peter was one of the Five Elders, everyone knew for sure, he was completely done for after this incident.
If they didn't shift allegiance to the strongest now, Five Elders, they might get dragged down by this incident too.
"ASSH*LES! It's clearly your fault for not supporting in time! And you, Saint Garling and your bunch of bastards, for the sake of promotion, you're actually willing to throw your fellow clansmen into death!", Saint Peter glared resentfully at Rosse's back, cursing nonstop under his breath.
If communication hadn't been cut off with Saint Garling and Saint Mars's side, how could things have ended up like this today?
If just a few of them had come back, the World Government would've had absolute victory.
"Alright, Saint Peter, restore order in the Holy Land and prepare to hand over your duties," Saint Sommers sighed, walked over, and patted Saint Peter on the shoulder.
The two were technically cousins.
It's just that he had always been lazy and couldn't get along with the ambitious Saint Peter.
"Hand over? Do you also think it was my fault?", Peter stared intently at Saint Sommers, causing him to frown slightly.
"This matter isn't for me to decide. That adult's opinion is what determines your life or death. If you do nothing now, the only end for you is a dead end," Saint Sommers couldn't be bothered to say much more and slowly walked away from the Holy Land.
There was nothing left in the Holy Land now, who would even want to stay?
Rather than sit around doing nothing here, might as well take a walk through the Sabaody Archipelago.
Besides, since Saint Peter was still here, the final rescue efforts didn't need their involvement.
If Saint Peter refused to handle them, then wait for the rest of the Five Elders to return and send him straight to the execution platform.
There were barely any surviving families of the Celestial Dragons left, only your own clan was saved and you ignored the others? You really think the rest of the houses will take that lying down?
If he went to help now, while most of the low-class Celestial Dragons were beyond saving, a few members of the stronger families could still be salvaged.
But all of this had nothing to do with Rosse anymore.
With the Holy Land destroyed to this extent, Rosse had already fulfilled his goal completely.
Anything beyond that couldn't be obtained through battle, it would depend on the negotiations afterward.
Only after post-war damage assessment was complete would a new bloody storm begin.
The news of Mary Geoise being destroyed spread at an extremely terrifying speed with the departure of Golden Lion and the others.
In just two days, the entire world knew about it.
One of the Five Elders had died, and the World Government's Holy Land had been destroyed, this was a monumental event.
Moreover, this incident was named by Golden Lion and the others as...
[The Buster Call from the Pirates]
There had always only been the World Government initiating Buster Calls on others. Never had there been someone initiating one on the World Government.
Countless member nations were shaken, wondering if the World Government was finished, and whether they could now stop paying the Celestial Tribute.
Though the World Government would dispatch the Marine to maintain order, if they didn't have to pay money, they'd obviously be more than happy.
And without the Celestial Dragons, they could even establish a new World Government themselves.
Some particularly dumb kings of member nations even publicly declared that the World Government was finished.
Kings inherited their thrones, couldn't expect all of them to have brains.
But less than three days after such statements were made, those very nations, along with their royal families, vanished entirely.
This was the handiwork of the God's Knights.
Due to the destruction of the Holy Land, Saint Garling and the three remaining Five Elders returned at top speed.
The rest of the God's Knights didn't rush off to confront Whitebeard. Instead, they left Kong and others in charge of pursuing Whitebeard, while they began participating in stabilizing the seas.
They couldn't deal with Golden Lion, but dealing with member nations was a breeze.
And because of their deployment, the chaos that ensued lasted less than a month before being swiftly quelled.
———
[One Month Later]
[Holy Land, Mary Geoise]
In just one month, the ruins that had been destroyed by the pirates were already no more.
The island fragments smashed down by Golden Lion had been completely cleared.
The rebuilt buildings had preliminarily restored their former scale, but this once-glorious Holy Land was now only one-tenth its original size.
However, the reduction in scale wasn't the most striking change.
Compared to the former bustling and noisy grandeur, the current Mary Geoise was exceptionally quiet.
The previously extravagant lifestyle of the Celestial Dragons had completely vanished. The streets were now filled only with laborers busy with construction, occasional clanging of metal and the sound of repairs were the only signs of life.
Aside from that, the Holy Land was almost desolate, with no trace of any living people.
Today was the day the Five Elders would give an explanation to all the Celestial Dragons, which brought a bit more human presence here.
In front of the World Government's highest authority palace, a tall figure stood silently.
Rosse was dressed in a white suit, his stiff collar gleaming slightly in the sunlight. His posture was casual yet commanding, and a faint smile hung at the corner of his lips.
"Tch! After one reconstruction, this building really doesn't match the rest of the place anymore."
The last island dropped by Golden Lion had wiped out most of the Celestial Dragons but failed to destroy this building. An irony, to be sure.
It could only be said that Lord Imu was quite something, to her, the lives of so many Celestial Dragons weren't as important as her residence.
Moreover, Rosse was sure that at the time, Imu was fully watching everything happen. Just to avoid exposing herself, she had no intention of taking action at all.
He didn't know why exactly, but if it were him, he definitely wouldn't have tolerated it.
The enemy was already at the front door, and still no response, wasn't that just being a coward?
No wonder 20 years later, the World Government was full of holes, even someone like Wapol could escape.
But after this reconstruction, people like Wapol wouldn't even have a sliver of a chance.
Even if Sabo came, he'd likely be walking straight into death.
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