Holy Land Mariejois.
"Aokiji is dead."
A masked man in a black suit reported the news to the Five Elders.
"…I see."
The Five Elders showed no reaction after hearing the report.
The masked agent, having delivered the message, vanished silently from the chamber.
"Was it worth sacrificing an Admiral if it didn't even affect Kronos?"
The bald elder holding a long sword closed his eyes and asked coldly.
"It's just a Marine. What of it?"
The blond elder, arms crossed, replied dismissively.
"But this isn't the outcome we wanted…"
The elderly man with a cane joined the conversation with a sigh.
"If it hadn't been for the Celestial Dragons constantly pressuring us about Kronos, we wouldn't have initiated this operation in the first place."
"The original plan was just to send Aokiji and that experimental subject to obstruct Kronos a bit—cause him some trouble, show the Celestial Dragons we're doing something… then be done with it."
"But clearly, it backfired. The results were far from what we expected."
The goateed elder, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
"Forget it. What's done is done. There's no point in discussing it further."
At his words, the room fell silent.
After a brief pause, the bald elder with the sword spoke again.
"By the way, what's the decision on the red-haired proposal?"
As soon as the topic was raised, the other four elders all looked toward him.
After a moment, the elder with the cane curled his lips and responded:
"The proposal regarding the Red-Haired Pirates isn't a bad one. But for now, I don't think it's necessary…"
"The World Government has its pride. Let's set the red-haired matter aside for the time being."
Hearing this, the others nodded slightly, clearly in agreement.
"Very well. If that's the consensus, we'll leave the red-haired issue alone."
New World – Grand Line
Aboard the Angel of Redemption, the flagship of the Kamui Pirates, the crew sailed calmly across a vast and silent sea.
Several days had passed since the Marine raid.
Kronos, who had been brought back unconscious by Konan, Gojo Satoru, and the others, finally awoke from his coma.
After hearing Gojo and the others describe the events on the island, Kronos realized—he remembered none of it.
His last memory was being frozen by Aokiji's ability, unable to move.
After that, everything was a blur—just fragments of memory flashing before his mind, scattered moments and people. Scenes, names, chaos.
Kronos vaguely recalled falling into a kind of mental abyss.
Beyond that, his mind was blank until he woke up on the ship.
When Konan and Gojo described how he transformed into a dark, chaotic state—so powerful that even Hashirama felt a true fear of death—Kronos could only frown in confusion.
His entire body had apparently morphed into a form of pure chaotic darkness.
It made him begin to doubt his understanding of his own Devil Fruit ability.
Could it be that the "Chaos Form" he used during the Summit War wasn't the complete version?
Kronos had no answers—only guesses.
And the terrifying part was, he wasn't even sure he could control that new form now.
What if it happened again—unintentionally—and he couldn't distinguish friend from foe?
If it caused irreversible consequences, that would be disastrous.
So, for now, Kronos decided not to risk using it again.
Following the Marine raid, Kronos also discovered something unusual—his bounty and reputation had barely increased.
Only 500 more prestige points.
That's when Kronos realized: the World Government hadn't publicized the battle at all.
For an entire week, not a single newspaper mentioned the confrontation.
That explained the tiny prestige gain.
[Prestige: 85,600]
Nearly a month had passed, and his prestige had plateaued around 80,000.
With occasional minor boosts, he had only reached 85,600 points.
It was still far from enough to recruit additional powerful companions.
Still, Kronos wasn't in a rush.
After all, he already had several formidable allies on his side.
Any new partners would simply be icing on the cake—enhancing the strength of the Kamui Pirates even further.
Right now, what concerned him most… was that strange and dangerous Chaos Form.
If he could truly master and control it, his power would rise exponentially.
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