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"Sky Sovereign Rowen… he's not from this world, is he?"
As Nusjuro's words faded, the demonic eyes of the other four Five Elders also flickered with a horrifying, underworld light.
For 800 years since the World Government's founding, they were the chosen ones—handpicked by Imu from among the Celestial Dragons to wield ultimate authority over the world.
In this entire world, no one knew its deepest secrets better than they did.
The Void Century, Joy Boy, the Sun God Nika, the Great Kingdom of D...
Countless secrets that even the Four Emperors—the most powerful figures in the pirate world—could never access were all at their fingertips.
But ever since Sky Sovereign Rowen appeared out of nowhere, he had launched an asymmetrical assault on them in terms of information, as if he knew the secrets of this world even better than they, the Five Elders, did.
He even knew of each of their existences, and even knew of their Immortality.
Now, it was proven that Rowen had long known of Imu's existence.
Add in the fact that Rowen had no special bloodline and was incredibly young... There was only one explanation that could account for all of it.
SKY SOVEREIGN WAS NOT FROM THIS WORLD!
BUT FROM ANOTHER WORLD!
A WORLD THAT KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT THEIRS.
THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY HE COULD HAVE RISEN SO FAST!
The Five Elders were the best of the best among the Celestial Dragons—handpicked over 800 years of careful selection. Their wisdom and power were unmatched.
After witnessing so many of Sky Sovereign Rowen's unbelievable actions and his accomplishment of so many impossible feats, they had finally reached this conclusion.
It was... the only conclusion that made sense.
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"Sky Sovereign isn't from this world? What does that mean??"
Veins bulged on Akainu's forehead as cold sweat broke out across his skin. It wasn't that Akainu lacked intelligence—he simply didn't have access to the right information.
The Five Elders knew too many secrets, knew the deeper secrets of this world.
From their perspective, with all the intelligence they had on Rowen's meteoric rise, reaching that conclusion wasn't too hard. But for Akainu, who was kept in the dark about these secrets, figuring out that Rowen came from another world was impossible.
"Hmph. As expected of the Five Elders."
Zoro and the others did not deny it, but all smiled.
"Shishishi! That's right! Rowen is from another world! He promised that once he becomes the King of the world—we're all going to his world together!"
Luffy grinned cheerfully.
Now both sides had laid all their cards on the table—this was a head-on collision. Rowen had never intended to hide his otherworldly origins from the Five Elders anyway.
The Five Elders knew too many secrets, and Rowen had accomplished too many unbelievable things on his path to rising.
With that kind of intelligence and their position at the top of the world, if the Five Elders still couldn't figure out Rowen's true identity, it would be a disgrace to their title—and an insult to 800-years of careful selection that had put them in power.
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And the moment they got the confirmation from Luffy and the others, the underworld light in the Five Elders' demonic eyes grew even stronger.
HE ADMITTED IT!
HE REALLY ADMITTED IT!
THEIR DEDUCTION WAS COMPLETELY CORRECT!
Though they'd already figured it out, having it confirmed still shook them. Even with their iron wills, the Five Elders felt a deep tremor of unease.
From another world entirely... and one that knew far too many of their secrets!
Then, the truth of D... the truth of Joy Boy, and the Void Century, which was a taboo for their World Government—
—Did Sky Sovereign Rowen know??
However, considering that Nico Robin—the Devil Child and Ohara survivor—was still actively hunting for Poneglyphs, and given Sky Sovereign Rowen's transparent nature with his companions, if he truly knew the Void Century's secrets, he would never keep them from her.
Most likely, Rowen was in the dark about the Void Century just like everyone else. This reasoning was exactly why the Five Elders hadn't completely panicked when they first suspected that Sky Sovereign came from another well-informed world.
As long as he didn't know this biggest secret, other secrets being known by Sky Sovereign Rowen were not fatal.
As for acting?
Given Sky Sovereign Rowen's current power and position, acting like that would be a massive underestimation of his Disposition.
So the Five Elders could be virtually certain that Sky Sovereign Rowen had no knowledge of the Void Century's history.
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Of course, there was one thing they could be completely certain of.
From the moment he arrived in this world, he had known of the existence of Nika and Joy Boy.
And knew that what Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy had eaten was the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika.
This was the only way to explain why Sky Sovereign, who knew countless secrets of this world and possessed terrifying potential, had chosen to partner with the then-insignificant Straw Hat.
Combined with the abilities Sky Sovereign Rowen had already demonstrated, the Five Elders could be almost certain that he could directly identify the exact Devil Fruit powers others possessed—and most likely, he could also detect whether someone had the makings of a King and could awaken Conqueror's Haki.
Before Conqueror's Haki awakened, there was no way to tell if someone had the disposition of a King—
—If they could identify it early, the World Government would have been screening for it centuries ago—and every Conqueror's Haki user would either be serving as a Marine or, if they were exceptional enough, recruited into the Celestial Dragons as members of the God's Knights.
They would have eliminated every potential threat to the World Government right from the source!
After all, the only forces that could truly threaten the World Government were Conqueror's Haki users—specifically top-tier Emperor level fighters who had completely mastered Haōshoku Coating.
These elite combatants weren't completely helpless even against a Legendary-Class opponent like Imu.
A handful of them working together could actually give him a real fight.
Just like during the Summit War, when Garp, Sengoku, and Akainu joined forces against Sky Sovereign Rowen—who had shattered the Emperor ceiling.
Conqueror's Haki was the real gateway to elite-level power. And precious few people held that key.
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Even counting Roger, Whitebeard, and even Rocks's era—the number of powerhouses who had mastered Conqueror's Haki was only around 30, and these people did not belong to the same era.
One could imagine how rare Conqueror's Haki was—
Beyond the fact that the disposition of a king was incredibly rare—only one in a million people possessed it—the bigger issue was that you couldn't detect the potential until it actually awakened.
In the 800 years since the World Government was founded, plenty of people had the disposition of a king but never awakened Conqueror's Haki. After all, while those with a king's disposition were naturally gifted, they were still just potential—even before awakening their Conqueror's Haki, they remained unproven talents
To awaken it, someone had to face life-threatening situations. And in those crises, not everyone had the luxury of plot armor—most people died before they could unlock their power.
If the World Government could identify who had the makings of a king, their World Military Draft would have clear targets.
Either become a weapon in the World Government's arsenal, or be eliminated entirely. Under those conditions, there would be no Kings outside their control—no more threats to their absolute power.
For such an ability—even the Five Elders were incredibly envious.
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SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN MUST BE KILLED!
Otherwise, given enough time, everyone on these seas with the disposition of a king would be brought under his command.
As for whether Sky Sovereign Rowen could make this group of King's disposition people submit? The Five Elders were 100% certain he could.
Because Sky Sovereign was like a damn Incubus!
His charisma was unmatched.
Making numerous Emperor and Admiral level powerhouses willing to lay down their lives for him. Even someone as proud as Kaido could say he was a combatant under Sky Sovereign's command.
Making Kuzan, one of their World Government's former highest combat powers, now willing to fight to the death for him—what was he if not an incubus??
Right now, their combined strength wasn't enough to face Sky Sovereign Rowen. If they gave this man any more time, there wouldn't even be a point in fighting!
This was also why they were in such a hurry, immediately deploying their full force, launching the final decisive battle!
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"Joy Boy." Imu's gaze at this moment was on Luffy, who had just spoken. Its inhuman pupils were eerie and terrifying.
Then, his entire body boiled with Conqueror's Haki.
"Become King of the world? I'll show you just how foolish that dream really is."
Imu's bizarre voice slowly echoed.
"Is that so?"
A light chuckle came from the public Transponder Snail on Egghead Island.
"SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN??"
Cold sweat beaded across the Five Elders' foreheads, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. For the first time since they'd appeared, the Five Elders had completely lost their composure!
COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY OUT OF COMPOSURE!
This voice was Sky Sovereign Rowen's voice. They were already familiar with it.
Long before he'd even claimed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and truly made his mark, they'd received a forced transmission from this man—a Transponder Snail signal that reached all the way from Mock Town to the Holy Land of Mariejois.
In their analysis of Sky Sovereign's rise, acquiring the Rumble-Rumble Fruit marked a crucial turning point. Once he obtained it, his Observation Haki detection range became absolutely terrifying.
Even when they had overwhelming numbers and could deploy multiple Admiral-level fighters to hunt him down, it became impossible to corner him.
The moment they deployed multiple Admiral-level fighters, Sky Sovereign Rowen would sense them coming from miles away—long before they got within striking distance. He'd simply change course and vanish.
They couldn't even track his movements, let alone catch him!
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's electrical enhancement didn't just amplify his Observation Haki to detect auras—it let him pick up voices and entire conversations. Even if a scout ship managed to track Sky Sovereign Rowen's movements, the moment they tried to report it, he'd hear every word.
Even written messages would be detected by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's electrical waves. Hence, scout ships couldn't even get close to Sky Sovereign Rowen's vessel—
—On top of that, once the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was Awakened, the Devil Fruit alone gave him combat power that could hold its own even among Admirals. Combined with his mastery of Conqueror's Haki coating, he'd rocketed into the top tier of Admiral-class fighters.
But these were not the main points.
THE MAIN POINT WAS... THIS VOICE COMING FROM THE TRANSCEIVER BROADCAST... WAS NOT JUST SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN'S!
THERE WAS ALSO IMU-SAMA'S VOICE IN THE BACKGROUND!
Sky Sovereign Rowen was not on this island?
He was at Imu-sama's side??
The Five Elders' foreheads were covered in countless beads of cold sweat.
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"So this is the Room of Flowers. Nice to meet you, Imu." A powerful light chuckle came from the Transponder Snail.
It made the Five Elders' pupils shrink violently.
"Sky Sovereign..." Imu's gaze had shifted away from Egghead, turning instead toward the shadows—toward a particular spot in the darkness.
THE HOLY LAND!
THE DEEPEST PART OF MARIEJOIS!
THIS WAS A SECRET PLACE KNOWN AS THE ROOM OF FLOWERS!!
Not even the Five Elders were allowed to enter without being summoned by Imu.
In the 800-year-long history of the World Government, only one enemy had ever entered this place before.
During the World Meeting many years ago, the one who had rampaged through the Holy Land Mariejois and invaded the Room of Flowers, the strongest ruler of that era—
ROCKS D. XEBEC!
And now, another person had broken into here.
"Hmph."
Rowen looked directly at Imu, his eyes flashing with an intense crimson-black light.
For the first time, Rowen was officially face-to-face with Imu!
Standing before the King of the World.
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