Saint Michael, Commander of the Knights of God—that elegant, terrifyingly powerful man—had died without a sound, without so much as a trace.
If Stussy weren't standing in the Chamber of Deliberation within Pangaea Castle itself, she would have thought she was hallucinating.
The Commander of the Knights of God was the most powerful and revered figure among all World Noble Celestial Dragons, a man who nominally held the authority to judge and execute any Celestial Dragon.
Rumor said he was a star whose brilliance eclipsed all other prodigies, his radiance suppressing his peers. He had claimed the Crown of the World Noble Hunting Competition again and again.
Such a pampered and powerful man… dead?
Stussy could scarcely believe her ears.
Wait.
Something flashed through her mind. Her pupils narrowed.
Could Michael's death be tied to that bastard as well?
Come to think of it, he hadn't come to find her recently, and the timing lined up a little too well.
Most importantly, aside from that bastard Darren, Stussy simply couldn't imagine anyone else on the seas capable of killing Saint Michael.
Roger? Kaido? Big Mom? Whitebeard?
Those monsters all possessed the overwhelming might to pull off such a feat, but none of them had any reason to take such a reckless gamble.
Saint Michael's importance was beyond question. Even setting aside his title as "The Strongest Celestial Dragon," his role as Commander of the Knights of God meant that anyone who attacked him was declaring war on the World Government itself—a war without end, without compromise.
Since Roger became Pirate King, disbanded his crew, and vanished from the stage of history, his whereabouts had been unknown. There was no logical reason he would suddenly pick a fight with Saint Michael.
As for Kaido and Big Mom…
Those two Great Pirates also stood at the summit of the seas, but they ruled massive forces and were locked in a vicious struggle for dominance over the New World. While expanding their territories and recruiting more monsters under their flags, they had no room to spare for a direct war with the World Government.
And Edward Newgate—the "World's Strongest Man," Whitebeard…
Stussy dismissed him as a suspect even faster.
For all his terrifying strength, his ambitions were astonishingly modest. He would never gamble away the lives of his "family" in the Whitebeard Pirates to attack the World Government.
Because of that, in CP0's internal threat assessment reports, Whitebeard was ranked at the bottom of the New World's Great Pirates in terms of "danger."
After going through every plausible candidate, only one name remained on the seas with both the motive and ability to kill Saint Michael.
Rogers Darren.
Well… she supposed Monkey D. Dragon—the fast-rising leader of the Freedom Fighters and Garp's son—could be counted as half a suspect too.
Thinking this, Stussy lowered her head even further, her body trembling with barely suppressed fear.
The Chamber of Deliberation sank into a suffocating silence.
Several seconds ticked by before the Gorosei slowly emerged from that frozen stillness.
Saint Saturn fixed the official before him with a venomous stare, his aged eyes filming over with a faint red light. The killing intent in his gaze was so raw it seemed his Evil Eye might detonate the man's skull at any moment.
"Has the killer been identified?" he asked coldly.
Feeling that murderous aura, the World Government official didn't dare even glance at the Gorosei. He wished he could bury his head in the papers in his hands.
His voice shook uncontrollably as he stammered, "A-according to our internal investigation, Saint Michael Excellency's most recent expedition was a top-secret mission."
"He departed with two Knights of God subordinates, five CP0 Senior Agents, and over one hundred elite Holy Land Guard soldiers. The mission was codenamed 'Bait.'"
"The final result was… total annihilation."
"So in the end, he was the one swallowed by the big fish," Saint Peter said frostily, his face like carved ice.
The official didn't dare respond to that. He could only continue, kowtowing as he trembled, "We have located the mission site, Excellencies. It was a deserted island in the New World. The battlefield traces there are… horrifying. The entire island has been cleaved in two."
As he spoke, a nameless terror flickered in his eyes, and cold sweat poured down his back.
He swallowed, chose his words with extreme care, and forced himself to continue. "According to analysis from the CP Intelligence Department, Saint Michael Excellency's primary opponents were two individuals."
"Who?!"
The Gorosei's eyes burned with killing frost as they glared at him.
Crushed beneath those gazes, the official's legs gave way with a heavy thud. He dropped to his knees, shaking so hard his teeth nearly chattered as he shouted, "Rogers Darren and Monkey D. Dragon!"
"The former… appears to have unleashed some kind of overwhelming power, to the point of suppressing Saint Michael Excellency!"
At those words, the Gorosei's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
They fell silent, as if the world itself had stopped.
Saint Michael… suppressed?
Their first, instinctive reaction was the same:
Impossible.
No one knew Saint Michael's strength better than they did.
His ascension to Commander of the Knights of God hadn't been solely because of his clan's status as one of Marie Geoise's most illustrious families—the very same clan as Saint Saturn, the "Warrior God of Science and Defense." No, it was because he had rightfully claimed the title of "world's strongest" in his generation.
Even without the terrifying foundation the Gorosei themselves had accumulated over centuries, the power of his Mythical Zoan Awakening should have made him untouchable. Darren should have stood no chance whatsoever.
In their judgment, even if Darren and Dragon joined forces, subduing Saint Michael was nearly unthinkable—
Let alone annihilating his entire task force.
Unless…
"We understand. You may withdraw," Saint Warcury rasped at last, his face contorted with tightly leashed fury.
"Since Saint Michael's mission was classified, we'll ensure it remains so. Not a word of this is to leave this room without our explicit orders."
Hearing this, the CP0 agents and Government officials present let out silent sighs of relief, as though granted a stay of execution. Some practically fled, desperate to escape the crushing pressure in the Chamber of Deliberation.
Beneath her mask, Stussy's expression shifted subtly.
That's it?
The Commander of the Knights of God is dead. Two Knights of God are dead. Several CP0 Senior Agents are dead…
And the Gorosei—the World Government's supreme rulers—were just going to let it go with a few cold commands?
She could feel it: this cold, measured handling was nothing but a thin lid over a seething volcano.
Their brief, explosive outburst was just the first breath of what was coming.
Her heart pounded. For an instant, the scene before her warped, and she had the unsettling illusion that the entire world was starting to crumble.
"Stussy…"
Just as she was about to step out of the Chamber of Deliberation, still dazed, Saint Saturn's voice echoed behind her.
To be continued...