Meanwhile.
Just as Magellan was expressing his fury—
On the transparent light screen,
a new scene continued to play.
The recap video's segment about "Pointing at a Rat and Calling it the King" was still ongoing—
After that.
Facing the camera,
Ivankov continued talking with Luffy.
And the instant he learned the other party's identity—
that this kid was actually the biological son of his own superior, Dragon of the Revolutionary Army—
The Okama King completely froze in shock!
And not only that.
Luffy's purpose for infiltrating Impel Down…
was unbelievably absurd:
he'd come to save his older brother, "Fire Fist" Ace.
Ivankov was hit with yet another wave of shock.
Under that massive purple afro, his expression nearly turned blank.
No matter what, he never would've imagined—
that the young man he'd saved out of sheer goodwill
would have such an extraordinary identity!
And on top of that, it was tied to an impending clash between the Whitebeard Pirates and Marine Headquarters—
a top-tier war that would be more than enough to reshape the balance of the seas!
It was simply too astonishing!!!
However…
Once that entire conversation was revealed,
and—through the recap video—transmitted into the real world…
because the content of the conversation was just too explosive,
it unintentionally leaked something even bigger:
that the war at Marineford was about to happen!
And so,
as expected—
it triggered yet another colossal uproar in the pirate world.
The world's powerhouses—whether pirates, Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, or even black-market dealers and human traffickers…
all of them were shaken to the core by this news,
and immediately launched into heated discussion—
"???"
"What—no way! I didn't mishear that, did I?!"
"Ace… got captured by the Marines?! And he's been imprisoned in Impel Down?!"
"That's impossible, right? Wasn't he sent to that island nation—Shimotsuki Village? Could it be that…"
At this moment—
in the New World, within Whitebeard's territory,
on the deck of the gigantic white whale ship, the Moby Dick,
as the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates' First Division,
Marco—beneath his blond mohawk—knit his brows tightly together, unease rising in his chest.
First of all,
he would never doubt Ace's strength—
the Flame-Flame Fruit, as a Logia-type Devil Fruit, possessed overwhelming combat power!
And Ace's past achievements—
he'd even defeated Kaido's sworn brother before.
A former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—"Hanafuda."
That feat alone
was enough to prove that Ace's strength was absolutely top-tier!
Maybe not quite at the level of an Admiral—
but at the very least, he was firmly within the Warlord tier.
So how could it be possible
for him to be defeated by that guy, Blackbeard?
"Yeah…" At Marco's side, the captain of the Third Division, "Diamond" Jozu, nodded, equally puzzled. "In my impression, Teach's strength isn't weak! But it's not special either—nothing that stands out too much!"
"Even if we assume he was already set up beforehand… this time it was also a sneak attack! It's not like he'd just lose without any reason at all!"
Shock.
Confusion.
For an instant,
Jozu even wondered whether he'd heard wrong—
or whether the recap plot had somehow gotten things mixed up!
He couldn't believe it either:
Ace, whose division position was above his—and whose future was limitless—
could actually lose to Blackbeard.
And because of that loss, get captured by the Marines—
and then be thrown into Impel Down in the end!
A result like that
was simply impossible to accept.
And without question—
this was a provocation against the Whitebeard Pirates!!!
"Oyaji…"
"How do you see this early spoiler in the video?" asked the captain of the Fifth Division, Flower Sword Vista. Though he was furious as well, he still forced himself to stay calm as he turned his head—
looking toward the man seated upon the captain's throne,
that world's strongest man—
their Oyaji: Whitebeard.
"Gurarararara…"
Even though he still let out his signature laugh,
inside Whitebeard's eyes, beneath those lowered lids—
there was unmistakable anger.
As one of the Four Emperors, the world's strongest man, the overlord acknowledged across the entire world—
for the past twenty years,
ever since the day the Pirate King Gol D. Roger surrendered at Loguetown and was executed…
in this world,
there were few who were even qualified to be mentioned in the same breath as Whitebeard.
And the Marines—
they likewise did not dare to provoke or offend the Whitebeard Pirates lightly.
Let alone—
capturing one of his division commanders.
Let alone doing it openly—
and locking him away in a place like Impel Down!!!
…
And what made Whitebeard even angrier was this:
because of the recap video, the fact that "Ace has been captured" was now being broadcast openly—
right in front of audiences across the entire world!
That was equivalent to—
a public humiliation! A blatant slap in the face!
Under circumstances like that, even if Whitebeard's temper was gentle—
even if, in these later years, age had made him more inclined to keep out of conflicts—
he still couldn't help it:
in an instant, his anger erupted!
A powerhouse's rage, mixed with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and a surging, top-tier Conqueror's Haki,
spread outward in a sweeping wave!
In the blink of an eye,
the surrounding sea region—
began to quake without end, shuddering violently, whipping up countless towering waves!!!
"No matter what…"
…
"Ace is my son! And he's also the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander!"
"The Marines, Blackbeard… and anyone else—one by one, every last one of them!"
"Every single person involved will pay the price they deserve for this!!!"
The roar was like thunder.
It vented straight into the sky, tearing apart the cloud cover.
In this moment, Whitebeard's fury reached an unprecedented height.
Even though—
at this point in time, it was still early, far from when the Marineford War would actually happen—
Whitebeard had already made up his mind in silence.
Ideally—
Luffy would pull through.
With the Okama King's help, he would stir up chaos inside Impel Down,
successfully infiltrate down to Level 6,
rescue Ace—
and in the end, drag him into a mass prison break together!
Only then—
after confirming Ace was safe, one hundred percent—
and that he wouldn't remain imprisoned forever or be executed by the Marines—
only then could Whitebeard truly settle his heart.
Otherwise…
even if it meant taking on enormous risk—
even if it very well meant staking his own life, and his reputation in old age—
even if it endangered the entire Whitebeard Pirates—
even so—
he would attack Impel Down—
or even… Marine Headquarters itself!!!
That was—
the resolve of a powerhouse from the old era.
The strongest of the strongest of this era, after Roger—
Whitebeard's decision, made in fury the instant the recap video spoiled the future plot—
right here, right now!!!!
(End of Chapter)
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