"Move! Encrypt the highest-priority footage and transmit it back to the newsroom right now!" "Big News" Morgans barked hurriedly at his assistant. He himself kept staring toward the harbor, eyes burning with fanatic fervor. "I'm writing this report personally!"
As for how furious the World Government might be afterward—he didn't care anymore. Right now, all he wanted was to blast this explosive scoop out into the world.
He could already see it: the moment this paper landed across the globe, the looks of sheer disbelief on everyone's faces. An order maintained for eight hundred years was being pried open—by a boy—using the most violent method imaginable, forcing a crack into it!
At the harbor, Ronan seemed to sense something and flicked a glance toward where Morgans was hiding. But after failing to detect any particularly powerful presence, he didn't pay it any further attention.
Morgans's heart jolted—then the excitement only surged higher. He knew what he'd captured wasn't just a massacre and an execution; it was the opening curtain of a brand-new era. Whether Lulusia headed for glory or ruin in the future, he—"Big News" Morgans—would be the most important witness and broadcaster of this historic moment!
He looked again at the nineteen wooden stakes standing in the harbor, and the stiff corpses lashed atop them.
Celestial Dragon blood had finally been spilled.
And it had been spilled in the open—spilled in huge quantities.
This sea was about to boil over.
On the return route to Marineford, the atmosphere was suffocating. The soldiers aboard the ship were all slumped in silence, not a single person speaking.
Kizaru stood on the deck, a deep exhaustion carved into his face. In his hand was an encrypted Den Den Mushi linked directly to the Fleet Admiral's office.
"Buru buru… buru buru…"
Sengoku's urgent voice came through immediately—he'd clearly been waiting right there. "Borsalino! How is it? What happened to the Lulusia Kingdom?"
Kizaru stayed silent for several seconds, as if searching for the right words. That brief pause made Sengoku's heart sink hard, a terrible premonition flooding up.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku," Kizaru finally said, voice heavy. "The mission failed."
"Failed? What do you mean, failed?" Sengoku's voice shot up.
"The Celestial Dragons." Kizaru paused, his tone complicated. "All of them were left at Lulusia's harbor. Alive or dead—unknown."
"What?!!" Sengoku's shocked cry burst from the Den Den Mushi. "All of them?! More than a dozen Celestial Dragons?! How is that possible?"
"The Lulusia Kingdom we faced was completely different from the intel. They hid far too many strong fighters. Not just Beth and Teresa and the other known ones."
He drew a breath, then delivered the news that drained the color from Sengoku's face in an instant.
"Marine losses were severe. Of the participating Marine soldiers, over ninety percent were killed. Among the five Vice Admirals, Stainless, Doberman, and Yamakaji are confirmed KIA—their bodies were taken by the enemy."
Each Vice Admiral's name made the breathing on the other end grow heavier.
"Only I, along with Momonga, Strawberry, and a small number of soldiers, were allowed to leave—after the other side agreed." Kizaru added at the end, "And I wasn't able to bring back the three Vice Admirals' remains."
Dead silence.
On the other end, Sengoku didn't speak—because his mind had gone blank. What Kizaru was reporting was simply too absurd.
Three HQ Vice Admirals dead. Over ninety percent of the soldiers wiped out. More than a dozen Celestial Dragons missing, fate unknown.
That outcome smashed every scenario he'd imagined. Just earlier, he'd been thinking about how to preserve the Lulusia Kingdom from the World Government's grasp!
How could the Lulusia Kingdom possibly possess such terrifying power? From Kizaru's report, this was outright an armed force capable of overturning the world's balance!
Where did they get so many strong fighters? Those clone soldiers? Those suddenly appearing mysterious figures who could go toe-to-toe with the God Knights?
A chill shot from Sengoku's feet straight up to his skull. His assessment of Lulusia's strength had suffered a fatal—catastrophic—misjudgment!
"Are you sure, Borsalino?" Sengoku asked, voice trembling.
"I saw it with my own eyes." Kizaru's voice remained calm.
Another long silence followed, Sengoku's thoughts in total chaos.
The deaths of three Vice Admirals were an unbearable loss for Marine HQ. This wasn't just a reduction in combat strength—it was a crushing blow to Marine morale.
And worse still: the Celestial Dragons had fallen into enemy hands. More than a dozen World nobles. If that news reached the Gorosei—
Sengoku could practically see it: the five elders who held the world's authority would unleash thunderous wrath beyond imagining.
Right now, most of the Marines' elite forces were deployed in the New World to maintain the balance against pirates like Whitebeard, BIG MOM, and Kaido. The Marine deployment in the New World was a situation barely held together after untold bloodshed.
If, because of Lulusia, the World Government issued orders again—pulling an Admiral and more forces away for retaliation—then the New World defensive line would inevitably open massive holes. When that happened, everything the Marines had built in the New World over years could collapse in one stroke, and the entire Grand Line's order would face the danger of breaking apart!
Sengoku had already envisioned an even worse outcome. And even if they did pull an Admiral, Sengoku didn't feel confident that would be enough to defeat the Lulusia Kingdom.
"I understand," Sengoku said at last, after a long time. "Return first. I need to report this to Commander-in-Chief Kong and the Gorosei."
He could already foresee the colossal shockwave this battle report would unleash in Mary Geoise.
After hanging up, Sengoku collapsed into the Fleet Admiral's chair. He covered his face with both hands, revealing a profound exhaustion and helplessness.
In Pangaea Castle, the Gorosei's expressions were grim—there was even a trace of barely concealed impatience. It had been quite a while since they'd last received Garling-sei's routine report. According to the plan, with the God Knights and a Marine Admiral leading the operation, exterminating a small kingdom that had lost its status as an allied nation should have ended swiftly.
Yet from Garling-sei's side, there was still no message of the "hunt" being completed—there wasn't even a proper battle update. CP0 was silent as well. That abnormal quiet made the five elders seated at the pinnacle of power feel an ominous foreboding rise in their hearts.
Just then, Sengoku's emergency communication came through.
"Sengoku?" Nusjuro-sei, holding the First Generation Kitetsu, spoke first, his tone tinged with displeasure. He instinctively assumed Sengoku was calling to plead for the Lulusia Kingdom again. "What is it this time?"
(End of Chapter)
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