"The North Blue is just the beginning," Saint Warcury murmured, voice low and deliberate. "As he said himself, his years of cultivation in that sea have already bound the nations and factions there beneath his influence. He doesn't need to intimidate them by force."
Saint Peter, the blond Gorosei, frowned deeply. "So you mean to suggest, Warcury, that his global display of armament… was aimed at the seas beyond the North Blue?"
Warcury sighed, rubbing his temples. "Highly likely."
"On one hand, he flaunts the North Blue's low 'tax rate.' On the other, he uses it to pressure the other member nations. If we dare to send warships into the North Blue, no one will know where the North Blue Fleet might strike next."
"This way," he continued grimly, "that Marine brat doesn't even have to confront us directly. The Member States, fearing the North Blue Fleet, will turn against the Government and do the pressuring for him."
A heavy shadow fell across the faces of the other four Gorosei.
Saint Saturn reached for a Den Den Mushi and dialed a familiar line. "Kong. Confirm the situation in the Member States following the broadcast."
Two minutes later, Steel Bone Kong's deep, gravelly voice crackled through.
"Reporting to Your Excellencies—unrest has broken out in nearly every Member State. Nobles and royal families are flooding us with petitions. The language varies, but the message is the same: the Government should immediately relinquish control of the North Blue and avoid provoking Rogers Darren further."
"Their words include phrases such as, 'The North Blue is a barren wasteland, unworthy of governance,' and 'If that man wants it, let him have it.' Some even wrote, 'The Gorosei will surely understand the Member States' concerns.' Those are their exact quotes."
"Though none of them state it outright," Kong continued, his voice tightening, "the political pressure is considerable."
When the transmission fell silent, the Chamber did too. The tension grew suffocating.
On the marble floor, the blood of the decapitated CP0 agent had long dried to a dull brown stain.
"We understand," Saint Saturn said, face blank. "Handle the Member States' demands, Kong."
"As you command, Lord Saturn."
The line clicked dead.
For a long moment, Steel Bone Kong simply stared at the frozen image on his own screen—the rebellious youth whose face seemed now to burn with an otherworldly light.
"You really did it, Young Darren," Kong murmured. He struck a match, lit a cigar, and drew deeply, the smoke curling around his weathered face. A flicker of something like admiration shone in his tired eyes.
In all his decades of service to the World Government, he had never witnessed anything like this.
In one sweeping gamble, that young Vice Admiral had forced the supreme authority atop Heaven to bow through nothing but his own strength and cunning.
Perhaps the Member States were right. What was the North Blue, truly? Even if they handed it over, what would it change?
The North Blue had always been chaotic, its Heavenly Tribute the smallest of any sea. Few nations there had ever joined the World Government at all.
To risk a world war over such a barren stretch of ocean—what could be more foolish?
That was what the Member States thought.
But Kong knew better.
Private negotiation was one thing; public capitulation was another.
With that single global broadcast, Darren had dragged every secret of the World Government's politics into daylight—and forced their surrender in front of the entire world.
This wasn't about the North Blue anymore.
He had torn open the World Government's eight-hundred-year-old political order, leaving it bleeding.
When a god bleeds, how long before mortals lose their faith?
If this had been the old, almighty Government, those same nations would never have dared to exert such pressure.
Still…
Kong eyed the mountain of petitions and the blinking Den Den Mushi on his desk. A wry smile touched his lips.
"You've made quite the mess, boy," he muttered. "And now I have to clean it up."
---
Within Pangaea Castle, the Gorosei emerged from the Chamber of Deliberation and walked the long corridor beyond.
Dim light filtered through baroque stained glass, painting the marble in distorted colors. Their shadows stretched long and skeletal across the walls, as if demons trailed behind them, their footsteps echoing through the vaulted dark.
"It seems the time has come," one murmured. "Never before have we been pushed this far."
"That brat Rogers Darren… his talent surpasses anything this sea has ever seen."
"Unprecedented in eight hundred years."
"And he isn't even of the D lineage. We underestimated him gravely."
"That's what makes him dangerous. He's no D—and yet he's caused more turmoil than any D in history."
"Perhaps he's been preparing to oppose us all along."
"Indeed… otherwise it makes no sense. Before Felsek Island, we never acted against him. If anything, we rewarded him."
"He founded the North Blue Fleet in secret. What drove him to betray us even then?"
"It no longer matters."
"We can't let him continue. If we do, he'll unravel the Government's entire system—and we'll be the villains history remembers."
Their shadows writhed across the walls, their eyes glowing faintly red in the dark.
They pressed on until they reached a vast, empty hall.
At its center rose a staircase flanked by rows upon rows of swords and relics—an ossuary of weapons.
At the top stood a throne shaped like a blade thrust toward the heavens.
The Empty Throne—meant to symbolize that no single sovereign ruled the world—was occupied.
Upon it sat a tall, slender figure, robed in silken finery, crowned in a regal headdress. A pale right hand propped its cheek.
The five elders dropped to one knee, heads bowed in reverence.
"Gorosei… pay homage to Lord Imu!"
Their voices echoed through the ancient hall, thick with dust and silence.
The figure stirred. Slowly, its eyes opened—crimson as fresh blood, ringed with black concentric patterns.
"I… have seen… a shadow… that should not… exist… in this world…"
Its words came halting, as though speech itself were rusted from disuse.
"The world's… order… is… collapsing."
Behind the throne, a colossal shadow rose—vast enough to blot out the heavens—its presence radiating a power so dreadful that even the Gorosei trembled before it.
To be continued...