"What a touching scene..."
Ozz smiled knowingly. After all, nothing made a man happier than old friends reuniting.
"Wouldn't you agree, Hawk Eyes?"
With one arm slung over Mihawk's shoulder, Ozz looked completely unbothered, without a trace of tension from the war on his face.
Mihawk folded his arms and gave no response to Ozz's question. There was only helplessness in his eyes.
Elsewhere, Shanks had of course noticed Captain Roger's existence, but now was hardly the time to interrupt.
Part of it was because the captain and vice captain had just reunited. Another part was because, even at nearly forty years old, he still had not beaten Ozz in front of Roger.
That was more than a little embarrassing.
But even if Shanks wanted to keep a low profile, someone else refused to let him.
"What the hell are you doing, you bastard, Shanks?!"
Buggy had reached Shanks's side. With two separated hands grabbing his collar, he started spraying him with furious abuse.
"What does war even matter? We're pirates, aren't we?"
"So seriously, I never understood what the hell you were trying to do from the beginning, and now you actually went and made an enemy of Ozz?!"
Even while being grabbed and yelled at by Buggy, Shanks remained calm and detached. The pressure Buggy gave him was obviously incomparable to what Ozz had just given him.
"Sorry, Buggy. Don't be mad."
"Time really flies, huh, Buggy. Long time no see."
"What do you mean, 'long time no see'?!"
Buggy even mimicked Shanks's tone as he clownishly raged.
"Did you forget that all I feel for you is hatred, Shanks?!"
As if he had genuinely forgotten, Shanks quietly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"What exactly are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb!!!"
Buggy was grinding his teeth in fury.
"If you hadn't started chatting with me back then, how could I have eaten a Devil Fruit? And how could I have lost the treasure map Ozz gave me?!"
"Did something like that happen?"
But the more indifferent Shanks acted, the angrier Buggy became.
"It's always this reaction. I've been pissed off about this since forever."
"You show up out of nowhere, start fighting Ozz the moment you arrive, and who cares whether you came to stop the war or whatever. Right now, I'd rather beat the hell out of you myself!"
Buggy's subordinates, who had followed him here, had no idea when they had regained consciousness.
Seeing this and hearing those words, they all swallowed nervously.
They exchanged glances, faces slick with cold sweat.
"Did you see that?"
"I did..."
"He actually has complaints about that clash just now, the one that almost destroyed the whole world. And look at the attitude he's taking toward Emperor Red-Haired Shanks!"
"Doesn't that mean that even if Captain Buggy isn't as strong as Lord Ozz, he's at least someone who can stand on the same level as Emperor Shanks?!"
"Amazing. No wonder he was one of the three legendary apprentices of the Pirate King..."
In an instant, every one of them was moved to tears. They were actually following a man like this.
"Captain Buggy, we'll follow you for life!!!"
Everyone's attention was drawn to this band of Roger Pirate remnants.
Only Sengoku, who had reverted from his Great Buddha form with his upper body bare, suddenly received a call from a Den Den Mushi.
Purururururu...
Click.
"Your Excellencies, the Five Elders."
At last, Sengoku had been waiting for this call.
Facing so many legendary pirates, not only were the ordinary soldiers in despair, even he, the Fleet Admiral, was under crushing pressure.
If the World Government did not send word soon, he was about to start wondering whether the Marines should simply prepare to die.
"Sengoku..."
The face mimicked by the Den Den Mushi looked grim beyond measure.
Inside the Room of Authority, five old men with furrowed brows and sweat on their faces stared at the Den Den Mushi.
Saint Nusjuro, his hand on the hilt of his sword, pressed a hand to his forehead and spoke heavily.
"The plan to directly target Ozz is canceled for the time being."
After saying that, he sighed inwardly.
There was no helping it. This was an order from Imu personally.
And that burst of Conqueror's Haki from earlier, the one that had stretched across the sea, had truly shaken them.
That pressure was something they only felt when facing Imu.
"I understand."
Sengoku replied heavily.
The Five Elders were helpless. Looking at the Den Den Mushi's imitation of Sengoku's face, and the corner of his mouth he was clearly trying desperately to suppress, they had nothing to say.
This was not Sengoku's fault. It simply could not be fought.
After all, with that many monsters on the enemy side, if war truly escalated in full, there would only be one outcome:
Imu would have to personally step in and arm-wrestle with Ozz.
Marine Headquarters high-end combat power plus the Five Elders plus the Holy Knights versus the Roger Pirates plus the Four Emperors plus the Seven Warlords plus several overlords of the old era.
If it came to that, never mind anything else, even if Ozz had no rebellious intent toward the World Government, just the sheer scale of it would be enough to excite him.
The very idea of that lineup was enough to make the scalp tingle.
And Ozz's nasty personality...
Those old men had long since understood it clearly over the past few decades.
"Ozz will never become a friend of the World Government. His reckless behavior has already crossed our bottom line. But now is not the right time to go to war with him, so..."
"The war ends here. I'm leaving it to you, Sengoku."
"Yes!"
Sengoku answered sternly.
But after serving as a Marine officer for decades, he knew the truth perfectly well. What right time or wrong time? In the end, it all came down to Ozz's Conqueror's Haki from earlier, the kind that had shaken the entire sea.
Just as the conversation was ending, however, a burst of static came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, followed by the furious shouts of the Five Elders and a faint rumbling sound.
After a brief silence:
"Sengoku, I order you to dispatch a Marine Admiral to the Holy Land immediately!"
"..."
...
Watching Borsalino disappear into the horizon, Sengoku walked to the front platform with a heart full of helplessness.
"The war ends here!!!"
"Ozz, this war no longer has any reason to continue!!!"
Faced with that outcome, Sakazuki fell silent. He wanted to leave every pirate here.
But that was impossible.
Kuzan also remained silent. He knew very well that the war had developed this far because Ozz had been pulling strings from behind the scenes.
But as a Marine, his position came with too many constraints.
Ozz, meanwhile, felt bored.
The lineup had been incredible, yet the enemy had failed to deliver.
Well...
He had never held particularly high expectations anyway. After all, there were still more entertaining things to come.
All the pirates present, standing opposite the Marines, turned to look at the black-clad figure.
As the strongest person present, Ozz naturally had the authority to decide whether the war would continue.
"Well... if we keep fighting, this island is probably really going to sink."
"So please, everyone here, give me some face."
"This war ends here."
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