After that—
It wasn't just the three Admirals.
Strawberry, Momonga, Onigumo, and the other famous elite Vice Admirals at Marine Headquarters… more or less all started complaining too.
Almost everyone—
was shocked by Sengoku's performance!
No one had expected that the dignified Fleet Admiral of the Navy would perform so badly on the battlefield—so unbelievably underwhelming!
In the end,
after complaint after complaint,
the atmosphere in the office grew heavier and heavier. Everyone looked downcast, and one by one, they fell silent.
Just imagining it was enough—
the Navy's upper ranks could already guess
that public opinion outside had basically plunged to rock bottom.
"The Navy is trash!"
"The Fleet Admiral is even more useless—his attacks don't do anything!"
That kind of voice
definitely existed all across the seas.
And with that influence, the Navy's reputation—and the everyday deterrence it relied on—would also drop by more than half!
Which meant…
In this round of the "Background King" ranking,
the biggest loser in the end wasn't Whitebeard, Fire Fist Ace, or the members of the Whitebeard Pirates!
It was… the Navy!
The entire Navy had lost face completely, becoming a laughingstock that no longer lived up to its reputation!!!
That was the part the Navy found hardest to accept!!!
———
And at that moment,
not long after,
before the audience could even finish discussing what had just happened—
the translucent light-screen
gradually turned pitch-black.
The image became nothing but darkness, clearly signaling to everyone watching—
the fifth round's "background character" reveal was over!
And the instant that change happened,
someone immediately commented during the gap:
"Oh?"
"That was it?"
"This Sengoku is seriously here just to be a joke! The second he embarrasses himself, he's gone—might as well not have revealed him at all!"
[Bleach World]
Out in the suburbs of Karakura Town, inside Urahara's Shop—
Tessai laughed, shaking his head as he spoke.
Even so—
from the ranking captions,
he had already expected Sengoku's appearance to be brief.
Maybe Sengoku could stop Luffy for a moment…
but there was no way he could kill someone who was the "main character"!
After all—
that kind of formula, that kind of familiar trope,
happened constantly in the previous big ranking about the Bleach world!
The "main character" Ichigo Kurosaki was exactly the type who just never died!
He'd "come back" again and again,
then counterattack, launch a comeback—
and in the end, reverse the situation and win!
So,
considering they shared the same status,
then logically, the situation Luffy faced should be pretty similar!
Sure enough—
that was exactly what happened.
By the time this round ended,
Luffy could be said to have succeeded spectacularly!
Not only did he make Sengoku's attacks amount to nothing…
he flipped the table immediately!
And most importantly—
because the execution platform got blown apart,
during the collapse and the fall,
he managed to rescue Fire Fist Ace!
Still,
a new question emerged.
That is—
would the black screen brighten again in a moment?
Or—
would there be another character next?
Tessai was extremely excited about that!
And the more this went on,
the more interested he became in the Pirate world's story!!!
At the side,
Shopkeeper Kisuke Urahara
lowered the folding fan in his hand. Under the green-and-white striped fisherman hat, his eyes narrowed slightly as he stared straight at the screen.
After thinking for a moment,
Urahara made a guess based on instinct:
"I have a feeling the 'Background King' ranking isn't finished yet!"
"Is it possible that next… a sixth background character will appear?"
Urahara's instincts told him—
even with the five rounds so far as buildup,
Luffy's background was already tough enough,
his luck already absurd enough—
and yet it still wasn't enough.
Not quite.
Because Sengoku's underwhelming performance
actually made the evaluation feel slightly lacking.
So, in Urahara's view—
if there really was a sixth person,
then that person's strength absolutely could not be weak.
They would have to be overwhelmingly powerful!
Because—
only then,
with a true powerhouse acting as the "backer,"
would the story feel flawless from every angle, without a single weak point!
"Oh?"
"A sixth one?"
Hearing Urahara say that,
Yoruichi's interest immediately sparked. She lifted an eyebrow and said with a light laugh:
"Marine Admirals are considered one of the highest levels of combat power, aren't they?"
"So is it possible that next…"
"it'll be one of the three Admirals coming on-screen, putting on their own performance too?"
That "sixth sense" of a woman—
made Yoruichi focus on a different point, and a different set of people.
As if guided by coincidence,
her attention landed on the three Admirals.
A strong intuition told her—
the person about to appear in the next round…
was probably—
one of the three Admirals.
No doubt about it.
(End of Chapter)
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