The elevator doors closed, and it began to descend rapidly.
Griffin leaned against the cold metal wall of the car, slowly exhaling a breath he had been holding in his chest.
The mirror-like wall reflected a pair of eyes as deep and cold as an abyss.
...
They saw through it. It would be strange if they hadn't.
The Five Elders have been at the pinnacle of world power for who knows how many years. Griffin didn't possess the acting skills to deceive them.
And he couldn't be bothered to pretend.
The Five Elders knew he was reciting from memory, but they had no choice but to accept it.
At this point... Kari's usefulness was finally brought into full play.
By deliberately creating a problem the World Government couldn't solve, he highlighted his own irreplaceability.
This was a classic case of "nurturing a bandit to increase one's own importance."
...
But in the end... it all came down to strength.
If Griffin's strength were weak, the Five Elders wouldn't have even bothered with superficial pleasantries.
By the same token, if Griffin didn't have his current strength and methods, he would never have come to see the Five Elders.
Only because he was confident he could escape even if things turned hostile did Griffin dare to come to Mary Geoise.
This was a very real possibility. If the Five Elders had demanded he kneel, he would have turned on them.
Enduring humiliation for a greater cause was not his style. If the Marines made him uncomfortable, he would leave immediately.
...
The words exchanged during this meeting were secondary. What both sides were truly assessing was the other's strength.
Past achievements and what they had seen with their own eyes let the Five Elders know that Griffin was not some small fry they could easily manipulate, so they afforded him a certain degree of respect.
Griffin had also gotten a rough measure of the Five Elders' depth.
...
Among the Five Elders, Saint Warcury, who sat in the center, and the sword-wielding Saint Nusjuro felt the strongest to him.
Based on the brief display of their powers on Egghead Island in his memories, Saint Warcury's specialty was defense, while Saint Nusjuro's was his swordsmanship and attack power.
The other three were about the same.
They also held the title of "Warrior God," leading Griffin to speculate that these men had likely been promoted from the God's Knights over the past eight hundred years.
The fact that Saint Garling would later replace Saturn as one of the Five Elders also lent credence to this theory.
One thing needed to be understood...
Living longer doesn't necessarily make one stronger. Possessing an immortal body doesn't mean one's strength can grow indefinitely.
Saint Miya was from the same era as Whitebeard and the others, but she could never compare to them, neither then nor now.
It was very likely that the strength of the Five Elders was fixed at the moment they gained immortality. It might have even declined because they had to run the massive organization that was the World Government, neglecting their Haki training.
...
To put it bluntly...
In Griffin's perception, aside from Saint Warcury and Saint Nusjuro, the other three were definitely not as strong as the current three Marine Admirals!
And Saint Warcury and Saint Nusjuro were no match for Whitebeard.
Griffin had met almost all the top-tier powerhouses of the sea, and he had a rough ranking in his mind.
Excluding the unknown Imu.
When it came to the strongest, Griffin would only hesitate between two people.
Whitebeard and Garp.
Even though he had never seen Whitebeard go all out, and Garp mostly acted like a comic relief character.
But his bloodline's innate combat intuition told Griffin that these two were a cut above the other top-tier powerhouses.
In common terms, they were in the king-tier.
...
After them came Kaido, the three Admirals, and others he had seen over two years ago. Rayleigh was about the same.
But a battle isn't a regulated ring match; a one-on-one, undisturbed fight is an extremely rare occurrence.
Time, location, personnel, even the weather and one's mood on the day could all influence the outcome.
This wasn't to say that other top-tier powerhouses could never defeat Whitebeard and Garp.
Besides...
Middle-generation powerhouses like Kaido and the three Admirals were still in their prime and growing stronger, while those two had already begun their decline.
By the time of the Summit War in the original timeline, the gap between the top tiers had become negligible.
...
Returning to the Five Elders.
If Imu didn't exist, they alone would be completely incapable of maintaining the World Government's rule.
Regardless of how Imu defeated Joy Boy eight hundred years ago, the fact that Imu was the victor remained unchanged.
Imu was the King of the World, the strongest in a league of their own.
The Five Elders were merely the executors under this ruler.
...
...
The elevator continued its descent.
Griffin looked up at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, hidden in the clouds and mist. The comma-shaped jewels in his eyes linked together, forming circle after circle.
His gaze seemed to want to pierce through the clouds and mist, to see the monster that dwelled within the Room of Flowers.
A fated opposition was the main theme of this world...
Both from the 'Room of Flowers,' with such similar abilities, both wanting to reshape this world to fit their own desires.
So...
No, he should say, he had known from the very beginning.
A frivolous smile touched the corners of Griffin's lips.
Let's discard the boring opposition of light and dark, and see...
Whose malice runs deeper, Imu!!
——
——
——
——
The Underwater Great Prison, Impel Down, Level 6, Infinite Hell.
The very air here was thick with a viscous darkness, reeking of the stench of souls that had rotted and settled over countless years.
Warden Magellan himself had escorted a new prisoner here.
Shanks.
Without his iconic cloak, his feet were bound by ridiculously thick chains, and his body was covered in wounds.
His face showed none of the madness or dejection common among prisoners, only a deep calm.
His sharp gaze seemed capable of piercing the darkness of Infinite Hell.
...
"Stay put. No one has ever escaped from here."
Shanks was shoved into an empty cell, and the heavy bars slammed down with a deafening crash.
But he spoke with a faint smile, "Is that so? What about Shiki, then?"
Magellan's steps faltered. He turned and said calmly, "How about we add 'since I became warden' to that sentence?"
Warden Magellan, user of the Paramecia-type Venom-Venom Fruit, the strongest man in the history of Impel Down!
...
As the footsteps faded, Shanks surveyed the prison's layout with great interest.
After passing through his anger and grief, he had calmed down.
As long as he was still alive, being captured was no big deal.
It was just that Beckman and the others had been locked up separately, and he didn't know where they were...
The entire Red Hair Pirate Crew were non-Devil Fruit Users. To them, the Sea Stone chains were only sturdy; they couldn't drain their stamina.
Shanks was confident he could shatter the chains right now. The trouble was the countless guards.
Especially that Magellan...
Shanks was certain that in a confined space like a prison, he was definitely no match for Magellan.
He couldn't rely on others. He had to find a way to save himself...
...
Just as he was thinking, a voice came from the deep shadows of the cell diagonally opposite his.
The voice was low and hoarse, like two giant pieces of rusted iron grinding against each other.
"So it's you, little brat... Shanks."
Shanks looked toward the source of the voice. Even in the absolute darkness, he could feel that ferocious gaze.
Memories flooded his mind, and Shanks spoke the name.
"Douglas... Bullet!"
...
Chains rattled, and the silhouette of an extremely tall and burly figure faintly emerged from the shadows.
A former member of the Roger Pirates, a monster known as the "Devil's Child."
After leaving the Roger Pirates, he had thrown the seas into chaos, to the point that even Garp and Sengoku had participated in the operation to capture him!
"You're even missing an arm."
"It seems that you, the one who inherited Roger's will, haven't been doing so well."
"Your strength has grown quite a bit, though..."
"Did you lose to someone stronger, or... were you dragged down by those rats from the World Government with their disgusting tricks?"
...
Shanks was silent for a moment before giving a bitter smile.
"I was thoroughly defeated, and I see no hope of catching up."
"He's a man... who completely subverts the common sense of the seas!"
"A monster that shouldn't exist in this world!"
...
Bullet, in the darkness, clearly paused.
Then, a low, suppressed laugh erupted.
"Hahaha..."
"For you to say something like that... it seems things outside are truly exciting!!"
"I really... really..."
"Want to meet this monster you speak of!!!"
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