Then Mihawk was a force that could be won over!
The World's Greatest Swordsman—no matter how one looked at it, he ought to possess combat power on the level of an Admiral.
Perhaps he would never submit beneath anyone, but at the very least, cooperation was a possibility.
That was the fundamental reason Ren had come here.
As for the secondary reason…
"You may speak now," Ren said.
"…Do not order this Empress around."
Hancock pursed her red lips and glared at Ren in displeasure, but it clearly carried no killing power at all.
If anything, the contrast gave her a strange sort of beauty.
"Is that so?"
Ren smiled, turned around, walked closer, and placed his hand on Hancock's face.
His broad palm covered half of her exquisite face, while his thumb pressed directly between those fiery red lips, pinning down her soft pink tongue.
"And what opinion do you have?"
He asked with a smile.
"…"
Hancock, caught between shame and fury, held his thumb in her mouth. Her white teeth rested against his skin, yet she did not dare bite down in the slightest.
"Out of everything on your body, only that mouth is hard."
Ren shook his head, withdrew his thumb, and wiped the moisture from it across that breathtakingly beautiful face capable of haunting one's dreams. "You've seen the current situation.
"I am the enemy of the World Government, and also the enemy of the Celestial Dragons.
"And I have confidence that I will obtain final victory.
"Of course, perhaps you won't believe that, but it doesn't matter.
"No matter what thoughts you may have, the dissolution of the Shichibukai system is highly likely.
"I wasn't lying about the Seraphim. The World Government really does have a way to replace the Shichibukai system.
"Without the protection of that system, can Kuja Island remain uninvolved in what comes next?
"I think the answer is no.
"Unless the Marines fail completely, unless the World Government loses the power to maintain order.
"Otherwise, your Kuja Island will inevitably face a reckoning."
In the original story, the Marines' siege of Kuja Island had not happened without reason.
The Kuja Pirates were pirates by nature, a crew that engaged in plunder. They had merely been protected by the status of the Shichibukai.
In other words, they were a major pirate organization.
And at the time, the Marines needed to test the Seraphim's combat power, as well as reestablish their authority after the Marineford War.
That was why the incident of the Marines encircling Kuja Island had occurred.
But… would things not develop the same way right now?
Before them were the Whitebeard Pirates attacking Marineford, even taking a Celestial Dragon hostage.
Behind them were Ren, this thorn in their side, the Revolutionary Army, and many more.
All of them were challengers to the existing order.
If the World Government wished to reestablish its authority, indiscriminate suppression was clearly an inevitable development.
Kuja Island could not stay out of it, unless the Kuja Pirates ceased all acts of plunder from this moment onward.
But that was impossible. The resources on Kuja Island could not support such a large population.
This point—
As the Empress of Kuja, Hancock could understand it as well.
"What do you want to do, and what do you want this Empress to do?"
Hancock adjusted her state of mind and chose to ignore this hateful man's almost humiliating behavior.
To be honest, she was almost growing used to these things that never crossed the line, yet happened constantly.
She merely asked coldly about the matter she cared about.
"How will things develop next? Where does your confidence come from, that you can defeat the World Government that has stood for eight hundred years?"
"That question is complicated, but I can tell you the first step."
Ren grinned, his gaze falling upon the main battlefield. "First, shatter the Marines' justice and—the Celestial Dragons' golden body!"
At that instant, a booming voice echoed through the air above Marineford through resonance.
"Sengoku, you see him, don't you? One of the two Celestial Dragons who disappeared from the Sabaody Archipelago."
Whitebeard gripped Saint Charlos in his hand, his icy gaze fixed on his old adversary. "The other one isn't here, but he's in my hands too.
"This is a trade. Two Celestial Dragons in exchange for Ace's life.
"You can execute Ace ahead of schedule. At this distance, even I can't stop you.
"But the logic is the same. At this distance… you can't stop me from executing this Celestial Dragon either!"
The deafening voice was accompanied by the crystal-clear sound of bones cracking.
The source of the amplified scream was Saint Charlos, whose bones had just been crushed in Whitebeard's grip.
That ugly face was now covered in snot and tears, and his earlier curses had turned into furious howls.
"You Marines… ah, it hurts… hurry up and come protect me!"
"It hurts… you trash, stop it!"
No matter how Saint Charlos struggled and shouted, there was no way for him to be rescued in an instant.
Whitebeard stood like a towering mountain, making everyone realize one thing.
If they wanted to preserve Saint Charlos's life, there was only one possibility—agree to the exchange!
It was as though the ideological brand that said the Celestial Dragons were sacred and inviolable had been forcibly torn apart by this violent, brutal scene!
"Choose. Your masters, or your justice?"
Conqueror's Haki erupted from Edward Newgate's body like beacon smoke, and like a Demon King holding a prince hostage, he hurled his question at everyone present.
Was it the life of a Celestial Dragon, or the justice for which they had sacrificed, bled, suffered, and fought?
At that instant, a certain common understanding that had always mixed justice together with the Celestial Dragons and the World Government was split apart by the blade of that question.
Its bloody insides were laid bare before every Marine.
So suffocating—
Within the Marines' battle lines, Tashigi, bloodied from battle, stood back-to-back with an equally battered Smoker.
At this moment, both of them turned their gazes toward the execution platform.
She and he were both Marine elites, and at the same time, they were also a reflection of the rank-and-file forces in this war.
"…What choice will it be?"
Smoker tightened his grip around the jitte in his hand, feeling for the first time in his life what it meant to be uneasy.
"That is a Celestial Dragon…"
Tashigi said this, as though trying to convince herself, but she could not continue.
Yes.
It was a Celestial Dragon.
A World Noble.
Even if they chose to exchange Ace in order to preserve a Celestial Dragon's life, it was not impossible to understand.
Because that was a Celestial Dragon.
But… even though she understood that, she had no way to truly convince herself.
At the very least, Tashigi, who had always obeyed orders, asked herself and found that she could not do it.
If they did that, then what did all the blood they had shed, the pain they had endured, and the sacrifices they had made up to now amount to?
What did that make the Marines who had died in order to sever the bloodline of the world's evil?
In Tashigi's sight, the Marine Hero Garp remained silent. Among the Three Admirals, Akainu wore a complicated expression, Kizaru murmured a couple of "oh mys," and Aokiji still had his eyes closed.
Vice Admiral Tsuru's lips moved, but she said nothing. She merely looked, together with the other Vice Admirals, at the only person who could make the decision.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku!
Those pairs of Marine eyes, carrying different emotions, were now nailed to Sengoku like sharp swords.
They made him feel cold. They made him tremble. They made him afraid!
'It's too late. He has already completed the plan. This is the killing blow!'
Without a doubt, Sengoku had already realized what the current situation was.
There was no possibility of countering it, because Ren had already sealed the board.
This was an open scheme—unsolvable and fatal.
It had most likely even been aimed at his own personality.
So it was already a dead end.
He understood very clearly the meaning carried in Tsuru's gaze.
In truth, there was still one chance.
Refuse to acknowledge Charlos's identity, execute Ace on the spot, and use himself as the price to preserve the Marines' justice.
But…
"He can't do it."
Ren spoke with certainty into the Den Den Mushi wristwatch. "Sengoku is the person most obedient to the World Government, and that is why he is Fleet Admiral.
"It is not because he is the strongest that he became Fleet Admiral. There is a difference between an Admiral and a Fleet Admiral."
"Is that so?"
Dragon, on the other end of the line, did not know what to say for a moment. He merely looked at the broadcast screen before him.
It was radio-wave broadcast technology provided by the Angel of Glory.
Those watching on-site were members of the Revolutionary Army, as well as… people from all over the world!
Yes.
The current scene was not merely being played at the broadcast center of the Sabaody Archipelago.
The Revolutionary Army had mobilized its own power to spread this matter to every place where Den Den Mushi broadcasts could be viewed.
This was something that had been prepared long in advance.
Its fundamental purpose was to break the Celestial Dragons' golden body, to utterly shatter the myth of their sacred inviolability!
"To kill—one must strike the heart, Dragon."
Ren's tone was indifferent. Then he asked, "How are things on Kaido's side?"
"He and Mr. Issho have started fighting, but from the looks of it, it isn't a deathmatch. Once things end here, news will reach that side as well.
"Your people said the radio-wave blockade over Wano can last at most one more hour."
"Then that's enough."
Ren hung up the call. Immediately after, he received a message through the collective network.
A new radio wave had connected.
It came from Mary Geoise!
The corners of his mouth curled upward. He snapped his fingers, and the Den Den Mushi transmission system within Marine Headquarters changed.
The Buru Buru sound rang out across the deathly silent battlefield, unusually clear, even piercingly loud.
And the source was naturally the Den Den Mushi in Sengoku's hand!
The sudden change left everyone somewhat dazed.
Sengoku became furious, immediately realizing where the problem lay.
But at this moment, there was already no time left for him to interrupt.
The Den Den Mushi's Buru Buru continued to ring.
Sengoku could even foresee what direction things were about to take.
There was a small chance it was Saint Rosward calling.
But far more likely… it was the Five Elders.
Under the gazes of the Marines and pirates alike, several seconds passed.
With no other choice, Sengoku answered the call. A cold voice came from the receiver, and under the tampering of radio-wave technology, it echoed through the sky above Marineford.
"Agree to the exchange. Execute it immediately!"
After that unfamiliar voice, though one whose owner could be roughly guessed, rang out, the Den Den Mushi directly ended the communication.
What answered it was a wave of… noise.
Or rather, the sound of weapons falling to the ground, followed by people collapsing to sit upon it.
These were the Marines who had fought on despite being drenched in blood, who refused to retreat even with heavy injuries.
The moment they heard those words, the spirit was directly drained out of them.
Tashigi, for example, was one of them.
She sat blankly on the ground, at a complete loss. Her beloved blade fell into the dust, but she had no thought of picking it up.
Even though reason told her this was understandable, she had no way to accept such an outcome.
As for the Marines whose injuries were not as severe, they wore expressions as though their souls had been sucked away.
Smoker, for example. He bit down on his cigar so hard that he nearly snapped it apart, his furious gaze fixed on Sengoku, who stood wordlessly atop the execution platform.
Or rather, on the Den Den Mushi in his hand.
(End of Chapter)