Chapter 384: Public Execution? Who?
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Inside the former Detention Unit Headquarters, now the Star Hunters Unit Base.
"Phew..."
Taking a nice sip of cola, Roy felt as if he hadn't been this relaxed for quite a long time.
After all, starting from helping Zephyr deal with Edward Weevil earlier, the continuous occurrence of events—whether related to "The Zodiac" or other matters—left him with no time to stay long at Headquarters.
"A leisurely life is truly wonderful..."
Pretending to blow on the cup, Roy, having taken a sip of cola, gazed into the distance.
And then he saw the chaotic scene at Marine Headquarters—a large number of Marines were running in and out near the Tenshukaku, each carrying a massive amount of documents.
"Mm, especially when everyone else is very busy."
Watching others hustle and bustle while being idle oneself always has a certain joy to it.
Especially when knowing that this busyness was brought about by oneself, this joy could even rise to the level of malicious pleasure.
Yes.
Recently, Marine Headquarters is of course very busy.
To be precise.
Ever since the Fish-Man Island incident happened and the Aster set sail on the sea, the Marines have always been very busy.
Monitoring the movements of that giant starlight ship, and being ready with various countermeasures and contingency plans at all times—it's said that within the Marines there are already dozens of plans for this, and the wrinkles on the faces of Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru have increased by more than just one layer from staying up late.
And the most crucial thing is, the emergency plans regarding the Aster hadn't even been fully prepared yet—not long ago, that ship which had been sailing peacefully on the sea suddenly vanished.
It's said that that night, the Transponder Snails of Marine Headquarters and various branches exploded with calls instantly, and countless Headquarters generals received orders on the spot, preparing for the worst-case scenario.
But the next day, two pieces of explosive intelligence arrived one after another.
First—that night, 'Beasts' Kaido launched a surprise attack on Totto Land for unknown reasons. The Four Emperor "Big Mom", originally thought to be dead, appeared and was confirmed to have joined The Zodiac.
And the Aster, which had vanished from the Marines' intelligence network, appeared exactly in Totto Land, and killed Kaido there.
To put it bluntly, this news was again super big news enough to make the staff officers of Marine Headquarters stay up all night for a week.
Big Mom didn't die, and even joined The Zodiac.
Another Four Emperor fell.
Either one of these is news enough to shake the sea.
But the key is, this wasn't even all.
Because according to Marine intelligence, on that very same night.
A drastic change also seemed to have occurred inside Wano Country, which was originally in a "closed-country" state—the structure beneath the sea surface of Wano Country was completely destroyed, and the entire country announced it was "opening its borders".
And simultaneously with this, it's said that a massive Ancient Warship also appeared in Wano Country, suspected to be "Pluton".
And the person piloting that warship was also confirmed to be "Rabbit", one of the members of The Zodiac.
"Tsk tsk, such explosive news... plus the deaths of the Five Elders."
"Good thing I'm already a member of the 'Star Hunters Unit', otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to leave the office for a month."
Roy had a subtle expression, mourning for Fleet Admiral Sengoku's hair follicles—he vaguely remembered that the Fleet Admiral had an afro with abundant hair when he was young, but now the amount of hair is already worrying.
"No, that's not right. In the original work, this guy reverted back to his past afro after retiring. This shows his hair follicles are still full of vitality and can completely withstand the pressure."
Thinking random thoughts in his heart, Roy's movements didn't stop.
"Besides, having Marine Headquarters and the World Government be a bit chaotic... is a good thing."
While murmuring in his heart, Roy slowly raised his hand.
Activating the Door-Door Fruit ability, an object appeared out of thin air in the air.
That was a compass.
Yes.
This compass was exactly the one Loki gave him in Elbaf earlier—what it pointed to should be "the location where Rocks is".
And the key lies exactly here...
After getting this compass, Roy had actually secretly searched for the location it pointed to.
First, the direction of this compass itself steadily points downwards—in other words, Rocks's current location should be beneath the sea surface.
Besides that, among the places Roy tried, the one where the compass needle reacted the strongest and pointed most clearly was exactly where he was right now—Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Only here, the compass needle was closest to vertical, but not completely vertical, having an angle of seventy to eighty degrees.
"Not inside Headquarters, but beneath the sea surface somewhere near Headquarters."
Roy looked at the direction of the needle, silently judging the location it pointed to.
"Or to be more precise..."
Through the sea surface, he could see the "Gates of Justice", symbolizing Marine justice, standing far away in the distance.
And Roy knew—behind that giant gate, there were two more similar gates.
"The center of the three Gates of Justice, which is to say... right below the core basin of the Tarai Current."
As someone who had trained beneath the sea surface of Marineford, Roy was naturally very clear.
When he trained with Zephyr in the past, he had blasted the "Tarai Current" beneath the sea surface.
But that was only the edge portion of the Tarai Current.
The true "Tarai Current" existed in the core sea area at the center of those three Gates of Justice—where even deep-sea Sea Kings would be torn to pieces by the violent ocean current.
And the most crucial part is not here.
The most crucial part was, when Roy previously went underwater under the guise of practicing the "Black Body Style" and quietly approached the Gates of Justice following the direction pointed by the compass.
He clearly perceived it.
Hidden within that Tarai Current that seemed as if it would never stop circulating, was a power.
That power was very similar to the power when he was "restricted" by Imu's Abyssal Magic Circle in Wano Country earlier, and also very similar to the "Pillars of the Abyss" in Totto Land.
So Roy was almost certain.
Within the Tarai Current, there must definitely be a massive Abyssal Magic Circle, simultaneously having a large number of Pillars of the Abyss. Perhaps even this massive circulating current itself was stirred up by Imu.
But this was exactly the problem.
"Rocks's corpse should be below."
"As long as I find it, the 'key' Rocks gave me can take effect..."
Thinking of the "key" he had just obtained from Rocks thirty years ago not long ago, a sharp gleam flashed in Roy's eyes.
And the problem he had to face now was very clear—how to pass through this Tarai Current?
"Just crash into it directly with the Aster? No... this place is too close to Mary Geoise and Marineford. If Imu can borrow the power of the Pillar of Creation, it would be very easy to drive myself into a corner."
The simplest and most direct reckless method was quickly rejected by Roy.
And quickly, he realized another problem.
"Maintaining a Lineage Factor Creation on the scale of the Tarai Current should be very strenuous for the current Imu!"
Having fought Imu twice, in Wano Country and God's Valley, Roy was very certain that the current Imu was very constrained in His use of power.
He couldn't possibly, and there was no reason for Him to, maintain the existence of the Tarai Current long-term.
But the fact was, the Tarai Current had existed here since the establishment of the World Government, never having changed.
So the only explanation was...
"The existence of this ocean current is not caused by Imu's power—or rather, at least not entirely?"
"Perhaps Imu merely enhanced its 'power' and imposed 'restrictions' on it, but the birth of this ocean current itself... might be some kind of technological technique or a natural product?"
Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration struck Roy's heart.
"There are three Gates of Justice—Marineford, Mary Geoise, Impel Down..."
He thought of news he had heard quite a long time ago.
"In the deepest part of Impel Down, there is a 'mechanism'. Every so often, the Five Elders come to ascertain the stability of that mechanism's structure."
"Besides that, even the Warden of Impel Down is restricted when entering it for inspection."
"Besides Impel Down, Mary Geoise and Marineford each have similar machinery."
That was the news Magellan, the Warden of Impel Down, told him.
And now he felt, he seemed to know what that mysterious cavity at the bottommost layer of Impel Down was for.
"Boss!"
However, exactly at this moment, a sudden knock on the door and Hans's surprised voice brought Roy back to his senses.
"What's wrong? Making such a fuss."
After composing his emotions, he let Hans into the office and asked casually.
"No... it's not making a fuss—Boss, look at this quickly! An order the Government just transmitted to Headquarters and the Command!"
After hearing this, Hans hurriedly handed over the intelligence report in his hand.
"Oh?"
Thus, Roy frowned: "Headquarters and the Command?"
Headquarters naturally referred to Marine Headquarters, and the Command referred to the Star Hunters Unit.
In other words—this was a direct order issued by the Government simultaneously to the Marines and the Star Hunters Unit, which was rare.
And after taking the intelligence report and taking a close look, Roy frowned even tighter.
"To think such a thing happened..."
His voice was barely audible, carrying an astonishment that had increasingly rarely appeared on him recently.
Because right now, written strikingly on the intelligence report was...
[Half a month later, the Government will execute a criminal in Marineford.]
[Possessing a sinful bloodline flowing in his body, an enemy of the Government and the World Nobles, a 'sinner' who must die under the witness of the whole world.]
[His name is...]
['Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy.]
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