Next Bonus, 100!!
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"KAIDO!!!"
"He's here!"
Shock rippled through the Marine ranks.
"Wororororo..."
Kaido strode forward, his massive iron club resting casually on his shoulder. His towering, burly frame radiated an overwhelming pressure.
His appearance was hardly a surprise.
Kaido and Doflamingo had a "cooperative" relationship.
With trouble brewing here, how could he not show up?
"What a lively party!"
Kaido swept his gaze across the battlefield. "So, the Marines finally built up the nerve to march openly into the New World?"
"Looking for a war?"
Skrrrt!
A sharp sound cut across the ice—the slide of a sled.
Sakazuki looked over.
"Red-Haired Shanks!"
Shanks stood atop a sled, gazing out at the battlefield.
"I have come to end this war!"
This wasn't the era of collapsed order that would come two years later. With such a massive commotion in Dressrosa, the Yonko couldn't simply sit idly by.
Two Admirals and a Buster Call-class fleet sailing into the New World? Of course they would take notice.
It was true that the Four Emperors kept each other in check. However, there was one scenario where they would form a temporary alliance.
The Marines!
If the Marines launched a full-scale invasion of the New World, the Emperors would unite.
Otherwise, how could the balance of power—the Emperors, the Warlords, and the Marines—exist?
The balance lay in the fact that while each group had its internal issues, they would unify to oppose an external threat.
This fragile equilibrium required constant adjustment by the Five Elders, ensuring these three groups consumed each other's strength.
Only then could the safety of the Celestial Dragons and the World Government be guaranteed.
At times, the Five Elders would even act as mediators or referees.
Consequently, all three parties, in one way or another, had to rely on the Five Elders and the World Government.
Of course, in a certain sense, the World Government and the Five Elders were also invisibly constrained by this "balance."
They had to maintain the rules.
Kuzan frowned. Two of the Four Emperors were here. Plus Shiki and Loki... this was terrifying.
Where were Whitebeard and Big Mom?
Were they on their way?
The tide of the war had shifted instantly. The Marines had held the upper hand, but now the situation was grim.
"Admiral Sakazuki. Fleet Admiral Sengoku orders a withdrawal from the battlefield."
"Hm?"
Sakazuki raised an eyebrow, then waved his hand. "Organize the retreat immediately!"
He was a hardliner, but the priority of executing orders superseded his stubbornness.
"Sir!"
Sakazuki used Meteor Volcano to blast a channel through the ice, creating space for the warships to pass.
Under the cover of Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Gion, the Marines—having executed the Buster Call—withdrew from the battlefield.
Jin did not let Shiki or Loki pursue.
Kaido and Shanks weren't here to help.
They could present a united front against the Marines.
But the moment the Marines retreated?
They looked at each other, and at the alliance of Shiki and Loki, with eyes full of hostility.
These guys weren't on the same team.
Chasing the Marines would likely result in a knife in the back.
"Worororo! Shiki! You really did come back!"
Kaido laughed uproariously.
He opened with a Thunder Bagua, swinging straight for Shiki's head.
He still remembered.
During the attack on God Valley, Shiki had nearly killed him with a stray explosion.
Shiki hadn't been very popular on Rocks' ship.
CLANG!
Shiki swung his halberd, clashing with Kaido's Thunder Bagua. The collision of Conqueror's Haki shook the heavens and the sea.
"Hm? Who are you? You're not Shiki!"
Kaido's pupils constricted as he stared at Shiki, his voice booming with suspicion.
Kaido was one of the few who knew Shiki well. A single clash of Conqueror's Haki was enough for him to sense the unfamiliarity.
Shiki did not answer.
Elsewhere.
Facing the "coward" Shanks, Loki swung his massive hammer, initiating a clash of his own.
DOOM!
The ice shattered.
Sensing the standoff on the other side, Sakazuki let out a cold laugh. "Truly a dog-eat-dog world. Let them rot in this mud!"
Although the Marines had withdrawn from the battlefield, they didn't leave immediately. They wanted to see if they could pick off the survivors.
However.
Kaido, Shanks, and Jin all understood that when the sniper and the clam fight, the fisherman wins.
After a few clashes, they stopped.
In reality, while the Four Emperors competed fiercely in the New World, they also maintained a level of restraint.
They rarely fought to the death.
It was a tacit understanding.
After all, if one falls, the others are exposed to the cold.
The Marines, the Four Emperors, and the alliance of Shiki and Loki remained in a stalemate in these waters.
During this time, the various factions began to communicate and negotiate.
The enraged World Government took action.
In the next morning's paper, they announced that Dressrosa had been stripped of its status as a member nation for colluding with pirates.
They also announced that a "Buster Call" had been launched against Dressrosa for harming a Celestial Dragon.
This was to maintain the authority of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.
The nations that had previously voiced support for King Riku fell silent, terrified.
The deterrent power of a Buster Call was terrifying.
Furthermore, the World Government raised the bounties on Shiki, Loki, and everyone else who had participated in the Battle of Dressrosa.
But then, The Truth—a current affairs newspaper founded by Entertainment Weekly—exposed everything.
From how Doflamingo stole the country with "10 billion Berries," to how he controlled the bodies and minds of the citizens with the Hobi Hobi no Mi.
To the truth behind the Dressrosa "riots."
King Riku's resistance.
The joint massacre by the Celestial Dragons and the God's Knights sent by the World Government.
And the launching of the Buster Call to cover up the truth.
The article devoted an entire page to condemning the World Government for shielding the criminal Doflamingo and his family. It exposed every crime of the Donquixote Family.
Including the deaths of the elderly and children under the Marine's Buster Call.
There were pictures. There was the truth.
Entertainment Weekly was now a globally influential publication.
The moment this edition was released...
It triggered a tidal wave.
Regardless of what the nobles and high officials thought, the masses—and even the pirates—had a basic sense of right and wrong.
Protests erupted from the people in the East, West, South, and North Blues.
Every instance of Marine corruption and brutality in local areas was exposed.
Public opinion exploded.
It happened too fast.
Even with the cooperation of various nations, the World Government couldn't suppress it in time. Rumors spread like wildfire.
Paper cannot wrap fire!
The Dressrosa Buster Call was the spark that ignited the suppressed anger in the hearts of people everywhere.
The screaming shells, the burning flames, the helpless children... these images struck straight at the human heart.
Even within the Marines, significant controversy erupted.
Soldiers who still held onto their sense of justice, like Smoker and Hina, demanded an explanation from Headquarters.
The soldiers who had participated in the Buster Call were shunned and reprimanded by their peers.
Under this storm of public opinion, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and the others were urgently recalled to Headquarters to discuss countermeasures.
But there was nothing they could do.
The public outcry was too turbulent.
This wave of opinion had caught the World Government and the Marines completely off guard.
For too long, the World Government had controlled the narrative. Even Morgans usually played by their rules.
Long-term rule without competition inevitably leads to institutional decay.
They didn't think anyone would dare to provoke the World Government.
But Jin had clearly been prepared.
Back when he distributed the "Ancient History Translation Guide," he had manufactured "Big News" to successfully disseminate information to the world.
He had learned from that experience.
This time, it went even smoother.
Jin hadn't started this war on a whim; he was advancing a premeditated plan.
Dressrosa was not his goal.
It was merely a bargaining chip.
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