"Catch him!"
"This must be Crocodile's doing!"
"Make sure to capture and bring Crocodile to justice!"
"The World Government will immediately release news, accusing Crocodile of defying the World Government by fabricating history, removing Crocodile from the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and issue the highest bounty in the seas for his capture!"
The voices of the Five Elders rose one after another.
The group of old men exchanged glances, knowing that the underground palace was likely built by a Sand-Sand Fruit user eight hundred years ago, but at this moment, all blame needed to be placed on Crocodile!
For the stability of the world...
A scapegoat must be found...
Whether or not Crocodile was actually responsible, it had to be defined as such; all charges must be laid on Crocodile so that the rest would be easier to handle, allowing them to capture Crocodile and force the Sand Crocodile to admit all guilt!
Only if the Golden Underground Palace was built by Crocodile to instigate global chaos against the World Government, would there be grounds to address the impending world turmoil seriously!
What a...
Twist of fate!
Unexpectedly a solution had been found!
"If Crocodile's head alone is not enough, then add that newly emerged Konoha Pirate Group. Aren't they attempting to kill the Heavenly Celestial Dragons?"
"Directly add the crime of falsifying history onto them as well, dumping all charges onto these Pirates, and let the World Government gradually tell the world those foolish mortals that Alabasta's exposed history is all fake..."
"It's all just a conspiracy by the Pirates..."
The Five Elders intuitively found the method to resolve the crisis, discussing how to clear the World Government's name as quickly as possible.
The tense atmosphere on the battleship vanished without a trace as they even began thinking about convincing the world that there was no hidden Lord Imu...
After all...
Imu's existence is top secret.
"Alright."
"First, call over to the World Government office."
An elderly man sitting on the sofa disconnected Sengoku's radio snail before dialing the World Government's radio snail, intending to order the immediate release of the rebuttal news communiqué.
However...
The call to Holy Land Mary Geoise was connected.
The voice from the other end of the radio snail was not the usual respectful tone of the World Government officials; instead, it was trembling, as though the man on the other side was fearful of something, even the sound of chattering teeth could be heard.
"Why aren't you speaking?"
The Five Elders frowned again, not quite understanding the situation within the World Government.
Could it be...
Could it be that Lord Imu, receiving the news in anger, had already taken action against the World Government in a fury?
That's impossible...
Lord Imu, being the King of the World, is always an absolutely calm person and would not show up before meeting them...
However...
The voice from the other end of the radio snail sounded as if trembling in fear.
No...
The official was indeed trembling uncontrollably.
Because what this official had to report filled him with fear.
"Mary Geoise...has been attacked by Pirates..."
"The Konoha Pirate Group has breached Holy Land Mary Geoise; the World Commander Steel Bone Kong and Divine Knight Order Commander Saint Garling have been defeated, and the Konoha Pirates are capturing World Nobles in Mary Geoise..."
"..."
The faces of the Five Elders simultaneously turned ashen.
This was, to them, the true bolt from the blue.
"Is this call from the Five Elders?"
Soon a strange mechanical voice appeared on the other end of the radio snail.
"Ye...yes..."
The trembling reply from the World Government official came again from the other end.
"Hand over the radio snail you're holding."
This strange mechanical voice came through the radio snail to the Five Elders' ears, casually saying, "If nothing unexpected happens, you gentlemen should be heading to Alabasta now, right?"
Without waiting for their response, the voice continued quietly and steadily offering an answer so calm it stirred fear in the heart, "Our diversion seems to have worked quite well; a beast remains a beast, never learning to think like a human, easily deceived into that Golden Underground Palace..."