"To think the Revolutionary Army mobilized such a massive force all at once!" Aokiji found it difficult to believe.
The Revolutionary Army's operational footprint had always been sprawling, but because they almost exclusively acted in small cells, even though their influence reached every corner of the globe, their visible, overt forces were estimated to be under one hundred thousand.
In his assessment, the maximum combat force the Revolutionary Army could rally for a single point of impact was roughly one hundred and fifty thousand.
Yet the reality before him comfortably shattered those estimates. For this many troops to gather around the base of the Red Line directly beneath the Holy Land was a dizzying, breathtaking spectacle.
A single sweep of the eyes revealed a dense, unending human tide—describing them like a massive shoal of fish was no exaggeration.
People packed shoulder to shoulder.
"What is this world going to turn into..." Aokiji hardly dared to imagine. An unprecedented, historic shift was genuinely unfolding across the globe.
This time, the Revolutionary Army had indisputably deployed every single asset they possessed, making a desperate, all-or-nothing last stand.
Meanwhile, the Navy had yet to assemble its full global strength, as the fleet elements dispatched across the seas to hunt down the stripped Seven Warlords had not all been recalled to headquarters.
Numerical figures favoured the subversives, but the Navy's absolute highest command echelon was gathered here in its entirety. Compounded by the eight-hundred-year accumulated heritage of the World Government, their chances of losing were virtually zero.
Especially when the World Government harbored a monster whose true depth of strength remained unfathomable.
There was zero margin for victory!
What weighed heavily on Aokiji's mind now was the catastrophic ripple effect this war—vastly surpassing the scale of the Summit War—would inflict upon the rest of the world.
And reality tracked precisely along Aokiji's anxieties. Across the entire world, every single soul was silently keeping their eyes glued to this conflict capable of flipping the global order upside down.
Throughout the Grand Line, the sea domain standardly regarded by the public as a graveyard of pirates, absolute panic reigned supreme.
Those who possessed the raw courage to enter the Grand Line and pursue their grand dreams were individuals whose abilities and nerve far outclassed ordinary men.
Yet now, this distant conflict left them completely unable to chart a clear course for the future.
The perilous Grand Line, which they had navigated with utmost caution, seemed like mere child's play compared to the titans clashing in this war.
No one could foresee the final outcome of the clash, let alone predict the geopolitical layout that would emerge in its wake.
If even the hardened pirates of the Grand Line felt this existential dread, the plight of the ordinary citizens across the Four Seas of East, West, North, and South was infinitely worse.
Countless thousands stayed awake through the night in fervent prayer, unsure what manner of sky tomorrow would bring, or whether this vast ocean would still preserve a single place for them to call home.
Some prayed desperately for a World Government victory, unwilling to let the familiar, quiet rhythm of their peaceful lives be shattered.
Others fervently wished for a Revolutionary Army triumph, desperate to end the endless cycle of suffering that had defined their existence under the old regime.
A World Government with the Celestial Dragons reigning supreme over humanity served only to guarantee an opulent, untouchable lifestyle for corrupt, decadent nobles.
The common people were left at their absolute mercy, enduring a living hell day after day. How could a populace subjected to such an existence fail to rise in revolt?
Thus, a massive groundswell of public support rose to back the Revolutionary Army.
What was even more startling was that the number of citizens rallying behind the subversives subtly began to outnumber those simply praying for passive stability.
This proved that the core will of the people had comfortably aligned with the Revolutionary Army all along.
The reign of the World Government had long driven countless masses beyond the point of endurance.
This sudden, explosive war was no impulsive gamble by the Revolutionary Army—it was an operation launched because the time was ripe!
For decades, the Revolutionary Army had tirelessly worked at the grassroots level across the globe, inspiring countless lives with their core ideology of absolute equality.
The nobility scattered across the four seas acted as a systemic rot upon the world, inherently positioning themselves above humanity and trampling the weak at will.
Grief and lamentation echoed across the lands.
All ordinary people could do was pray.
Now, every individual across the globe possessing even a shred of status kept their surveillance arrays locked onto the shifting tides of this war. They understood with absolute clarity that regardless of who emerged victorious, the entire world was bound to undergo a seismic transformation.
What piqued their intense curiosity, however, was precisely when the Legendary Four Brothers would step into the fray.
The Legendary Four Brothers: three Emperor-tier powerhouses, and the Chief of Staff standing as the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army.
Should a lineup of this terrifying caliber gather in unison upon the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, they would comfortably register as the single most devastating force on the battlefield. Even those leaning toward a World Government victory quietly calculated that the Legendary Four Brothers possessed the superior edge.
Every single one of those figures was a titan standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the absolute apex of the world!
BOOM!
A thunderous kinetic roar erupted across the sea channels adjacent to the Arabasta coastline.
A colossal silhouette broke clear of the ocean surface, landing heavily along the sandy shore.
The Going Guard.
"Going Guard, revert to baseline configuration."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Reverting to baseline submarine configuration...]
Following a brief sequence of mechanical reconfigurations, the Going Guard smoothly converted back into a sleek, mid-sized submarine resting along the shoreline.
Drake slowly stepped down from the primary hatch, casting his gaze across the surroundings before looking down at his open palm. A subtle, confident smirk curled the corners of his lips.
A gentle breeze swept across the shore, carrying faint traces of lingering acrid smoke—residual chemical signatures left behind by the specialized discharges of the Ancient Weapon Pluton.
The standard gunpowder technology deployed across the maritime world had far from reached the destructive tier commanded by Pluton's primary batteries.
"That performance was insanely cool, Drake!" The hatch had barely settled before Luffy rocketed out first, his face beaming.
Immediately following his lead, the Straw Hat crew, the Dragon Flag Pirates, and the Revolutionary Army officers filed out onto the sand in sequence.
Along with a solitary Marine Vice Admiral.
"Whoa... ahaha..." Chopper's eyes had morphed into brilliant, shimmering stars. He pressed his cheek flat against the metallic hull of the Going Guard, his face radiating absolute, unbridled affection.
"A real mecha... a real mecha..."
"What a truly mind-boggling piece of engineering!" Franky adjusted his sunglasses, staring at the Going Guard in profound, technical awe.
He had mapped the flagship's macro-transformation with absolute clarity. A technological masterpiece of this tier was something even Dr. Vegapunk's current research lagged light-years behind.
This verified that the science underpinning this vessel had cleanly sundered the bounds of modern human understanding.
Just what manner of individual possessed the intellect and resources to forge an asset of this caliber...
"Drake, we need to launch our deployment immediately," Sabo said, stepping directly into Drake's field of view.
His internal focus remained deeply anxious regarding the progression of the central theater. Evaluating the timeline, the opening clash at the Holy Land was likely already initializing.
If their unit failed to maximize their transit speed, they would mathematically fail to reinforce the line in time.
"I understand," Drake nodded smoothly, before shifting his gaze onto Vivi.
"You..."
"I'm coming along as well!" Vivi declared loudly without a single microsecond of hesitation.
"Vivi..." Nami stepped up beside her, gently patting her shoulder. "It's alright. Leave a crisis of this scale to us. You should remain here to safeguard your kingdom and look after your people. Don't forget, you're the Princess of this land."
Vivi shook her head, a warm, resolute smile breaking across her features. "Nami... everyone... you don't need to shield me from the field anymore."
"Arabasta has endured another catastrophic trial, and I am no longer the helpless crybaby I was two years ago... I've come to understand what truly matters. Allow me to stand beside you for this final battle—we are lifelong companions, aren't we?"
"Vivi..." The Straw Hat pirates stared blankly at her for a brief second before erupting into a boisterous chorus of laughter.
Luffy took a bold step forward, his arm sweeping wide. "Awesome! The Straw Hat Pirates are officially reunited at last! Every single one of us moves out together!"
With those words, every single member of the Straw Hat crew raised their left arm high into the open sky.
"We are companions!!"
Vivi pressed her hand against her lips, her eyes glistening with warm tears as she raised her arm high alongside them.
At long last, the Straw Hat Pirates were fully assembled!