Boom!
In the Marine Headquarters, a loud crash echoed from the office. Sengoku rubbed his forehead as he stared at the newspaper in his hand.
"These guys just can't stay still for a moment. Now they've caused such a big commotion. And Morgans, would it kill him to keep his mouth shut about this stuff?!"
Crunch, crunch...
"Doesn't he realize that this will only cause more turmoil in the sea?"
Crunch, crunch...
"If this keeps up..."
Crunch, crunch...
"Garp! Enough! I didn't call you here to eat senbei! Put them down!"
Sengoku's patience seemed to reach limit as he snatched all the senbei from Garp's hands. After tearing the bag open, he stuffed them into his own mouth, but the next moment, Garp, like a magician, pulled out another bag.
Crunch, crunch "Even if you tell me, it won't change anything. It's already happened. Do you want to go and arrest them all?"
"You..."
Sengoku sometimes envied Garp's carefree personality—he didn't have to deal with the endless nonsense from officials. Sengoku would love to catch all the pirates, but even if they ignored the problem of strength, the World Government wouldn't allow them to go to war so easily.
"Forget it, let's start the meeting first. There's been a lot going on lately, and we need to make sure everyone is aware of the recent changes. Tsuru, you are okay with handling this, right?"
"Isn't Brannew around? Let him handle it first. He seems to have a talent for this sort of thing."
"Don't go picking up Garp's habits. Zephyr's the same now. All of you...."
Sengoku was frustrated but didn't stop her. After all, Brannew really was capable of handling this task.
Soon after, a meeting was called, and the officers still at the headquarters began to assemble. Aside from the three Admirals, many Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals gathered below, awaiting Sengoku's instructions.
Admirals had personal secretaries who would brief them in detail later, so they didn't need to attend the meeting.
"Everyone, you've probably heard about some of the recent events. Today, I'm not here to assign any combat missions, but rather to brief everyone on the latest changes in the situation."
"Next, Brannew will explain things to you. Everyone needs to remember today's information, as these are the new developments across the entire sea."
Brannew, holding a stack of wanted posters, stepped onto the stage. Despite the fact that everyone below outranked him, he showed no signs of fear and calmly adjusted the Den Den Mushi.
"First, this is a pirate crew you're all familiar with—the Whitebeard Pirates. Under their command are 16 divisions and 43 subordinate crews. Their captain, Edward Newgate, known as the world's strongest man, has a bounty of 5,046,000,000 Berries.
The 15 Division Commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates are all incredibly powerful. As an old-established force, they are an extremely powerful force in the New World."
As he flipped through the wanted posters, information about the Whitebeard Pirates appeared on the projection screen, introducing the powerful pirates one by one.
"Next, we have a brutal dictator queen known for attacking Giants' Elbaf Village as a child—a natural-born monster who only believes in blood ties. With 85 children, she created and rules the Land of Desserts - Totto Land."
"The captain of the Big Mom Pirates, Charlotte Linlin, with a bounty of 3,800,000,000 Berries."
With each piece of information Brannew shared, the Marines below had their mouths drop open a little wider. The Emperors of the Sea were far beyond what these lower-ranking officers could handle.
They know there are many powerful pirates on the sea, but many people don't have a good grasp of what these bounties actually represent, which is why hearing these figures left them in shock.
"And then, we have another person who has earned the respect of pirates through his own strength, with numerous powerful officers and unknown biological weapons under his command..."
"The actual ruler of Wano Country, the destroyer of Shikkearu Kingdom, the plunderer of the Standing Kingdom, and the Governor-General of the Beasts Pirates—the strongest creature in the world, Kaido of the Beasts, with a bounty of 4.677 billion Berries."
"Under his command are incredibly powerful senior officers, all of them Mythical Zoan users: King, Queen, Olga, Shayna, and Zeraora. No one below the rank of Vice Admiral can even hope to stand against them."
"Additionally, Kaido commands over a hundred people known as the Numbers, ranked by strength. The Beasts Pirates boast the largest number of Devil Fruit users in the entire sea."
"Furthermore, with their vice-captain, Arceus, and Kaido's daughter, Yamato—both of whom rarely appear in public—the Beasts Pirates may be the most powerful pirate crew on the seas."
After Brannew finished presenting the information, he didn't turn the page immediately; instead, he flipped back to the previous part.
"The most crucial problem is that there is a conflict between the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirate, yet they also have a close relationship. There is a high probability that the two can form a pirate alliance, which is something to be wary of."
Brannew then flipped to the next page, revealing the image of a red-haired figure.
"And now for the last one, the Destroyer of Elegia and the youngest among the four.
Deeply trusted by his subordinates, with powerful senior officers like Beckman, Lucky Roo, and Yasopp, the Red Hair Pirates have the highest average bounty, are the most balanced, and can be considered an impregnable pirate crew without any weaknesses.
Their captain is the infamous Red-Haired Shanks, the captain of the Red Hair Pirates, with a bounty of 3.6 billion Berries."
The total bounty is undoubtedly higher for the Beasts Pirates, but they also have the most officers, which, when averaged out, actually makes the individual bounties lower.
"These four are all referred to as the Emperor of the Sea. Morgans has even dubbed them the Four Emperors. Everyone, it's likely we're entering a far more troubling era."
The bounties of all four Emperors appeared simultaneously on the screen. Following that, seven more special bounty posters were displayed beneath them.
"Amazon Lily's Ruler, captain of the Kuja Pirates, the Pirate Empress—Boa Hancock.
Captain of the Sun Pirates—'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe.
Captain of the Donquixote Pirates, Heavenly Demon—Donquixote Doflamingo.
Former captain of the Gecko Pirates, now captain of the Thriller Bark Pirates—Gecko Moria.
Strongest Swordsman in the World, Hawk Eyes—Dracule Mihawk.
Former king of the Sorbet Kingdom, the Tyrant—Bartholomew Kuma.
And lastly, Sir Crocodile.
These are the Seven Shichibukai. Though these people are pirates, they are renowned for their strength, and they've all reached an agreement with the World Government. To some extent, they can be considered allies."
"Although they are collectively known as the Four Emperors, they are far from a unified front. Everyone, for the sake of justice in your hearts, I ask all of you to work together!"
The purpose of this briefing was to inform the other officers about the situation of the seas, not to frighten them. After delivering the intelligence, the rest of the work no longer fell to Brannew.
...
Meanwhile, the entire world was paying attention to this news, and some people exhibited an uncanny synchronicity.
In East Blue, Buggy stared wide-eyed at the newspaper. On Onigashima, Olga pinched her face as she read the same paper.
Upon confirming that the person mentioned was indeed Shanks and not someone with the same name, they were surprisingly in sync.
"That Shanks? / That red-haired brat? How could he possibly become an Emperor of the Sea?!"
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