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Chapter 96: Seemingly Unreliable, But Actually Just Unreliable
The massive office fell into a dead silence.
All the employees, buried in their work, stopped what they were doing and looked up in bewilderment.
The receiver in Morgans's hand slipped, clattering onto the desk.
His giant bird face, for the first time, showed an expression called "bewilderment."
Create... a moon?
What nonsense are you spouting!
Have I gone mad? Or has this News Coo gone mad?
He snapped back to his senses, grabbed the receiver again, and roared, his beak practically touching the Den Den Mushi: "Say that again! What did you see?!"
"A moon! President! A moon made of islands and seawater! It's hanging over the Goa Kingdom right now! I swear I'm not mistaken! I took pictures! I took all the pictures!"
"And! And!" The News Coo's voice grew even more fervent. "Marine Hero Garp! Marine Admiral Kizaru! Revolutionary Army Leader Dragon! All three of them... were present at the time!"
BOOM!!!
That last sentence, like a billion-volt thunderbolt, struck Morgans's mind!
The rumor of an Admiral's crushing defeat...
The Golden Lion's defeat...
The gathering of Garp, Kizaru, and Dragon...
A mysterious man who could casually create a moon and make three of the world's top powerhouses submit...
All the clues... connected at this moment!
A truth, terrifying to the extreme, yet so exciting it made him tremble, surfaced!
"Haha..."
"Hahahahahaha..."
After a brief silence, Morgans's signature, maniacal, and excited laughter echoed throughout the news agency headquarters!
"Quick! Quick! Clear the entire front page for me!"
"The headline! The headline must be in the largest font! Call it—[Divine Advent! The Flying Pirate Falls! Man-Made Moon Appears in the East Blue!]"
"No, no! That's not explosive enough! Change it! [The New World Throne Has Shifted! How Will the Remnants of the Old Era Greet the New God?!]"
Morgans flapped his wings, looking like a madman, spittle flying everywhere.
His giant bird eyes reflected the photos just sent back from the East Blue—photos that would make the World Government hold an emergency meeting overnight!
That terrifying star, made of islands and seawater, hanging high in the sky!
Golden Lion Shiki's face, distorted by gravity, filled with despair and terror!
And...
Garp, Kizaru, and Dragon, three men standing at the pinnacle of the world, looking as stiff and frightened as quail!
Finally, and most importantly!
The black-haired young man standing in front of the three, holding a fishing rod, his profile so calm he looked as if he had just squashed an ant!
"The era... is about to change!"
"No! The world... is about to be overturned!!"
"Guhahahaha! And I, 'Big News' Morgans, will be the witness and herald of it all!!!"
...
Meanwhile, East Blue.
Above the Goa Kingdom.
The News Coo, having just completed its "report of the century," was flapping its wings with all its might, trying to escape this chaotic place as quickly as possible.
Its brain was still occupied by the fervor and fanaticism that threatened to burn it out.
Photos!
It had obtained photos that could overturn the world!
As long as it delivered these photos back to headquarters, it would no longer be an ordinary News Coo! It would be a legend in the news industry! A monument for all future bird-journalists to look up to!
Just as it could see the distant horizon, preparing to make a final dash out of this demonic sea area...
A voice, excessively calm, even a bit lazy, resounded without warning, deep inside its mind.
"Hey."
"How's the angle you got of me?"
"Do I look cool?"
"!!!"
The News Coo's feathers instantly puffed out!
Like a fighter jet hit by anti-aircraft fire at ten thousand meters, it slammed on the brakes, nearly tumbling out of the sky.
Who?!
Who's talking?!
It looked around in terror. The sky was empty, save for that man-made "moon" silently demonstrating its terror.
Was it a hallucination?
Did I hear things because I was too nervous?
The News Coo steadied itself, preparing to accelerate again.
However, in the next second, the scene before its eyes twisted and stretched without warning!
It was as if it had been grabbed by an invisible hand and yanked backward!
Swish!
Space shifted.
One second, it was the biting cold wind at high altitude; the next, a sea breeze, mixed with salt and the faint smell of blood, hit its face.
It felt the touch of soft sand beneath its feet.
The News Coo stiffly, inch by inch, lowered its head.
It saw its own claws, slightly sunk into the beach.
It... was back on the ground?
"Coo?"
The News Coo let out a very human-like sound, filled with daze and confusion.
It slowly raised its head.
The black-haired young man from the photos was standing right in front of it, still holding that familiar fishing rod, a friendly smile on his face.
BOOM——!!!
The News Coo's brain, at that moment, completely shut down.
"I'm asking you a question."
Blake looked at the bird, which was frozen stiff, and nudged it impatiently with his fishing rod.
"How'd the pictures of me turn out?"
"If I'm not satisfied, I'll have to charge you, you know."
The News Coo's brain completely shut down.
Who am I?
Where am I?
"I'm asking you a question."
Blake looked at the bird, which was frozen stiff, and nudged its fluffy belly impatiently with the butt of his fishing rod.
"How'd the pictures of me turn out? Do I look cool?"
"If I'm not satisfied, I'm going to have to charge your news agency for image usage rights and emotional distress, you know."
Coo!
The News Coo's feathers instantly puffed out. It hopped back, looking at Blake in terror.
But it quickly read a message from those calm eyes.
This person... didn't seem to actually plan on doing anything to it.
He was just... purely asking about the photo quality?
The sense of relief from surviving a disaster instantly washed over the dam of fear.
Its professional instincts as a world-class paparazzi, and the survival instinct etched into its bones, completely overrode its reason.
The News Coo, almost as a reflex, carefully took out a stack of just-developed photo negatives from the small bag around its neck, held them with its wingtips, and respectfully handed them over.
Blake nodded in satisfaction, took the negatives, and began examining them one by one.
For a moment, the reef beach fell into a strange silence.
Only the sound of the sea breeze and the crashing waves remained.
Garp had grown somewhat accustomed to Blake's unreliability; this kid was just this whimsical!
But Kizaru and Dragon were different!
Is this really the time to be worrying about photo quality?
Looking at the young man admiring the photos, they just couldn't connect him with the divine being who had just unleashed his terrifying power.
What the hell is this situation!
I haven't even entered a dungeon yet!
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