"Little Aisa, this will be the environment you'll be living in from now on."
"This small island, along with all the Vearth on it, will belong to you as your private domain starting today."
"If you want more Vearth, once things calm down after this busy period, I can have Usopp and the others help you prepare as much as you want."
"This stuff isn't worth much down in the Blue Sea anyway—you can have as much as you like!"
As a Hyperspace Hole opened, Red appeared inside Laboon's internal world together with a completely bewildered little Aisa.
Although this was merely a fabricated artificial space, the moment Aisa stepped onto the island filled with "Vearth," her entire body fell into an unusually excited state.
Especially after hearing the promise Red had just made to her.
"R-Red-sama… is this really okay!?"
Tears welled up in little Aisa's eyes.
For people of the Sky Islands, even ordinary soil was a treasure more precious than gold!
Having already seen more Vearth than she could count in the Pokémon world, Aisa found it impossible to imagine that such a blissful place could exist in this world.
She even wondered…
Had she truly arrived in heaven?
Three days had passed since the world-shaking turmoil and Wyper's assault.
In those three days, the world had undergone earth-shattering changes.
And the root cause of it all was the morning newspaper released that day—Morgans had finally announced to the entire world the location where Ace intended to execute a Celestial Dragon!
—Sky Island!!!
A place that, in many people's minds, existed only in dreams and fantasies…
Now confirmed in the newspapers to be real!
In normal times, any sudden news about Sky Island released by Morgans would have become a blockbuster headline.
However…
When the front-page headline of the day was a photograph of Ace stepping on a Celestial Dragon's head and grinding him into the ground—
The entire world fell into silence!!!
...
...
Red Line · Holy Land · Mary Geoise.
"What an outrageously arrogant brat!"
Bang!
One of the Five Elders slammed the newspaper onto the table, his cold gaze burning with boundless fury.
"We cannot allow this to continue!"
"This newspaper must never be allowed to circulate through the world!"
Saint Nusjuro, the bald Five Elder holding the Shodai Kitetsu, spoke coldly as he wiped the blade.
"Now that we already know the location of Fire Fist Ace, there is no longer any need for the World Economy News Paper to exist!"
"Order all regional forces to immediately shut down the World Economy News Paper's factories and presses!"
"Under no circumstances can anything that undermines the authority of the Celestial Dragons be allowed to spread further!"
Saint Mars, with his long ash-gray hair, echoed grimly, "Daring to do something like this—Morgans has no reason to continue existing!"
"Not so easy," Saint Warcury, with his distinctive drooping mustache, snorted. "That fellow isn't as simple as we imagine…"
"Most of his presses and factories are located in non–World Government–affiliated nations."
"Unless we find their headquarters, completely silencing them is practically impossible."
The Warrior God of Science and Defense, Saint Saturn, frowned. "I said it long ago… public opinion must never fall into the hands of outsiders!"
"Once this incident is over, have CP0 investigate thoroughly and eliminate these hidden dangers as soon as possible!"
"But this time…"
"There's nothing we can do," the sole blond Five Elder sighed.
The World Government's deterrence was enough to pressure all affiliated nations—and most others—to ban live broadcasts.
Yet there were always regions beyond the World Government's reach, always forces it could not control.
Just as Saint Warcury had said, unless they could locate the World Economy News Paper's headquarters and capture Morgans…
This public humiliation of the Celestial Dragons was already unstoppable.
Of course…
There was one other option—
Before the broadcast went live four days later, find Ace on Sky Island, kill him, and rescue the Celestial Dragon!!!
...
...
"Zehahahahaha~! You've really done it this time, Captain Ace!!!"
Marineford, Marine Headquarters.
Blackbeard, his Justice coat only making him look more sinister, held a massive slab of meat in one hand and today's newspaper in the other.
An inscrutable grin spread across his face.
"To think you'd find a way to break the deadlock like this…"
"No… knowing you, you wouldn't make such a huge spectacle on your own."
"So it's because of that man beside Straw Hat, isn't it?"
A sharp glint flashed in Blackbeard's eyes.
The more he recalled that battle, the more clearly he sensed how abnormal the Straw Hat Pirates truly were!
Blackbeard was certain—there was a colossal secret hidden within that crew, something capable of overturning his entire worldview!
That was why, even after he had stripped the Whitebeard Pirates' intelligence bare and handed everything over to the Marines—short of telling them the color of Whitebeard's underwear—
He still hadn't mentioned a single word about the Straw Hat Pirates.
They were the very first target he would plunder after his comeback!!!
"With this, all Marine operations against Whitebeard will have to stop immediately."
"That means Kingudo, who was caught earlier, has lost his value as bait. Chances are the Marines will be sending him to Impel Down soon."
"I wonder if I can seize the chance to take on the job of escorting that old pal myself!?"
Blackbeard licked his lips greedily, completely ignoring the astonished looks of the surrounding officers, and headed straight toward the Marine Headquarters' main conference hall.
Ace's location had already been exposed…
At this very moment, both the Marines and the World Government were mobilizing forces at top speed to capture Ace.
Under normal circumstances, a mere second-division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates wouldn't even warrant more than a single admiral.
But this incident involved a Celestial Dragon, prompting the World Government to issue a death order—it had to be handled at the highest level.
Coincidentally, most of the Marine forces had already withdrawn back to the first half of the Grand Line after searching for the missing Celestial Dragon.
Thus, the Marines convened a full-scale meeting to discuss the operation to Sky Island.
...
...
"Sky Island? Ace actually managed to find a place like that!?"
In the New World, Whitebeard and his crew were on an island having their ship coated. Upon reading the newspaper, the weight on their hearts finally eased a little.
"If it's Sky Island, then even the Marines and the World Government won't be able to reach him so easily, right?"
...
...
[Pokémon: Aisa]
[Level: 16]
[Gender: ♀]
[Nature: Naughty (+Defense −Sp. Atk)]
[Type: Psychic / Flying]
[Ability: Frisk (Allows the Pokémon to sense the held items or tools of the target more keenly.)]
[Moves: Floaty Fall, Glitzy Glow, Calm Mind, Teleport]
[Experience: 0/1021]
"What a shame~"
"If I'd managed to invite Aisa earlier, Blackbeard wouldn't have escaped so easily."
Thank you all for the monthly tickets!!!
Really, thank you everyone!!!
(End of Chapter)