Akainu lowered his head, silently puffing on a cigar, while Ryokugyu paced restlessly by the window. Kizaru, however, seemed rather relaxed... forming an arm out of photons, he leisurely filed his nails with an old nail clipper.
Yet the atmosphere was ultimately tense, almost suffocating.
Everyone was waiting for news from the depths of the New World.
In the past, as soon as the two Four Emperors' forces clashed last night, Marinfanto could already grasp the situation in real-time.
But now, the Navy's entire presence in the New World had been uprooted, leaving no foundation.
Sending monitoring vessels deeper was out of the question.
They could only scatter a few scouts here and there, cautiously poking around like mice slipping through sewer grates, gathering delayed second-hand information.
Finally...
When the sun was almost overhead.
"Report!"
A civilian adjutant nearly stumbled in, clutching a newly received encrypted telegram:
"Marshal, Grand Admirals, from Wano Country, there is new information. The war..."
"Read the outcome directly."
Kong didn't look up, seemingly continuing to review documents, but the pen in his hand had already been squeezed into a tense, indented state.
"Understood."
The civilian adjutant, full of panic, almost tremblingly unfolded the document:
"Hundred Beasts Kaido is dead, Douglas Barrett captured, Kurozumi Orochi eliminated, Wano Country has completely fallen! According to reliable information, the Endgame deployed only eight people, and from the start, it took less than half an hour for the war to be entirely finished!"
Bang!
The pen was abruptly snapped.
"Less than half an hour?"
Kong raised his head in disbelief, asking, "You mean, Kaido and Barrett joined forces but couldn't even hold out for an hour?"
"Uh, well..."
The civilian adjutant wiped his cold sweat, glanced at Kong's expression, hesitated, then cautiously said:
"Half an hour refers to the complete fall of Wano Country and the end of the war, Marshal. As for the fight with those three monsters specifically, it seems, it seems it only took a few minutes..."
"A few minutes???!!!"
Kong could no longer maintain his composed demeanor, his mouth agape, eyes wide in shock.
"..."
Akainu and Ryokugyu exchanged looks, their expressions now even more grim.
Even though in the previous war, Shano had already demonstrated defeating two top-tier powerhouses single-handedly, there is a gap even among top-tier powerhouses!
Sengoku and Garling, two aging old men together...
How could they compare to the solo-claimed strongest Hundred Beasts Kaido and Barrett, who was renowned twenty years ago?
Moreover, last time it took over an hour, this time it's ten times faster!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, he's gotten stronger again!"
Ryokugyu wanted to sit on the sofa, but the next moment, feeling panicked, he couldn't help but stand up again, rubbing his forehead intensely, uneasily saying:
"At first, we thought after the last war, although we suffered heavy losses, at least we had time to recuperate and make a comeback, but at this rate..."
Gulp.
Ryokugyu's body stiffened, turned to look at Akainu, his face looking more miserable than crying:
"Senior, that guy, is he going to bring the Endgame fleet and attack Marinfanto in the next few days?!"