The remaining four seats were finally filled: Knight of the Sea Jinbe, Hawk-Eye Dracule Mihawk, Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, and "Wang Zhi," the former Rocks crewman!
Each of them was either a fearsome pirate whose name now shook the seas, or an old-generation powerhouse who had been squeezed to the margins by the Four Emperors.
No matter how one looked at it, this force of "legal pirates" recruited by the World Government truly did have a significant deterrent effect on piracy along the Grand Line.
With the two major agenda items concluded, the World Conference came to an end amid a veneer of false harmony.
What was intriguing, however, was that compared to the previous session, three fewer allied nations had attended this time.
One of them was none other than the once obscenely wealthy Flevance—the infamous "White Town."
Its absence was not because it couldn't afford the Heavenly Tribute, nor because it had been wiped out by pirates.
Rather, on the eve of the conference, a horrifying plague had suddenly erupted across the entire nation.
Aside from the lofty royal family, **every commoner—men and women, young and old—**had contracted a strange disease known as Amber Lead Syndrome.
North Blue — Flevance
This place had once been as beautiful as a fairy-tale snow kingdom.
The ground, the trees—everything was pristine white.
The source of this dreamlike scenery was a mineral buried deep underground: Amber Lead.
It could be used to produce tableware, paints, cosmetics, and even weapons of terrifying lethality.
High-quality Amber Lead products sold like wildfire across the globe, bringing unimaginable wealth to the nation.
The ever-greedy World Government, naturally, had long sunk its claws into the transport business, raking in profits hand over fist.
Yet no one expected that behind this beautiful white façade lay a deadly curse.
Amber Lead was poisonous.
Prolonged mining and exposure caused toxins to accumulate in the human body and be passed down to the next generation, shortening lifespans with each passing era.
By Sea Circle Calendar 1506, this generation had reached the point where the poison fully erupted.
These buried truths had already been uncovered back in 1505 by a Marine vice admiral who investigated deliberately—Gion.
A hundred years ago, the World Government already knew Amber Lead was toxic.
But for astronomical profits, the government and the royal family colluded to conceal the truth, deceiving the populace into continuing to mine in that white hell.
Upon learning the truth, Gion flew into a rage and confronted Staff Officer Tsuru and Fleet Admiral Sengoku, demanding an explanation.
The outcome was predictable.
Understanding, perhaps—but resolution? Impossible.
How could the World Government slap itself in the face and expose such a scandal to the entire world?
How would it maintain the image of "justice"?
Left with no choice, Sengoku forcibly kept the emotionally agitated Gion at Marineford to recuperate, fearing she might do something extreme.
But when the Amber Lead outbreak fully erupted and its horrors hit the newspapers, Gion could no longer sit still.
She openly defied orders, commandeered a ship, and charged straight for the North Blue.
Sengoku panicked and immediately dispatched people in pursuit—but Gion had already slipped into the Marine-exclusive sea currents and vanished without a trace.
With no other option, Sengoku urgently contacted Tsuru, who was stationed in the North Blue, to intercept her.
By then, Flevance had already become a living hell.
Neighboring countries, convinced it was a contagious plague, sealed their borders for self-preservation—some even erupted into war.
When Gion arrived, the sight before her sent her plunging into icy despair.
The harbor was tightly blockaded. Corpses lay piled like mountains.
The air reeked of rot and scorched flesh.
"A Marine?!"
A soldier wearing a gas mask spotted Gion and shouted in warning:
"Don't come closer! They're all plague monsters in there! Are there still nobles who haven't evacuated?!"
At the word "Marine," a child with a face streaked with tears suddenly burst from the shadows of the ruins.
"Marine-sama! Please save us! There's a ship at the western port, but they won't let us leave!"
He was only eight years old, his eyes filled with despair and a desperate yearning to live.
Seeing the child running toward her, Gion instinctively opened her arms, wanting to catch this pitiful life.
But the next second, a nearby soldier noticed the glaring white blotches on the child's skin and screamed in terror—then pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed piercingly through the silent ruins.
A tragic bloom of blood exploded from the child's chest, hot crimson splattering across the white snow, painfully vivid.
The child collapsed before Gion, eyes wide open in terror, never closing even in death.
For a moment, Gion's mind went completely blank.
Then, an unprecedented fury detonated in her chest, burning away her reason in an instant.
She barely restrained the urge to draw her blade and kill on the spot, grabbing the soldier by the collar and lifting him into the air with one hand.
"Bastard! That was just a child! How could you do it?!
Amber Lead Syndrome isn't contagious! It's poisoning! It's that cursed ore!"
Dangling helplessly, staring into Gion's eyes that looked ready to devour him, the soldier panicked and struggled, stammering his defense:
"It—it was the king's order! All infected must be eliminated!"
"The neighboring countries are so close—no one wants to be infected!"
"And—and who says it's not contagious?! The World Government tacitly approved our actions!"
BOOM—!!
As if to validate his words, a thunderous explosion erupted from the town center.
Fireballs shot into the sky, raging flames instantly swallowing the entire White Town.
It was the roar of war—the tolling bell of destruction.
Veins bulged on Gion's hand as she flung the soldier away like trash.
He rolled several times on the ground, then scrambled back behind the cordon like he'd seen a ghost.
Gion cast one cold glance at the so-called quarantine line, then vanished in a flash—charging without hesitation into the burning hell beyond.
Flames licked every building along the streets.
Scorching heat slammed into her face.
The air was thick with nauseating stench—burning wood mixed with something far worse.
Suppressing the churning sickness in her gut, Gion quickened her pace.
Compared to the death hanging in the air, the shocking truths she'd uncovered over the years filled her with an even deeper chill.
Memories crashed back.
Years ago, during a North Blue mission, she had briefly stayed in this White Town.
Back then, Flevance had been prosperous like a dream—streets full of laughter, wealthy and peaceful.
Now, there was not even a dying scream to be heard.
Everywhere she looked—raging crimson flames, and corpses riddled with bullets, long since stiffened.
This one-sided massacre had clearly been going on for days.
What kind of terrifying survival instinct had driven a child of that age to cross this inferno, fleeing all the way from the west port to the central blockade?
Gion couldn't imagine the fear he'd endured.
Her heart felt crushed by an invisible hand, pain stealing her breath.
When she finally reached the western port, her pupils shrank violently.
The evacuation ship—the vessel that should have carried hope—had been blasted into a broken skeleton by artillery.
Dozens of bodies lay scattered across the dock.
Most were children under ten.
There were also several nuns in black robes.
Their bodies were riddled with bullet holes, blood long since drained—yet they still held poses shielding the children behind them.
"Ma… Marine?"
Two soldiers guarding the blockade—also the ones responsible for this massacre—cried out in shock through their gas masks.
Seeing that Gion wore no protective gear, they raised their rifles in terror, muzzles shaking violently.
"Stop! Don't come any closer!"
"This is the plague source! Charging in without protection—is suicide!"
"Don't spread that horrible Amber Lead disease to us! Get lost!"
Their hysterical screams echoed harshly amid the flames.
Gion seemed not to hear them at all, her hollow gaze sweeping over the pile of children's corpses.
The deathly silence along the way, combined with the nuns' final stand, snapped the last thread of reason in her mind.
Seeing the female Marine still approaching like a lost soul, a terrified soldier's finger twitched—and he fired instinctively.
Bang!
The bullet struck the rubble at Gion's feet, sparks flying.
The next instant, her figure vanished from sight.
Before anyone could even register an afterimage, she appeared behind the two soldiers, her named blade sliding slowly back into its sheath.
Shk—!
Twin pillars of blood erupted from their necks, staining the scorched earth red.
Their bodies collapsed limply with dull thuds.
Gion stepped over them and walked straight to the dead children.
Her gaze passed over each small, rigid face, finally stopping on one nun.
Even riddled with bullets, the nun's face still held a serene smile—as if she'd been soothing the child in her arms to the very end.
Gion bit her lower lip hard, nails digging deep into her palm until blood seeped out.
"Buru-buru… Buru-buru…"
The Den Den Mushi in her arms rang suddenly—it was Vice Admiral Tsuru's private line.
Gion glanced at it, her eyes flickering with conflicted emotion.
In the end, she didn't answer—simply pocketed it.
At that moment, her keen Observation Haki caught a trace of movement in the ruins behind her.
She spun around, eyes sharp as lightning.
A boy wearing a spotted winter hat stood behind a broken wall, staring at her in terror.
"Law?!"
The name slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
Hearing his name, Trafalgar Law's small body stiffened.
He turned cautiously to look at the female Marine. Recognition flickered—then hardened into deeper wariness. He turned and ran.
"Law! Don't run! It's me!"
Gion chased after him anxiously, shouting:
"I'm Gion! The Marine aunt who visited your father before!"
Memories surged.
Back when she'd arrived in this White Town and learned of Amber Lead's danger, Gion had privately warned the local doctors.
Law's father had been one of them.
She had naïvely believed that uniting the medical community could save the nation.
Reality was cruel.
This was a century-old terminal illness—only the world's top medical powers together could offer even a sliver of hope.
She had rushed back to Marineford overnight, trying to leverage the organization's vast resources.
The result? Cold rejection—and months of de facto house arrest at headquarters.
Now, Amber Lead Syndrome remained unsolved, and had evolved into a neighboring-nations massacre.
"Don't come any closer! I hate the Marines most of all!"
Hearing Gion's voice, Law didn't stop. Instead, he whirled around and screamed hysterically.
His small body trembled violently with rage, tears carving paths through the ash on his face.
"My father already figured it out! This isn't contagious—it's poisoning!"
"He asked the World Government for help! He asked the Marines too!"
"But no one listened! They hung up the Den Den Mushi without even letting him explain!"
"If you knew the truth all along, why didn't you make it public?! Even if we couldn't live, at least we wouldn't have been gunned down like rats!"
Every word stabbed Gion's heart like a blade.
"If that had happened… everyone… my parents wouldn't have died! And Lami…"
At the mention of his sister's name, Law suddenly remembered something and bolted madly toward his home.
Gion stood frozen, legs heavy as lead.
Even without Observation Haki, she could feel the dense, suffocating hatred radiating from that child.
She recalled a conversation from years ago—with that arrogant man.
She wanted to change the World Government's decisions, only to realize she was utterly powerless.
They'd known Amber Lead was toxic, yet for massive Heavenly Tribute profits, those greedy allied nations chose silence.
Now that the truth had surfaced, they not only refused aid, but tacitly allowed this inhuman massacre to bury their crimes.
These were innocent civilians of an entire nation!
The royals and nobles could evacuate early—but what about the common people?
They didn't die from Amber Lead Syndrome.
They died from lies and rumors crafted by those in power.
The World Government…
Did it really have the right to judge life like a god above all?
Gion felt the "Justice" cloak on her shoulders weigh like a thousand pounds.
This wasn't justice—it was a blood-soaked fig leaf.
It betrayed everything she had believed in and fought for since childhood.
Her mind flashed to the man once known as the son of the Navy's hero—Dragon.
When he abandoned the Marines, had he felt this same despair toward justice?
The last trace of hesitation vanished.
Gion reached up, unfastened the clasp at her collar, and slowly removed the cloak symbolizing a vice admiral's honor.
With no reluctance whatsoever, she loosened her grip.
The pure white cloak fell into the mud and blood.
"LAMI!!"
Law's heart-rending scream echoed in the distance.
Gion looked up to see the hospital completely consumed by towering flames.
Law lay helpless on the scorching ground, pounding it with his fists, his sobs drowned by crackling fire.
Gion walked silently behind him, opening her mouth—only to find no sound would come.
In a single day, a ten-year-old boy had lost his family, his loved ones, his friends—his entire country.
Any hollow comfort would have been a cruel joke.
Especially since she'd once had a chance to change all of this.
That man—Tenma—had predicted this ending years ago.
But she'd been shackled by her Marine uniform, too afraid to even consider defying the World Government.
If she hadn't seen the newspaper about Flevance's blockade, she might still be in the dark.
This wasn't epidemic control.
It was genocide—a complete, deliberate slaughter of ignorant civilians.
"I'm… sorry…"
Gion slowly crouched down, her voice hoarse.
Law snapped his head up, bloodshot eyes staring straight at her.
Her heart shuddered.
In that gaze was not just hatred, but a madness that wanted to drag the entire world into hell.
Perhaps the most vicious pirates on the seas had all begun like this.
Just a year ago, he'd been a sensible child dreaming of becoming a doctor.
Suppressing the ache in her chest, Gion met Law's hateful stare and extended her hand firmly.
"Come with me."
"I'll take you to the best doctors. We'll cure your Amber Lead Syndrome—you have to live. Live for your family too."
"Don't joke with me! Why would I go with you?!"
Law slapped her hand away, roaring like a wounded wolf cub:
"I told you! I hate the Marines! And that damn World Government!"
Listening to his curses, Gion instead smiled faintly and nodded.
"You're right."
"So come with me. Because right now… I'm no longer a Marine."
Law's shouting stopped dead.
He stared at Gion in shock, not understanding.
At that moment, a magnetic male voice accompanied by a light laugh drifted down from atop the hospital.
"Hahaha. Since you're no longer a Marine, Vice Admiral Gion—how about joining my side instead?"
Both Law and Gion looked up.
Standing proudly atop the burning hospital roof was a tall, slender figure.
The man was like a king amid flames—within three meters of him, the raging fire bent away in reverence.
"Tenma?!" Gion cried out in shock.
"LAMI!!!"
Law stared at the small figure cradled in the man's arms—his sister, whom he had believed long dead in the inferno.
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