One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 283 Im's Plan, Shanks' Vivre Card!
Not long after, the four elders left the Flower Garden.

After they left the flower garden.

Im, who remained where he was, turned around to look at the massive canopy of the 'Pillar of the World' behind him.

He could sense the power within that tree—an inexhaustible source of 'bloodline factor energy' powerful enough to create a world out of thin air.

That power originally belonged to Him.

Compared to this power.

The recent events in Dressrosa and the death of 'Satan', the portion of the power he lost from the Deep Sea Contract and the Abyss Contract should have been negligible to 'The Abyss'.

But
He is no longer the 'Abyss', but 'Im'.

"."

He raised his hand and looked at his young and eternally vibrant human fingers.

Lily David

Im spoke in a cold voice.

It's because of them, just because of them.

They bound Him—His vast and boundless power could only be exerted in a small part.

Just like the 'cocoons' that can be seen everywhere in this flower room.

One by one, butterflies burst through the cocoons and emerged.

That was also Im's inner desire—He longed to break free of the cocoon and restore his original form.

But all these years, the fruit that could grant him 'freedom' has been elusive from him.

This is why there is now a real possibility that He might be caught up by the 'Star Lord'.

"No"

But upon thinking of this, Im's voice suddenly turned cold.

He walked on and soon arrived at the very end of the flower garden.

He raised his finger and made a casual stroke.

And so, at the end, a door silently appeared in the air.

He stepped into the doorway and came to a secret room.

The massive rotary lock doors opened one by one, and the icy cold air froze the ground.

But for Im, the cold was clearly insignificant.

He simply walked into the secret room.

He saw the huge straw hat placed in the secret room.

But He didn't care and just kept moving forward.

Then, He went to the 'deepest part' of that secret room.

There, there were two enormous creatures, beyond description, relative to Im's body.

One of them is the skeleton of a giant—who had two horns on his head like a demon, clearly belonging to the ancient giant race.

But the key point is that its size is so large that it is almost larger than the legendary 'Land of Oz'.

That giant had been dead for countless years.

However, due to the low temperature here, its skeleton is still intact, and there seems to be a strong remnant of its domineering aura.

“Nika. The original ‘freedom fighter’.”

Im murmured the name softly.

Then, He chuckled.

The fact that the remains of so-called freedom fighters were left in the deepest part of Pangu City speaks volumes.

"Freedom—a naive and boring word."

Having made this judgment, Im continued to look at the other side of the enormous giant skeleton, at that mechanical behemoth.

"Sizzle!" "Sizzle!"

At that moment, wisps of flame seemed to be burning within that enormous creature.

If Vegapunk were here, he would surely see it.

This thing is very similar to the 'Mother Fire' he invented.

But the difference lies in...
Within the flames of this machine, there seemed to be streaks of lightning.

"Star Lord."

As Im looked at the object, the sense of urgency in his heart finally subsided.

"You won't have a chance to catch up with Mu."

Yes.

The world has been revolving through eight hundred cycles of His audience—and in even more ancient times, He has witnessed it all.

It's like the name of the castle that represents Him.

Pangu City – The so-called Pangu is the 'creator' and 'the oldest being'.

This long period of time was enough for Him to accumulate countless trump cards.

Therefore, even though the Star Lord has shown the potential to catch up with Him.

Even though His 'power' is bound by the abilities of traitors and madmen.

But that still doesn't matter.

He still has the power to erase the Star Lord.

All He needed to do was wait.

Waiting for the next appearance of the Star Lord before Him, before the 'world'.

At that time, the entire sea will naturally return to calm.

The world will be bound again—as always.

half a month later.

As mentioned before.

The existence of the Five Elders is certainly not a secret to the world—most people with a basic understanding of the world know about the existence of the 'world's highest power'.

However, the existence of the Five Elders is still quite unfamiliar to the world.

Everything about them was shrouded in mystery; at least most ordinary people didn't know their names. Therefore, the news of Saint Satan's fall wasn't widely known among ordinary people around the world.

For most ordinary people, the topic of discussion was still the battle between the Snake and the Eagle Eye—the appearance of yet another top official of the twelve constellations was itself a huge topic of conversation.

As for the spider monster that appeared at the end of the battle, the live stream video and related information were blocked.

The entire news about this matter was restricted to a very small circle.

However, the situation is clearly different for those in high positions or members of the World Government.

For example, the people of the member states of the World Government have recently noticed that their kings and nobles, who are usually tyrannical and oppressive, seem to have been very well-behaved lately.

They are busy every day, as if they are anxious about something.

Many kings built bunkers that seemed to be for refuge within a short period of half a month, and many kings suddenly became more amiable towards the navy within their country's borders.

The Navy Headquarters, of course, felt this even more keenly.

"Satan Saint, one of the Five Elders, is dead—which means the last one to appear on Instein Island was him."

For example, Smoker, who had followed Roy back to headquarters, was muttering to himself at that moment.

"The Five Elders were actually ability users, and they died at the hands of the Twelve Constellations."

As a naval commander, he also heard about this.

"So what happened?"

But in front of him, Roy took a sip of iced cola with a satisfied smile: "I heard from Vice Admiral Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku that someone has already filled the position, hasn't he?"

"That's the highest power in the world!"

Upon hearing this, Smoker looked at Roy with a look of utter disappointment—how on earth did this guy even manage to become a lieutenant general?

Even if you don't know about the recent changes in the attitudes of various countries around the world, you should at least be able to sense it, right?

"The government has granted the Starhunting Forces even greater authority, including the authority to pass through Mary Geoise without application and the right to conscript soldiers independently. This is definitely related to the death of Saint Satan!"

Smoker spoke eloquently.

“Each member state is willing to relinquish its right of passage, only requiring you to regularly patrol the four seas and Paradise—this means you can go to any country and arrest anyone at will, as long as you believe the other party is related to the Twelve Constellations. The duties of the Star Hunting Force have even exceeded the regular duties of the Navy. Even when the Seven Warlords of the Sea fell, the government never agreed to such a thing.”

"This shows that the government urgently needs your help to curb the increasingly rampant zodiac signs in order to maintain the balance of the sea."

"Power is not unlimited—you have obtained such great authority, so someone must have relinquished power. There must have been a power struggle within the government to get to this point."

"Most importantly, after the Five Elders died, the government did not choose to immediately send elite forces to launch a full-scale attack on the Twelve Constellations. There must be other secrets behind this, and the government's fear of the Twelve Constellations is far greater than we originally knew."

As he said this, he also looked at Roy.

Roy stroked his chin and nodded: "Yeah, Tina must have told you these things—you can't think of these things."

Smoker: "."

The thought that the guy in front of him was actually the number two in the Star Hunting Force, wielding power exceeding that of a general, made him furious.

Besides—was his performance just now really that obvious? He had clearly already slightly modified and summarized Tina's words.

"Don't worry about it."

But at that moment, Smoker said in a deep voice, "I want to join the Starhunter Force!"

Yes.

The Navy is currently undergoing a simple 'reorganization'.

The Star Hunting Force will be formally established, drawing elite troops from various armies and navies under the World Government.

"I understand. Didn't I already submit the registration form to Marshal Sengoku for you?"

Roy picked at his ear.

"."

When this is mentioned, Smoker is even more speechless.

The commander of the Star Hunting Force is Garp, and the deputy commander is this guy in front of you.

However, both of them were irresponsible managers who abandoned their duties, so much so that the actual transfer and recruitment of the Star Hunting Force was still being carried out by Marshal Sengoku.

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying I want to join!"

But Smoker naturally understood that the so-called registration form was meaningless to Roy.

He can decide who joins the Starhunter Force; that's within his authority.

And there is no doubt that Smoker is extremely eager for this.

Because he had already realized it.

The sordid world he once thought was unchangeable has now changed.

The World Government has relinquished power, and the Star Hunters possess unprecedented authority—under such circumstances, joining the Star Hunters would obviously allow Smoker to smoothly carry out his 'justice'.

And most importantly, Smoker knew very well.

Although the guy in front of him is usually unpredictable, he's definitely not the kind of 'superior' who would sabotage him at a crucial moment.

of course
"what?"

Upon hearing this, Roy said unhappily, "Colonel Smoker, who do you think you're talking to?"

"Subordinates shouldn't talk to their superiors like that—and before asking someone for a favor, you have to offer them an ice-cold Coke first. That's common sense, don't you understand?!"

He patted the table.

"Didn't you see Hans' lesson yesterday? Do you think I wouldn't dare tear up your application form?"

Smoker: "."

He decided to take back his previous idea.

This guy is absolutely terrible as a superior.

Then, not long afterward...

As Smoker, with a sour face, reluctantly went to buy a Coke, Roy hummed a tune contentedly in the office.

"When he comes back, I'll tell him I don't drink this brand of Coke. Hmm, is this what power tastes like? No wonder some people get corrupted."

As he hummed a tune, he also gently raised his hand.

Then, something appeared in his hand.

That was a life card.

On the life card, the name of the life card holder is written.

Shanks.

(End of this chapter)