I, Uchiha Hikaru, have joined the chat group.

Chapter 354 Open and Honest

Right now.

As the fifth... or more accurately, the sixth emperor of this great sea, Uchiha Hikaru was also troubled by something.

—She was just an ordinary Uchiha girl who came here only to help Yamato rescue Ace. How did she end up overthrowing an empire by accident?

Yes, "again".

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. The last time was back in the world of Akame ga Kill!, when she only wanted to see the quality of those top-tier Imperial Arms with her own eyes, but she inadvertently went too far, adding fuel to the fire for the already crumbling Akame ga Kill! Empire... And now, it was just like that time.

However, the surrounding places and people have changed—

This is the meeting hall prepared by the World Government for holding world conferences.

In the room, which spans several hundred square meters, a huge round table is set up. Uchiha Hikaru sits in the main seat, with Bulma and Esdeath on either side. Below them are Yamato, Minato Namikaze, Hancock, Whitebeard, Sengoku, Rayleigh, and Shanks, the "Face Fruit" user who arrived late with his fleet after the "Marineford War".

Navy, pirates, Shichibukai, former Roger Pirates member...

It's fair to say that more than half of the big shots in the entire One Piece world have gathered here.

All that's missing is a revolutionary army.

However, the Revolutionary Army probably has no reason to be here. Due to plot changes, Ivankov and his group, who were originally supposed to participate in this "Marineford War," did not appear as in the original timeline. And Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, is probably sweating in some corner somewhere right now... Therefore, the missing piece of the map in this meeting will most likely not be added.

After everyone was seated, all eyes were on Uchiha Hikari, waiting for her to give orders.

And Uchiha Hikaru...

He was chatting with the members of the "Dimensional Group" without changing his expression.

[Anonymous: Speaking of which... shouldn't the esteemed captain be sitting in the main seat and overseeing things in this kind of situation? @Bulma I'm just an ordinary first mate, how did I end up in the head seat?]

[Bulma: Well, everyone's already decided, we'll choose you, Hikaru, to be this generation's 'Joy Boy'. Besides, you defeated Im-sama and the Five Elders, and you also suppressed and persuaded the Navy to surrender. I, as the captain, won't come out and steal your thunder~]

[Iron-Headed Kid: Yeah, yeah, Miss Hikari's performance that day was absolutely amazing, like a goddess descending to earth!]

【nameless:……】

Ok.

Indeed, this situation is somewhat different from the last one in the One Piece world. Back then, the Revolutionary Army was already planning a major invasion of the Imperial Capital, and Uchiha Hikari was just there by chance. But this time, the entire "Marineford War 2.0" was almost entirely driven and guided by her. Now that the Heavenly Dragons have fallen, the One Piece world is in complete chaos. It wouldn't be appropriate to just walk away.

"Fine."

"Now that everyone is here, I'll be frank."

Uchiha Hikaru cleared his throat and said, "First of all, my comrades and I have no interest in 'world domination'."

"However, we are very interested in 'correcting' the world's mistakes."

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Vice Admiral Garp, and Vice Admiral Tsuru, perhaps from your perspective, all of us here are pirates, a group that needs to be eliminated and arrested regularly. But from my perspective, and that of my comrades, you and the Celestial Dragons are the same."

"Burning, killing, and looting at sea, arbitrarily depriving ordinary people of their lives and property, is certainly evil. But is the Celestial Dragons' arbitrary decision to kill and take away lives, with those who obey prospering and those who resist dying, not evil? And you, for so many years you have been loyally carrying out the Celestial Dragons' decisions, even the Buster Call, which is a national annihilation campaign. Is that also the Navy's justice?"

"Both are indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians, so who is more noble than the other?"

"..."

During the Warring States period, he hesitated to speak.

As someone who rose through the ranks from a common soldier to become the Fleet Admiral, he certainly knows best what kind of people the Celestial Dragons above him are.

I won't go into the petty squabbles like murder in the street, forcing women into prostitution, and the slave trade.

We will not discuss for now how much of a burden "Golden Sky" places on the member states.

The most outrageous thing is the Celestial Dragons' "three-year massacre of a nation" game they've been playing for years—although the definition of "nation" in the One Piece world is quite broad, a nation that can be called a "nation" still has tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people. So many people are being killed in batches every three years, just to satisfy the perverse tastes of certain upper echelons.

At times, even during the Warring States period, his own beliefs wavered, and he questioned whether serving such a group of people truly aligns with "justice."

but……

Even the worst order is better than no order at all.

That's what he thought.

"fart!"

This time, it wasn't Uchiha Hikaru who spoke, but Bulma who was standing next to her: "The reason that group of Celestial Dragons has been able to act so arrogantly for so long is because there are too many people like you!"

"They keep spouting 'justice' all day, but when faced with the Celestial Dragons committing unjust acts, they don't dare utter a sound. They even hunt down those who try to stop them... If this world needs to be maintained in this way, it would be better to just smash it up and rebuild it sooner rather than later!"

"Gurarara~ You're right!"

Whitebeard slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "I know a lot about the shady dealings you all do with the Celestial Dragons, but I'm ashamed that I can't stand up and fight back openly like Bulma and Hikari because I'm not strong enough. But I firmly agree with Bulma's statement! Even if we just gather a bunch of dogs to form the World Government, it's better than being ruled by rotten people like the Celestial Dragons!"

"...Isn't this a bit of an exaggeration?"

Uchiha Hikaru tilted his head and added, feeling that it seemed about the same.

After all, a dog wouldn't issue a command like "conquer a country in three years"...

"My thoughts are the same as those of Whitebeard-senpai, as well as Hikaru and Miss Bulma."

Hancock, who had been enslaved by the Celestial Dragons, also expressed her support.

Then Yamato and the others joined in, and even Garp seconded the motion.

Sengoku glanced somewhat awkwardly at his old friend beside him, then took a deep breath: "So, what does Lord Hikaru mean?"

"What I mean is... let's form a completely new democratic deliberative government."

"The era of the Celestial Dragons has ended, and no one can change that. A new world needs a new order to maintain it. You are all leaders of this world, having witnessed the evil deeds of the Celestial Dragons and understood the suffering of ordinary people. In that case... why not form a council to discuss where this world should go in the future?"

Ultimately, the affairs of the One Piece world should be decided by the people of the One Piece world.

All Uchiha Kou could do was give it a push from behind.

Of course……

Even if this "council" were to actually be formed, it would be unrealistic to expect it to end the chaos in the pirate world anytime soon.

After all, the territory of this ocean is truly vast, with 170 member states of the World Government alone, and if you include those that are not members, there must be at least two or three hundred more. The population is in the hundreds of millions, distributed across the four seas and the Grand Line. It is simply impossible to govern so many different countries, races, and humans with a single method that can be applied to all of them.

Even if you asked the Celestial Dragons, let alone the gods from next door, they couldn't do it.

However, at least slightly changing the direction of the future to make life better for the lower classes than it was during the Celestial Dragons' era should still be possible.

Regarding this aspect...

Brand and Akame probably had some ideas. Now that the Heavenly Dragons have been destroyed, no one will issue a kill order against them anymore, so they can give it a try.

(End of this chapter)