Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 290: A summary of information about Im from the big shots.

Inside the cabins of a battleship.

Bane was discussing some issues with Sakazuki and others, and Sabo of the Revolutionary Army was also involved.

"Zeff has gradually surrounded G-1, but hasn't made any plans to attack yet. It seems that Kuzan, the teacher, and Mr. Garp are all a bit soft-hearted," Bane clicked his tongue and sighed.

Borsalino calmly replied, "Aside from the Mary Geoise loyalists, there are at least 30,000 ordinary naval soldiers at headquarters. They are simply going with the flow and have no choice. They are obviously innocent. If we can subdue them without a fight, that would be the best outcome."

They were all former colleagues. Perhaps due to various reasons such as strength, ability, and combat skills, these ordinary naval personnel did not meet the so-called "elite" standard and were not sent by Sakazuki to participate in the New World War.

However, given their level of understanding, they are not exposed to the darkness within the world's legitimate government, and most of them still harbor a righteous and passionate heart.

As Borsalino said, they were simply innocent bystanders, having no choice in such a major event.

In this situation, it's understandable that Professor Zefa and others might be somewhat soft-hearted and unwilling to commit acts of killing.

"I wonder if Aramu and the others will fight to the death? Tsk," Bane muttered.

Without delving too deeply into the topic, Bane quickly turned to Sakazuki and said, "Speaking of which, you've been a marshal for so long, yet you know absolutely nothing about that so-called 'Lord Im' on Mary Geoise?"

Sakazuki immediately shook his head and said, "I don't know, I've never heard of it. Like Mr. Sengoku, I always thought the Five Elders were the highest level."

"Didn't the Revolutionary Army witness Im? Do you have any relevant intelligence?" Borsalino asked Sabo.

Sabo replied with some regret, "No, although Mr. Dragon saw the Five Elders kneeling before that Im at the Void Throne, discussing some matters concerning the World Conference, he never managed to clearly see Im's appearance, let alone obtain any information about him."

After a slight pause, Sabo continued, "But we subsequently consulted a large amount of ancient data and can almost confirm that the so-called 'Lord Im' is none other than Narona Im Saint, one of the Twenty Kings eight hundred years ago. Using this as a starting point, we searched for a lot of information about the Twenty Kings. However, the information about the Twenty Kings is almost all top-secret intelligence that is blocked by the World Government, and we don't know much about it. Not long ago, we did get some clues from the Nefertari clan in Alabasta."

"The Nefertari family are descendants of twenty kings, so it's not surprising that we have some leads," Sakazuki pondered for a moment and said.

"What did the Nefertari family say?" Borsalino asked, very curious.

"What is certain is that among the twenty kings, Nerona Im was the last one to be 'recorded dead.' He was the youngest of the twenty kings at the time. Also, there are records of seven Devil Fruit users among the twenty kings, and Nerona Im was one of them. If his identity is correct, then it is almost certain that this 'Lord Im' was a Devil Fruit user. However, there is no record of what kind of ability he had. But judging from some ancient royal documents that have been passed down in Alabasta, he was most likely a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user," Sabo explained.

"Having survived for over eight hundred years, is there any information regarding his long lifespan?" Bane inquired.

"Our Revolutionary Army's speculation is that it's the Op-Op Fruit," Sabo replied immediately. "There are quite a few rumors circulating on this sea about things that can grant people the so-called power of 'immortality,' such as the Fountain of Youth, the Elixir of Immortality, pure gold, and so on, all of which seem to create a legend of never dying."

"But in reality, apart from the pure gold from over two hundred years ago, nothing else has been truly proven to date," Sakazuki said softly.

There are often stories circulating on the sea about treasures in various places that possess the power to grant immortality, or about so-and-so drinking from the fountain of youth.

In fact, the Celestial Dragons care a great deal about these legends. Whenever such a story occurs, they immediately dispatch the Navy and the CP agency to investigate. In the Navy's hundreds of years of heritage, there are quite a few related files. Apart from the alchemists who created pure gold more than two hundred years ago, which has been confirmed by data to be real, the rest have all been solved and are all fake.

The Celestial Dragons also sent the Navy to seize the pure gold back then, but due to a series of reasons, they ultimately failed.

Bane knew this in his heart, so he didn't say anything more.

"Aside from pure gold, only the Op-Op Fruit can almost be confirmed to have the potential to grant immortality. The World Government has been trying to find this fruit for many years, but has not yet succeeded. Considering the different treatment from other rumors, the World Government is quite persistent about the Op-Op Fruit. We speculate that this matter should have been confirmed by them a long time ago, and that Narona Im Saint, one of the twenty kings, may have enjoyed the immortality power of the Op-Op Fruit. Since then, he faked his death and has been ruling the World Government as the mastermind behind the scenes for hundreds of years," Sabo said.

"When we ambushed Satan in Eghardt, we obtained at least one useful piece of information: the reason the Five Elders are able to maintain their 'immortal' state is because they can continuously draw upon the immense life force transmitted from Im. The sheer power of this life force is truly unprecedented in my life. Kaido, as a top-tier Zoan-type Mythical Beast, already possesses formidable life force, but compared to Satan's performance at the time, he is still several levels below. And this is only the Five Elders parasitizing Im's abilities; Im himself is probably even more troublesome, perhaps even... truly possessing the characteristic of 'immortality'," Bane analyzed, raising an eyebrow.

"That's unlikely, isn't it?" Sakazuki said with a surprised expression. "I know the secrets of the Op-Op Fruit. It might grant the power of 'immortality,' but that's a completely different concept from 'undying'!"

What does immortality mean?

It is generally believed that as long as one is not killed by external forces, one can live forever; that is roughly the concept.

But what does it mean to be immortal? Immortality means that there is almost no way to kill this person, not even time.

It's more terrifying than immortality!

If the Op-Op Fruit could turn someone from immortality into 'immortality,' that would be terrifying!

Borsalino then spoke up, "For the first six hundred years after the establishment of the World Government, the existence of the Five Elders was a normal succession process. This is publicly available information recorded by the World Government, and it was even compiled into books to praise their greatness. The existence of the Five Elders before this was traceable. However, starting about a hundred years ago, the existence of the Five Elders underwent a significant change. People like Satan were already Five Elders when I was young, and all related information was erased. For nearly a hundred years, there has been no change. So, can we infer from this detail that Im, in the first six hundred years or so, could not have achieved his current level, and merely possessed the power of 'immortality'?"

"You mean he only mastered the power to grant people immense life force and gradually achieve 'immortality' in the last two hundred years?" Sakazuki asked, his eyes lighting up.

Thinking about it carefully, Borsalino's approach is actually quite meaningful!

Previously, the Five Elders were born, aged, sick, and died in a normal cycle. It wasn't until more than a hundred years ago that the characteristic of "unchanging" appeared.

"Thinking about it this way, it's very likely that Im has mastered this power within the last two hundred years, but what is the source?" Borsalino frowned, muttering with some confusion.

"A Devil Fruit?" Bane pondered. "Is it possible that his Mythical Zoan ability has awakened?"

"Speaking of which, this is actually the first time I've witnessed the awakening of a Mythical Beast in Eghardt. Wasn't it rumored that Mythical Beasts had no possibility of awakening? Similar to us Natural-types." Borsalino said immediately upon hearing this, his tone still somewhat surprised even after so long.

The awakening of Zoan-types is generally considered to be the simplest, followed by Paramecia-types, and lastly Logia-types.

To date, no one has recorded the awakening of Logia-type Devil Fruit users. Many Devil Fruit scholars believe that Logia-type users may have been awakened from the beginning, which is why they possess power far exceeding that of other Devil Fruits.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

Besides the Logia type, another hot topic of discussion is whether the abilities of Mythical Zoan types can be awakened.

In any case, there seems to be no record of a Mythical Zoan user awakening their abilities in any available records!

Even Borsalino, a naval admiral, had never seen anything like it.

Kaido, as a representative of Mythical Zoan abilities, was previously recognized as the king of one-on-one battles, the strongest creature, and so on. However, even with Kaido's talent and strength, he did not develop his abilities to the awakened state before his death.

In fact, it is precisely because even the strongest Kaido could not achieve this that many people on the high seas believe that Mythical Zoan types are the same as Logia types. Because they possess strength far exceeding that of other Devil Fruits from the start, they do not have the ability to awaken, or the awakening process is extremely difficult.

As a result, in Egerhard, Borsalino witnessed Satan become a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, and he even had the characteristic of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user's awakened ribbon floating around his body!

He was shocked at the time, but what happened next was even more unbelievable, so his attention was diverted.

At this moment, Borsalino suddenly felt quite emotional and puzzled.

But for Bane, the awakening of mythical beasts was not "unprecedented," it was just that it was blocked by the world government.

The Gum-Gum Fruit, also known as Nika, was awakened by Joy Boy more than 800 years ago. It is even very possible that he was the first Mythical Zoan to awaken.

Over the next few hundred years, the Gum-Gum Fruit has appeared many times, but according to the Five Elders, no one has ever been able to develop it to the point of awakening and showing Nika's true form.

Until Luffy appeared.

This at least proves that mythical beasts do indeed have the possibility of awakening, but it is extremely low and quite difficult.

Kaido had the power of the Azure Dragon for decades but had not been able to develop it. Im even spent over six hundred years developing it before finally mastering this power two hundred years ago.

His mythical beast species, once awakened, likely possesses an incredibly powerful life force, the so-called "immortality." Since then, through controlling the lifespans of the Five Elders, his dominance over the world's government has been unprecedentedly enhanced!

Is his fear of the awakening of the Nika Fruit and Joy Boy so great because he, as an awakened Mythical Zoan, knows how terrifying this power is?

As for the awakening of the Five Elders, if we follow this line of thought, it was probably all orchestrated by Im, right? There's even a possibility that they were imposters.

For example, the ribbons on their bodies, like their life force, perpetuate Im's control over them.

On the surface, it appears that they have awakened the Mythical Beast, but in reality, it is merely a manifestation of Im's abilities.

Or was it forcibly propelled?

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that during this long period of time, the Five Elders, with their exceptional talents and Im's guidance, may have awakened their mythical beast species.

(End of this chapter)