One Piece: Starting By Playing Gilgamesh Template. Chapter 74 74: The Nether Race Has Powerhouses Capable of De

"What kind of joke is this…"

Magma surged violently around Sakazuki's body as waves of scorching heat spread outward. The air itself was evaporated into layers of mist.

His face darkened further, and his tone grew even more hostile.

"Immortal?"

"If that so-called True Chan Holy King of the Divine Race really had the power to make people immortal…"

"…then wouldn't the Divine Race have long since ruled the entire sea?"

"And in that great war back then, the Divine Race could never have ended up mutually wounded with all of you!"

Even though they did not fully understand everything about four thousand years ago, they had still learned fragnts of the truth…

Ever since the Ancient King appeared, and from the words spoken by Wushuang and HanFeng—

The Divine Race was clearly one of the absolute dominant races of four thousand years ago, and an extrely aggressive one at that!

The Ancient King and the Nether Race that had appeared so far both held hatred toward that Divine Race!

If such a race truly possessed immortal divine warriors, then how could the Nether Race and the Ancient King possibly have survived until now?

The Divine Race would have completely taken control of the entire sea four thousand years ago already!

The Nether Race and the Ancient King would have either been killed or reduced to prisoners long ago.

How could they have rely fallen into slumber instead?

There was only one explanation for all of this—

Everything those two Nether Race Generals were saying was false!

"Hahaha!!!"

Wushuang laughed loudly without the slightest concern. His eyes looked upon Sakazuki the way one might look at a truly ignorant fool.

"The Divine Race has the True Chan Holy King…"

"Do you really think the Nether Race has no powerhouse capable of opposing him?"

"It's true that the True Chan Holy King's divine protection, which makes the divine warriors immortal and indestructible, is terrifying…"

"But if there is an equally powerful opponent capable of restraining him—forcing him to fight with everything he has, leaving him unable to spare attention to maintain that divine blessing…"

"…then naturally, that immortality of the divine warriors ceases to exist!"

"Not to ntion…"

"In that battle back then, it wasn't only the Nether Race standing against the Divine Race!"

His proud, mocking tone dripped with scorn and disdain as it fell into Sakazuki's ears, causing Sakazuki's face to flush red with rage.

The magma surrounding him surged even more violently. Layers of white mist continuously evaporated amidst the rolling waves of heat.

Raising an eyebrow, Wushuang folded his arms across his chest and looked down at Sakazuki provocatively.

"But then again…"

"You're nothing more than an ignorant fool…"

"How could soone like you possibly understand the true strength of the Nether Race?"

"For a fool to arrive at such a stupid conclusion…"

"…is only natural."

The fire in Sakazuki's heart rose even higher, as if his chest itself were about to explode. The magma flowing across his face burst outward directly.

Terrifying magma began to gather at high speed.

Already hot-tempered by nature, Sakazuki could no longer endure Wushuang's attitude.

"Rumble… rumble…"

Magma spread outward…

A sea of crimson magma rapidly took shape, dyeing the entire sky red.

Then, layer after layer of magma compressed and gathered into enormous magma fists dozens of ters wide…

Those magma fists, ford of rolling, boiling magma, linked together as they rapidly filled the entire sky.

The Marines below looked up—

And could no longer even see the farther reaches of the heavens.

The magma radiated a scarlet glow and waves of searing heat.

Throughout an area spanning tens of thousands of ters inside and outside Impel Down, the temperature of the air rose at an astonishing rate.

The sea surface gave off layer after layer of white mist.

Inside the World Governnt's highest conference chamber—

The Five Elders, who held the greatest authority in the World Governnt, were all shaken deeply by the words spoken by Wushuang and HanFeng.

Every sentence from those two was enough to leave them stunned.

"One hundred Admiral-level combatants…"

"At that scale, even if we included the strong individuals we have secretly cultivated, we would still be crushed with ease…"

Inside the dimly lit conference room, after a long stretch of silence, Ogata Kenichi leaned slightly forward with both hands resting on the desk, propping up his chin.

Even as he spoke, his eyes never left the screen in the center of the desk.

"Not to ntion…"

"They're immortal and indestructible…"

"And then there's the True Chan Holy King, the one capable of granting that immortal body…"

Sonobe Keiichi wiped down a strange-looking blade in his hand, the worry in his eyes impossible to hide.

"If he can grant that kind of ability to others…"

"…then just how terrifying must the True Chan Holy King himself be?"

"I'm afraid…"

"…even the Ancient King might not be his match."

Hirano Masato adjusted the collar of his slightly rumpled suit and added his own thought.

The worry in his words was no less than that of any of the other Five Elders present.

At the beginning—

All they knew was that four thousand years ago there had been many strong figures, and many races among the Hundred Races had not been destroyed.

Among those sleeping powerhouses, there were quite a few whose strength equaled that of the Ancient King, beyond the level of the Four Emperors.

And there were even so stronger than the Ancient King.

Yet they had never dared imagine that within the Divine Race, there existed a being capable of granting immortality to one hundred Admirals!

Even with only the slightest bit of thought, they could tell—

If soone could use divine power to such an extent, then just how terrifying must that person's own strength be?

Could it be that so random powerhouse casually revealed by the Divine Race already surpassed even the Ancient King?

If that were true…

Then what future was left for the World Governnt?

After those pressure-filled murmurs from the three Five Elders faded away, the conference room once again fell into deathly silence.

The Five Elders, who had always remained calm and composed no matter what shook the sea, were now caught in deep distress.

"The Divine Race is powerful…"

"But they are not the sole ruler of everything!"

Suddenly—

An aged voice rang out.

It was one of the Five Elders—Masutani Yasunori.

His words pulled Ogata Kenichi and the other four from their deep thoughts as they all looked toward him.

Under the gaze of the other four, Masutani Yasunori continued:

"From what the Ancient King and those two Nether Race Generals have said, we can already tell that the Divine Race has made far too many enemies…"

"The Divine Race is powerful, but the races standing against them are not weak either!"

"Otherwise, things would never have ended up in the state they are now…"

"And among the races standing against the Divine Race…"

"…is the Nether Race that has appeared outside Impel Down."

"Judging from what that Nether Race General Wushuang said, the Nether Race may also be extrely powerful. At the very least, they must be one of the main races capable of confronting the Divine Race."

"And for the Ancient King to be ntioned by such an arrogantly proud Nether Race General…"

"…his strength has likely also been acknowledged by the Nether Race."

"So the Ancient King must also have been one of the primary forces opposing the Divine Race back then."

"As for the other races that have yet to appear, we know nothing."

"But from what we've seen so far, the Ancient King and the Nether Race…"

"…do not necessarily have to stand against us."

"In fact, when the Divine Race descends, they may very well fight alongside us against them!"

"After all…"

"The Ancient King is the most ancient king of humanity. Though he has had so small conflicts with us, as long as we offer our sincerity, then considering that he is still human…"

"…faced with such an enormous threat from the Divine Race, he cannot possibly just stand by and do nothing."

"And similarly…"

"…we do not really have any serious grudge against the Nether Race either. Even though their appearance outside Impel Down is indeed a provocation against the World Governnt, they have not yet caused us any major real losses."

"If we stop the battle in ti and show them our sincere goodwill…"

"…then before the Divine Race descends, they may not have the ti or desire to truly beco enemies with the World Governnt."

"On the contrary…"

"That brutal war four thousand years ago has already left the Nether Race and the Divine Race in a relationship of absolute, irreconcilable hatred."

"The Nether Race may be powerful, but they are still under great pressure when facing the Divine Race. So once the Divine Race descends, as long as we do not make things too hostile with the Nether Race…"

"…they may very well choose to form a temporary alliance with the World Governnt!"

After speaking his entire train of thought and his judgnt in one long breath, Masutani Yasunori picked up the cup of water on the desk and took a drink to wet his throat.

Ogata Kenichi, Hirano Masato, and the other three Five Elders all turned the matter over rapidly in their minds, continuously considering what Masutani Yasunori had just said.

After a mont—

The four of them gradually began to nod.

"Yasunori is right…"

"Our original attitude was wrong…"

"The strong figures of the Hundred Races from four thousand years ago are not all our enemies…"

"Among them, there are clearly so we can form alliances with…"

"At least for now, our conflict with the Nether Race is not serious…"

"So this is indeed a plan worth considering."

Whether it was the Ancient King, or the two Nether Race Generals—

When they spoke of the Divine Race, although they never denied the Divine Race's power…

The hostility in their words was impossible to conceal!

And the strength of the Nether Race was already obvious from what little had been shown.

Wushuang had even outright said that the Nether Race possessed a powerhouse capable of contending with the True Chan Holy King, the very being who could bless one hundred Admirals with divine power.

That alone proved they were absolutely not weak!

At a ti like this, for the sake of more practical gains, throwing away a little face and making peace with the Nether Race was clearly the correct choice.

As the Five Elders, their intelligence was naturally exceptional. It was only that they had not thought along this line at first.

Now that Masutani Yasunori had laid it out so clearly, they imdiately saw just how feasible the plan really was!

"It's just…"

"If the Nether Race was truly one of the great races of four thousand years ago, then back then, they should also have been an enormous force in their own right…"

"And if they are unwilling to accept the World Governnt continuing to occupy the entire sea in this era…"

"…then what do we do?"

No sooner had he just managed to sort everything out in his mind than Hirano Masato's heart was filled once again with fresh worry.

The other four Five Elders froze as well, their expressions stiffening slightly.

If the Nether Race truly was such a powerful race, then they must have held vast territory and great power four thousand years ago!

A race accustod to holding dominion over one side of the world—

How could they possibly awaken in this era and remain peacefully satisfied?

"If it really cos to that…"

"…then we'll give them a territory!"

Gritting his teeth, Sonobe Keiichi made the suggestion.

The instant he said that, Hirano Masato and the other four all changed expression, the worry on their faces growing even deeper.

"A territory in the New World!" Sonobe Keiichi added.

"A territory in the New World for the Nether Race…"

Suddenly, the eyes of Hirano Masato and the other four Five Elders lit up.

How had they not thought of that?

This sea, strictly speaking, belonged to the World Governnt.

But openly and in secret, there were countless forces that refused to submit to the World Governnt.

And among them—

The most obvious was the New World!

That place was practically lawless territory. Even the World Governnt had little control there.

It could be said that the New World did not truly belong to the World Governnt at all—

It belonged to the Four Emperors and countless powerful pirates.

If they handed one region of the New World over to the Nether Race—

Wouldn't that both win the Nether Race's favor, and at the sa ti allow the Nether Race to help them clear out so of the pirates that had always caused them trouble?

This was simply—

A perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone!

"As the strong figures of the Hundred Races from four thousand years ago awaken one after another, when all those powerful races appear…"

"…there is no way the World Governnt can continue to dominate the entire sea as it does now."

"Rather than waiting until those Hundred Races powerhouses seize territory by force and drive us back step by step…"

"…it would be far better for us to use the New World now to win over those awakening Hundred Races powerhouses!"

"The races that have just awakened will inevitably need land in which to recover and rebuild. If we proactively divide up the entire New World and hand it over…"

"…we can not only avoid endless trouble for ourselves, but also build goodwill with those races…"

"And in the process of gaining their favor, we would also have the chance to observe those powerhouses beyond the level of the Four Emperors, and eventually cultivate such strength ourselves…"

"Step by step…"

"…the World Governnt could expand further and融入 into the Hundred Races!"

A brilliant light flashed through Ogata Kenichi's eyes.

He sprang to his feet, slamming his palm heavily against the desk.

An ambition unlike anything before burst forth in his heart and shone in his eyes!

If everything went smoothly—

The World Governnt would rise several levels higher in power!

"Under the great war of four thousand years ago, those Hundred Races powerhouses may never have fully recovered even after four thousand years of slumber, because of their injuries…"

"In that case, it is highly likely they would accept our goodwill…"

Sonobe Keiichi also rose from his seat, his gaze blazing.

"So…"

"This old man agrees!"

"Clatter…"

One after another, Hirano Masato and the remaining three Five Elders all rose to their feet, their expressions solemn.

"This old man agrees as well!"

"A new era is about to descend. The World Governnt must change! This may be the greatest transformation of all!"

"The Hundred Races…"

"As long as we can avoid offending them, we should."

"As long as we can satisfy them, we should do so as much as possible!"

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